Emproph
03-16-2007, 04:32 AM
I had no intention of this becoming as horrendously long as this has :o, but I think it's a complete thought and I think that's what's most important. So you may want to save this one for a rainy day. :reading: (just a thought :))
~~~
I’m putting this in “Faith and Nonviolence” because the crux of this is ultimately about a universal aspect psychology, the understanding of which will hopefully lead to a more effective means of non-violence.
~~~
I wasn’t planning on posting this just yet but I see that I’m not the only one experiencing this. (click on the arrow in the blue box if you want to go to that thread)
...some of our more conservative brothers and sisters in the Episcopal blogosphere are suggesting that the Equality Riders, or perhaps some other GLBT friendly group, "staged" the vandalism that happened to the Equality Ride bus...
To which Alecto responded:
They said Phelps was a big gay conspiracy too...There's probably some really interesting psychology at work that would be worth looking into...
~~~
So I thought the timing was right, as more people are obviously dealing with this issue outside of – what I thought was – an isolated incident regarding this issue. (Accusations in regard to Equality bus vandalism in particular)
Some quotes here for set up so please bear with me.
The Christian right is a "deeply anti-democratic movement" that gains force by exploiting Americans' fears, argues Chris Hedges.
Salon talks with (http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/01/08/fascism/) the former New York Times reporter about his fearless new book, "American Fascists."
By Michelle Goldberg
Jan. 8, 2007
Doesn't it make sense for the Democrats to reach out to the huge number of evangelicals who aren't necessarily part of the religious right, but who may be sympathetic to some of its rhetoric? Couldn't those people be up for grabs?
I don't think they are up for grabs because they have been ushered into a non-reality-based belief system. This isn't a matter of, "This is one viewpoint, here's another." This is a world of magic and signs and miracles and wonders, and [on the other side] is the world you hate, the liberal society that has shunted you aside and thrust you into despair.
The rage that is directed at those who go after the movement is the rage of those who fear deeply being pushed back into this despair, from which many of the people I interviewed feel they barely escaped. A lot of people talked about suicide attempts or thoughts of suicide -- these people really reached horrific levels of desperation. And now they believe that Jesus has a plan for them and intervenes in their life every day to protect them, and they can't give that up.
So in a way, the movement really has helped them.
Look, you could always tell in a refugee camp in Gaza when one of these kids joined Hamas, because suddenly they were clean, their djelleba was white, they walked with a sense of purpose.
Do you think Bush is a believer, or do you think he and his administration are just cynically manipulating their foot soldiers?
I think he's a believer, to the extent that this belief system empowers his own arrogant sense of privilege and intellectual shallowness. In a real sense he fits the profile: a washout, not a very good family life -- apparently his mother was a horror show -- a drunk, a drug addict, coasted because of his daddy, reaches middle age, hasn't done anything with his life, finds Jesus. That fits a lot of people in the movement.
~~~
Regarding the trademark authoritarian mindset of the radical religious right. My point with these is to show a complication as to why the virulently anti-gay people may feel SO threatened -- they see us as as dirty as themselves -- They know what Dirty dirty means, and they are now 'clean' -- and they ain't about to let us get away with happiness in our "dirtiness."
(slight edits for better clarification) First person:
If my authoritarian/assumptive reasoning (listen and do as leaders say no matter the cost) is flawed, then that = no Bible = no God = no supremacy = the fear of death and an empty life devoid of pride and full of guilt for those I’ve wronged.
-whereas if it's/I'm right:
No moral decisions = no responsibility = no consequences = no fear of being wrong = no moral decisions.
Remove any one of those factors from the equation and the entire belief system collapses. The legitimacy of homosexuality represents a threat to ALL of them. We’re not just a threat to their security blanket, we’re a threat to their salvation. A fear that by nature of their authoritarian belief system can never see the light of day.
Also:
http://joebrummer.com/WordPress/?p=512
It is amazing how anti-gay people will claim they are not afraid of gays, but the fear shines through. Anti-gay forces are soaked in fear, especially fundamentalist Christians who are so afraid if they should condone homosexuality in anyway, they too will go to hell. When they tell you they are not afraid of homo’s, know in your heart they are terrified of us. They are so afraid that our salvation will somehow affect theirs. I urge compassion for this. Compassion is the only thing that can cure fear and homophobia.
