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%INVULNERABILITY RIGHTEOUSNESS TRAGEDY MISFORTUNE+990717
%DISEASE ATTACK CONFLICT OPEN HONEST DIALOGUE SIN+990717
%FRIEND INTIMATE PEACEMAKING CONFLICT RESOLUTION+990717
%EVIL ALIENATION ESTRANGEMENT EXCOMMUNICATION GOD 990717
Good people often find it natural to think that they
will be rewarded for being good; e.g., by being granted a
greater degree of security because of their righteousness.
They may think of security in terms of invulnerability to
tragedies, misfortune, disease, attack, etc. This way of
thinking is misguided.
Righteousness has to do with participating in right
relationships; with being involved in open and honest
dialogue with differing people.
Righteousness has to do with participating in close
friendships, intimate relationships, and cooperative
peacemaking --- all of which which entail dealing openly
and honestly with conflicting conceptions of what is
right, good, valuable, ideal, principled, and worthy of
respect and support. All of these entail taking risks
and being vulnerable to misunderstanding, criticism and
attack. It is tragically misleading to think that the
sweet fruits of them will include invulnerability.
Righteousness has to do with being willing to take
prudent risks and be vulnerable --- so that conflicts can
be transcended, peacemaking bear sweet fruits, and
reconciliation be mutually accepted. The fruits of
righteousness do not include invulnerability or the
elimination of risks. The fruits of righteousness DO
INCLUDE being at peace with freely exchanging gifts of the
true freedom to be safely vulnerable in open and honest
dialogue; as friends who transcend differences through
creative syntheses.
People who expect the rewards for being good to
include gifts of the elimination of risk taking,
invulnerability, and reliable defenses --- through their
expectations set the stage for tragic dramas of
misunderstanding, confusion, distrust, dishonesty,
disintegration and alienation. Their goodness lacks
balance, mutual understanding, generosity, honest love,
and coherence.
We cannot enjoy both personal and communal integrity
at the expense of the weak, poor, diseased, and insecure
people with who we are not familiar. Our personal and
communal disintegrations will flow from the confusion and
chaos of the weak, poor, powerless, diseased and insecure
people with whom we are not familiar; the people who do
not participate with us in integrative relationships.
If we are unwilling to take the risks of
participating in integrative relationships with people who
are weak, poor, diseased and insecure --- we will
eventually through conflict and disintegration share with
them their undesirable conditions --- and worse.
(c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in
www.essayz.com Search for Integrity and Honesty
(On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)
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