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  %PERSONAL COMMUNAL HEALTH NEED SECURE CONTEXT JOY+930216
   %DICHOTOMY HONEST IDEAL VALUE SELF EXPECT REJECT+930216
 %FUNDAMENTAL CONFLICT UNDERSTAND DIALOGUE CONVERSE 930218

     Our  dichotomies are rooted in our dishonest  ideals,
values, and self expectations. Our dichotomies are related
to our addictions,  codependencies,  collusions and  false
self expectations---since they lead to incoherence.

     Often we fall into the trap of exclusive ideals:  for
one ideal to be good we believe that a complimentary ideal
which is unlike the "good" one must be bad or evil.

     We fall into  the trap of believing  that all  "good"
things must be alike;  and "evil"  things must be alike in
contrast to "good" things.  To be "good" people we must be
in control of making all things be like our "good" things.
This   is  addictive  thinking.   Dichotomies  are   often
manifested in addictive thinking and addictive attempts to
be in control.

     People  who  are trapped in addictive  attitudes  and
thinking   patterns  rarely  honestly  seek   to   resolve
conflicts.   They often seek to heighten  the  differences
between people who are  in   conflict---by   drawing  more
sharply the distinctions, and by making more important the
sharply  drawing  of the  distinctions.  They want  to  be
different from the other people whom they regard as "evil"
people.  To be "good"  people,  they  feel that  they must
clearly be different  from the other people who are "evil"
people. Thus people who are trapped in addictive attitudes
and thinking patterns  become  involved  in fundamentalist
movements  which  claim to  be returning to the most basic
fundamentals of their heritage.

     Fundamentalists   are  selective  in  choosing  which
fundamentals to return to; they focus upon ideals, values,
and goals which will heighten  the difference between them
and  the  "evil"   people whom they  perceive  to  be  the
ultimate  threat to them.  Their ultimate concern  is  the
mounting of an ultimate defense  against those people whom
they  perceive  to  be  their  ultimate  threat.   In  the
idolatrous  service  of  their ultimate concern  they  are
willing to sacrifice all possibilities of mutual dialogue,
conversations, understanding, and cooperation. They become
idolaters   who  worship  false  gods  through   collusive
patterns of addictive and codependent behavior.

     Fundamentalists do not seek to resolve  conflicts  or
dichotomies;   they  seek  to heighten them  in  defensive
manipulations  of the truth about themselves  and  others.
They  do  not  want to know the truth about themselves  or
others.   They want to achieve security through  defensive
manipulations.

     We need to recognize and deal with  the  similarities
in  the behavior patterns of fundamentalists,  dichotomous
thinkers,   addicts,   codependents  and  other  forms  of
collusive  thinkers.   Such  patterns are masked  in  many
different  ways  to  keep us confused and unable  to  cope
effectively  with  the dilemmas and tragedies  which  they
present to us.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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