Note: posts on this topic can be found here, here, here and here.
I’ve been reading Brendan
Myers’ “Clear
and Present Thinking”, and at one point in that he describes what a
‘world view’ is [3], and then cites Albert
Schweitzer, who originated the term, as stating that an ‘acceptable’ world view
had to have three properties: it had to be rational,
ethical, and optimistic.
Now, each of those terms is as
fraught with potential problems as the term ‘world view’, but I’d like to review
Balanced Positivity against those criteria. It may help to review what I mean
by that term – see here,
and here.
Let’s take the word ‘rational’. According to Schweitzer, as cited
by Brendan Myers, this means the ‘world view’ has to have been thought about
carefully by many people, and found to have value. I have no problem with
saying that a ‘world view’ should ideally have been well thought over, but:
- many people clearly do not think things over, and just react thoughtlessly, or on instinct: that is clearly not desirable, but they still have a set of views that forms their own, mostly unrecognised ‘map of how the world is’, and thus I think the existence of that world view, flawed though it may be in many cases (if not most!), is of some importance. If nothing else, if you’re trying to change people’s minds, just saying “you don’t have a worldview” is likely to be less productive than saying “I acknowledge that you have a world view, but I think you could improve it for yourself”;
- every valid world view originated with one, or a few people. Later, it became accepted by many as having value, but initially, it was only a few who had that thought. People examining it for rationality in those early days would possibly be inclined to reject it, on the basis that not many people had thought about it. Furthermore, how many is ‘many’? Is it a majority, because if that is the case, none of the world views cited would stack up as being valid on the basis of rationality, so we’re left with a concept that can be argued. So long as the argument is free of us engineers and limited to only reasonable people (in the legal sense), I think that’s mostly OK …
So … how does the concept of ‘Balanced Positivity’ stack up in terms of
this attribute? Well, in my opinion, it has clearly been well thought about by
some people – namely, the entities that Andrija Puharich, Phyllis V. Schlemmer
and Sir
John Whitmore were in contact with, as
described in Stuart
Holroyd's book "Briefing
for the Landing on Planet Earth". I’ve also thought about the
concept, but I’m neither a full-time / professional philosopher, nor a
full-time / professional writer, so I’ll get around to my thoughts on this in
a piecemeal fashion, as life permits.
In terms of whether lots of minds has considered the matter of
‘Balanced Positivity’ on this planet, well, I don’t think so. The fact that
term is so unknown speaks to that, but … we’ll see what happens down the track,
eh? :)
So, the next attribute is ’being ethical’.
Brendan Myers’ view on this is that “an acceptable world view is ethical when it can tell us
something about the difference between right and wrong, and when it can help us
become better human beings. … It’s important to note here that when Schweitzer
speaks of a world view as ‘ethical’, he is not saying that an acceptable world
view has to include certain specific moral statements. He is not saying, for
example, that an ethically acceptable world view must be Christian, or that it
must be Liberal, or whatever.”
OK, I think that’s one that Balanced Positivity meets fairly clearly –
certainly in terms of the first criteria, right and wrong. If I was to make a
brief comment about that, I would possibly say something like … Balanced
Positivity is about not being so good, so ‘holier-than-thou’ that people do not
see any prospect of meeting those standards. It is about extending a hand and helping
people make the next step in their spiritual progression, rather than smug, superior or supercilious (a problem found at least as much on the left of politics as the right, incidentally, in my experience). That accessibility is
what appeals to me, personally.
Mind you, it is also what is most challenging to me as well, as it is
hard to, in a sense, slow down enough to communicate with people on a level, or
in a manner, that they can relate to. As an example of that, when I was going
to a spiritualist mob last year, I wound up talking to one woman about
forgiveness. Now, although I consider I struggle with that topic, the struggle
she was having was with an aspect of forgiveness that I had managed to resolve
myself, and referring to that past experience of mine in a credible, not a
patronising, way, was what opened the way for a meaningful discussion.
The third attribute was ‘optimistic’.
Now, again, as with ‘rational’, I consider it unproductive to tell someone that
they don’t have a valid world view when they have one that is flawed, but … I’ll
move on from that (and I do agree that it
is better for a world view to be optimistic than cynical, but I’m also EXTREMELY wary of the problem of naiveté).
This is also an attribute that I consider the Balanced Positive philosophy
meets quite well. This is where the word ‘positive’ needs to be elaborated
upon, but I’m getting fairly tired so I’ll just refer you to my first post on the topic, where I quoted from Stuart Holroyd's book "Briefing for
the Landing on Planet Earth", for
examples.
I hope to return to this and other posts in due course, and elaborate
on some of the points I’ve made (add
better explanations and examples, in particular), and also to post on a few
other applications of this philosophy, but that will have to wait until I have
the time, energy and good enough health.
[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.
[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy").
Love, light, hugs and blessings
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux? Morinehtar? Would-be drýicgan ... )
My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour - and see also here, and be flexible.
I am a Walker upon the Path of Balanced Positivity, seeking Spiritual Maturity.
- One size does NOT fit all.
- Don't be mediocre - seek to excel.
- Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
- May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
- Ban the dream interpretation industry!
- A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
- Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
- Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal.
- Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
- Expertise at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as spiritual growth.
- "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
- Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
- The means shape the end.
- As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
- My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
- All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...
Do not pray for easy
lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th
century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us. F.W. BOREHAM
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that.
Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in
their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If
you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN
We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW
Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech)
Too
much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and
community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross
national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air
pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our
highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow
for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the
joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the
strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the
integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our
courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor
our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except
that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968
Tags: attitudes, Balanced Positivity, communication, credibility, ethics, hope, optimism, patronising others, philosophy, rationality, values,
First published: Manadagr, 17th February, 2014
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Monday, 17th February, 2014
