Morning!
And how is your day treating you so far? Over here in Ling Land, life is quite enjoyable – I’ll be taking my kids to see Star Wars The Clone Wars (what better way to celebrate my birthday?), and then heading over to adult karate where hopefully I’ll pit myself against the leading black belts and still survive long enough to walk out on my own volition.
But I digress. 
Let’s get on with the topic of today’s post. I’d like you to sit back, relax, and ask yourself:
Self, have I ever seen the light?
Now, I’m not talking about flicking on the hallway switch at 2am when you realized you just can’t fall asleep and instead decided to indulge in massive amounts of online hacking. No indeed, instead, I’m talking about those blindingly brilliant flashes of insightful wisdom that utterly knock your socks off as you realize:
My gosh, I HAVE seen the light! And it’s WOOONNNNNDDDDEEERRROOUUUUSSSS!
Tell me now.
What do you do when this happens?
Do you give thanks to the universe that you’ve learned something precious indeed you can hold to your heart, or do you instead say to yourself,
My gosh Self, I simply HAVE to spread the word and compel others to believe as do I!
After all, it’s for their own good!
Right?
Are you chuckling to yourself yet? I sure am!
Why, I hear you ask?
Because each of us…has our OWN special flashes of insights. What works for me, for example, might leave you colder than an pre-thawed Ice age Mammoth. Consider the only way one can truly start the morning – by worshiping that beverage of the gods, coffee. Any other way of waking up is simply missing the boat, falling short of the trolley, dropping off the edge of the universe, and several other cute pithy sayings.
But! Did you know….Mormons never drink coffee? And other folk shun caffeine? And still others believe that pure sparkling water is the best beverage that can enter their systems?
Can you BELIEVE how delusional these people are? After all, they don’t think as do I!
Have I stepped into the realm of cluelessness yet? Are you getting my point?
No?
Okay, no problem….let me try another example.
- God doesn’t exist.
Aetheists believe this.
- No wait, God DOES exist but she’s Jewish. Or Muslim. Or Buddist. Or Southern Bapist. Or Wiccan.
- No wait, God MIGHT exist but it depends upon the personal beliefs of those who consider the concept.
Am I being more clear yet?
I’ll bet that when you read the above bullet points, you immediately had a visceral emotional reaction. "Sinner!" you might have thought, or "Hey, she has a point" might have been considered, or even "That reminds me, I’ve only had 4 cups of coffee today, must refresh!".
But no matter what your reaction was, it was personal to your OWN beliefs.
Nobody elses.
Let’s now bring this post back to the most important person imaginable, you!
- Have you ever been attacked online or off because of your beliefs?
- Have you ever been victimized by others who felt it was their (pardon the expression) God-given duty to show you the errors of your ways…and try to compel you to change?
Hmmm?
Even worse…have you done the above to someone else?
Hmmmm?
The urge to share one’s own personal insights and goodness can be overwhelming at times….but you always have to keep in mind that they are YOUR’s.
Nobody else’s.
Sure, people can choose to embrace your own beliefs…but it has to be THEIR choice. They have their own personal values and insights…things that might make zero sense to you, but are just as valid to them as yours are to you.
The key to successful living is to allow the people you love to make their own personal choices and then validate those choices…even if you personally don’t believe them. For example, you can tell them,
I personally disagree completely with what you choose to follow…but, hey, if it works for you, more power to you.
That’s probably why while I’m half-Jewish and a firm believer in the spiritual concepts put forth by Star Wars, one of my best friends is a Mormon, I choose to pal around with all faiths and ages and sexual orientations at my dojo and my online communities, and my kids know that they can tell me anything they want….because I never judge nor insist they have to follow my own beliefs.
It can be tough, mind you, seeing folks NOT cherish the obvious (ie, coffee)….but by NOT forcing my beliefs on others, I create stronger bonds of friendship and love. And that, of course, is a Very Good Thing indeed!
Want some other discussions about this? Check out:
- Fair to overwhelmly pressure someone?
- Pressure to convert
- How to Avoid Becoming a Religious Zealot
- How to be a successful cult leader
Enjoy,
Barbara Ling
ps – speaking about coffee, have you seen:
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above to spread the word. I love sharing great info,
and would really appreciate it...thanks!"
-- Barbara Ling
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Barbara, as always wisdom and insight delivered with humor! We all have passionate beliefs but I agree that we need to be respectful of individual choices. I am all for being nice, everyone deserves that! Now about those non-coffee lovers, well I’m a little suspicious. LOL!
Glad you liked the post! I’ve received several personal emails about it as well.
And don’t get me started about those poor heathens who drink “decaf”….. (shudder)
Barbara
Hi Barbara, you say you are “firm believer in the spiritual concepts put forth by Star Wars”. Did you in the 2001 Census, 70,000 Australians reported their religion as JEDI and an amazingly 53,000 people in New Zealand did the same, that’s an amazing
1.5% of the population !!!!!! Of course, many of these were rebellion against religions fanticies as a whole being forced onto people in my opinion. I just can’t help but think of the John Lennon song, Imagine. How did I end up reading your blog I wonder??? LOL
FYI- Wiki link where I got these numbers from as I forgot them in my old age. LOL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon
Yes indeed, I had heard of such things! Pretty neat, aye? And I can see you like coffee – woot! Will check out your site today. Thanks for stopping by!
Yeah, I do like a good mug of coffee, that is true !!! That site has been side tracked a bit, a learning site. It’s purpose was to help promote Asian fair trade coffees, there is not allot of information out there, I hope to have many pages up next month on the subject, I have been slack and left it idle. I was pleasantly supervised while on a holiday a few years ago, in the ‘Golden Triangle’ in North West Thailand, to see opium fields replaced with coffee plantations, but the huge difference was between the farmers who were growing and selling to the corrupt manoplies and the groups that formed co-ops and Fair Trade sponsored. About tipple the income went to the farmer of the second. I hope to use the site as an “excuse” to justify a holiday to Laos as well !!! It is a slow work in progress at best.
I booked marked your site, and just subscribed, you have a real mixture of goodies.
Also asked myself, what the heck is this comment luv thingo you have. I am not into wordpress personally. Also, how do I include a pic of my ugly face?
http://wordpress.org/ extend/plugins/commentluv/ [space inserted]
Hi Bobby!
Commentluv is just plain awesome goodness – it deeplinks your commenter’s latest article. Sire just wrote http://wassupblog.com/commentluv-premium-adding-to-revenue-stream/ – it’s definitely something to look into!
And Gravatars are at http://en.gravatar.com/ . Hope that helps!