This is http://www.essayz.com/a9811091.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.} ========================================================== %ONE ULTIMATE EXCLUSIVE ULTIMATE CONCERN IDEAL GOAL+981109 %VALUE PRINCIPLE GOD ATTITUDE BELIEF SCRIPTURE EVIL+981109 %PROHIBITION PRESCRIPTION PROSCRIPTION COMMAND SINS 981109 There is no one ultimate of any kind that serves well in an exclusive way as the one final truth, authority, and guide --- to the exclusion of all others. Some concerns are more transcendent than others --- seeming to transcend all others in an ultimate way. Some concerns seem to have virtually nothing to recommend them --- falling below virtually all other concerns and being virtually of no merit---seeming to never merit any respect, honor, or tolerance. Yet, whenever any one "ultimate" is set up as meriting EXCLUSIVE honor, respect, support and worship --- it turns out to be A FALSE GOD which demands dishonesty, alienation, exclusivity, self-righteousness, and arrogance. Those who seek to serve such an exclusive "ultimate" --- turn out in the end to be alienative idolaters who engender both personal and communal disintegration. People of personal and communal integrity ultimately end up finding that they must respect, honor, and support a variety of guiding ideals, values, principles and suggestions --- else they lose their balance and disintegrate both personally and communally. Exclusivity leads to idolatry and disintegration. Seeking to live in terms of just one "ultimate" of any kind---seems always to lead to falling head over heals into tragic patterns of disintegration --- which the "ultimate" promised never to permit. Those people who seek to be faithful to just one "ultimate" --- show themselves to be extremists who are unbalanced, out of touch with real authentic people, and participants in collusive games of mutual self deception designed to make their "god" look good. There is no justice in their exclusive justifications of their one "ultimate". They just do not "get it" --- because their focus is so exclusive as to exclude from consideration many essential and complementary truths, ideals, values, principles, perceptions, experiences, people, and insights. We will be well and do well when we learn to seek to live balanced lives --- in the light of many complementary truths, ideals, values, principles, experiences, people, and insights. We will be sick, sickening, and sickly when we presume to lead perfect lives in terms of the demands of some exclusive "ultimate" which we have set up as an idol---to whom we must sacrifice honesty, integrity, authenticity, balance, and common sense in our exclusive worship of it. (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy) ==========================================================