States of Mind

Since I don't have a smart phone I can't jazz up my posts with cool pictures to entice readers and need to rely on simple honest content if I have any hope of being read.

I'm concerned about the abuses of privacy on the internet and about its becoming an echo chamber for those not interested in true discussion of topics but more interested in repeating politically correct euphemisms from their own side of the spectrum.

I'm sixty two years old. At the age of nineteen I had a spiritual crisis that left me in confusion and doubting the beliefs I was indoctrinated into as a child. I resolved to listen to the still small voice of conscience in my heart and try to believe in all things as being true. In retrospect I can say this another way by using the chaos theory term "All Inputs Are Valid". So I tried to validate every single viewpoint that I was exposed to with the innate understanding that failure only meant that I was not able to comprehend it completely.

This philosophical stance had unforeseen consequences. Various degrees or levels of validation and affirmation soon appeared and continued over the years. For example:

I resonate strongly with what you are sharing!

I believe that you are expressing what you truly believe to be true.

I understand the point of view that you are expressing and respect it (even if I don't entirely agree)

I hear what you are saying (and wonder if you've really given it any thought at all)

I think you are trying to be deliberately deceptive with me.

This worked quite well for me, but for many years there was one issue that refused to clarify itself for validation. This was the concept of hell which I had been brought up with. Try as I might, I couldn't accept this concept of eternal damnation until one day I finally realized that both heaven and hell were states of mind! I could affirm and validate the truth of both being simply states of mind. They may or may not exist in other ways, but it was self evident that they were at least states of mind.

I only share this in the belief that honest recognition and sharing of complex topics and issues is possible and given a large enough perspective all inputs can find their true place of acceptance.