Friday, June 19, 2015

Issue 616 Don't Convert Each Other June 19, 2015

People have a wall that separates them.  That wall is beliefs, ideas, ideology, and more.  In short, it is personal beliefs and the desire to form a uniform belief with the other person.  But people don't believe the same way.  They have their own ideas and feelings on an issue. As such, atheists and religious people, and people with differing ideologies have a hard time getting along.  What can we do to relieve the tension and the strife?

Scratch the Scab:  Scratch the scab means disagree with the other person to your heart’s content.  Even say that you think the other person is wrong.  But discuss it in a pure manner and discuss why you all disagree.  But do not have any ulterior motives such as trying to convert the other person to your way of thinking.  In fact, seek to learn why your companion with an opposing view sees something different from you.  Why they are an atheist and you are not or why they think Democrats are better than Republicans.  Likewise they should want to learn from you.  As such, accept they are different, poke fun at one another's beliefs, and most importantly, do not dodge each other’s beliefs.  If your beliefs, or ideas have merit, then and only then will the other person who accepts that you are different accepts those ideas and integrate (NOT CONVERT) into their own.


Conclusion:  I have been putting this into practice only recently as I could not fathom it until it was pointed out that I sometimes was, well, a jerk sometimes when having a discussion.  I let go of the frustration of why I felt alone sometimes in my beliefs and embraced my desire to understand and acquire knowledge in full.  So now I will at times come off as a know it all, but that's ok, as it is being less of a jerk, and it is something more manageable than being an ass trying to force my beliefs on others.  So try it out and see how much you can change just by letting go of your preconceived notions just to learn more about people and advance your knowledge and thus your own beliefs as well.

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