The more we say or think that we absolutely know what is right, the more likely we are to believe it. It becomes another unexamined construct or the mind, and thus an impediment to the very freedom and honesty and true morality we are advocating for others and claiming we live by and enjoy. You can just feel how dangerous that kind of thinking is, especially if we are unaware of it, because that is just what everybody feels, no matter what side of an issue they fall on. “I am right and they are wrong.” “I know what is right, and they don’t.” “What is wrong with them?” Then we start attributing motive – right away we’re in trouble.
Source: Arriving at your own Door 108 Lessons in Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn
REFLECTION:
- Is there something you believe is right… the other is wrong?
- Have you taken that thought down a trail of attributing a motive?
- Can you see the situation from the other viewpoint?
- How does that viewpoint change the relationship? Are you willing to open the door to working through the differences?