consistently, i forget to remember that i cannot share with those whose only goal in sharing is to judge things and determine if they must reject another or not.
here, in this response to another, within which their quote that establishes this goal is given, a final set of thoughts on the matter, and how frustrated i often become for my own willingness to trust that the initial statements of interest in sharing and understanding are being given truthfully.
sigh.
“But the combined weight of these and the other concerns I’ve raised topple your project for me. ”
sorry, i didn’t realize until now that your goal was other than discussion. my mistake. won’t happen again.
your apparent need (despite your own words to the contrary by PM, which i now find somewhat dishonest) to frame my thoughts only in the context of ‘can i accept them’ or ‘must i reject them’ is very precisely my point.
i really am sorry so many here seem to be missing it. but more than that, i’m sorry to find that yes, for those who just aren’t willing to accept others, it seems camus is entirely right. it doesn’t change where the point of initiation is… but it certainly demonstrates that awareness and understanding are primary to shifting patterns and sustaining long term change.
there are many people who continue to try reject the connection (on all levels) that humanity shares. to the world, to one another, any or all of it. that doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. and of course you won’t find that division interesting as it points to something you’re either very uncomfortable with or actively avoiding for some other reason.
you speak of universal goods as if they are more important than the people, the world, or the things that live within it and reject the simple reality that the body could not function without the mind (while there are living proofs today that the opposite is true and becoming more fully so as medicine and science progress) because it means you get to continue ignoring something that otherwise would be unavoidable.
radical voluntarism? newsflash – you can assign your responsibility and control and accountability where you like, but it is your mind doing that, too… and it isn’t “real” until someone to whom you’ve assigned it agrees to accept it, and only then so long as they don’t change their mind. if that’s actually preferred, then i strongly suspect there is no point to you attempting to have this conversation… since you’re no longer in control of yourself in any way and must wait upon the decisions of others to instruct you as to what to do, think, etc.
don’t you see that it is rather like being ‘a little bit pregnant?’ even when you choose to conform, you’re still the one choosing. stars. who would have ever thought there would be those who deny they have final authority of themselves in every moment. wow.
bleh. no. nevermind. i’m sure that, having made yourself and your worldview ‘safe’ by ‘toppling my perspective’ for yourself, you may now safely ignore anything else i say, secure in the knowledge that it is a toppled thing and inferior in every way to your superior thinking by which all the world will find its culture transformed.
though i must say, i’m not sure you can define that final outcome any more than you can wrap your head around the notion of universal personal responsibility. which i think you may find problematic somewhere between ‘here’ and ‘perfect world’.
oh, and for accuracy’s sake, there is a difference between saying what i think is true and telling you that you must accept it for yourself. but since it is impossible for you, B, Lori (as self-identified and admitted) to see that difference, naturally, all you see is ‘someone saying they’re right and i’m wrong’ or ‘someone trying to tell me what to think’ or ‘a hypocrite’.
what you don’t realize is how those conclusions point to your impediments. they are not my impediments. they do not touch me. they do not as much as breathe upon me. but they strangle you in every moment. and you choose them. understanding why is important, but it is not a thing in which you will engage. for you, it is important mostly to feel you are right. so, i hope for you that these words bring that result, so you can feel safe and continue along your path until you realize that you were never anything other.
and, as with them, here, i end with you. if there can be no benefit, then there is no cause.