Which sets the stage for:
The True Believer (1951)
Thoughts on the nature of mass movements
Eric Hoffer
The Sinners
Fervent patriotism as well as religious and revolutionary enthusiasm often serves as a refuge from a guilty conscience.
It sometimes seems that mass movements are custom-made to fit the needs of the criminal – not only for the catharsis of his soul but also for the exercise of his inclinations and talents.
Here, as elsewhere, the technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure.
An effective mass movement cultivates the idea of sin.
...salvation is found by losing oneself in the holy oneness of the congregation.
It has been observed that in the exaltation of mass movements (whether patriotic, religious or revolutionary) common crime declines.
It is perhaps true that the criminal who embraces a holy cause is more ready to risk his life and go to extremes in its defense than people who are awed by the sanctity of life and property.
Which harkens back to:
I was just reading one of the Blogging from the Buses (http://www.soulforce.org/blogs) entries and was reminded of this thread. Rider Emily Van Kley shares four things that stood out to her in their nonviolence training.4. Veteran civil-rights worker Reverend Phil Lawson’s warning us that the traditional Christian theology in which God sacrifices God’s only son for our sins may well validate violence as a way of solving problems.In other words, guess who's going to see salvation (the crucifixion) in the violent sense?.. Those who are of the violent mindset to begin with.
~~~
After taking all that into consideration I’d like to use a couple of recent canards as examples to wrap up.
Each of these next two people/examples have the “portray the oppressor as the victim mentality.”
FIRST, minimal acknowledgment that the behavior is wrong:
PFOX (Parents and friends of Ex-gays - Re Anne Coulter the F word: No one should be subjected to hateful name calling
Stacey Harp - Re Soulforce bus defacement: I denounce this behavior and say it’s wrong.
SECOND, The body of the message is comprised of blaming and accusing the victim in the worst – most absurd ways possible, and/or as often and as much as possible:
There are much more to these stories, these are only a few examples.
PFOX Responds to Ann Coulter Critics (http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2007/03/pfox-on-ann-coulter-edwards-did-it-first/)
Because Greg Quinlan of Ohio Pro-Family Network is openly ex-gay, Melissa McEwan, a former Edwards campaign blogger, called Quinlan a ‘useless, self-loathing ****’ on her blog. “No one should be subjected to hateful name calling, either gay or ex-gay,” said Griggs. “Unlike Coulter, McEwan’s statement was not made in jest or for humorous purposes.”
McEwan’s statement about former homosexuals is set forth below:
Oh, and I see...that “Hate Crimes Bills” are one of your priorities. What does that have to do with families? ...Just because you were “miserable” as a gay man and were “ashamed of being gay,” doesn’t give you the right to try to ungay-by-law all the other people who don’t feel ashamed of themselves...
The insults may have been gratuitous on McEwan’s part, but the issue was clearly about Greg Quinlan’s unethical stance on the repeal of laws that provide equal protection to gays and NOT about all, or even any other “former homosexuals,” as Ms. Griggs of PFOX asserts.
And then there’s this:
Stacey Harp’s take on the Soulforce bus defacement incident:
http://joebrummer.com/WordPress/?p=581
And considering the past has shown us that some lesbians and homosexuals like to be victims of their own crimes, well, as is documented in...who is to say that it wasn’t someone from the homosexual community that vandalized the bus?
However, Soulforce is the only one who gains anything with this story - so you make your own conclusion.
THIRD, they both conclude with an element of a demand for an apology.
PFOX: “We are still waiting for the Edwards campaign to issue a statement in support of the ex-gay community,” said Griggs.
Stacey Harp: And I’m still waiting for members of the homosexual community to denounce the threats of violence towards me.
~~~
We’ve explored the Authoritarian mindset in other threads, and the fear that requires an “authority” to make the hard decisions for you.
