I find it doesn’t really matter what I do. They are going to do what they are going to do.
The only thing that changes anyone’s mind is suffering. And even that doesn’t always work. Some people have to learn things the hard way.
Yes, again
ding what matters and what we can change is what
WE DO. Not focusing on "changing OTHER people's minds that are suffering"
worrying about what WE can do, what steps WE do to cut that suffering in half.
Sometimes it IS about offering help or support to a neighbor.
Just knowing we care is sometimes the most of it.
Other times, showing we are trying to listen and change
what we are doing or saying to upset someone else
lets them know we ARE trying to understand, and we DO care to fix it.
It's ironic sometimes and never fails to catch me by surprise.
The times I thought I needed to do all kinds of stressful effort
but all someone really wanted was to know I cared or was listening.
Sometimes that's enough to help them release the fear and stress
so they can solve their issues on their own. Just want someone
to hold their hand or be there while they talk themselves through it.
I care more than you know.
Not all situations call for the same solutions.
Sure
ding with each person, who is a unique soul,
each relationship between two unique souls is a unique line.
So every situation is unique between those two people.
They may not understand how much we care,
but they don't have to think we have some selfish motive either.
If we are giving the person the 'wrong impression'
what can we do to change and improve our way of
expressing and sharing where it doesn't come across wrong.
M, everything works itself out in the end. It’s a conflict and confusion process. Truth will always win in the end because eventually error will fail.
We live in a logical universe where every effect has a cause. Everything is connected.
I do the best I can with what I have. I leave the rest to God.
How many minds here have you changed?
Dear
ding
A. The changes have been more like mutual changes in tones in our relations
going from hostile or blocked, to more open and without the same friction or constant negative resistance back and forth.
I think all relations have opened up more, over time,
but it's not like changing someone's mind completely on any one particular point.
B. the most pronounced changes I felt were GENERALLY a change in CONNECTION with conservative/rightwing approaches.
After Obama's ACA went through and I started arguing most focused
with fellow liberals and progressives to explain how that was violating Constitutional principles and process.
Suddenly it seemed the conservatives (I used to annoy with my long liberal messages overanalyzing and deconstructing
everything) weren't so annoying after all if I was going after liberals about ACA being unconstitutional.
Some discovered I had a sense of humor and could JOKE about this unfunny outrage going on.
So that helped smooth things over while deep difficult discussions became burdensome otherwise.
Even with adding this humor and being able to connect with more people,
it also meant getting more jumped on by my fellow liberals, including and especially over the LGBT arguments.
So one channel became more open IN GENERAL
but the other became a harder struggle in comparison.
ding that is NOT SOMETHING that can be explained or changed overnight.
Letting go of all that past karmic buildup of persecution of LGBT by Christians,
now flipped the other way, is just a microcosm of the collective political flips from
"jumping on Obama voters" to "jumping on Trump voters."
Overall, I'm just grateful if we can restore some trust and respect in all the hostile mess back and forth.
Even a "slightly less broken connection" is a positive change and step in the right direction.
Even someone deciding not to ignore or cut me off completely, but bother to read or reply to a msg
and try to say SOMETHING is better than nothing.
I'll take that as a change, though it probably doesn't meet
the expectations you are asking about.
C. As for specific points where I changed MY mind (and assume this impacted
how I interacted with others on related points)
1. drifter changed my mind about my stance opposing drug use
actually being a BIAS. I thought I was open either way, and just PREFERRED to
promote spiritual healing first to make sure people had FULL KNOWLEDGE
before making decisions about drug use or policies. But actually having
this knowledge CREATES A PROJECTED BIAS causing conflicts with others who think it isn't real or justified.
This doesn't change my mind about my beliefs, but makes me TRY to be more CAREFUL
NOT TO JUDGE if people don't believe me and/or start to attack my judgement
because they just CAN'T IMAGINE spiritual healing can really change people like that.
drifter was the only person who directly expressed understanding
that this spiritual healing research is REAL and it DOES CHANGE and IMPACT everything deeply
So we helped each other to proportional degrees.
And this helped me be more understanding and patient and not judge
if people outright reject and attack me for bringing this up, thinking it's totally false and dangerous.
(the worst arguments over this were with Penelope and now TheProgressivePatriot
thinks this Spiritual Healing is complete propaganda garbage that is harming the LGBT
and reinforcing anti-gay bigotry) So this problem isn't solved and people aren't changing
their minds or beliefs. Even if there is proof it helps people, to the depths that totally transform lives and relations,
the changes happen "equally all around" and by the time things change enough to be visible,
I suppose everything will change around us by then, so it won't matter.
2. g5000 brought up that voting regulations couldn't be proven to reduce voter fraud
so from that, I figured out this is like gun regulations not reducing gun violence.
That changed my mind on how I explain and talk to people about the opposition to such legislation.
3. Anonymous originally jumped on me for talking about Freedmen's Town, accusing me of
using it as race bait to entrap or incite white/black posters to mouth off and get themselves investigated,
thinking I was some FBI mole or IMPLANT/IMPOSTER trying to get people in trouble or arrested.
so that took some work to resolve, where we could communicate on a transparent basis
without fear that something nefarious was going on
4. I did make some progress working things out with JakeStarkey to understand where my "opposite evil twin"
was coming from to make sense of these "labels" of RINO (and DINO). Though I still can't communicate on
Constitutional laws with CCJones, I made some progress with other liberal posters, here and there, over time very gradually.
5. currently I'm still working on smoothing out harsh communications with harmonica and IM2
who still objects to me CONDONING "abuses of individualism" or "white language/cultural perception" crap of "false equivalencies" and "white people assuming they know better how to tell black people how to think because they don't count"
It's all over the place,
ding
Like I said above, by the time changes go through, it's going to be so comprehensive
affecting a little of everything, that it won't matter who changed to what degree because
everyone is constantly changing how we deal with everyone else. It's a continual process.
