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Values and Culture

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We're all in the same WHOLE!

Contributor: codc01

Date: 2003-04-26 16:37:20


"..disagreement should be seen as an opportunity to transform our apparent ‘opponent' into a friend who can help us enlarge our understanding by benefiting from each others' diverse viewpoints.."

Even though you speak wisom, i don't see how you can implement this with everyone, how can you convert Al-Qaeda terrorists from opponents to friends... They want to destroy western civilizations...and we're part of that civilization!

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We're all in the same WHOLE!

Contributor: Jibongo

Date: 2003-04-30 21:14:21


I don't know that it will ever be possible to "implement this" with everyone. All I know is: IT IS IMPORTANT TO TRY!
Please don't ignore the first part of the sentence you quoted, namely "If we believe (as I do) that we each discover bits of wisdom during our life journeys, every disagreement should be seen as an opportunity to transform our apparent ‘opponent' into a friend who can help us enlarge our understanding by benefiting from each others' diverse viewpoints." For anybody who is convinced that he or she is right & everyone else is wrong, about all we can do is to invite dialogue in a non-threatening way over & over again until the invitation is accepted.
The toughest question is: how do we keep such people from doing harm & still show them the respect we all need to show to people who do respect all life?

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