This is http://www.essayz.com/a9610271.htm         
Previous-Essay      <== This-Essay ==>     Following-Essay
Click HERE on this line to find essays via Your-Key-Words.
{Most frequent wordstarts of each essay will be put here.}
==========================================================
  %RENEWAL WAYS CHANGE SUGGEST PRIORITY WEB CONNECT+961027
 %FAMILY SCHOOL BUSINESS NURTURE SUPPORT ABUSE LOVE+961027
%PRIORITY FOUNDATION BUILDING SUPPORT ACCEPT AFFIRM 961027

     We are prone to cling to the familiar,  even if it is
terrible.  We fear the unfamiliar,  even if it would be an
improvement  over our terribly familiar life.   We need to
find  renewing  ways to change by  articulating  suggested
integrative ideals and discovering latent agreement as  to
which  suggestions  are  most likely to  bear  integrative
fruit---and  so should receive priority attention.   Those
suggestions  which  the  most people  regard  as  of  high
important  should get special attention if they also enjoy
net overall support;   but not so if they are the focus of
general conflict between proponents and opponents;   or if
they do not enjoy even general support of a majority.

     To  deal  with  the  dilemmas  of  life  we  need  to
recognize   that  the  fabric  of  life  is  a  woven  web
containing  many strands.   Life cannot be  understood  or
dealt  with as if it were a single cord,  thread or  road.
There  are many ways in which people find fulfillment  and
in which people are mislead into tragedies.   We are fools
if we close our eyes and/or ears to the many  alternatives
and  to where they each lead.   Narrow-mindedness leads to
ignorance, not to wisdom.

     We need to consider our own experience---and also all
that  has past which has colored how we perceive and  talk
about  what has happened around us:  our heredity,  family
nurture,  family abuse,  schooling,  business experiences,
addictions,  codependence,  love,  acceptance,  rejection,
etc.     All can color how we perceive and interpret  what
happens  around  us.   Our experiences are  not  objective
realities---they    are   our   interpretations   of   our
perceptions  of  our interactions  with  our  environment.
At our peril we ignore all the threads which come together
to generate our experiences.

     Different  people  living  in  similar  circumstances
today may have quite different perceptions and give  quite
different interpretations of what they  perceive---because
of  differences between their pasts and our pasts.    They
may  have previous experiences of rape,  terrorism,  wars,
rejections,  condemnations,  hunger,  thirst,  neglect and
pain---of  which  we  are ignorant.   They  are  bound  to
perceive and experience differently than are we.

     When  we  are seeking to engender a consensus  as  to
what  may  be the most integrative and  renewing  ways  to
change we need to seek to understand both what we have  in
common  and what we do not have in common---which leads us
to  look to the future indifferent ways.   It is futile to
pretend  that some of us have the right answers and others
of  us  are ignorant,  foolish,  stupid,  etc.    To  work
together  we  must work to discover what we will  be  most
willing  and able to work together on.    Then cooperation
can be realized.
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
==========================================================