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Is it difficult for you to accept that others see truth in a different way then you self?

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
Often it can be seen that someone from a certain religion says something that triggers some other person who follows a different religion, and yes that is a normal reaction because we are all different.

But a question that comes to mind is: Does it really matter what others believe? Is it not most important to yourself that you are able to follow the religious/spiritual teaching you have chosen to follow?
If someone from a certain religion says something you disagree with because the teaching you study your self say something different? Does it really mean you have to argue toward the other person as if he/she is dumb?
What if both teachings are correct, but thought in different ways because they are meant only for those who chose to follow it?
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Aristotle somewhere says something along these lines, "It is the mark of an educated person that they are able to entertain a thought in their head that they do not agree with." Something more or less to that effect. It seems simple enough, but I agree with Aristotle: It usually takes training and practice. Not something that often comes naturally to us.

FUN FACT: It has been argued by at least one historian that the famous Medieval question, "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin" was actually a question used to train students in the art of arguing both sides of an issue, and was never intended for serious theological debate. (Of course, some other scholars have tried to demonstrate the question never arose at all during the Medieval period and is instead a slur on Scholasticism that arose sometime during the Victorian Period.)
 

Sirona

Hindu Wannabe
It's difficult to make statements with such general terms such as "truth". However, if somebody runs around with a sign "Selling apples", they should serve to their customers apples, not pears. If they belong to a group that believes "apples = pears", giving out a pear might be their version of "truth", but it nevertheless it can be verified by appropriate means that the vast majority of customers understands the word "apple" to mean a fruit of the species "malus domestica", not something else.

So I guess philosophical truth is largely a problem of majority versus minority opinions, and how they are defined in specific groups. One may also ask why they are defined differently in specific groups.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
So I guess philosophical truth is largely a problem of majority versus minority opinions, and how they are defined in specific groups. One may also ask why they are defined differently in specific groups.
To answer the last part of your question here.
If we look at spiritual/religious teaching of the west it often holds fairly similar answers to what truth is, but there are differences due to the fact that those spiritual masters who made the teaching public would be on different wisdom levels/understanding of the higher truth (not as in truth of physical realm)

But when we look at philosophy/spiritual teachings of the east, the teaching can look very different from what we see in the west because there is no direct teaching of one supreme God, it is teaching of multiple different deities and Gods/Buddhas.

So when these two forms of teachings come in contact with each other due to people moving from east to west or west to east, they bring with them their own understanding of what truth is. then when they speak with religious/spiritual people in the new area they experience a form of negativity because they get questions that can be seen as a critique of their own belief. But in actuality, it does not critique at all. it is questions to find the basis for why teachings are so different. and it all comes down to the understanding of what religious/spiritual truth is.

This is of course only my understanding of the topic in discussion, and there will be differences in our understanding here too. so I am expecting people to take apart my answers here and dissect them to find what is their own truth within this OP too.
So your answer to my OP is not wrong, it is just that we see the answer in different ways. :)
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Often it can be seen that someone from a certain religion says something that triggers some other person who follows a different religion, and yes that is a normal reaction because we are all different.

But a question that comes to mind is: Does it really matter what others believe? Is it not most important to yourself that you are able to follow the religious/spiritual teaching you have chosen to follow?
If someone from a certain religion says something you disagree with because the teaching you study your self say something different? Does it really mean you have to argue toward the other person as if he/she is dumb?
What if both teachings are correct, but thought in different ways because they are meant only for those who chose to follow it?
It has seemed likely to me, ever since my time in the Middle East and my subsequent travels to Asia, that people's various religious systems are all trying to achieve much the same thing, in the end. I have little difficulty in respecting systems of religious thought other than my own, so long as they seem coherent, do not fly in the face of science and do not advocate exclusion, bigotry and persecution.

Unfortunately, some varieties of some religions fail to meet those criteria for respect. For those, I do my bit to point out their defects, to dissuade others from taking them up. (It is almost always a waste of time trying to convince existing adherents to change.)
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
Yes, I always wince, rather, when religions speak of "truth". How can they know, any more than we do in other aspects of our existence?
In my understanding of religions, they hold a part of the truth (depend on the wisdom level of their founder) And no not the mundane wisdom level in the physical world.
So when a spiritual teacher do explain his or her teaching, they do it from their own level. So this is in my understanding why different religions have different teaching but everyone claims to hold the truth.
 

Sirona

Hindu Wannabe
As said before, it is difficult to make statements about general terms like "truth", which mostly cannot be defined exactly. Moreover, I think I never said that I am against others holding different views, but I am against forcing one's subjective truth upon others. This is an entirely different question. IMHO, those who "see" the least often propagate their views in the loudest manner.
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
Often it can be seen that someone from a certain religion says something that triggers some other person who follows a different religion, and yes that is a normal reaction because we are all different.

But a question that comes to mind is: Does it really matter what others believe? Is it not most important to yourself that you are able to follow the religious/spiritual teaching you have chosen to follow?
If someone from a certain religion says something you disagree with because the teaching you study your self say something different? Does it really mean you have to argue toward the other person as if he/she is dumb?
What if both teachings are correct, but thought in different ways because they are meant only for those who chose to follow it?

Sorry but I find it a ridiculously simple concept to accept that others believe differently than I do. So it was quite the surprise (and remains a surprise some days) when I first encountered the right/wrong 'truth' mindset. There is no truth, only belief about truth.
 

Sirona

Hindu Wannabe
As an ex-Buddhist and convert to Hinduism, I think that the West rather follows an "absolute", external notion of truth whereas the "truth" "seen" in Buddhism and Hinduism is often intuitive. The problem with this "intuitively" perceived "truth" is that you cannot simply show it to others, and when one tries to do it nevertheless, they may easily be perceived as self-righteous.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Do you acknowledge such a thing as "religious truth"?



That seems to be an entirely different question.
I am happy with the idea of religious truth, in the same way that I think there must be an objective physical world for science to model. What I am not happy with is religious claims to dogmatic knowledge of whatever that truth may be, just as I regard the models of science as only humanity's current best approximations to the actual physical world.
 

dybmh

דניאל יוסף בן מאיר הירש
"Is it difficult for you to accept that others see truth in a different way then you self?"

No with one exception. I have a difficult time accepting when people enjoy another person's suffering. Problem is... there's a lot of that in the world.
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
"Is it difficult for you to accept that others see truth in a different way then you self?"

No with one exception. I have a difficult time accepting when people enjoy another person's suffering. Problem is... there's a lot of that in the world.
Yes, unfortunately that is a huge part of many people's way of thinking.....
 

PureX

Veteran Member
THAT others see truth differently from me is easy to grasp, and to accept. HOW they do that can often be difficult for me to comprehend, simply because it requires a logic chain that is very alien to me.
 
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