Here are some debates that come to mind: Abortion, Gun Control, Politics, Tax. For as far back as I can remember being aware of them as issues, I've heard and read a lot of arguments on both sides. Some make sense, others just make my eyes roll. But I have yet to hear an actual applicable solution come out of any debate over them--lots and lots of words, little substance. Too many are just trying to win their chosen side of the argument--kind of like our American football games.
I know it's an ego-thing running the show, yet I also "really know" at the heart of the matter, deep in the core of each of us, most of us want a change--not a compromise, but a true solution, a win-win for all. Only most of humanity doesn't believe it's possible, so few actually consider going beyond the debate. That would mean getting quiet and opening their hearts and looking inside themselves for the solution. Most people are afraid of who they really are--that was me at one time. Add trusting thyself to the mix, and well...things feel like they come screeching to a halt, don't they. So back to the debate we default, and around the mental merry-go-round (or misery-go-round) it goes.
When I look back at my education experience--I was taught how to debate and how to mentally figure out problems using methods and established patterns. In public speaking, we were given a side to take and then had to come up with arguments to defend that side--even if we didn't fully agree with that, or either, side. In math problem exercises, I had to show every step of my reasoning to the solution. I've seen a lot of young people who "just knew" the answer to the problem, but didn't show their reasoning--and they got docked points, even though they'd arrived at the correct answer.
Our intuitive, inner knowingness doesn't currently get cultivated in our school systems--at least not on a large scale that I can see yet. Nor does exercising our hearts--things like compassion for, and unconditional acceptance of self--which, I've discovered, then leads to my ability to extend that outwards to others with ease. The old school system curriculum is all pretty mental yet--based on creating intellectuals. I've met some great intellectuals who weren't very adept at honoring and respecting others--they simply didn't have the experience in sensitivity to cultivate that.
There was talk of asking questions with open-ended answers even twenty years ago when I was taking education classes, but I'm not sure any of us really grasped what that elusive concept meant back then. I know I was a bit afraid of the idea at the time, especially how to teach using that approach. You have to let go of control and not use the old standards of measurement. Kind of blows the grading approach out of the water.
We're taught to make laws and follow rules and we're expected to conform to some outside idea of how we're supposed to be (politically correct). We're told to care about the planet and how to take care of her (recycling) but not how to freely nurture our individual relationship with her.
When was the last time you had a discussion anywhere about claiming your own sovereignty, much less discussed it in school or at home with your family? Does it seem like a foreign impossibility? Have you found yourself ridiculing the idea simply because you didn't understand it?
In grade school, I was taught how to balance a checkbook--an exercise that actually perpetuates lack consciousness. We only have a limited amount to work with so we'll make compromises and allocations and try to cut costs in order to have just barely enough. Flowing abundance wasn't even a blip in my formal education awareness. And here we are, still trying to balance the budget? Oh, looky there--another debate...any time I hear talk of balancing that budget, all I hear anymore is blah, blah, blah.
I was taught I had to have a perfect work ethic in order to earn my way properly--and that if life flowed too abundantly easily for me, then I was doing something wrong. For anything to have proper worth, you need to sweat blood and tears to have it. We've been a society trading and competing in angst.
We've been taught to compare ourselves, grade ourselves, be slaves and compete. How about encouraging each person to "get to know thyself"? And we're not all writers--so the arts are extremely helpful in exploring oneself--yet many schools are without them in the curriculum, due to LACK consciousness, and society's idea of what is important. Is it really any wonder then, that some kids just blow up--just like certain adults at times? What good are facts and figures when you feel absolutely yucky about yourself and your life? Does the cultivation of an ace debater make for a better life?
I have nothing but the utmost appreciation for teachers--past and present--but we need to expand our consciousness so they can freely teach today--in the moment--with the intuitive passion and compassion that I know the true teacher has. That compassion and acceptance thing begins at home, right inside you, moms and dads. Really, is any of this debatable?
Rules used flexibly as a guideline have been of the best service to me, rather than the all or nothing, polar opposite ends of the spectrum ideas that seem to find their way into arguments.
I generally don't pick up hitchhikers. But the two times I did stop, I was listening to my intuition and heart--not my head. And they were both benevolent experiences. With the second instance, I had decided ahead of time that when I arrived in Belfield, I was going to give a hitchhiker a ride if I saw one there. And sure enough, there he was. I had driven a few miles down the road with him before I recognized him. He was actually someone I had treasured enough to want the chance to meet him again in order to tell him thank you for his treatment of me years ago. Though I haven't had the nudging to pick up a hitchhiker since, flexing that rule in that moment gave me that opportunity and blessing.
