This is my first post for June 2010. I can’t believe it. I am really not accustomed to having a blog. A lot of this happened this month. However, I won’t write on everything. There are quite a number of ideas floating around in my head, and also quite a number of topics that I have been thinking about. My primary thought recently has been on political systems and how susceptible ‘Joe/Jane Public’ is to the words and ideas expressed by politicians. For me, I have never been trusting of the words of politicians. I have lived long enough to realize that someone can tell you anything, and make it seem convincing. Someone can take little bits of truth from different domains and from different aspects of a situation, mix it with their own thoughts and agenda and get you to believe what they need for you to believe. Oftentimes, politicians will use some form of anecdotal evidence to express their viewpoint, so that it relates to the personal beliefs or personal concerns of a populace. As a result, people tend to believe what is being said, because it relates to their situation. This response by the majority of persons in the listening public is referred to as subjective validation.
I think that it is unfortunate that the majority of persons listening to the media and various political figures allow themselves to be influenced by the words that they hear. I make that statement with reservations, because I too believe that we should listen to what everyone has to say. However, I think that we need to listen with the intent of understanding instead of with the intent of believing. For example, one of the things that I really upsets me is when persons, especially Christians, align themselves with a particular political figure just because that politician claims to support one of your fundamental views, such as being pro-life, pro-choice, or being against (or for) gay-marriage, or whatever. Oftentimes, that same politician has a greater agenda than just supporting those one or two views that you hold. Oftentimes, they focus on slandering others, lying about other politicians, and probably has other views and beliefs that would collide with yours. However, because you only are focusing on the few main issues that they also talk about, you fail to see that this politician is not the answer.
I think that overall we put our trust is other human beings to solve the problems that exist in this world. It is always someone else’s problem. We fail to realize that we have one planet for all of us to share and use. Yet, we all want to fight to claim it as our own, or exploit it to gain what we can from it so as to have it for our own personal enjoyment. That’s why we fight over politicians and political views, and want to oust some person out of an elected office. Most of us fail to realize that the battle of change must first be with our own selves. We fail to see that we must first look at how we think. We don’t want to evaluate ourselves and see where we are lacking and to consider the fact that we may be wrong. And, when I say, “we may be wrong”, I mean, we may be wrong in anything at all, and possibly even everything. Ok, I know that is a weird thing to say, but if we look at our own thoughts with objectivity, and consider our own viewpoint with a critical eye, we may be able to see the overall view of the topic at hand with a different perspective, and in the context of everyone involved.
To me, instead of allowing ourselves to be convinced by the words and proclamations of others, we need to focus on changing out own selves, and seeing that the key to life lies in the state of our minds. If we evaluate our own actions, and our own beliefs and seek to understand our purpose in life, we would be able to develop a stronger self image that does not require us to have this need to identify with political groups just because of their promises.
I think that a persons view of life should be one that involves a strong sense of right and wrong. Some people call this morality. I call it justice. But, it really isn’t just justice. After all, justice requires law. However, there is really only one universal law that can guide our minds to perfection, and this law is the law of LOVE. Yep… love. Love for God and love for your neighbor. Anyways… that, in and of itself, is a whole other post and trend of thought. So, I’ll stop here. But, before I go, I just want you to consider that if we view or determine our actions based on true love (not emotional, sexual, sensual, or superficial), that is, considering the fairness and welfare of others, we would live in a much better world that the one we have today.
