“You find that all around the world, people have different way of believing, and they are all beautiful. It is all a beautiful dream…Remember that you only have control over yourself and what you believe, no one else. It is time to stop scaring yourself”-Don Miguel Ruiz Jr.
When I was in college, I had a dear friend. We will call her Beth. Beth was fun, energetic & kind.
She had a very different religious background than I did. I remember discussing my frustration with all-or-none thinking in spirituality. She told me that her religion was also very lenient-they believed that there were other truths as well. But that only hers knew the total truth.
At the time this rubbed me the wrong way. I thought the idea that one religion could know all was very narrow-minded. I didn’t say anything else. But I still think about her perspective today.
What if we all looked at the differences in each other as something beautiful? To be admired? To appreciate the ways in which another view broadens our perspectives and takes us outside of our own narrow thinking?
Perhaps the idea that individuals can each find their own beauty in believing is magic itself.
Perhaps its magical, in this sometimes cynical world, that they believe at all.
You see, just as I was judging my friend for believing she knew the total truth of the all that is-I was simultaneously believing that I myself knew more. I was scaling myself up comparatively. Congratulating myself that I was more open minded than she was.
Maybe, at times, others try to control our environment in this way. By telling one-another what we should believe.
So instead of reflecting on this memory and seeing a limited perspective... I think I’ll try to respect her passion for her own beliefs and admire her tenacity.
I’ll stop being afraid of my thoughts about HER thoughts. And I’ll try to pay more attention to creating beauty in my own.
Here’s to ALL of the beautiful, tolerant thoughts each of you has had today.
Shine on light chasers!