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   %FANATIC SECURITY FREE VULNERABLE TRAGIC DEFENSE 930119

     A  fanatic  is  a person who on being  told  about  a
wonderful   piece  of  fabric  insists  upon  a   detailed
description of the best end of the best piece of thread in
the  fabric.   The fanatic is not interested  in  how  the
threads  in the fabric inter-relate to each other;  or  in
the patterns  which threads  make   through  their  inter-
relationships;   or in the complementary differences among
the threads.

     To a  fanatic  there is only one good  in life:   the
unqualified  affirmation of one pole of some dichotomy and
the   unqualified   rejection  of  any   affirmations   of
complementary realities and/or relationships.

     Fanatics  refuse  to  see  the  relationships between
their   unqualified   affirmations,    and   the   natural
consequences of those unqualified affirmations.

     The  fabric  of  life  is reduced to one end  of  one
thread  in  the eyes of the fanatic;  and it is  all  very
simple and beyond question.

     The  fanatic  is  defensive  because the  fanatic  is
insecure; has not been offered and/or has not accepted the
gift of security as an infant, child, adolescent and/or as
an  adult.  Security is the  freedom  to  be vulnerable in
complex relationships were mistakes  are bound to be made,
failures are bound to occur, and pain is bound to be felt.
In  the absence of  such  freedom people    often   become
fanatical and tragically unreasonable.  We will do well to
give the  gift of security to members of our own and other
communities.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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