Splintered Soul, Shattered Lives #11

Timothy, I like it a lot and would love to add that to believe is the first step, to think about it is the 2nd and to act is the 3rd. Being passive believers is not enough. I am sure you are going to continue and tell us more.
thank you

Timothy, since I set this group up, I do wish you had said "I believe" because I certainly don't believe some of those things. For example the very first one: you believe that "children are our future."

I believe that is a cop out. WE are our children's future and until we take full responsibility for that, we are shortchanging them.

There's more, so please...in any future posts, don't say "we." It makes it sound like an official stance of this group and that simply is not so.

I do not purport to represent any group. I accept that I am the sum of all of my parts. Accepting that I am made up of other parts indicates a "we" existence. As one travels the road I have been on, one understands that we, are never truly alone. Your children are your future here on earth. Yes, you are correct, in return we definitely hold their future in our hands. We as a society shortchange children everyday. That was kinda the whole point of message. We, you and me and anyone else that is moved to, needs to change or they will have no future here on earth. "We" are interconnected to all living things. Of course you have the right to choose a singular existence or disagree with anything that I have written. We do not wish to offend anyone or push our beliefs on any group. We have repeatedly mentioned freedom and choice as core tenets to what "we believe."

Thanks for sharing that, Timothy. :-)

Wonderful article, Timothy.....and wonderful words to embrace. Thank you for sharing.

wonderful...and yes many people do believe in this and state it as i do, but how many actually try to make a difference...thats what we need in this world isnt it?, for everyone to do their part, to work together because it isnt every man for themselves, or it shouldnt be that way...together and strong but divided and weak. For example...we believe in forgiveness, i do too...but how many of us actually forgive...

Please understand that I do not wish to seem pretentiously wise or expert in any area, nor to have many 'great answers' ; but I do find it fascinating that many of the tenets of your creed coincide very closely with the teachings of the Gita, the Dhammapada and the wisdom teachings within the Christian Scriptures. Some of the others seem to be offshoots or outgrowths of those basic moral and ethical principles. Very good points; and I must also agree with Sara Elizabeth, above, if I may paraphrase a Scripture, 'Let us be not only hearers, but also doers of these words', for we must put into our own daily practice all of the values that we cherish, if we would make the world better. And finally, yes, forgiveness, and love for its' own sake, are the greatest foundations, I think.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

There are some things that I disagree with on your list but all in all, it is a very good list. Thoughts create our world and if everyone thought the way you do, I believe things would be better for all.

My only contribution is, that if thoughts create our world, particular words create our thoughts. If we don't like present reality, then we might look at the words we use with a critical eye and ear, to see the connection. Bill C.

Timothy,
I don't believe in everything you have down, but that is the nature of humanity .... Very nice piece.

I may not agree with all these beliefs, but I certainly enjoyed reading and appreciated contemplating the article.

Timothy... well done! I agree with you that "we" doesn't necessarily mean that "the group" is stating a position. It's a more general use of "humankind" than and specific statement.

I like that there is both continuity and contradiction in these belief statements because that reflects real human experience. This is quite a good piece!

I don't agree that holding on to pain causes anger, it would have to be the other way around.
Interesting topics for thought.

Timothy, the spiritual journey is the acceptance of others and ourselves as God created us - the essence of this is the recognition that we are as one and thus we share our reality. The Golden Rule of doing unto others applies. However, we need to be mindful that this does not include sharing insanity - hatred, and so forth - and means refusing to accept insanity when this is offered by 'others.'

I agree with most of 'your' list but note that I don't say 'our list.' To me it is insanity to believe in your:
'We believe in Peace, but not at the cost of ignoring Evil.
We believe that Evil must be confronted, never ignored.
We believe that there is the capacity for Good and Evil housed in all of us.'

You are either a peace maker or you are not - there can be no qualification in this. Confrontation is war making. It is judging against, thereby casting out.

We cannot judge 'Evil' because we do not understand totality - at best, we can only guess.

We cannot be Evil as God created us - such is ego (or 'me, myself, I') - for He is Perfection, creating only perfection, and He created us.

The Perfect cannot created perfection which is imperfect - this belief is a contradiction in terms. You can only maintain this through dissociation, which is insanity.

There are a few other beliefs on your list which I do not share. But, on a positive note, I agree with most of the thoughts in your article.

Magi

<<I accept that I am the sum of all of my parts. Accepting that I am made up of other parts indicates a "we" existence.>>

That doesn't make sense because even if you are made up of many parts (as indeed, everyone is) all those parts simply add up to one individual. That's an "I."

I also don't believe we are shortchanging our children. I have only to look at my own personal past and that of my ancestors to see how far our society has come. I am thankful for what this nation has built and my generation has inherited and I spend every day of my life trying to improve on it for my family and community. I see no reason to flail myself over the mistakes of the past or present, but see them as a learning experience and impetous for trying to do better.

