No need to apologise. Your comment made me think as you made very good points. I agree that ‘live and let live’ and agreeing that there is a kernel of truth in something you disagree with are two different attitudes of mind. It goes back to Fitzgerald’s quote about the ability to hold two opposing thoughts in your mind at the same time, to believe that you are right, but that the other guy may also be right.

Still, it is a paradox as you pointed out. We have to choose one way to think, one belief that guides our actions as individuals, while at the same time leaving room in our minds for other possible ways of thinking. Sometimes I just tell myself that if I had been born to a different family, in a different country, at a different time, then I would believe totally different ‘truths’ and be equally convinced that I was right too. Making the effort to step out of our individual little world is not easy, but certainly forces us to understand that every “I” represents only one dot in eternity and there are so many other dots that make up the whole.

Not sure if this is making any sense.

I would like to agree wholeheartedly with all that you say here, though I get somewhat snagged on “beliefs,” as so many belief systems are in stark conflict with acceptance of other belief systems, other cultures, and, as you point out, different sexuality. Certainly, when talking to a fundamentalist who believes literally in a cruel, egotistical father figure who condemns those who don’t endlessly sing his praises to eternal torment, I can try to understand where such hateful beliefs come from. And I can do the same for those who believe those who don’t share their beliefs deserve to be killed (though I’ll try to do so from a distance). As such, I might become more compassionate towards those who have so little compassion for a heretic or infidel like me, which would be a good thing, and I can certainly accept them in the sense that I’ll do my best to live and let live, but I don’t know if that’s the same thing as finding a kernel of truth in such beliefs (as I don’t know how one can find truth in bigotry without becoming bigoted, which, of course, gets rather paradoxical).

Most spiritually minded people I know tend toward a universalist viewpoint, which, it seems to me, treats the religious beliefs of the world as if they are all, essentially, different flavors of universalism. I think that ignores just how much of the world’s spirituality consists of belief systems that are rigidly fundamentalist, misogynistic, homophobic, and intolerant of other beliefs.

Sorry to drop a kernel of negativity into your comments. Please believe that I do so because I would really like to agree with you completely, but find I end up in this paradox when I really think about it….

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