Stand For vs. Take A Position Against
OK, good. Yesterday's post stirred things up a bit.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about the Iraq War.
One reply I got was,
"Take me off your mailing list. Anybody who remotely considers Sheehan
visionary is also a traitor and in my opinion should be tried for
sedition."
I'm sure the person who sent me this email simply intends to stand for the freedom of Americans and for the honor of the American soldier.
But what we tend to do in life, rather than express a Stand For is take a Position Against.
Good people confuse the two all the time. The effect is the blinding self-righteousness that has each side being the righteous ones fighting the evil ones. Not distinguishing between these two explains the world we live in today, full of war, destructive lawsuits, irresponsibility, nasty divorces, malicious politics, etc., etc.
The same can be found in the language of Cindy Sheehan. So many of us can't see what she is standing for, when it comes out as a position against. Each side fighting against leads to destructive ends that neither side wants. Yet both sides are responsible for the results.
(I recently recorded a call on this subject for Vision Force Academy members, and I'll make it available here.)
Now, let's turn our attention to the word sedition.
In our efforts to protect our freedoms in America (or whatever free country you hail from) and stand for the honor of the loyal soldier, we can espouse such things as trying for sedition or treason those who voice a different opinion.
Sedition: (n) Conduct or language inciting resistance or rebellion against the authority of a state.
Had America's Founding Fathers not committed this "crime" of sedition, there
would be no freedom to protect in America. Would we who enjoy freedoms even be free?
If speaking up and inciting resistance or rebellion against the authority of the state is a crime, then lord help us as visionaries. If we only permitted voices that agree with authority, then there would be no hope for our children living as free beings or as passionate visionaries and creators.
The Freedom of Speech in America was established in part to free us from the common law crime of sedition that kept America's forefathers muted in England.
For more insight into the danger in viewing sedition as immoral or as a crime, watch the movie Last of the Mohicans.
American settlers must choose whether or not to commit the crime of sedition. The British authority refuses to allow them to go an save their wives and children. If they choose to leave, he promises to convict and hang them for sedition.
Food for visionaries.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about the Iraq War.
One reply I got was,
"Take me off your mailing list. Anybody who remotely considers Sheehan
visionary is also a traitor and in my opinion should be tried for
sedition."
I'm sure the person who sent me this email simply intends to stand for the freedom of Americans and for the honor of the American soldier.
But what we tend to do in life, rather than express a Stand For is take a Position Against.
Good people confuse the two all the time. The effect is the blinding self-righteousness that has each side being the righteous ones fighting the evil ones. Not distinguishing between these two explains the world we live in today, full of war, destructive lawsuits, irresponsibility, nasty divorces, malicious politics, etc., etc.
The same can be found in the language of Cindy Sheehan. So many of us can't see what she is standing for, when it comes out as a position against. Each side fighting against leads to destructive ends that neither side wants. Yet both sides are responsible for the results.
(I recently recorded a call on this subject for Vision Force Academy members, and I'll make it available here.)
Now, let's turn our attention to the word sedition.
In our efforts to protect our freedoms in America (or whatever free country you hail from) and stand for the honor of the loyal soldier, we can espouse such things as trying for sedition or treason those who voice a different opinion.
Sedition: (n) Conduct or language inciting resistance or rebellion against the authority of a state.
Had America's Founding Fathers not committed this "crime" of sedition, there
would be no freedom to protect in America. Would we who enjoy freedoms even be free?
If speaking up and inciting resistance or rebellion against the authority of the state is a crime, then lord help us as visionaries. If we only permitted voices that agree with authority, then there would be no hope for our children living as free beings or as passionate visionaries and creators.
The Freedom of Speech in America was established in part to free us from the common law crime of sedition that kept America's forefathers muted in England.
For more insight into the danger in viewing sedition as immoral or as a crime, watch the movie Last of the Mohicans.
American settlers must choose whether or not to commit the crime of sedition. The British authority refuses to allow them to go an save their wives and children. If they choose to leave, he promises to convict and hang them for sedition.
Food for visionaries.
4 Comments:
One person implied Cindy Sheehan was in the same category of people as Stalin, Hitler, and Osama Ben Laden [sic]. Two others suggested she was a “puppet,” “Pawn” of the “left wing liberals” (a meaningless term). And all of these labels are true – even if only for the individuals who posted their comments. I've learned that whatever we each believe to be true is true if only for that one person.
Has Cindy Sheehan killed millions of people? Has she committed genocide? Has she thrown people in prison without trial or had people ferried away to gulags late at night? Has she tortured anyone? No. She lost a son in the Iraq War and began to demand answers. And this scares many people. After all, there is a possibility that she may be correct in what she is saying and doing. And this is what really scares people. These scared people may have to look inside for their own answers. Responsibility, not a cup of tea most people worshiping victimhood willingly imbibe.
Mike, you wrote “what we tend to do in life, rather than express a Stand For is to take a Position Against.” This, I would agree, is an important point. In Joe Vitale's book, The Attractor Factor, he writes that Mother Theresa said that she would never attend an anti-war demonstration. Why? Because it is the same energy as a war or pro-war demonstration. Anti-war is not, necessarily, pro-peace. And this is a small paradigm shift. (“Stand For” vs. “Position Against”) Bringing the soldiers home is not anti-war, it is for peace and for life. Demanding answers is not anti-government, it is for truth and for accountability and for integrity. These help serve us all.
