Look forward to reading it. A vast topic which unfortunately lends itself to being mired in the complexity that Alon Misrahi excoriates in his latest piece. Although I think we might be pointing to something similar. Fighting against immorality is engaging with conflict. And perhaps some aspects of our humanity have become so distorted as to be spun off, out of reach of mutual respect. Yet another aspect of Alon's fabulous and passionate post speaks to the idea of simply refusing to engage with defenders of the indefensible. I am open to the idea that all expressions of humanity are evidence of simultaneous one-ness and infinite diversity. Our minds are such that it is difficult to hold such things, appearing as mutually exclusive conditions. We are so enthralled by materiality, space, and time that our separateness appears paramount. But there are so many things which hint at our unity. So, while the humans who behave inhumanly are easily cast off, I am wary of thinking that they do not possess or express some aspect of my own potential.
And perhaps further, we label extreme versions of our capacity as 'psychopathic' which in a way closes the brackets around something which seems more of a spectrum or range of behaviours. To exclude ourselves from that range because we can identify and repudiate basic wrongdoing may or may not be a blind spot. And my suspicion would be that psychopathic behaviour perhaps extends out of or as an expression of trauma. Trauma can exacerbate dissociation. Another hint of our unity: we are all vulnerable to trauma and our responses vary in their degree of dissociation. Perhaps as Kastrup suggests dissociation lies at the foundation of our beingness and is the mechanism by which our separateness and sense of separateness arises.
Rereading the post, I think about times when I've changed my mind and my views. And learned to behave differently.
I watched a very disturbing film forty years ago that turned me and three friends into life long vegans. The film showed us the damage caused to animals by factory farming, scientific experiments, etc. And this was a long time ago so the information wasn't as readily available as it is now.
Sometimes things need to be pointed out so that we can realize that we're causing harm. Societal indoctrination is thorough. I think about how a lot of things are presented to us, and we're persuaded to believe things that harm others.
I wonder how we instigate the kinds of epiphanies humanity is so desperately needing.
I've had a few myself. Veganism being one. And confrontation with my own limited points of view which had taken me toward authoritarianism. Definitely the search for truth and holding ourselves to account for our views is critical to expanding consciousness. Stephen Jenkinson has a beautiful paragraph in his book 'Die Wise' which speaks about your concern for wider caring when it comes to consequences. He had been observing people casually using motorised watercraft on a river at a place he loved to visit when it was quiet. 'What if those people could stand on the shore watching their wake wash bits of the shore away?'
'And what if each of us could stay put long enough to see the rippling trail of everything we did rolling out behind us?'
'What if we stopped long enough to see the long train of unintended consequence fan out from every innocently intended thing we did?'
Don't we wish...
Wishing, hoping, and imagining what we might be capable of. Perhaps calling to what is already here for us. Or perhaps just a wish...
I'm in the process of writing a post along similar lines, at least in some ways.
Look forward to reading it. A vast topic which unfortunately lends itself to being mired in the complexity that Alon Misrahi excoriates in his latest piece. Although I think we might be pointing to something similar. Fighting against immorality is engaging with conflict. And perhaps some aspects of our humanity have become so distorted as to be spun off, out of reach of mutual respect. Yet another aspect of Alon's fabulous and passionate post speaks to the idea of simply refusing to engage with defenders of the indefensible. I am open to the idea that all expressions of humanity are evidence of simultaneous one-ness and infinite diversity. Our minds are such that it is difficult to hold such things, appearing as mutually exclusive conditions. We are so enthralled by materiality, space, and time that our separateness appears paramount. But there are so many things which hint at our unity. So, while the humans who behave inhumanly are easily cast off, I am wary of thinking that they do not possess or express some aspect of my own potential.
And perhaps further, we label extreme versions of our capacity as 'psychopathic' which in a way closes the brackets around something which seems more of a spectrum or range of behaviours. To exclude ourselves from that range because we can identify and repudiate basic wrongdoing may or may not be a blind spot. And my suspicion would be that psychopathic behaviour perhaps extends out of or as an expression of trauma. Trauma can exacerbate dissociation. Another hint of our unity: we are all vulnerable to trauma and our responses vary in their degree of dissociation. Perhaps as Kastrup suggests dissociation lies at the foundation of our beingness and is the mechanism by which our separateness and sense of separateness arises.
Rereading the post, I think about times when I've changed my mind and my views. And learned to behave differently.
I watched a very disturbing film forty years ago that turned me and three friends into life long vegans. The film showed us the damage caused to animals by factory farming, scientific experiments, etc. And this was a long time ago so the information wasn't as readily available as it is now.
Sometimes things need to be pointed out so that we can realize that we're causing harm. Societal indoctrination is thorough. I think about how a lot of things are presented to us, and we're persuaded to believe things that harm others.
I wonder how we instigate the kinds of epiphanies humanity is so desperately needing.
I've had a few myself. Veganism being one. And confrontation with my own limited points of view which had taken me toward authoritarianism. Definitely the search for truth and holding ourselves to account for our views is critical to expanding consciousness. Stephen Jenkinson has a beautiful paragraph in his book 'Die Wise' which speaks about your concern for wider caring when it comes to consequences. He had been observing people casually using motorised watercraft on a river at a place he loved to visit when it was quiet. 'What if those people could stand on the shore watching their wake wash bits of the shore away?'
'And what if each of us could stay put long enough to see the rippling trail of everything we did rolling out behind us?'
'What if we stopped long enough to see the long train of unintended consequence fan out from every innocently intended thing we did?'