And I’ve been suspecting that these leadership positions of authoritarian power – your “anti-homosexual [c]hristian activists” if you will – are magnets for the unethical or “criminal” mind, as is noted in the Mass Movements quote above -- in that the they were attracted to those positions, a natural niche for the criminal/dishonest mindset. Yet now their unethical talents can be used for "good."
Which brings us to the psychologic defense mechanism of projection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection), a hallmark and trademark of the Radical Right. My observation of this applies to political leaders as well as religious leaders, so it seems that it’s more an attribute of the authoritarian mindset as opposed to a necessarily religious mindset.
Take the “homosexual agenda™” for example. Everything they accuse us of doing to them is precisely what they do to us – including the overall accusation of having a well organized nefarious secret agenda.
My only question at this point is, how many of them are unaware that they are projecting, and how many of them actually stop to think to themselves; “...hmm, now what am I planning to do to them, and that’s what I’ll accuse them of doing to me.”
~~~
My thinking is that the idea of “salvation” to the “sinner” mindset is seen not as redemption, but as the legitimization of sin – namely, their sin. If one inherently sees oneself as sinful, then the idea of redemption/salvation is inherently illogical. Ergo, anything logical; facts, reason, science etc., need not necessarily apply.
In other words, they depend on an idea of salvation that is itself illogical – because they consider themselves unsalvageable.
~~~
I don’t want to necessarily explore the psychosis involved in such an ideal here, but to perhaps to make sense of their propensity for projection.
If one is of the criminal mind so to speak, unethical, dishonest etc., – that is reality for them. That is what THE world consists of and is made of. They are blind to the IDEA of fundamental honesty and ethics. Therefore, when what appears to be honest or simple truth is coming from people they hate, they must conclude that there is another explanation.
So of course the Soulforce riders defaced their own bus to create media attention in order to portray themselves as victims — because that’s PRECISELY what would occur to Stacey Harp to do. She equates homosexuality with her own idea of HER sin.
And of course John Edwards is a hypocrite for criticizing Anne Coulter -- one of his staff members disparaged all “former homosexuals.”
That’s the only motive that COULD made sense to Regina Griggs of PFOX – the desire to disparage an entire group of people.
~~~
To take a hopefully more productive turn now...
Shirt Of Flame
The Secret Gay Art Of War
Ko Imani
Not a quote, but he often says that hatred for others is really hatred of self. He applies this to our “enemy,” so to speak, but also to us. If we had all the power and control over our lives that we wished, who could make us angry – who could make us feel like a victim? Thus our “hatred” of our “enemy” is rooted in the hatred of our own iniquity – and is thus PROJECTION.
A Course in Miracles also applies. It mentions often and in many ways of “seeing your brother as sinless.”
If you see everyone as made by God/Love -- the same as you see yourself as made by God/Love -- the issue is no longer about "sin," it's about helping your brother/sister see God/Love as completely as you do.
This is what I consider to be the perspective of Jesus as Christ. We wretched sinners are no more “wretched” or “sinful” than one’s ability to perceive Love itself as such.
He literally sees us as being JUST as holy as Himself. God’s forgiveness is no more than OUR recognition that God never judged us to begin with.
~~~
And then there’s lil’ ol’ me, Emproph, Sinner extrordinaire. Oh how I self-righteously lament of my “Hateful Supremacist Bigot Unrepentant Idolatrous Anti-Gay Brother.”
It seems that the more vitriolic I become in my labeling of others, the more aware I become of my own projection. As an objective observation, the labels may indeed fit for them and others like them. But the very fact that I choose to describe them as such obviously does NOT come from a place of objectivity.
I recognize these as my projections:
Supremacist – I feel superior to those who feel superior
Bigot – I am bigoted against those who are bigoted
Hateful – I hate those who hate
Unrepentant Idolatry – My idea of sin is “holier” than their idea sin. (I’m defining what is acceptable sin just as they are)
~~~
If God is the only one who is responsible for giving me a “superior” knowledge of the meaning of love/sin, then there can be no semantic argument as to the lesser evil of my sin – The root cause is the same.