What Sheehan is doing is, unknowingly, causing people to look within and for many this is frightening because, of course, the problem is “out there.” They're bumping into the edge of their comfort zone. It is like a person who has lived their life acting a certain way, believing a certain way without ever having tested or questioned their beliefs or actions. They believe what they've been told. This type has no room for visionary thinking, in my opinion, because the foremost agenda is to maintain the status quo and continue to think and live inside a box, a safe, known box. A true visionary would respect what Sheehan says and would not feel a need to make themselves feel better by denigrating her or anyone else.
The fear of change is what keeps most people fighting to stay in a box, their known comfort zone. They may never truly question anything. The news they see on the TV is always true because of the videos they see, because they've “known” that commentator for a long time, or for any number of reasons. The authority is outside of them and, as a result, so is their power. They've given it away. They are not responsible. Someone else told them what to do, what to believe, etc. Stanley Milgram's Yale University experiment is now a wild success in America. I believe that a true visionary thinks outside of the box and then throws the box, and any reference to it, away. This requires constant awareness, focus, and intent.
On many levels, and you don't need to look really closely, you can see how people are guided into not being visionary, into following along with everyone else, into conforming. You can see this in the public school system. You can see it in our TV shows and movies. Conform, fit it, let others think for you and tell you what to do. Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple Computer, NeXT Computer), and Michael Dell (Dell Computer), all dropped out of school to do what they do. I think it was Frederick Smith (Fedex-founder) had to take the US Postal Service to court in order to deliver overnight letters. His MBA paper on shipping got low marks but, implemented, his concept was wildly successful.
The issue is that we each need to recapture our vision then there is no need for blaming anyone or denigrating anyone. What are our wildest dreams? What do we each want to be remembered for? What makes our hearts sing? This comes from looking within. It comes from moving from scarcity consciousness to abundance consciousness. It comes from wanting others to have, be, and do what we each want to have, be, and do. There is enough peace for all. There is enough safety for all. There is enough love for all. We can change the world overnight and all that need be done is change ourselves.
What is our vision for peace? For prosperity? For love in our lives? What is our vision for the country that you live in? What is your vision for the world? What is you vision for the future? Is it based on what someone else may do (or has done) or is it based on what you will do? In other words, is your success based on the actions of others or based on your own actions?
Our deepest fear
Is not that we are inadequate
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness
That most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be Brilliant,
Gorgeous, Talented and Fabulous?
Who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure
around you
We were born to make manifest
The Glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us;
It is in everyone.
As we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission
To do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
--- poem by Marrianne Williamson
I do not put Cindy in the same category as terrorist and dictators. I do defend her right to speak her mind, although I disagree with her and this is my right. I do not think that anyone who agrees with her is a traitor to our country, but I am unclear with whether I think what she is doing is good. I say I'm unclear, because I am unsure as to where I stand. I thought I knew, but the more I think about what she stands for and her rights to stand, I think that is good. She is speaking her mind! I am not for or against war, but I will support our troops and defend our right to defend freedom.
Let us not point the finger either which way. That is the exact problem in which people come together to debate...such as Right & Wrong. It is not about any Stand...It is about debate, right & wrong and CONFLICT...the discusion gets scrapped in an Oasis of Conflict where the original Stand...the True Meaning of what the Stand was about to begin with gets shuffled into controversy and opinion and defense and into The Minds Conditioning....Conditioning Reason is not a Stand. True Honor and the Expression of ones Stand of Honor is to bring about an Awakening and an Awareness where we can all come together in loyality and Honor with or without our differences.
I have the utmost Honor for Michael Skye I appreciate the definitions of words as an termnology so we can better see and understand what we are verbalizing and especially on an blog. We often use words as common ground or stand and when we really look at the language we write and speak we see how most of us do not understand the English Language. As for me....I love to really get into the etomology of words. Thanks for your expression and voice...a Stand as a Voice inspires me. I Stand for the Honor of speach & Debate that furthers the awareness of each person riseing in words to contribute within the context of making an difference. In this light have at it but remember The Greatest thing in America is Freedom of Speach & speach & Debate is is not for the purpose of degragation rather, afirming point of views that are held with the frame of what the intent of Freedom of Speach intent was in the Constituion.
signing on to the Sword of The Spirit in deed & in Truth,
Cheryl
My daughter and granddaughter have been with Cindy since she started her protest in a ditch near President's Bush's home. They have been on a bus for the last 30 days and arrived in D.C. two days ago.
My other daughter is flying out to join them tomorrow.
I am an old radical now, but during the 70's took my own stand for what I believed in against total oppositions by neighbors and friends.
I was surprised when I heard they were going to Waco to climb in that ditch with Cindy.
But I am proud of them for not only standing up for what they believe in but by backing it up with action.
I, like you, do not take Cindy's actions personally. It matter's not whether I agree or disagree with her. American's have become apathetic.
Like my other daughter they gripe and complain, but many don't even vote.
So to all those who are involved in their world, I salute you!
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