Honor Everyone's Personal Choices

Why should it impede your happiness for others to have differing views on politics or religion?
for others to paint their houses purple or grow asparagus in place of a grassy lawn?
for others to dress, mingle, celebrate, or dine in their own manner?

The path to happiness is to live your life joyfully in your own way
and to support and encourage others to do likewise.

One of the surest ways to cause
yourself great suffering
is to insist upon being right -
to demand that all others view life
exactly as you view it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do you prefer that you be right or happy?
- A Course In Miracles

Love is stronger than justice.
- Sting

We cling to our own point of view,
as though everything depended on it.
Yet our opinions have no permanence;
like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.
- Zhuangzi

You never really learn much from hearing yourself speak.
- George Clooney

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Dale Carnegie

You prove your worth with your actions,
not with your mouth.
- Jean Paul

The greatest of these is love.
- 1 Corinthians 13:13

What we have to do...
is to find a way to celebrate our diversity
and debate our differences
without fracturing our communities.
- Hillary Clinton

Arguments only confirm people in their own opinions.
- Booth Tarkington

Further reading: Arguing

Listen, Really Listen

Opinions

Disagreement
   

Our Vision is Biased by What We Expect to See or Fear to See

Choose the World You See,
and See the World You Choose.
You have a choice
about the perspective you take on life.
See tragedy, and the world is tragic -
see beauty, and the world is beautiful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People seem not to see that
their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
- John Lubbock

It all depends on how we look at things,
and not how they are in themselves.
- Carl Jung

Our Vision is Always Biased by What We Expect or Fear to See.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What You See

Your Attitude is Your Window

What We Perceive
      

Each of Us is In Charge of Ourself and Only Ourself

No one can persuade another to change.
Each of us guards a gate of change
that can only be opened from the inside.
We cannot open the gate of another,
either by argument or emotional appeal.
- Marilyn Ferguson

You cannot teach a man anything;
you can only help him find it within himself.
- Galileo Galilei

The truth only irritates those it enlightens,
but does not convert.
- Pasquier Quesnel

I cannot teach anybody anything.
I can only make them think.
- Socrates

The greatest roadblock to a great relationship
is trying to force a partner to change through bribes or threats.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live and Let Live

The Problem with Advice

My thoughts on meddling in the affairs of others

Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice
    

 

Don't Just Assume - Find the Facts

 

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
- Aldous Huxley

Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but no one has a right to be wrong in his facts.
- Bernard M. Baruch

Approach each new problem not with a view of finding what you hope will be there,
but to get the truth, the realities that must be grappled with.
You may not like what you find. In that case you are entitled to try to change it.
But do not deceive yourself as to what you do find to be the facts of the situation.
- Bernard M. Baruch

We want the facts to fit the preconceptions.
When they don't, it is easier to ignore the facts
than to change the preconceptions.
- Jessamyn West

Get the facts first.
You can distort them later.
- Mark Twain

Further reading: Begin with the FACTS

The Fun-House Mirrors Of Our Own Point Of View

Re-examine all that you have been told

Never Stop Learning
        

The Nature of Life is Seldom Obvious, Look Deeper

There are trivial truths and there are great truths.
The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false.
The opposite of a great truth is also true.
- Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr, the great Danish physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of atomic structure and quantum mechanics, is making a point that is very Zen - or very Taoist if one prefers.

An example of a "great truth" for which the opposite is also true is the statement, "You are not your body; you are not your mind." While it is very true, if one so believes, that the "real you" is neither physical nor mental, it is simultaneously true that your body and your mind are very real, and ignoring their reality is likely to cause great suffering.

Another example of a "great truth" is the Golden Rule. It is true that we should treat others as we wish to be treated in the sense of being kind and compassionate to everyone. Yet the opposite of the Golden Rule is also true in the sense that it is kind and compassionate to recognize that everyone is called to a different life path and to honor those differences.

[As always, the purpose of these daily messages to provide something to think about, rather than to attempt to dictate conclusions.]

No statement should be believed [solely] because it is made by an authority.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past,
threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
- Maya Angelou

The more opinions you have, the less you see.
- Wim Wenders

The words of truth are always paradoxical.
- Lao Tzu

Further reading: What is "The Truth?"

To Keep the Golden Rule

What You're Sure You Know, But Don't

The Golden Rule is Not Always Golden
    

Something to Contemplate...

I remind you, as I often do, that these daily emails are intended to inspire deep thinking about the subject matter, and not to dictate answers intended to satisfy everyone's individual needs and perspectives.