So, to what extent is the observation of sin the real sin? In other words, are we ALL projecting ALL the time?
I tend to project honesty and integrity onto others, unless and until I find evidence to the contrary, so I can’t even say with real confidence that our beloved anti-gay foes are projecting up the storms that I suggest. I know it’s true on an intellectual level, but I don’t identify with it. I literally can’t imagine the truth of that kind of dishonest reality in any fundamental sense. In fact I think that my attempting to do so is an attempt to extract myself from my usual projection of honesty and integrity.
But if true about them -- and all of us for that matter -- it explains A LOT.
Even with that knowledge in mind I’m still not necessarily more prone to have compassion for the “other” side. But on a practical note, just the action of questioning that I might be projecting about something often helps – in any situation.
Simple things: commercials, news stories, people driving erratically in front of me. Sometimes I have a negative gut reaction about something, and then I stop to question it; Why do I feel this way, is this based on reality or something I’ve experienced before. Sometimes it is and I run with it, but sometimes I realize that it wasn’t accurate – or at least I realize that I don’t have enough information to sustain my original conclusion. In any event, the questioning process -- especially in regard to personal projection -- leaves me with a more accurate view of reality.
This would probably be the most productive way to use the information I propose here.
From the “How should we dialogue” thread. (Click on the arrow to go to that thread)
My other mistake? Thinking that I knew what the other person was saying when they weren't exactly saying it.
Rule #2: Patience Mr. Hasty. Don't jump the gun. Let people tell you who they are- don't decide for them. Follow the steps of nonviolence, the first of which is gathering information. This means asking questions, not making pronouncements.That's such an excellent point. (How many wars have been started over a misplaced comma?)
So back to the question, are we ALL projecting ALL the time?
Has anyone else considered this or had experience with musings of this sort?
Isn't this what all the philosophical books say – that we "create" our own reality? Could this be the key to unlocking the consciousness of that truth? – even if it's just on a logical level to start with?
:award: to anyone who made it this far – and I pray for you :dollar: – I pray that the prayer imbeds itself in your pixels.
~~~
Luke 6:37-38 (http://scripturetext.com/luke/6-37.htm)
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.
~~~
I’m putting this in “Faith and Nonviolence” because the crux of this is ultimately about a universal aspect psychology, the understanding of which will hopefully lead to a more effective means of non-violence.
~~~
I wasn’t planning on posting this just yet but I see that I’m not the only one experiencing this. (click on the arrow in the blue box if you want to go to that thread)
...some of our more conservative brothers and sisters in the Episcopal blogosphere are suggesting that the Equality Riders, or perhaps some other GLBT friendly group, "staged" the vandalism that happened to the Equality Ride bus...
To which Alecto responded:
They said Phelps was a big gay conspiracy too...There's probably some really interesting psychology at work that would be worth looking into...
~~~
So I thought the timing was right, as more people are obviously dealing with this issue outside of – what I thought was – an isolated incident regarding this issue. (Accusations in regard to Equality bus vandalism in particular)
Some quotes here for set up so please bear with me.
The Christian right is a "deeply anti-democratic movement" that gains force by exploiting Americans' fears, argues Chris Hedges.
Salon talks with (http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/01/08/fascism/) the former New York Times reporter about his fearless new book, "American Fascists."
By Michelle Goldberg
Jan. 8, 2007
Doesn't it make sense for the Democrats to reach out to the huge number of evangelicals who aren't necessarily part of the religious right, but who may be sympathetic to some of its rhetoric? Couldn't those people be up for grabs?
I don't think they are up for grabs because they have been ushered into a non-reality-based belief system. This isn't a matter of, "This is one viewpoint, here's another." This is a world of magic and signs and miracles and wonders, and [on the other side] is the world you hate, the liberal society that has shunted you aside and thrust you into despair.
The rage that is directed at those who go after the movement is the rage of those who fear deeply being pushed back into this despair, from which many of the people I interviewed feel they barely escaped. A lot of people talked about suicide attempts or thoughts of suicide -- these people really reached horrific levels of desperation. And now they believe that Jesus has a plan for them and intervenes in their life every day to protect them, and they can't give that up.
