Posted by Todd on February 4, 2001, at 13:22:58
In reply to Re: Wounded Healers, posted by allisonm on February 4, 2001, at 8:10:12
Hi, Allison. Sure, you can play devil's advocate. We all need to challenge each other that way. Does my own opinion of drones make me feel superior? To be honest, yeah, sometimes. We all lead our lives searching for wisdom, searching for the knowledge that will allow ourselves to live our lives with fulfillment and content. When we arrive at basic truths that seem to us to be so self-evident, and they fail to be perceived as such by "drones," it's very easy to slip into that feeling of superiority, that feeling that we "know better" and therefore "are better." Which, of course, is illusory. Any feeling of superiority we might feel over anyone else, although immediately gratifying, is always illusory, and always fades. Because it just ain't the truth. After all, we are all the same. The minute we try to convince ourselves otherwise for whatever reason is the minute we have made ourselves an island and increase pain in our lives. It's the illusion that we are all separate that I believe contributes most to the pain and suffering that we all feel.
Let's stop using the word "drone" here. Reading all of these posts is starting to drive me crazy. They are starting to read like this: "drone blah blah drone ba drone drone blahbah drone." The terms "drone" and "non-drone" are useful for the sake of discussions like these, but when we start to overuse the terms we are losing sight of reality again. The reality that we are all human, that we all hurt, and that we all deserve to lead lives of fulfillment. If we start standing on a saltbox with a "drone" and point out their "droneness" and keep them in their "drone" state because we so desperately want to be a "non-drone," guess what we have become? Yikes, yep, you got it - A DRONE! That's pretty scary stuff. We all play both parts at different times, and it's all perfectly human.
I guess what I am saying is that if we want to affect positive change, we have to be try to patient and humble. Neither of which I am very good at. But I get more patient and more humble reminding myself constantly that we are all the same. No matter how much you may disagree with someone's negative viewpoint, the minute we come off as being superior is the minute we turn the other person off, and the illusion of separateness and pain continues.
I hope that clarifies your questions about reconciling all of my paragraphs. Now what about this feeling of "not fitting" in this world, Allison? You sound like a beautiful, thoughtful person. What makes you feel that the world would be indifferent in your absence? We NEED you to shine your light. I am sure you try to shine it as much as you can, and I am willing to bet that you touch more lives than you imagine. For every person who posts to this board, I would bet there are 5 who are just here to read. Speak your truths. We all need to hear them so we can help each other to heal. Peace and love.
Todd
poster:Todd
thread:4329
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010105/msgs/4409.html