This is http://www.essayz.com/a9711221.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.} ========================================================== %GOD LOVE PREOCCUPATION GOOD EVIL INTEGRITY SIN+971122 %OPEN HONEST COMMUNICATION CHANNEL FEAR INDIFFERENT+971122 %CONTENTIOUS VALUES IDEALS GOALS PURPOSES VIOLENCE+971122 %DICHOTOMOUS EITHER/OR EXCLUSIVE BALANCE SPECTRUM+971122 %SECURITY DEFENSIVE VULNERABILITY INTIMACY SEXUAL 971122 It has been said that God is Love. What are the preoccupations of true integrative lovers? What is lacking in people who do not know the realities and meanings of Love, love, and lovers? Love works through open and honest communications which serve to maintain personal and communal integrity. True lovers are preoccupied with developing, maintaining and keeping clear, various channels of open and honest communication. They fear whatever may break down, pollute, inhibit, block, abuse, desensitize or confuse charitable channels of communication --- and thereby threaten both personal and communal integrity. People who are indifferent to open and honest communication are also indifferent to personal and communal integrity. They are likely to be contentious. They have exclusive concerns, values, ideals, ideas, goals and purposes which lead to over-riding preoccupations; and to riding rough-shod over the subtleties of personal integrity, communal integrity, and of open and honest communication which integrate individuals of integrity into communities of integrity. Extremists are prone to emphasize just one or two things in dichotomous ways as if only they are matters of ultimate concern --- meriting exclusive consideration and preoccupation. Extremists do not value the spectrums of considerations which are essential to both static and dynamic balance. They are willing to ignore the whole spectrum of considerations which are essential to both static and dynamic balance --- because they are so single- minded that they cannot imagine responsibly and prudently holding in balance a whole spectrum of mutually supportive considerations, values, ideals, principles and ideas. Extremists are lacking in familiarity with loving-role- models who have charitably demonstrated such balance --- through their personal incarnation of the spectrum of values, ideals, principles and ideas which are essential to integrative balance. Extremists engender exclusivity, separations, purity, impersonal objectivity, dichotomies, "either/or" thinking, contentiousness, and alienative conflicts throughout which people use and abuse manipulative tools and technologies ---- without giving charitable consideration to the personal and communal disintegrations which they engender. Extremists give little if any consideration to Love --- or to all that Love leads to --- for such considerations are considered as distractions from the dichotomous issues which are really important and central to their being right and righteous in their own eyes. Extremists who do not know Love are very insecure and defensive; preoccupied with proving themselves right and righteous --- as grounds for getting the love which they yearn for, but have not known through open and honest communications which are free of fear, threats and intimidations. Extremists fear having their lacks and alienative patterns of behavior exposed to the light of day --- and even fear having their lacks and alienative patterns of behavior exposed to the light of individual candles which would make clear why they are so insecure and defensive. They fear being near any illuminated candle. They much prefer to put out candles from a distance in alienation; groping blindly in total darkness --- out of touch with others and out of touch with all that is in them that calls out to them to be in touch with others in ways which are intimately open, honest and integrative. They seek to achieve security through authoritative certainty and controls which are alienative --- and so undermine the works of Love. (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in Download it! (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy) ==========================================================