...between someone challenging their beliefs and someone attacking them. What's up with that? We see it every week, if not every day, on this forum and on countless others on the Internet. Take the following two statements:
A. I think that you are a low-life, scum-sucking, dog-humping bastard. B. I think that the spiritual teacher / celebrity / political candidate you seem enamored of is fundamentally wrong in his/her thinking, and here's why. Isn't it fascinating the number of people who respond to B as if A had been said? And with the same degree of anger, faux outrage, and need to "strike back" as if A had actually been said? It all strikes me as odd, possibly because I don't consider the things I believe to be equivalent to who I am -- my sense of self. I'm not a member of any spiritual or political group, and the only celebrities I'm attracted to...uh...aren't me. So why should I get my panties in a twist if someone else doesn't like them, or the things they say? For me, beliefs are just "passing travelers," thoughts that flit through my mind from time to time. Some persist, some do not, but I don't think very many of them are static, or worth arguing about or getting upset about. Except the belief that Joss Whedon is a living saint, that is. Challenge that around me and you've got a fight on your hands. :-) But my laissez-faire 'tude about beliefs does not seem to be universally shared. People *identify* with their beliefs, just as they identify with some of the sources of those beliefs. When asked "Who are you?," they actually label themselves with the names of the groups they consider themselves members of. "I'm an S&M meditation practitioner, and a follower of Sri De Sadeananda." "I'm a charter member of the Lady Gaga fan club." "I'm a Republican." In some cases, you can tell that these people label themselves as affiliated with something-or-other because they aren't completely sure that they're much of anything *without* those affiliations. So they really DO hear or read A when someone says or writes B. They really DO believe that a challenge to what they believe is an attack on themselves. They cannot *separate* the beliefs from their concept of self -- who they are. I find it odd. YMMV.
