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                %OPPOSITION TO TRANSCENDENT IDEALS? 870424

     It   is  impossible  to  offer  genuinely  reasonable
opposition to really transcendent ideals.   Ideals are not
really  transcendent  if they serve one  special  interest
group   at   the  expense  of  another---which  can   then
reasonably oppose their paying for the advantages  granted
to  others.    Really transcendent ideals pertain  to  the
promotion of universal personal and communal integrity; so
such ideals can not be reasonably opposed,  except in  the
service of provincial ideals which lead to the granting of
special  advantages  to  some people  at  the  expense  of
others.

     Not all ideals can be fulfilled.  Really transcendent
ideals  can not be realized in each situation;   yet  they
point the way in which to seek to move to make incremental
helpful differences  toward global  personal  and communal
integrity.  True ideals pertain to growth and change,  not
to a status quo. Thus, there is no  transcendent  ideal by
which we can know that  we  have arrived in heaven or have
achieved some kind of exclusive salvation.

     To believe in an exclusive salvation is to believe in
a contradiction in words.   Salvation is integrative,  not
exclusive.     The  kingdom  of  heaven  is   present   in
communities   of   people  with  personal   and   communal
integrity.    Its  members  do not reject each  other  for
conformal  failures or honest mistakes.   Members are free
to  be  honest  with  each other and to  learn  from  each
other's  honest  mistakes.    They learn  from  all  their
mistakes because there is no need to hide mistakes.   They
can  be  in  dialogue  about  what  can  be  learned  from
mistakes, rather than be in conflict over who will pay for
the  mistakes  already  made.    With  the  advantages  of
personal and communal  salvation they can minimize further
repetitions  of  old  mistakes,  rather  than  fret  about
responsibility for old mistakes.

     On  what  grounds might one reasonably be opposed  to
the  values  of  both personal and communal  integrity  in
dynamic balance with each other?

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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