This-essay is a8407221.htm which is available at the web-site www.essayz.com. See more notes at the bottom. Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay By-Months By-Years By-Words Webs of Like-&-Un-Like ESSAYS <==> Like-&-UN-Like This-One ========================================================== %TRANSCENDING EVIL IDEALS 840722 Evil ideals are ideals which lead people to behave in ways which cause alienation, estrangement. People who sincerely believe in and are lead by evil ideals regard such ideals as good and worthy of ultimate respect. Their respect for their ultimate ideals is so great that they are willing to accept alienation and estrangement from their closest friends and relatives as the price to be paid for faithfulness to their ideals. Commitment, dedication and faithfulness to their ideals is absolute. They are nearly unable to be aware of evidence that their ideals are undermining their integrity and the integrity of their community. They can not see that without personal and communal integrity, their ideals will not survive with meaning. They can not believe that ideals which undermine personal and communal integrity are self defeating. They have made their ideals into idols and worship their man-made idols as if they were God herself. How can people escape the prison of idolatry which treats man-made evil ideals---as being of ultimate importance and significance---apart from personal and communal integrity? A frontal attack upon the traditions which are founded upon respect for alienative ideals will result in a heightening of the evil defense of the evil ideals. Evil defenses occasion alienation and estrangement. Such alienation and estrangement will not be transcended by attacks which elicit heightened defensiveness. A frontal attack upon the evil ideals themselves will make no sense to the people who worship them. Such an attack will be perceived as an attack upon their defenseless God---and they will rush to defend their God in alienative ways. Thus frontal attacks are futile. A more creative and reconciling way is to focus clearly upon the way in which both personal and communal integrity are essential to the survival of persons, communities, and the ideals which they embody. Ideals do not survive apart from their incarnations, the people and communities that embody them. If the people and communities that embody specific ideals are alienated from each other and/or from the rest of humanity---those ideals are unlikely to survive with genuine meaning for long. They are unlikely to be respected and internalized in ways which will insure their being regarded as the Way to live lives full of meaning and satisfaction. (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in www.essayz.com Search for Integrity and Honesty (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy) ==========================================================
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