Re: "Battles between truth and reality" or "Douglas, It's Simple, Really!"

["Ted Moffett" <ted_moffett@hotmail.com>]

Alan wrote:

>There is no universal truth that can be perceived
>by human experience.

You do not know this for sure.  This is a major question that can be debated 
endlessly and convincingly both for and against.

Alan wrote:

>But it appears that you trust your perception of the world too much, as
>many of us do. These "common experiences" such as appreciation of
>emotions, crying while watching the sunrise, seeking human friendship,
>beauty of passion between lovers, etc. sure, that's great. I am >pleased,
>as I'm sure we all are, that some of us can appreciate them and
>understand them to a degree.

I am suggesting that the less we emphasize how different we are as human 
beings in the ideological sphere (nationalism, politics, religion, 
ethnicity, etc.) in a manner causing strife and intolerance, the more we can 
focus on the profound and meaningful ways we share a common humanity, 
therefore hopefully increasing tolerance and lessening war, hatred, violence 
etc.  It can be debated whether there IS any profound commonality of human 
experience.  I believe that there is.

Here in little Moscow Idaho we have groups who are challenging each other 
for power who are at odds with each other focusing on the ideological, 
metaphysical and/or spiritual differences between them.  My appeal in my 
post to Doug W. to acknowledge the profound (NOT dental hygiene) 
commonalities of human experience as a basis for less ideological 
confrontation in his approach is a tiny effort to lessen confrontation in a 
manner that if extended globally could have dramatic and positive 
consequences.

Here in Moscow our debate on these differences is mostly civil and peaceful, 
but elsewhere in the world, as we all know, these ideological, metaphysical 
and/or spiritual differences are a matter of life and death, war and peace.

Alan wrote:

>Empathy and compassion are self-serving
>concepts. For example, one does not donate to a charity out of
>compassion, they do it because it will make them feel better about
>themselves.
>

You cannot speak for everyone on this issue.  True altruism does exist, and 
people do sacrifice themselves for others out of compassion.

Ted


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