Resolution...failed...again

My resolution was to stay positive…respond to people, news, concepts, ideas with an uplifting message.  Failed already.  

I don’t think I am an overly negative person, but I often make fun of other ways of doing things, particularly the mainstream medicine approach to chronic conditions.  Sometimes I even get frustrated and defensive about the ideas and actions of medicine.  

For example, the overuse of antibiotics…very personal to me, since that was how I began my life…many rounds of antibiotics followed by a nasty autoimmune disease that nearly took my life.  (ITP, the platelet disorder).   Twice last year this subject came up…I gave my little rant (in a sense, saying, “that’s stupid”)…and both times I think I offended the person I was talking to.  Well, one for sure, because she let me know!  

So, I resolved to stay positive…whenever something comes up that incites making fun or defensiveness, my plan is to share something positive in the other direction.  For example,if I saw a little toddler with food allergies and a history of antibiotic use, instead of ranting about how damaging antibiotics are, I’ll post something on the success of our immune protocols.  

Simple, right…and really, far more productive if my goal is teaching, and even influencing others to use natural medicine.  But I failed, and I won’t get into my defensiveness, but I will share my positive message. 

It is the message of ignorance.   I write about ignorance frequently, because I think it is truly “enlightened wisdom.”  And if it ain’t, it’s at least a less stressful way of living.  

I want to invite you to join me in working toward the complete acceptance and appreciation of our own ignorance.  

Ignorance is defined as the lack of knowledge or information.  Knowledge is defined as awareness of fact or truth.  But what the heck is a fact…and even more muddled is the concept of truth.  They say mathematics is exact and true, but quantum physicists are showing that depending on perspective, even math rules change.    

Here is an idea…a concept that could challenge your facts and truth…and the first lesson of ignorance.  If we “know” how things are, the moment anyone says something that conflicts with our “truth,” we tune out and start creating our rebuttle.  But if you accept ignorance, you can hear ANY concept and “try it on for size”…see if it fits comfortably…see if it enhances your life, or decreases your stress.  Maybe it doesn’t, and you toss it aside and maintain your truth, but at least you heard it.  (Knowing prevents learning) 

The idea or concept: I believe that there is no such thing as fact…or even truth.  Everything is based on perspective.  Oh, we could go back and forth a million times, so let’s offer up a couple truths that are merely perspective.  

‘The sun comes up every morning.’  Check your facts with someone living in Alaska.  

‘Giving to others is good.’  Check your facts with someone who has been robbed at gunpoint.  

Perspective. 

 

If you have a desire for wisdom, I believe the first step is ignorance.  Letting go of truth or fact…and allowing the absorption of perspective.  When you see from the perspective of all people, you see from the perspective of God.  (And I’m ok calling that universal intelligence the Zero Point Field, or Prana, or Chi or Qi, depending on your perspective)

As soon as you buy into fact, you begin deleting people and perspectives.  And you delete awareness and wisdom.  For example, some people who believe in Christianity, also believe that everyone else is wrong, and would not gather wisdom from a Buddhist teaching.  And the same thing happens with men and women, democrats and republicans…there’s a good example of not hearing another perspective…politics!  

Imagine a political world where both republicans and democrats stopped defending their point and listened, absorbed, and tried on the others opinion.  And, since they are working for the same thing, our country, they compromised, and sought a best solution that included both perspectives.  Wow!  Only through letting go of truth.  

Now, the reason this is a resolution is that I am a long way from this unifying, serene existence.  I have lived in a culture that rewards being right, and penalizes being wrong, and the difference between the two is standardized from a culture that is hardly “getting it right.”  I’ve practiced being right and veiling my ignorance all my life.    

So…I am not very good at being ignorant.  As I mentioned, I have this tendency to make fun of or make wrong any ideas outside mine.  I have resolved to practice step one toward universal wisdom…stop defending my perspective.  I will work on seeing the other perspective, and with practice, I may develop that awareness.  What I believe I can do, right away, is turn any defensiveness or rightness into something positive, and stop tearing others down.    

Will you join me?  We can keep expectations low…so we can’t fail.  None of us are GOOD at ignorance.  We’ll still react with what we have practiced for so long…but when we feel that “bad” feeling, we can notice it…take a breath…and (try to) stop defending our truth, redefined as our perspective?  We do NOT have to give up our perspective to see someone else’s.  We just have to stop defending ours, which could allow us to actually see or hear theirs.  

And what is there to defend.  Most truths have been discovered inaccurate or incomplete.  And the rest likely will be found inaccurate in the next generation…or the next.  So what are we defending!?  As awareness expands…as Columbus failed to fall off the edge…truth changes.  

I still defend…and I did so very recently.  But I am acknowledging the defensiveness and turning it into a positive through sharing my perspective. 

I know I can stay positive…I do it regularly.  I know I can notice the defensiveness…I know the feel, I know the language, and I can pay attention.  I know I can choose to respond differently.  Maybe not always in time…but I will notice and make another choice.  And practice…and practice. 

And that is one “truth” that has stood the test of time…across all generations and lifetimes, all human experience has shown that whatever you practice, you get better at…and what a great thing to practice.  Stop defending, and offer a positive, perhaps uplifting message.   

I hope you will take this seriously and join me in taking a step toward accepting ignorance.  It’s impossible to deny…we are, in fact, quite ignorant on many subjects.  Join me in Trying…Practicing!  

Imagine the result….

“You, Dr. Stone, are a pompous idiot.”  

“Really…that is a VERY interesting perspective…what led you to believe that?”  

Wouldn’t that be a LESS STRESSFUL way to move through life?  Could you imagine how that person would respond if you didn’t reject their perspective?  Seems worth practicing…