So in a way, the movement really has helped them.
Look, you could always tell in a refugee camp in Gaza when one of these kids joined Hamas, because suddenly they were clean, their djelleba was white, they walked with a sense of purpose.
Do you think Bush is a believer, or do you think he and his administration are just cynically manipulating their foot soldiers?
I think he's a believer, to the extent that this belief system empowers his own arrogant sense of privilege and intellectual shallowness. In a real sense he fits the profile: a washout, not a very good family life -- apparently his mother was a horror show -- a drunk, a drug addict, coasted because of his daddy, reaches middle age, hasn't done anything with his life, finds Jesus. That fits a lot of people in the movement.
~~~
Regarding the trademark authoritarian mindset of the radical religious right. My point with these is to show a complication as to why the virulently anti-gay people may feel SO threatened -- they see us as as dirty as themselves -- They know what Dirty dirty means, and they are now 'clean' -- and they ain't about to let us get away with happiness in our "dirtiness."
(slight edits for better clarification) First person:
If my authoritarian/assumptive reasoning (listen and do as leaders say no matter the cost) is flawed, then that = no Bible = no God = no supremacy = the fear of death and an empty life devoid of pride and full of guilt for those I’ve wronged.
-whereas if it's/I'm right:
No moral decisions = no responsibility = no consequences = no fear of being wrong = no moral decisions.
Remove any one of those factors from the equation and the entire belief system collapses. The legitimacy of homosexuality represents a threat to ALL of them. We’re not just a threat to their security blanket, we’re a threat to their salvation. A fear that by nature of their authoritarian belief system can never see the light of day.
Also:
http://joebrummer.com/WordPress/?p=512
It is amazing how anti-gay people will claim they are not afraid of gays, but the fear shines through. Anti-gay forces are soaked in fear, especially fundamentalist Christians who are so afraid if they should condone homosexuality in anyway, they too will go to hell. When they tell you they are not afraid of homo’s, know in your heart they are terrified of us. They are so afraid that our salvation will somehow affect theirs. I urge compassion for this. Compassion is the only thing that can cure fear and homophobia.
Which sets the stage for:
The True Believer (1951)
Thoughts on the nature of mass movements
Eric Hoffer
The Sinners
Fervent patriotism as well as religious and revolutionary enthusiasm often serves as a refuge from a guilty conscience.
It sometimes seems that mass movements are custom-made to fit the needs of the criminal – not only for the catharsis of his soul but also for the exercise of his inclinations and talents.
Here, as elsewhere, the technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure.
An effective mass movement cultivates the idea of sin.
...salvation is found by losing oneself in the holy oneness of the congregation.
It has been observed that in the exaltation of mass movements (whether patriotic, religious or revolutionary) common crime declines.
It is perhaps true that the criminal who embraces a holy cause is more ready to risk his life and go to extremes in its defense than people who are awed by the sanctity of life and property.
Which harkens back to:
I was just reading one of the Blogging from the Buses (http://www.soulforce.org/blogs) entries and was reminded of this thread. Rider Emily Van Kley shares four things that stood out to her in their nonviolence training.4. Veteran civil-rights worker Reverend Phil Lawson’s warning us that the traditional Christian theology in which God sacrifices God’s only son for our sins may well validate violence as a way of solving problems.In other words, guess who's going to see salvation (the crucifixion) in the violent sense?.. Those who are of the violent mindset to begin with.
~~~
After taking all that into consideration I’d like to use a couple of recent canards as examples to wrap up.
Each of these next two people/examples have the “portray the oppressor as the victim mentality.”
FIRST, minimal acknowledgment that the behavior is wrong:
PFOX (Parents and friends of Ex-gays - Re Anne Coulter the F word: No one should be subjected to hateful name calling
Stacey Harp - Re Soulforce bus defacement: I denounce this behavior and say it’s wrong.
SECOND, The body of the message is comprised of blaming and accusing the victim in the worst – most absurd ways possible, and/or as often and as much as possible:
There are much more to these stories, these are only a few examples.
