The Generations Need To Let Go.

[sealchan]

I've tried to have more contact with Native Americans because I am half Cherokee. Sadly I hear a lot about how the Europeans abused them, and they are right. I hear the same thing from Blacks, how the Europeans enslaved them. When I was full on observant Muslim, the Sisters were sweet and caring to me. I hear from the Hispanics about how the American Southwest was taken from them. They of course had forgotten how they had taken the land from the Native Americans.

If you talk to folk from the UK, you hear endless histories about the warrings between the Scots, and English and Welsh, and Celts, and Romans. Sometimes this is expressed with as much bitterness as if it had happened yesterday.

Then of course there are the sad stories about how Muslims invaded Andalusia, and on and on clear to the end of recorded history.

I've heard lots of bitterness recited by the Persians about how Saudis invaded them, and of course about how the Byzantines had persecuted those in the Arabian Peninsula.

It is all very sad, though I have my own theory about how perhaps God used all this strife to mix the genetics of all these people.

I wish there were a way for us all to just give it up...

We have to get to a place collectively where the tendency to vilify others is no longer useful because we can solve most any problem in a much better way.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

They are, but that's irrelevant as far as the law is concerned.

Our govt insures everyone has equality of opportunity. That means you can't discriminate against someone based on race, religion, gender etc.

It is not the govts job to take the rich kid down a peg. Though we do give poor kids and disadvantaged people a hand up.

I agree that taxing everyone to equality is not the answer because it would likely eliminate the incentive to work. But, I still think the super rich should be taxed more. The 3 richest Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 50%. I think the govt should hike the tax rates on billionaires and invest it in programs to end childhood hunger and improve education for children in poor communities.

 

[MikeDwight]

Right guys. Turn on the TVs. Whats on? Hope its no argument-land where my country makes enough and its all equal, wow poof Nachos... yum.

 

[Enoch07]

I agree that taxing everyone to equality is not the answer because it would likely eliminate the incentive to work. But, I still think the super rich should be taxed more. The 3 richest Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 50%. I think the govt should hike the tax rates on billionaires and invest it in programs to end childhood hunger and improve education for children in poor communities.

I'm a flat tax man 10% for all no loop holes. Of course disabled people wtc who can't work shouldn't be taxed.

 

[PureX]

Then you must not run in those circles. I am acquainted with them. There are certain groups of people who kind of try to drag you into the drama, so to speak. I’ve seen it in action and it seems to breed anger, fury and toxicity.
I mean sure, a lot of people just sort of stand aside looking bemused. But there is sometimes psychological pressure to not forgive and forget. I have run into it from time to time. It’s.......unhealthy to say the least.

Humans are susceptible to "bloodlust". Especially when in groups. Simply understanding this would make it much easier to prevent, so long as we are willing.

 

[SomeRandom]

Humans are susceptible to "bloodlust". Especially when in groups. Simply understanding this would make it much easier to prevent, so long as we are willing.

Hey I did my part. I got out of such a mindset a while back, it’s not healthy.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I've tried to have more contact with Native Americans because I am half Cherokee. Sadly I hear a lot about how the Europeans abused them, and they are right. I hear the same thing from Blacks, how the Europeans enslaved them. When I was full on observant Muslim, the Sisters were sweet and caring to me. I hear from the Hispanics about how the American Southwest was taken from them. They of course had forgotten how they had taken the land from the Native Americans.

If you talk to folk from the UK, you hear endless histories about the warrings between the Scots, and English and Welsh, and Celts, and Romans. Sometimes this is expressed with as much bitterness as if it had happened yesterday.

Then of course there are the sad stories about how Muslims invaded Andalusia, and on and on clear to the end of recorded history.

I've heard lots of bitterness recited by the Persians about how Saudis invaded them, and of course about how the Byzantines had persecuted those in the Arabian Peninsula.

It is all very sad, though I have my own theory about how perhaps God used all this strife to mix the genetics of all these people.

I wish there were a way for us all to just give it up...

I view the human condition as no different than that of any storm of nature.

One could analyze this the same way as a weather pattern comprised of neurons where chaos and calm is dynamically intertwined, coming and going as natural as the clouds do, bringing about all sorts of intensity and durations .

All the time that we want the bad things to end, there lays the certainty that it will at some point end, same as with the good. Yet not forever concerning the continual ebbs and tides.

Like Cat Stevens used to sing, "Morning Has Broken".

 

[PureX]

Hey I did my part. I got out of such a mindset a while back, it’s not healthy.

And the rest of us thank you for that. Or, we would if we recognized the importance of it.

 

[sealchan]

The psychologist Carl Jung has a theory about the structure of the psyche which goes something like this: if we identify that which we understand ourselves to be within our minds as the ego, then we also have within us a balancing, but opposing inner personality we might call the shadow. The shadow like all other inner psychic figures represents a "darker" less conscious aspect of our fuller selves. In dreams the shadow is a same age, same sex individual who always has some opposing attitude of some kind.

It is as if the shadow represents another choice you might have made but didn't; a small, possible choice full of potential value that the ego still worries over. But given that our choices go a long way toward substantiating who we are to ourselves and others, they become very important. But if a choice casts a shadow in our psyche, then we have this sort of close threat to our integrity. It becomes an unavoidable, irritating companion to trouble our tranquility.

To counter this, like many of our other inner fragments, we project those figures onto others. Once such an unconscious association is made to an individual or group we tend to want to scapegoat that group, blaming it for problems with an emotional depth that belies their true importance. This is because an outer target for conscious rebuke makes an effective means for countering that inner voice that may continually quarrel.

So we "denigrate" an other not knowing that we have merely escalated an inner conflict. Until one recognizes that inner conflict and negotiates a balance or reconsideration of "the choice", the energy and motivation to scapegoat will persist.

So to stop the desire to persecute others we must look within to our own inner conflicts. To do this requires bravery, humility, patience, compassion...it is a difficult work. And if you find yourself in a group that mutually promotes this villianization, such inner work can come with a significant price to pay in ones social reality.