Well! It's been awhile, true believers! (Wait! That's Stan Lee's tag-line!)
It has been awhile though and it's not because I haven't felt passionate or concerned about anything enough to share it. The truth is, I haven't been inordinately busy either. I just haven't felt compared to share my views on anything in particular.
What has finally compelled me to write a new blog is the idea that I am human and that we all are and though it makes us greater to reach beyond that fact and attempt to be more enlightened, it is also okay just to be human once in awhile with all our faults and limitations.
We, as a society, and just as often, as individuals, have a tendency to criticize others for their sometimes base actions or unsavoury qualities while forgetting why we recognize these as base or unsavoury qualities. When I am guilty of this, it is often recognized by my wise heartmate; at which point she holds up an imaginary mirror and I too begin to recognize what I am doing.
The first time she did this, I fought the idea, tooth and nail. It couldn't be true....I was beyond such things but after an intense and emotional discussion, I reluctantly (definitely, reluctantly...like many, I don't like to be wrong, even though it happens quite frequently) admitted that it was true. The negative qualities I was ranting about were in me as well. I realized the reason I didn't like that person's actions was because they were ones that I too were capable of and I didn't like that. I had hoped I was better than that.
Yet, I was just being human. It didn't mean that person's actions were right nor were mine. What it meant was that they were the actions of a human being, quite capable of making mistakes and errors in judgement despite our prodigious intellects and intuition.
What matters, in the end, is not that we are human and that we err but what what we do about those actions...do we learn from them or do we repeat the same patterns of misbehaviour over and over again. The issue with this though is recognizing those patterns of misbehaviour in the first place.
I have a stepson with autism. His brain does not follow the same synaptic pathways as most of us and he has no little or no concept of right or wrong, good or bad social behaviour other than through repetition and rote. He understands what makes him feel good or bad though as do all of us. It is not always easy but he can be shown how his actions can make others feel bad. In fact, it is quite difficult at times, but it can be done and when he realizes it, he doesn't like it because....he doesn't like others to feel bad.
If we can teach him this lesson, why can we not find the patience to teach this lesson to others. We need to teach it to ourselves first of course. That is one roadblock. The other is having the patience to demonstrate it (demonstrate through one's own actions instead of just preaching it).
So this is the lesson. It is okay to be human. it is better to recognize it and try and correct the less endearing qualities of that state however; to look into the mirror and accept the blemishes and then try and go beyond it.
Easy for me to say....now, let us see if I can live it!!!
It has been awhile though and it's not because I haven't felt passionate or concerned about anything enough to share it. The truth is, I haven't been inordinately busy either. I just haven't felt compared to share my views on anything in particular.
What has finally compelled me to write a new blog is the idea that I am human and that we all are and though it makes us greater to reach beyond that fact and attempt to be more enlightened, it is also okay just to be human once in awhile with all our faults and limitations.
We, as a society, and just as often, as individuals, have a tendency to criticize others for their sometimes base actions or unsavoury qualities while forgetting why we recognize these as base or unsavoury qualities. When I am guilty of this, it is often recognized by my wise heartmate; at which point she holds up an imaginary mirror and I too begin to recognize what I am doing.
The first time she did this, I fought the idea, tooth and nail. It couldn't be true....I was beyond such things but after an intense and emotional discussion, I reluctantly (definitely, reluctantly...like many, I don't like to be wrong, even though it happens quite frequently) admitted that it was true. The negative qualities I was ranting about were in me as well. I realized the reason I didn't like that person's actions was because they were ones that I too were capable of and I didn't like that. I had hoped I was better than that.
Yet, I was just being human. It didn't mean that person's actions were right nor were mine. What it meant was that they were the actions of a human being, quite capable of making mistakes and errors in judgement despite our prodigious intellects and intuition.
What matters, in the end, is not that we are human and that we err but what what we do about those actions...do we learn from them or do we repeat the same patterns of misbehaviour over and over again. The issue with this though is recognizing those patterns of misbehaviour in the first place.
I have a stepson with autism. His brain does not follow the same synaptic pathways as most of us and he has no little or no concept of right or wrong, good or bad social behaviour other than through repetition and rote. He understands what makes him feel good or bad though as do all of us. It is not always easy but he can be shown how his actions can make others feel bad. In fact, it is quite difficult at times, but it can be done and when he realizes it, he doesn't like it because....he doesn't like others to feel bad.
If we can teach him this lesson, why can we not find the patience to teach this lesson to others. We need to teach it to ourselves first of course. That is one roadblock. The other is having the patience to demonstrate it (demonstrate through one's own actions instead of just preaching it).
So this is the lesson. It is okay to be human. it is better to recognize it and try and correct the less endearing qualities of that state however; to look into the mirror and accept the blemishes and then try and go beyond it.
Easy for me to say....now, let us see if I can live it!!!
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