PFOX Responds to Ann Coulter Critics (http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2007/03/pfox-on-ann-coulter-edwards-did-it-first/)
Because Greg Quinlan of Ohio Pro-Family Network is openly ex-gay, Melissa McEwan, a former Edwards campaign blogger, called Quinlan a ‘useless, self-loathing ****’ on her blog. “No one should be subjected to hateful name calling, either gay or ex-gay,” said Griggs. “Unlike Coulter, McEwan’s statement was not made in jest or for humorous purposes.”
McEwan’s statement about former homosexuals is set forth below:
Oh, and I see...that “Hate Crimes Bills” are one of your priorities. What does that have to do with families? ...Just because you were “miserable” as a gay man and were “ashamed of being gay,” doesn’t give you the right to try to ungay-by-law all the other people who don’t feel ashamed of themselves...
The insults may have been gratuitous on McEwan’s part, but the issue was clearly about Greg Quinlan’s unethical stance on the repeal of laws that provide equal protection to gays and NOT about all, or even any other “former homosexuals,” as Ms. Griggs of PFOX asserts.
And then there’s this:
Stacey Harp’s take on the Soulforce bus defacement incident:
http://joebrummer.com/WordPress/?p=581
And considering the past has shown us that some lesbians and homosexuals like to be victims of their own crimes, well, as is documented in...who is to say that it wasn’t someone from the homosexual community that vandalized the bus?
However, Soulforce is the only one who gains anything with this story - so you make your own conclusion.
THIRD, they both conclude with an element of a demand for an apology.
PFOX: “We are still waiting for the Edwards campaign to issue a statement in support of the ex-gay community,” said Griggs.
Stacey Harp: And I’m still waiting for members of the homosexual community to denounce the threats of violence towards me.
~~~
We’ve explored the Authoritarian mindset in other threads, and the fear that requires an “authority” to make the hard decisions for you.
And I’ve been suspecting that these leadership positions of authoritarian power – your “anti-homosexual [c]hristian activists” if you will – are magnets for the unethical or “criminal” mind, as is noted in the Mass Movements quote above -- in that the they were attracted to those positions, a natural niche for the criminal/dishonest mindset. Yet now their unethical talents can be used for "good."
Which brings us to the psychologic defense mechanism of projection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection), a hallmark and trademark of the Radical Right. My observation of this applies to political leaders as well as religious leaders, so it seems that it’s more an attribute of the authoritarian mindset as opposed to a necessarily religious mindset.
Take the “homosexual agenda™” for example. Everything they accuse us of doing to them is precisely what they do to us – including the overall accusation of having a well organized nefarious secret agenda.
My only question at this point is, how many of them are unaware that they are projecting, and how many of them actually stop to think to themselves; “...hmm, now what am I planning to do to them, and that’s what I’ll accuse them of doing to me.”
~~~
My thinking is that the idea of “salvation” to the “sinner” mindset is seen not as redemption, but as the legitimization of sin – namely, their sin. If one inherently sees oneself as sinful, then the idea of redemption/salvation is inherently illogical. Ergo, anything logical; facts, reason, science etc., need not necessarily apply.
In other words, they depend on an idea of salvation that is itself illogical – because they consider themselves unsalvageable.
~~~
I don’t want to necessarily explore the psychosis involved in such an ideal here, but to perhaps to make sense of their propensity for projection.
If one is of the criminal mind so to speak, unethical, dishonest etc., – that is reality for them. That is what THE world consists of and is made of. They are blind to the IDEA of fundamental honesty and ethics. Therefore, when what appears to be honest or simple truth is coming from people they hate, they must conclude that there is another explanation.
So of course the Soulforce riders defaced their own bus to create media attention in order to portray themselves as victims — because that’s PRECISELY what would occur to Stacey Harp to do. She equates homosexuality with her own idea of HER sin.
And of course John Edwards is a hypocrite for criticizing Anne Coulter -- one of his staff members disparaged all “former homosexuals.”
That’s the only motive that COULD made sense to Regina Griggs of PFOX – the desire to disparage an entire group of people.
