An article on religion and spirituality caused me to write this today as a comment there and in completion I thought it might be a worthwhile article in it's own right ... So, what do YOU think about YOUR relationship to these concepts ???
I see this discussion as having the potential to really get going if the people with the various views getting a bit more personal in questioning the others that seem to differ in theirs, often a lot.
I have so often been told that people cannot understand what it is I am trying to say when I express my views as I do ... I understand them perfectly and thus fail to see why others cannot ... especially if they at all "want" to ... easy to understand those that just do NOT want any part of it all.
I occasionally wonder what the difference is as far as "ability" to understand ... and this morning it sort of jumped out at me.
People that are really INTO things more spiritual MUST be more open minded in the first place ... you could literally call them more liberal, less structured, in their thinking. I also believe that being a liberal thinker is related to having less fear in your life, probably more compassionate in relationships to others, more willing to cooperate and share everything, both material possessions as well as thoughts ... liberal thinkers are just more inquisitive, more open to possibility.
Such liberal thinkers are thus much more imaginative, willing to accept and play around with the "grey areas" of subjectivity where there are no clear cut definitions ... they often tend to be very creative as in art and literature or architectural designing, good at innovation of all kinds. If they become leaders of people it is often due to a charisma that they have, a connection of like-mindedness.
Now, on the 'other' hand, there are those that are very strict in their thinking, those that know right from wrong and always strive for the greatest right, often 'perfectionists'. These folks pride themselves in their objectivity, their ability (as they see it) to cut through the nonessential crap and garbage, to get "to the point" of the issues, to "know their mind" and deal only in essentials ... conservatively, valuing what they have 'earned' and defending it from those that would want to either take it from them (in their mind) or desire that they share it some ... they often see things in black and white issues, very moralistic and desiring as much separation from them and theirs as possible when it comes to those that think different from them. In seeking that they see and value bravery in those that strive for the same things against all such that do not hold their high values ... those considered lessor would often be those more liberal, those they saw to not 'support' THEIR high standards and 'sacrifices' that it took to get and DEFEND those 'values' ...
In schooling it would be these people that would gravitate to the sciences and their opposite to the liberal arts ... highly structured technology as opposed to free flowing creativeness.
Of course these are the more extremes of characteristics, sited this way to show the more 'obvious' differences ... and in the real world there is a large degree of intermixing of such qualities, all things being a quality when balanced in moderation and NOT taken to an extreme where even TOO MUCH of a good thing becomes bad.
In our ever more (of late) POLARIZED society, most noticeable in politics and next in matters of Spirit and religion ... these "differences" are showing up more and more and may become a big problem for everyone IF we are not careful ... because it is the conservative thinker that is usually the more MILITARISTIC, the one that values the RULES most, the ones that support LAW ENFORCEMENT more ... in effect the LIONS and HAWKS as 'opposed' to their oft perceived "enemy", the "others" ... those they see as effeminate and weak, the nonproductive leeches of society, the peacenik SHEEP and DOVES ... their natural prey in "worldly" terms, not at all unlike the 'negative' relationships between MAN and WOMAN ... just think about it all for a moment ...
Another consideration might be that the one group is much more ORGANIZED ... often very hierarchically with very strong and demanding leadership requiring obedience ... the 'followers' being seen as 'brave' warriors for the 'cause' ... Who would WIN in such a 'battle' is a given ... but is their real reason to go to WAR over such differences ???
(reprint from: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977168337 )
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