The world is perfect.
It's a mess. It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

The world is perfect.
As you question your mind, this becomes more and more obvious.
Mind changes, and as a result, the world changes.
A clear mind heals everything that needs to be healed.
It can never be fooled into believing that there is one speck out of order.
- Byron Katie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

If you want something to be different than it is,
you might as well teach a cat to bark.
Wanting something to be different than it is, is hopeless.
- Byron Katie

It is not our place to know the mind of God.
Spirit knows what is best in the long run -
best for each of us individually,
and best for humanity as a whole.
This is often very difficult to accept
when we see war and disease in the world
and experience physical and emotional suffering
in ourselves, our family, and our friends.
I consider this belief in God's infinite power
and ultimate wisdom to be the true test of faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What does it mean to say "the world is perfect" when clearly the world is full of suffering?
For someone who believes that God is both omnipotent (infinitely powerful) and omnibenevolent (infinitely good), the world MUST be perfect because an omnipotent omnibenevolent God would by definition create a perfect world -- and if we mortals do not see this world as perfect, it must be our own failure of perception (for example, accomplishing God's longer term goal for the world). See the Wikipedia article on the "Problem of Evil" for more on this.

For those who don't believe there is a God (or believe in multiple gods), the world is "perfect" simply because this is the way it is. We can change the world over time, but at this exact instant, the world is as it is, and the "perfect" way for it to be right now. This viewpoint eliminates the suffering associated with demanding that the world be different than it is. Read more at Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you.
     

 

Don't Confuse Opinion with Truth

 

The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion
is not assurance of its truth.
- Pierre Bayle

There is no truth.
There is only perception.
- Gustave Flaubert

If you wish to see the truth,
then hold no opinion for or against.
- Osho

Having a personal opinion is great.
Believing that one's personal opinion is absolute truth
leads to most of the world's troubles.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Even the truth, when believed, is a lie.
You must experience the truth, not believe it.
- Werner Erhard

Further reading: What is "The Truth?"

Not As It Appears

The Work - Four Questions

Art of Seeing
     

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple

 

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

About most subjects, there is not "The Truth;"
there is merely one's personal truth.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.
- Ludwig Boerne

The problem with making assumptions
is that we believe they are the truth
- don Miguel Ruiz

A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted
for insight and understanding.
- Marshall McLuhan

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
- Oscar Wilde

What if it were only an illusion?
Perhaps life is not as threatening as it appears.
Perhaps the greatest threat to our serenity
is our fear of the future -
our fear of the unknown.
Perhaps, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said,
"The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's image shows a Müller-Lyer perceived length optical illusion.

Further reading: Question Your Questions

Belief - Point-of-View

When Life Looks Hopeless

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb
    

Choose For Yourself! and let others choose their own way

 

Why should it impede your happiness for others to have differing views on politics or religion?
for others to paint their houses purple or grow asparagus in place of a grassy lawn?
for others to dress, mingle, celebrate, or dine in their own manner?

The path to happiness is to live your life joyfully in your own way

and to support and encourage others to do likewise.

One of the surest ways to cause
yourself great suffering
is to insist upon being right -
to demand that all others view life
exactly as you view it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do you prefer that you be right or happy?
- A Course In Miracles

Love is stronger than justice.

- Sting

We cling to our own point of view,
as though everything depended on it.
Yet our opinions have no permanence;
like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

- Zhuangzi

You never really learn much from hearing yourself speak.
- George Clooney

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Dale Carnegie

You prove your worth with your actions,
not with your mouth.
- Jean Paul

The greatest of these is love.
- 1 Corinthians 13:13

What we have to do...
is to find a way to celebrate our diversity
and debate our differences
without fracturing our communities.
- Hillary Clinton

Arguments only confirm people in their own opinions.
- Booth Tarkington

Further reading: Arguing

Listen, Really Listen

Opinions

Disagreement
   

Choose the World You See, and See the World You Choose

Choose the World You See,
and See the World You Choose.
You have a choice
about the perspective you take on life.
See tragedy, and the world is tragic -
see beauty, and the world is beautiful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People seem not to see that
their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
- John Lubbock

It all depends on how we look at things,
and not how they are in themselves.
- Carl Jung

Our Vision is Always Biased by What We Expect or Fear to See.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What You See

Your Attitude is Your Window

What We Perceive
      

You Cannot Change Another. You Can Only Change Yourself

 

No one can persuade another to change.
Each of us guards a gate of change
that can only be opened from the inside.
We cannot open the gate of another,
either by argument or emotional appeal.
- Marilyn Ferguson

You cannot teach a man anything;
you can only help him find it within himself.
- Galileo Galilei

The truth only irritates those it enlightens,
but does not convert.
- Pasquier Quesnel

I cannot teach anybody anything.
I can only make them think.
- Socrates

The greatest roadblock to a great relationship
is trying to force a partner to change through bribes or threats.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live and Let Live

The Problem with Advice

My thoughts on meddling in the affairs of others

Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice
    

Begin with the FACTS

 

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
- Aldous Huxley

Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but no one has a right to be wrong in his facts.
- Bernard M. Baruch

Approach each new problem not with a view of finding what you hope will be there,
but to get the truth, the realities that must be grappled with.
You may not like what you find. In that case you are entitled to try to change it.
But do not deceive yourself as to what you do find to be the facts of the situation.
- Bernard M. Baruch

We want the facts to fit the preconceptions.
When they don't, it is easier to ignore the facts
than to change the preconceptions.
- Jessamyn West

Get the facts first.
You can distort them later.
- Mark Twain

Further reading: Begin with the FACTS

The Fun-House Mirrors Of Our Own Point Of View

Re-examine all that you have been told

Never Stop Learning
        

Something to Ponder...

