If you don't undersand that (fill in the blank), then you're an idiot!!
It's Thursday November 5th 2020. As I write this, we are all tensely awaiting the final Presidential outcome, and people seem nervous and irritable. I've seen 2 posts this morning alone on my Facebook that I'd summarize as "if you don't see things this way, get the heck out of my life" / "I'll unfriend you." This saddens me, and also scares the crap out of me. I'd like people to take into the account the concept of a Paradigm.
A Paradigm (pronounced "PARA-dime") according to Oxford dictionaries online is "a worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular scientific subject". What does this mean? It means your underlying basic beliefs about something will drive all of your conclusions. This applies to many things... Religeon: there is a God, or there is no God. Firearms: guns are bad and need to be highly restricted, or a well armed society is a polite society. Politics: if you endorse a certain candidate you have bad judgement and/or poor character.
Take this non-political example: I trained with Christian Kuehm, Matt Zahand, and Shihan Larry Zahand at Zahand's Martial Arts for about 15 years. I trained my mind, spirit, and body to be able to kill someone with one strike. Some might say that's cruel, aggressive, and possibly even evil. That's one Paradigm. What I found out is that once you learn to fight, and actually do fight (in a controlled, relatively safe environment, with protective equipment and rules) you realize how easy it is to hurt another human, and how easy it is for another to hurt you, and you tend to loose that young aggressive male urge to dominate others or strike back in revenge. You realize the futility of violence, and your training changes. Most black belts are therefore very calm and extremely tolerant of aggression, and very difficult to provoke into a street fight. Karate made me a calmer, more confident, kinder person (thank you Shihan!).
Another example: Some people think the earth is only roughly 6,000 years old, if you go by the Biblical account (look up Kent Hovind on YouTube). Many others believe that's the stupidest idea ever, and it's clearly hundreds of millions of years old. There is evidence for BOTH views. The proof that makes sense to you will be based on your underlying belief, or your Paradigm that you come from.
Paradigm. Do you want to truly have the character of tolerance and love for others? Research the concept of Paradigm. You CAN change, and we CAN agree to disagree. In my humble opinion, its WORSE to be intolerant of other views than it is to actually HAVE a diametrically opposed view. I may disagree vehemently with your views, but I will strive to never get to where I cannot understand how you can hold that view, and therefore try to never stop loving everyeone.
Bob Powers