Fear to offend.

I got this twice in the last hour. First from one of my new favorite diaries, ChitrangadaRajkumari. Then again Bea logged in (I dated her when she was 14, she is away at college in Spain now.) and apparently I offended her with something I said while reflecting on my memory of our relationship. I guess I dont think much about how others will react to me. I just try to be real and sincere as much as I can. One thing I have noticed particularly with Vals husband Paul. People have become skittish about religion. I blame the fundamentalists who seem to have taken all the fun out of worship of god. These people are warriors for their ultimate truth. By repeatedly telling all who opposes them they are wrong and going to hell, people for the most part dont open them selves up for this attack anymore. So religion is no longer debated but argued and neither side is truly listening to the other. They are working one the premise that the other is wrong and needs to be convinced or converted to ones own believe. This is the great evil of the notion of Ultimate truth. Blindly loving for ones own truth over others truths, breads hated for other truths. This hate deafens and blinds us to new messages from and infinite god. Manu tells us that gods messages come in the daily routines oh, but it also tells us to sanctify our faith by protecting it in a jar. So it may be advantageous to not be open about it. But I dont think it should offend. You just need to show yourself as something other then a shark but more like a whale. Feeding of the plankton ideas and faith, feeding on the small and discarded un-sanctified and mostly leaving the larger animals to their own devices. That is I only am predatory on the faiths of those who have week ones. But that would make me a shark feeding ideas of those who know not how to rear their fish.

The only solution I see to this problem is unconditional love when speaking of religion. Religion is a part of faith and faith is a core personality trait. By telling someone that their faith is wrong insults the core of their self-worth, it insults their paradigm. With unconditional love you always accept the faith of others at truth for them and one must be careful when probing as not to tell them they are wrong but let them know when you dont understand so as to ferret out the full meaning of the fish they sanctify.

I fell that it is important for open and frank religious discussion otherwise we just get bogged down by the dogma resulting from a time when religious discussion produced results. I mean to say that messages for a society in the past can become dogma to a latter society. Thus the religious discussion and debate with love, is essential to renovate our group faiths our religion to better fit in our lives today. So that we can have a foundation which we can use to meet the world with love, peace and contentment. A foundation that unites us with our fellow humans rather then dividing them because of silly dietary codes and other such nonsense.

I hope I did not offend,

With love,

~kit

ChitrangadaRajkumari

February 27, 2004

Now if only all people could think like that then we could all have great conversations about religion! 🙂 It’s hard to do. When someone tells you, “Well, that’s what the Bible says and the Bible is the word of God,” there’s not much you can say. I think my problem is growing up in the south with a lot of conservative Bible thumpers who leave no room open for discussion. Either that, or those

types of conversations just plain bore them and they would rather talk about the reality show that was on last night. There are many things that I think or wonder about but have no one to ask or discuss with and to a point, I feel awkward even writing about it in my diary, because I don’t want to offend. Each person has their own belief and I may not believe in the same things, but I believe in

their right to believe so the last thing I would want to do is come across as if I think they are wrong for believing what they believe. But that’s something I’ll have to try to change… RYN: Politically, that’s me too. It really did amaze me that the democrats and the republicans are so similar in their thoughts which I realized only after taking that test.

I find your existence and the validity you extend to your thoughts offensive.

I wasn’t offended, I was just amused at your choice of words, and not about our “relationship” but about me being ultra-conservative… Its kind of funny.. The joy of msg is that you can never tell when someone is joking…. i generally am. speak to you later. Bea

i agree with you – Jesus loved ALL and we need to extend that in to our lives. plz swing by my diary – I’m in need of some help. thanx

Hicks

March 5, 2004

comparing the issue to sharks and whales is a clever way to clearly simplify a subject that’s gotten so complicated and otherwise difficult to explain. thanks!