There are trivial truths and there are great truths.
The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false.
The opposite of a great truth is also true.
- Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr, the great Danish physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of atomic structure and quantum mechanics, is making a point that is very Zen - or very Taoist if one prefers.

An example of a "great truth" for which the opposite is also true is the statement, "You are not your body; you are not your mind." While it is very true, if one so believes, that the "real you" is neither physical nor mental, it is simultaneously true that your body and your mind are very real, and ignoring their reality is likely to cause great suffering.

Another example of a "great truth" is the Golden Rule. It is true that we should treat others as we wish to be treated in the sense of being kind and compassionate to everyone. Yet the opposite of the Golden Rule is also true in the sense that it is kind and compassionate to recognize that everyone is called to a different life path and to honor those differences.

[As always, the purpose of these daily messages to provide something to think about, rather than to attempt to dictate conclusions.]

No statement should be believed [solely] because it is made by an authority.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past,
threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
- Maya Angelou

The more opinions you have, the less you see.
- Wim Wenders

The words of truth are always paradoxical.
- Lao Tzu

Further reading: What is "The Truth?"

To Keep the Golden Rule

What You're Sure You Know, But Don't

The Golden Rule is Not Always Golden
    

Contemplate Existence...

 

I remind you, as I often do, that these daily emails are intended to inspire deep thinking about the subject matter, and not to dictate answers intended to satisfy everyone's individual needs and perspectives.

The world is perfect.
It's a mess. It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

The world is perfect.
As you question your mind, this becomes more and more obvious.
Mind changes, and as a result, the world changes.
A clear mind heals everything that needs to be healed.
It can never be fooled into believing that there is one speck out of order.
- Byron Katie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

If you want something to be different than it is,
you might as well teach a cat to bark.
Wanting something to be different than it is, is hopeless.
- Byron Katie

It is not our place to know the mind of God.
Spirit knows what is best in the long run -
best for each of us individually,
and best for humanity as a whole.
This is often very difficult to accept
when we see war and disease in the world
and experience physical and emotional suffering
in ourselves, our family, and our friends.
I consider this belief in God's infinite power
and ultimate wisdom to be the true test of faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What does it mean to say "the world is perfect" when clearly the world is full of suffering?
For someone who believes that God is both omnipotent (infinitely powerful) and omnibenevolent (infinitely good), the world MUST be perfect because an omnipotent omnibenevolent God would by definition create a perfect world -- and if we mortals do not see this world as perfect, it must be our own failure of perception (for example, accomplishing God's longer term goal for the world). See the Wikipedia article on the "Problem of Evil" for more on this.

For those who don't believe there is a God (or believe in multiple gods), the world is "perfect" simply because this is the way it is. We can change the world over time, but at this exact instant, the world is as it is, and the "perfect" way for it to be right now. This viewpoint eliminates the suffering associated with demanding that the world be different than it is. Read more at Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you.
     

Opinions are Not Truth

 

The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion
is not assurance of its truth.
- Pierre Bayle

There is no truth.
There is only perception.
- Gustave Flaubert

If you wish to see the truth,
then hold no opinion for or against.
- Osho

Having a personal opinion is great.
Believing that one's personal opinion is absolute truth
leads to most of the world's troubles.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Even the truth, when believed, is a lie.
You must experience the truth, not believe it.
- Werner Erhard

Further reading: What is "The Truth?"

Not As It Appears

The Work - Four Questions

Art of Seeing
     

The problem with making assumptions...

 

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

About most subjects, there is not "The Truth;"
there is merely one's personal truth.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.
- Ludwig Boerne

The problem with making assumptions
is that we believe they are the truth
- don Miguel Ruiz

A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted
for insight and understanding.
- Marshall McLuhan

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
- Oscar Wilde

What if it were only an illusion?
Perhaps life is not as threatening as it appears.
Perhaps the greatest threat to our serenity
is our fear of the future -
our fear of the unknown.
Perhaps, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said,
"The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's image shows a Müller-Lyer perceived length optical illusion.