The simple truth is that accepting the reality of the present and working on specific solutions is helpful. Criticizing in broad generalities isn't.

But there's a primary election tomorrow and I have to work at the polls, beginning at 6 am. I've spent the past three months working hard to help a candidate and tomorrow we learn if it's four more months of hard work or if we can rest a little.

I believe, sure I do. But I do not coincide with "group think." I act as an individual trying to live the best life I can and being altruistic. Helping my fellow man is a primary goal of mine. That is why I am a teacher. I expose my knowldge and ideals for the taking. But I do not pass judgment. Anne Grote

I believe humans are far more than we think we are, we are smarter, can live longer, and do not need to suffer so much from illness and despair

I believe the "it" is thought.

I believe we can and must love (accept/recognize) each other unconditionally, non judgmentally

I believe the thing that is more powerful than you and I is we and us.

Timothy,
You have statements but not a story.
You have listed important idea's dryly and I would bet that if you gave it some more time and some more muse you could shape this into more that a shopping list of beliefs.
It's all about story.

Thank you Mr. Cortis for this wonderful
list of your beliefs. It's refreshing.

Now this is a legacy of belief I can adhere to.

I would add: I believe that we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes; that suffering opens the doors to compassion; that God is no stranger to suffering is with us in even our darkest moments.

Thanks to all of you for your comments.

i believe that each of these statements needs to be dealt with in depth!
i believe you are on the right track though and am interested in the follow up!
thanks!

I don't think it really matters what anyone thinks is true or untrue....it won't change what is.
Kelly J Aug, 2006

Wouod be better if you changed the "we" to "I"

you are definitely on to something and should continue it.

I do I do......and ah what Mandi said

This is very powerful. I believe in most of these but I would add a few caveats to some. Our perceptions and our beliefs are tempered by life experience. If you had my life experiences, for example, you might have a different take on some of these.

I think one of the most valuable of these suggestions is that illness is often a reaction to situations in your life. However, I do think medication is often necessary and useful. Some problems are so deep rooted that it takes many years of living to become aware of them, let alone cure them. People do not need to live in pain, danger, etc.

Kudos to you for being able to summarize your beliefs and have the courage to bring them to Gather.

Excellent!

Timothy, let us all be the change we want to see in the world. Your ideas are not lofty just very practical. I appreciate you thinking on these things.

Timothy, thank you for asking me to comment on this. I like the poetic/prose structure you have put into this manifesto of sorts. The "we believe," gives it a sort of battle cry, preamble air, which, as has been stated above, certainly begs for more explanation. Which is a good thing. Conversely, it is an aggregate of many categorical statements, some which I would wholeheartedly agree, and some which I would assert are highly open to debate. Particularly, your statements in the psychological realm appear to me to be biased in the Freudian tradition, which, while having a lot of good things to say, in my personal estimation, is far too bent in one particular way of understanding human behavior. I would have other interactions on some of the other points you make, but time does not allow it here.

Timothy, you have asked me to read and comment on your pieces, and so I will do that.

After reading your stuff, the first thought that popped into my mind (and stayed there, throughout) was, "He's hiding something." In other words, it does seem to me that the real story, the truly powerful story, is the one you AREN'T writing, for whatever reason. It wouldn't be easy, but I bet it would be a powerful and meaningful piece, that would be extraordinarily moving.

Timothy,

You wrote: I do not purport to represent any group. I accept that I am the sum of all of my parts. Accepting that I am made up of other parts indicates a "we" existence. As one travels the road I have been on, one understands that we, are never truly alone. Your children are your future here on earth. Yes, you are correct, in return we definitely hold their future in our hands. We as a society shortchange children everyday. That was kinda the whole point of message. We, you and me and anyone else that is moved to, needs to change or they will have no future here on earth. "We" are interconnected to all living things. Of course you have the right to choose a singular existence or disagree with anything that I have written. We do not wish to offend anyone or push our beliefs on any group. We have repeatedly mentioned freedom and choice as core tenets to what "we believe."

I also beleive that we are all interconnected, that we share an connection to the Divine - but I do not agree with the use of the term "We".

Each and every one of us may be connected but we are singular in our identity and our personalities. We being finite mind/body who may connect to the infinite are still working from a singualr finite perspective. it is not a choice it is the way we are. We consciously in our thought creations, beleifs, memories, etc are individuals - singular beings. We can feel a connection to more - but any statement any human makes is an individual statement. It is an error to think and present it as a collective statement.

That is not something we can choose - we are only singular conscious minds.

Timothy,
ps. For the sake of discussion with other people - the use of the "We" is generally considered a point of confussion - normal English grammar and normal English Language culture treats the use of the word "we" as being acceptable only when
1) speaking for some group
or
2) The Leader of some group stating what that group is suppose to think or say - The speech of a King or a Pope or a Dictator.

Otherwise, when used by an average citizen - it is confussing and comes off pompous.