Thank God I know I’m not. Just thoughts. We are all free to listen and learn or dismiss as we so feel. I want no control over anyone; just a few ideas which I wonder might bring about less suffering. With a truly open mind – and eliminating one’s ego which gets dented when one is told one has been wrong for a long time, with a little open mindedness we can all grow and take the world forwards. Maybe protecting one’s ego and avoiding change feels more comfortable. There is more power in change. After all growth is a form of change, and those who dismiss change are actually deliberately inhibiting their own spiritual growth, as they have too much fear of slipping down the Social Esteem scale if they admit they were wrong.
Politicians do that. Watch the two sides of the House of Commons. Each side considers it is their duty to disagree with the other side. How intelligent is that!? Now one side or the other is going to have a good idea somewhere along the way, which implies that the opposition who dismiss the idea are trying to actively damage something intelligent and good, just because it’s the way they work. Insanity – conformist. If one side stood up and said “actually we feel the other party has a good point here” everybody’s jaws would drop. And then the outspoken person would be instantly dismissed for appearing to be weak and giving in to the opposition. But in reality such behaviour would be strong and intelligent! It is because they risk being laughed at that it takes more strength of character to agree with one’s apparent opponent! Can you see how mad conventional thinking is!? It wasn’t Lennon who was mad, it’s the status quo. The upshot of the political thing, and the religious obstinacy is that all our lives are being held back from becoming better, simply through the insane illusions of Social Esteem – pride, ignorance, obstinacy. Maybe we should all demand that those who have power over us start acting with a bit more intelligence – Proportional Representation for example would instill a sensible balance so our lives wouldn’t be dictated to by one extreme or the other. They, and we, need to grow up.
I remember hearing the leader of the conservative opposition to the Labour UK government a year or so ago say that the role of his party was to oppose the government as comprehensively and effectively as possible. No it isn’t! The role of every politician is to achieve the highest quality of life for as many people, and other life forms, as possible. By his reasoning, every time the Labour party comes up with a good idea the opposition will do their damnedest to undermine it! Mad as hatters!
We do this all the time in our lives. We’re all so insecure that we instantly dismiss someone who has a better idea than us, often before we’ve even understood what the person is about to say. Obstinacy. It holds us back. The person who is obstinate is actually hurting themselves the most. By having a blinkered mind they are preventing the inflow of new powerful knowledge that will certainly benefit them in the future. So they make themselves weaker by going round saying everybody else is wrong. We can become stronger personally if we listen actively to new