There was talk of asking questions with open-ended answers even twenty years ago when I was taking education classes, but I'm not sure any of us really grasped what that elusive concept meant back then. I know I was a bit afraid of the idea at the time, especially how to teach using that approach. You have to let go of control and not use the old standards of measurement. Kind of blows the grading approach out of the water.
We're taught to make laws and follow rules and we're expected to conform to some outside idea of how we're supposed to be (politically correct). We're told to care about the planet and how to take care of her (recycling) but not how to freely nurture our individual relationship with her.
When was the last time you had a discussion anywhere about claiming your own sovereignty, much less discussed it in school or at home with your family? Does it seem like a foreign impossibility? Have you found yourself ridiculing the idea simply because you didn't understand it?
In grade school, I was taught how to balance a checkbook--an exercise that actually perpetuates lack consciousness. We only have a limited amount to work with so we'll make compromises and allocations and try to cut costs in order to have just barely enough. Flowing abundance wasn't even a blip in my formal education awareness. And here we are, still trying to balance the budget? Oh, looky there--another debate...any time I hear talk of balancing that budget, all I hear anymore is blah, blah, blah.
I was taught I had to have a perfect work ethic in order to earn my way properly--and that if life flowed too abundantly easily for me, then I was doing something wrong. For anything to have proper worth, you need to sweat blood and tears to have it. We've been a society trading and competing in angst.
We've been taught to compare ourselves, grade ourselves, be slaves and compete. How about encouraging each person to "get to know thyself"? And we're not all writers--so the arts are extremely helpful in exploring oneself--yet many schools are without them in the curriculum, due to LACK consciousness, and society's idea of what is important. Is it really any wonder then, that some kids just blow up--just like certain adults at times? What good are facts and figures when you feel absolutely yucky about yourself and your life? Does the cultivation of an ace debater make for a better life?
I have nothing but the utmost appreciation for teachers--past and present--but we need to expand our consciousness so they can freely teach today--in the moment--with the intuitive passion and compassion that I know the true teacher has. That compassion and acceptance thing begins at home, right inside you, moms and dads. Really, is any of this debatable?
Rules used flexibly as a guideline have been of the best service to me, rather than the all or nothing, polar opposite ends of the spectrum ideas that seem to find their way into arguments.
I generally don't pick up hitchhikers. But the two times I did stop, I was listening to my intuition and heart--not my head. And they were both benevolent experiences. With the second instance, I had decided ahead of time that when I arrived in Belfield, I was going to give a hitchhiker a ride if I saw one there. And sure enough, there he was. I had driven a few miles down the road with him before I recognized him. He was actually someone I had treasured enough to want the chance to meet him again in order to tell him thank you for his treatment of me years ago. Though I haven't had the nudging to pick up a hitchhiker since, flexing that rule in that moment gave me that opportunity and blessing.
Back in the days when I was reading the Bible, I was always amazed at how Jesus seemingly pulled a solution out of nowhere whenever a Pharisee or someone else tried to trip him up by bringing him an argument that seemed to have no solution without Jesus compromising himself. I'd expect him to have to pick a side and then defend it, but he actually resolved it without picking a side. He'd gone outside the box of expectations. And I wanted to do that myself, in my own life.
For example, when presented with a woman accused of adultery by her husband, I anticipated him picking either the side of the wife or the husband. But he picked neither. His reply was something like, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone..." And everyone walked away.
This is probably why I see it as silly to get involved in the relationship between two other people by taking a side. I've found it best to encourage people to feel into themselves first, and then to communicate from their heart to the other person (not me) what they really desire in their relationship. It's so damn easy to tell everyone what's wrong that we've forgotten how to express what we truly desire to each other. It's a challenging shift, I know--whining came so easily for me, too.
Is being the winner of an argument more important than a true solution?
"I TOLD YOU SO!"--is being right more important than connecting at the heart?
Is the debate a distraction?...only you can determine that for you.
I listen to a lot of arguments, but in the final moment, I'm aware that I always walk away from it determined to do it all my own way anyway...Does that make for wasted breath and words?...probably...
Is being the winner of an argument more important than a true solution?
"I TOLD YOU SO!"--is being right more important than connecting at the heart?
Is the debate a distraction?...only you can determine that for you.
I listen to a lot of arguments, but in the final moment, I'm aware that I always walk away from it determined to do it all my own way anyway...Does that make for wasted breath and words?...probably...
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