To Offend Without Offending

I’m in a quandary. I have a calling. I’ve had it since I was young. That calling is to share with whomever needs to hear, that there are different ways of thinking. Sounds like a no-brainer and common sense, right? Well, I encourage you to try it and see how it goes. Talk to someone about their religion, their politics, their lives and almost everyone will not want to talk about it. Why is that? I believe there are a few main reasons for this. One is emotional. We get very emotional about things and those emotions more often than not cloud our ability to rationally think. Try talking to someone who is angry. All they “choose” to see is the anger, and it greatly limits having an open discussion. Talk to someone who is sad, and in the moment of emotional sadness that is all that matters, being sad. Now I’m not advocating that emotions are bad or wrong, what I’m saying is, I believe they limit our ability to think with a clear and open mind. We have allowed emotions to rule the mind when it should be the other way around. The mind controls the emotions. If it weren’t the case, then we would all just live in chaos truly.

Another part of it is pride and ego. Throw that into the mix and it’s almost impossible to reach someone so that they may be able to see a different picture. We don’t like things to be wrong in our minds eye, we don’t like to look outside our comfort zone, we don’t like things to be different. This is what I know, so that’s the way it is. I grew up Baptist, so Baptist is the only way. Well, that’s just not true, I’m sorry. But can you “see” the problem we can have in trying to talk to people about “things”, if you will, outside their own box? We personalize and own it. We become part of it, associated with it, known by it, run our lives by it, so on and so forth. And that, my friends, is where I want to offend without offending.

I try very hard to see life on a grander scale. I see different colors, energies, attitudes, understandings. I also see the blackness and the grey. Sometimes it’s easy to spot, sometimes it has to reveal itself. Sometimes it’s right in your face and sometimes it’s hidden. But as you become more and more aware you come to understand that learning never stops if your open to learning. When people don’t want to learn, or refuse to learn due to their own processes, this is where I struggle. I want to offend without offending. I want to show and reveal that there is another way of thinking, but I don’t want to do that by being part of the problem. And that’s my quandary. How do I express an understanding that doesn’t fit in their box but still exists outside the box? It’s kind of like explaining wind. You can’t see it but it there none the less. Explain snow to someone who has never seen it. That doesn’t mean snow doesn’t exist. So, there are many ways of thinking that is, let’s say, different, than what you may know. But getting someone into that space of being able to “see” is a difficult task.

We all have our own story to tell, our own path to walk, but I believe that doesn’t mean we are stuck to just talking or walking. We can sing, hum, chant, whisper. We can skip, run, hop and dance. Why limit ourselves to life when there is so much more to see and explore. Why believe in just a few things so fervently and yet not experience possibility. We mustn’t allow fear to hold us in bondage, and we mustn’t allow ignorance to keep us from being free. You are an incredible being, share that with the world and let the world and the universe share it with you. You might just learn something new.