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Here is my response to author, Ariel Burger's article on Awakin.org:
An "answer" is definitive with no openness. It has no room for an open ended discussion and a dialogue. A response is an invitation with an open mind and humility for self-examination. A response has an empathic and open-minded understanding of different perspectives instead of close-minded authoritarian stance: My way is the only right way and there is no other away of addressing and working on personal, interpersonal and collective questions and challenges. Morality is one of the core elements of personal, interpersonal and social well-being. The question is how am I relating to morality in my personal, interpersonal, and social life? Am I relating to morality in a ferocious and arrogant way or with empathy, humility and tenderness? I maintain a balance between being genuine and empathic, candid and kind. This is the way I practice morality in my personal and interpersonal life. There are times when I lose this dynamic balance and judge myself and others somewhat harshly. Such experiences have made me realize that I am fallible and others too .We are not perfect. It is a learning process. We learn from our mistakes, forgive us and maintain the balance. Light of awareness, practicing mindfulness, maintaining the balance between moral ferocity and humility and tenderness have been my helping companions. May we cultivate a balance between moral ferocity and humility and tenderness. Namaste!
4 Comments
8/14/2021 02:27:51 pm
Creator, I invite others for their thoughts into my life? May this guide and assist by learning to be more empathic and open-minded in all that I hear.
Therese
8/14/2021 03:10:01 pm
My pryaer is with you.
Maria
8/14/2021 03:34:56 pm
I agree that answers seem absolute and responses are opportunities to ask questions to clarify understanding between couples, families, communities, and countries. We need to respond with more awareness and less judgment. I hope that we can get to a regular practice of not seeking answers but asking more questions to deepen our understanding of our shared values.
Debbie Podwika
8/14/2021 07:15:50 pm
I agree...and that I'm not perfect at it either, especially in the last 4 yrs. I remember once in my Lifespan course I asked my class when the heart starts to beat. Now they were suppose to have read the text, so I was asking questions based on this. One young woman excitedly raised her hand and said 3 days gestation. Now I could have just said, "No that is wrong" and even said it with a smidge of some attitude (hopefully not!) but my brain immediately said to me, where did she get that information? I know it was not the book. So, I asked her and she told me her Right to Life Group. Again, I did not say anything directly about that, but instead I asked her if she recalled in science courses genetics and cell division? She had, I said at 3 days how many cells do you think you have? Are eyes formed? She said no, legs, fingers etc....you could see the light bulb go off that a heart could not be formed to even beat. Then you could see her get angry at who told her this information. I then said, I'm not even telling you what I believed on the issues, but for either side of it, it does not serve the side if wrong information is given. I also said, keep in mind the person who told you may have not tried to give you wrong information, they too may have heard it from someone and not thought about it enough and just believed the person because they trusted them, so maybe kindly go back to them and have a conversation with them. If this was a personal conversation and not a classroom situation, I could have just had a nasty attitude but it would not have really helped that person realize how their information is wrong and then they would have continued to spread that wrong information. I think also a great deal of whether we answer vs respond is based on how much time we have. Am I heading out of grocery store to some protestors and have somewhere to be or is this just a nice conversation with friends or family. Many other variables can influence it. We also know people are nastier to strangers on say Facebook who you do not know. Leave a Reply. |
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