Friday, June 20, 2008

Taking A Stand

I have spent some time over the past couple of posts being a bit critical of the self-indulgent arguing that tends to happen around points of theology, spirituality, etc. In the same vein, I'd like to ask one more question.

Why do we feel the need to take a stand on any and every issue? What is with people's discomfort of "grey" areas or the unknown? Do we value our opinions so much that to think leaving a conclusion up to the individual is a bad thing? Even worse, someone might not agree with us.(sarcasm)
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Personal pride is a paradox: it can drive us to achieve the pinnacle of our ambitions, to the potential benefit of all around us, and at the same moment create create the very elements that defeat us, arrogance or self indulgence. A personal opinion stated will generally have an element of pride included. This is a measurable phenomenon. If ouropinion is contradicted or challenged, measure the level of defensiveness expereienced at the time of the challenge, and you will find the measure of pride that our opinion is built upon. This is also an effective measure of the "value" of our opinion....
and that's my opinion :>)

good 1ce as ever was

June 23, 2008 at 9:01 AM
Anonymous said...

oooop's,
Forgive the typos in the last post. My bad for not double checking.
good 1ce

June 23, 2008 at 9:03 AM
phil said...

Great comments. Thank you. I have never looked at the measurability of pride in our own opinions by comparing the level of defensiveness to the challenge of that opinion. What a great concept. My action on this idea is to stop every time I get defensive when someone doesn't agree with my ideas and evaluate the "why" behind this feeling. Great stuff. Thanks again.

June 23, 2008 at 9:06 AM
Anonymous said...

Thanks,
Nice words, but be careful of giving me too much praise...I might start thinking my opinion has real value. :>)
Good 1ce

June 24, 2008 at 9:20 AM

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