Further reading: Question Your Questions

Belief - Point-of-View

When Life Looks Hopeless

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb
    

Don't Let Others Make Choices for You, and Don't Make Choices for Others

 

Why should it impede your happiness for others to have differing views on politics or religion?
for others to paint their houses purple or grow asparagus in place of a grassy lawn?
for others to dress, mingle, celebrate, or dine in their own manner?

The path to happiness is to live your life joyfully in your own way

and to support and encourage others to do likewise.

One of the surest ways to cause
yourself great suffering
is to insist upon being right -
to demand that all others view life
exactly as you view it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do you prefer that you be right or happy?
- A Course In Miracles

Love is stronger than justice.

- Sting

We cling to our own point of view,
as though everything depended on it.
Yet our opinions have no permanence;
like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

- Zhuangzi

You never really learn much from hearing yourself speak.
- George Clooney

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Dale Carnegie

You prove your worth with your actions,
not with your mouth.
- Jean Paul

The greatest of these is love.
- 1 Corinthians 13:13

What we have to do...
is to find a way to celebrate our diversity
and debate our differences
without fracturing our communities.
- Hillary Clinton

Arguments only confirm people in their own opinions.
- Booth Tarkington

Further reading: Arguing

Listen, Really Listen

Opinions

Disagreement
   

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
- Aldous Huxley

Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but no one has a right to be wrong in his facts.
- Bernard M. Baruch

Approach each new problem not with a view of finding what you hope will be there,
but to get the truth, the realities that must be grappled with.
You may not like what you find. In that case you are entitled to try to change it.
But do not deceive yourself as to what you do find to be the facts of the situation.
- Bernard M. Baruch

We want the facts to fit the preconceptions.
When they don't, it is easier to ignore the facts
than to change the preconceptions.
- Jessamyn West

Get the facts first.
You can distort them later.
- Mark Twain

Further reading: Begin with the FACTS

The Fun-House Mirrors Of Our Own Point Of View

Re-examine all that you have been told

Never Stop Learning
        

The words of truth are always paradoxical

There are trivial truths and there are great truths.
The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false.
The opposite of a great truth is also true.
- Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr, the great Danish physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of atomic structure and quantum mechanics, is making a point that is very Zen - or very Taoist if one prefers.

An example of a "great truth" for which the opposite is also true is the statement, "You are not your body; you are not your mind." While it is very true, if one so believes, that the "real you" is neither physical nor mental, it is simultaneously true that your body and your mind are very real, and ignoring their reality is likely to cause great suffering.

Another example of a "great truth" is the Golden Rule. It is true that we should treat others as we wish to be treated in the sense of being kind and compassionate to everyone. Yet the opposite of the Golden Rule is also true in the sense that it is kind and compassionate to recognize that everyone is called to a different life path and to honor those differences.

[As always, the purpose of these daily messages to provide something to think about, rather than to attempt to dictate conclusions.]

No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past,
threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
- Maya Angelou

The more opinions you have, the less you see.
- Wim Wenders

The words of truth are always paradoxical.
- Lao Tzu

Further reading: What is "The Truth?"

To Keep the Golden Rule

What You're Sure You Know, But Don't

The Golden Rule is Not Always Golden
    

The Nature and the Meaning of Life...

I remind you, as I often do, that these daily emails are intended to inspire deep thinking about the subject matter, and not to dictate answers intended to satisfy everyone's individual needs and perspectives.

The world is perfect.
It's a mess. It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

The world is perfect.
As you question your mind, this becomes more and more obvious.
Mind changes, and as a result, the world changes.
A clear mind heals everything that needs to be healed.
It can never be fooled into believing that there is one speck out of order.
- Byron Katie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

If you want something to be different than it is,
you might as well teach a cat to bark.
Wanting something to be different than it is, is hopeless.
- Byron Katie

It is not our place to know the mind of God.
Spirit knows what is best in the long run -
best for each of us individually,
and best for humanity as a whole.
This is often very difficult to accept
when we see war and disease in the world
and experience physical and emotional suffering
in ourselves, our family, and our friends.
I consider this belief in God's infinite power
and ultimate wisdom to be the true test of faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What does it mean to say "the world is perfect" when clearly the world is full of suffering?
For someone who believes that God is both omnipotent (infinitely powerful) and omnibenevolent (infinitely good), the world MUST be perfect because an omnipotent omnibenevolent God would by definition create a perfect world -- and if we mortals do not see this world as perfect, it must be our own failure of perception (for example, accomplishing God's longer term goal for the world). See the Wikipedia article on the "Problem of Evil" for more on this.

For those who don't believe there is a God (or believe in multiple gods), the world is "perfect" simply because this is the way it is. We can change the world over time, but at this exact instant, the world is as it is, and the "perfect" way for it to be right now. This viewpoint eliminates the suffering associated with demanding that the world be different than it is. Read more at Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you.