In cultivating the Way, the most important thing is not to fight. We should not fight with anyone, not quarrel over people’s good points and short-comings, nor gossip about people’s rights and wrongs.
(from http://www.dharmabliss.org/
Everything is subjective. I read a blog post the other day that was so honest and humble. It started with this quote:
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Today, I met with a new friend, and I was amazed at how calming it was to share ideas and beliefs with him. We have similar basic views on life, and so it’s hard for us to see other ways, when those ways are destructive.
After the visit, I mused about how easily conversation flowed, and how much we shared in that period of an afternoon. Of course it was easy, because we have similar views. If he kept touting how great Jesus is, or how the church saved him, the conversation would have been very different.
When we speak with people of like minds, it affirms our beliefs. I think we all need to be affirmed at some level, and that is exactly what communities give us. We share our commonalities and our differences, but we really tend to focus on the commonalities in viewpoint, while celebrating differences in talents.
Tonight, I thought about how some people would just never be receptive to what has worked to make me a happier person. Perhaps they have their own method that works just as well. Who am I to say any one thing is better than another? I can only go off of what worked for me.
Plus, what is “right” is relative. For some, it is simply living your truth. For others, it is doing no harm, which includes vegan-ism. Others believe the earth is our mother and protector and must be nurtured. It is all right if it adds to positive vibrational energy in our world.
When we heal ourselves, we actually heal others as well. How we reach that state of healing is irrelevant, for the tangible downstream effect is a better world wherever our influence touches. Of course, this is based on what I see and believe in this world, so it is still all my own deal, but when I align with others of like minds, I am affirmed. The positive vibrations build and grow, and the energy expands.
Regardless of origin, I think it is undeniable that energy exists in us and between us, and we are all (well, most of us) aware of or interrelatedness. Let us rejoice in the different paths that get us to happiness and enjoy where we are at, irregardless of how we arrived.