One of the most fascinating things I've witnessed in various relationships I've had with people is the notion of a single "right" attitude or belief system. Some of the people who subscribe to such notion belong to organizations with justifiably noble goals, while others lead a more low-key life with an otherwise casual vibe. I'm sure I'm one of them when it comes to certain topics. Regardless of the whereabouts we belong in the spectrum, we are very good at producing knee jerk reactions when encountered with the topic of our choice. I think it can be simply categorized as an unwillingness to believe that there can possibly exist alternate ways of thinking or looking at the topic. At this point you may just say that we are all closed-minded people, and you'd be right. But, what's fascinating is that we don't consider us close minded. Hell! Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis? I'm the most open-minded of them all! ;) But it seems like the common theme here is that we believe what we want to believe and filter out the things we don't want to believe in. I'm not even talking squarely about religions or schools of philosophy here, this is far broader than that. Emotional things like being pessimistic or thinking that some things are impossible, etc... I wonder if all these things aren't mostly just games being played in ours minds...

This becomes painfully obvious when somebody proposes a resonating argument that supports our belief system. Our self-fulfilling prophecy daemon kicks in at full throttle and exuburent excitement is accompanied by an all-out agreement. It's almost as to congratulate them that they've arrived at the profound knowledge that only a select few who truly "get it" arrive at. While I can certainly empathize with how we arrive at the conclusion, I'm not convinced that the answer we arrive at can be truly upheld as the universal truth or the one single "right" way of thinking about something. It's one thing to ask others to entertain the idea and think for themselves before agreeing to disagree, but quite another to simply demand that others follow our belief system. The typical reaction we throw at those who disagree with us may be along the lines of how one will realize how "right" we are when they get to experience the same things we have experienced. Then when the person comes back unchanged, having epxerienced those things, we proceed to condemn them on their immaturity or lack of discipline to learn. Oh, some of the better responses that try to sound more logical brings in variables to the argument and say that what they've experienced is not exacty the same. Fascinating, isn't it?

Now just leave a comment agreeing with me and watch closely as I jump in to show you how much in agreement I am with you. ;)