~~~
To take a hopefully more productive turn now...
Shirt Of Flame
The Secret Gay Art Of War
Ko Imani
Not a quote, but he often says that hatred for others is really hatred of self. He applies this to our “enemy,” so to speak, but also to us. If we had all the power and control over our lives that we wished, who could make us angry – who could make us feel like a victim? Thus our “hatred” of our “enemy” is rooted in the hatred of our own iniquity – and is thus PROJECTION.
A Course in Miracles also applies. It mentions often and in many ways of “seeing your brother as sinless.”
If you see everyone as made by God/Love -- the same as you see yourself as made by God/Love -- the issue is no longer about "sin," it's about helping your brother/sister see God/Love as completely as you do.
This is what I consider to be the perspective of Jesus as Christ. We wretched sinners are no more “wretched” or “sinful” than one’s ability to perceive Love itself as such.
He literally sees us as being JUST as holy as Himself. God’s forgiveness is no more than OUR recognition that God never judged us to begin with.
~~~
And then there’s lil’ ol’ me, Emproph, Sinner extrordinaire. Oh how I self-righteously lament of my “Hateful Supremacist Bigot Unrepentant Idolatrous Anti-Gay Brother.”
It seems that the more vitriolic I become in my labeling of others, the more aware I become of my own projection. As an objective observation, the labels may indeed fit for them and others like them. But the very fact that I choose to describe them as such obviously does NOT come from a place of objectivity.
I recognize these as my projections:
Supremacist – I feel superior to those who feel superior
Bigot – I am bigoted against those who are bigoted
Hateful – I hate those who hate
Unrepentant Idolatry – My idea of sin is “holier” than their idea sin. (I’m defining what is acceptable sin just as they are)
~~~
If God is the only one who is responsible for giving me a “superior” knowledge of the meaning of love/sin, then there can be no semantic argument as to the lesser evil of my sin – The root cause is the same.
So, to what extent is the observation of sin the real sin? In other words, are we ALL projecting ALL the time?
I tend to project honesty and integrity onto others, unless and until I find evidence to the contrary, so I can’t even say with real confidence that our beloved anti-gay foes are projecting up the storms that I suggest. I know it’s true on an intellectual level, but I don’t identify with it. I literally can’t imagine the truth of that kind of dishonest reality in any fundamental sense. In fact I think that my attempting to do so is an attempt to extract myself from my usual projection of honesty and integrity.
But if true about them -- and all of us for that matter -- it explains A LOT.
Even with that knowledge in mind I’m still not necessarily more prone to have compassion for the “other” side. But on a practical note, just the action of questioning that I might be projecting about something often helps – in any situation.
Simple things: commercials, news stories, people driving erratically in front of me. Sometimes I have a negative gut reaction about something, and then I stop to question it; Why do I feel this way, is this based on reality or something I’ve experienced before. Sometimes it is and I run with it, but sometimes I realize that it wasn’t accurate – or at least I realize that I don’t have enough information to sustain my original conclusion. In any event, the questioning process -- especially in regard to personal projection -- leaves me with a more accurate view of reality.
This would probably be the most productive way to use the information I propose here.
From the “How should we dialogue” thread. (Click on the arrow to go to that thread)
My other mistake? Thinking that I knew what the other person was saying when they weren't exactly saying it.
Rule #2: Patience Mr. Hasty. Don't jump the gun. Let people tell you who they are- don't decide for them. Follow the steps of nonviolence, the first of which is gathering information. This means asking questions, not making pronouncements.That's such an excellent point. (How many wars have been started over a misplaced comma?)
So back to the question, are we ALL projecting ALL the time?
Has anyone else considered this or had experience with musings of this sort?
Isn't this what all the philosophical books say – that we "create" our own reality? Could this be the key to unlocking the consciousness of that truth? – even if it's just on a logical level to start with?
:award: to anyone who made it this far – and I pray for you :dollar: – I pray that the prayer imbeds itself in your pixels.
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Luke 6:37-38 (http://scripturetext.com/luke/6-37.htm)
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.