dangerous ideas

I'm wondering why we don't talk about dangerous ideas, and I've been thinking about them lately. Why do we need/want to stay in the middle, where it's safe, instead of feeling free to travel on all spectrums of the "line" that tells us what's normal and acceptable. Why is there any line at all? Why not just let us all BE? That's what I'm wondering about. Am I myself, all the time? I don't think so, much as I'd like to think so. I remember a psychology professor telling us that if we think we don't bow to society's pressures, burst out into song the next time you're on a bus. Well, I don't travel the bus, so I've actually tried it a few times on the elevator. I always sing in the grocery store - no big deal. I've even two-stepped in Mills Fleet Farm. So my dangerous idea for the day is this: is it possible that one religion isn't better or right than any other? I try to be patient and tolerant and understanding; really, I do, but I'm just getting tired of being nice when people look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong, and that their religion/views/thoughts are right. I'm almost afraid of what I might say. I usually smile and say, "well, that's your opinion, and you're certainly entitled to that." But sometimes they say, "No, I'm RIGHT, and you're WRONG." Yes, people have actually said that to me. And again, I CAN smile because I understand that they think they're right and I'm wrong. I really do. But I'm getting tired of it all - fighting and killing and hurting and stealing, all in the name of religion. To my knowledge, there are only a few religions that actually have those actions as foundations, and none of them are any organizations I'd like to be a part of. For the most part, religions espouse love, forgiveness, service to others, grace, trust, and faith. Okay, so then, LET'S DO IT, OKAY??? Let's not just sit on our butts and talk about it, or worse, fight about it. How about respect? Open-mindedness? Support for other's views? Love? Okay, that's it - love. That's all. I love what Neale Donald Walsch says in his book "Tomorrow's God" that "people become fanatics when they feel they aren't being heard. People become fanatical when they feel their point of view is not being honored. For most, a point of view doesn't even have to be accepted, but it does have to be honored. Because, you see, if you dishonor another's point of view, it is as if you disappear it, discounting it as if it were not even there. And when you disappear another's point of view, you disappear them. Everything then becomes a question of survival. Not many of you have learned to truly honor the point of view of others, especially when it is diametrically opposed to your own. That is why you have fanatics on your planet. You have created them. You have placed them here."

Whoops - then I'm guilty of not honoring someone's point of view when they tell me I'm wrong to believe what I believe, or do the work that I'm doing? Sigh. It gets so confusing. Am I being narrow-minded when I say that narrow-minded people bug me? Then I'M just being narrow-minded, aren't I? Around and around it goes. So, the question remains: is it possible that no one religion/person/group is any righter than any other? I think the answer is yes - I think we're all part of the One, so the foot isn't wrong, and the hand isn't right - they all just ARE, right? I'm going to keep thinking about this first dangerous idea, and see if I can just stay neutral - what pushes my buttons, and can I move gently toward the place of no-resistance?

We travel down to the Cities tomorrow to pick up our beautiful Rialta (see previous blogs about the miraculous eBay winning), and will be back by Saturday. It's a long drive, and my shoulders and neck are still spasming from last weekend's trip, but Steve's graciously agreed to drive all the way down there, so maybe I won't get too much more sore. My right ear continues to bother me, and I'm still feeling SO tired, especially around 4PM, like I can't lift my head from the pillow (if I happen to be able to PUT my head on any pillow around 4PM). It feels like an integration from this past energy shift that ended two weeks ago - I keep in touch with Missy Pooh, one of my best friends who goes through everything exactly when I do - when she tells me she's feeling the same way, then I don't worry at all.

Here's to dangerous ideas - may we have them, and may we live out to the borders of our souls.