Day Twenty-six

I hate it when people disagree with me. I hate it when my opinions and point of view are not shared by others. Admittedly, such an attitude is just a breath away from hating the people who disagree with me and who argue another point of view. My thoughts and ideas are fundamentally who I am, and so it is only natural that I would regard opposing or different thinking to be threatening. My deeply instilled values have a strong foundation of history and tradition supporting them, and most of the time I have religion’s assurance that God, too, supports my position and disdains anything different. In short, my hatred of people who are different from me—who think differently than I do—is justified because God hates them too!

But wait! Am I not sinning here? How can I claim to know the mind of God while being distracted by those I hate for not thinking or believing like I do? I’ve created a dilemma for myself. Do others get to lay claim to right thinking for the same reasons I do? When customs, traditions and perceptions differ, do I need to try to find out where God “stands” on the issues, or is it okay for me to assume that God “sees” things the same way I do? What if I’ve got the Bible on my side (this does become problematic when the text itself doesn’t support my point of view, but I’ll deal with that later)? My self-esteem—my sense of self-worth—is critically dependent upon knowing absolutely that I’m right about everything. Is this selfish need, however, serving to interfere with, or break altogether, my relationship with God?

Somehow I need to better comprehend that this Other that partially resides within me is equally residing throughout the rest of Its creation. What seems to differ from person to person is the individual awareness of this Truth. Perhaps the truly distinctive characteristic of Jesus was his total awareness and acceptance of it, and that comprehension on his part profoundly influenced his relationship to God and humankind. The amazing thing about his character that remains attractive even today is that his ministry was not one of victorious debate but was rather of a quiet and sincere conviction that astounded those around him with the authenticity of its authority. If one’s focus is upon maintaining an optimal relationship with God, there simply isn’t any time left to enter into the destructive process of hating others or their ideas. God have mercy upon me, a sinner!