--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "lurkernomore20002000" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Peter: > Jesus Christ! Here we go again..... > > Judy: > F**k off, Peter. If somebody grossly misrepresented what you > had said and then called you a liar for saying it, I don't > imagine you'd let it go by. > > She, they, just don't get it. It's an addiction, clothed in > moral indignance that their integrity has been violated, and > that it must be restored. God Save the Queen. What they don't > realize, and likely, will never realize is that NO ONE CARES. > This, matters not a lick. With the utmost seriousness they > cite the evidence which will "win the case". (in their minds)
I don't want to (and won't) get into the specifics of this kind of post and who does it, and why. What fascinates me about it, spiritually, is that almost by definition an angry or outraged reaction to some- one else's post is the activity of a small s self protecting itself, and in the process pushing Self away. The more one "protects" the notions that self has of itself, the way it views itself, the more that small s self is strengthened. Every time the small s self reacts, has its button pushed, and says, "No, that's not right. That's not the way I see myself, and therefore it's not true," the more that the "I" in the equation is strengthened and becomes convinced that it exists. Conversely, we see other posters here who are able to say, "Hey...that's definitely not the way that I normally see my actions, but it's a valid way of seeing my actions, because another human being, on a par with myself *because* they're another human being, saw it that way. Maybe *both* ways of seeing the situation are true on some level, even though *none* of them describe the situation as a whole." The ability to do this seems to me to be related to two traits. The first is having a certain fluidity of self (which in turn seems to be based on having a certain familiarity with Self, and knowing the difference between the two). The second is having the ability to perceive their fellow posters as *equals*, and not feel "superior" to them. IMO, the posters here who are able to rise above having to react angrily when someone portrays them in a diff- erent way than they see themselves can do so because they have a basic level of respect for the other posters, and consider them their equals. "We're all just seekers here," and all that. In general, those who become indignant do so because they've been insulted by someone they consider "lesser" than themselves. Easy solution, in both cases -- laugh more. Laugh at the jibes and insults, when they really are jibes and insults. Laugh at those who feel compelled to post the jibes and insults consistently, and thus reveal so much about themselves. And most of all, laugh at one's self, that tiny little imaginary thing that, for a moment, feels "insulted" because someone doesn't take it seriously. Because the more you laugh at the little sucker and *don't* take it seriously, the less hold it has over you. Laugh at the self long enough and it'll go away, leaving only Self.
