Post by lizanne333 on Jun 18, 2005 2:29:29 GMT -5
Is it not time to look at self-righteousness and see if we can understand what is happening when we "accuse" others of being self-righteous.
In this post I will address this from my perspective.
As I need to learn here too, and hopefully from your perspective too.
When I write something, I have never been aware of feeling self-righteous. I may feel good about something I write, or I may feel that it does not exactly express how I feel. However, I in my recollection I have never experienced the feeling of self-righteousness.
Now when viewed by another, the words may trigger an immediate response in them, let's say of anger.
They in the moment are feeling a sense of loss. They then immediately respond in anger, and retaliate, or project that anger outwards.
Since the response is immediate, there has been no time allowed to allow the wheel of perspective to turn inside, permitting the individual to "choose" how they want to interpret the words they are reading.
So now we are in a "reactive mode". I am guilty of this too, and for myself need to gain a handle upon it.
In viewing the writings of others, I "suppose" I could look for self-righteousness in their work, however, I very rarely go there in me. Even if another tries to convince me that a work is self-righteous, for the most part I have been able to back-up and away to allow many different ways of looking at the work before deciding how I want to view it.
I am not always successful in this, however, I am working on it.
So if we feel we have "lost" something to another in the reading of a post, we exhibit anger, and that anger is designed to bring about a certain response in the author.
I guess there are at least two ways of looking at that.
1) If the author admits fault, and apologizes, then the viewer gains back a sense of self they believe they have lost.
2) If the author says, hey, I wasn't feeling self-righteous, then the viewer is left stll with a sense of loss in himself and must deal with this loss himself.
So, assuming that I was "being self-righteous".
The viewer cannot allow me to be self-righteous because he can't allow himself to be self-righteous. It is unacceptable within him and as a result he cannot allow it to be present in another.
If there is an apology then the viewer gains back a sense of him self, and feels right. Does it not feel that way?
If the author apologizes for something that he is not guilty of then he gives up himself at great cost, to the other whose self now feels right.
So now it is:
Viewer:
self+right=self-righteous
Author:
self-loss=self-lostness
Many times we are pre-disposed to a particular perspective based upon a "shared perspective" of a group of individuals, which is continually re-inforced by each other, affirming each other's perspective again and again. So it makes it difficult to break out of the aura of negativity "agreed upon" in order to have the ability to view things differently.
Again, this is one perspective, just one, as I observe, myself in relation to all of you.
Possibly we can gain some understanding, and gain the ability to watch ourselves as it plays out.
Open for comments.
lizanne
In this post I will address this from my perspective.
As I need to learn here too, and hopefully from your perspective too.
When I write something, I have never been aware of feeling self-righteous. I may feel good about something I write, or I may feel that it does not exactly express how I feel. However, I in my recollection I have never experienced the feeling of self-righteousness.
Now when viewed by another, the words may trigger an immediate response in them, let's say of anger.
They in the moment are feeling a sense of loss. They then immediately respond in anger, and retaliate, or project that anger outwards.
Since the response is immediate, there has been no time allowed to allow the wheel of perspective to turn inside, permitting the individual to "choose" how they want to interpret the words they are reading.
So now we are in a "reactive mode". I am guilty of this too, and for myself need to gain a handle upon it.
In viewing the writings of others, I "suppose" I could look for self-righteousness in their work, however, I very rarely go there in me. Even if another tries to convince me that a work is self-righteous, for the most part I have been able to back-up and away to allow many different ways of looking at the work before deciding how I want to view it.
I am not always successful in this, however, I am working on it.
So if we feel we have "lost" something to another in the reading of a post, we exhibit anger, and that anger is designed to bring about a certain response in the author.
I guess there are at least two ways of looking at that.
1) If the author admits fault, and apologizes, then the viewer gains back a sense of self they believe they have lost.
2) If the author says, hey, I wasn't feeling self-righteous, then the viewer is left stll with a sense of loss in himself and must deal with this loss himself.
So, assuming that I was "being self-righteous".
The viewer cannot allow me to be self-righteous because he can't allow himself to be self-righteous. It is unacceptable within him and as a result he cannot allow it to be present in another.
If there is an apology then the viewer gains back a sense of him self, and feels right. Does it not feel that way?
If the author apologizes for something that he is not guilty of then he gives up himself at great cost, to the other whose self now feels right.
So now it is:
Viewer:
self+right=self-righteous
Author:
self-loss=self-lostness
Many times we are pre-disposed to a particular perspective based upon a "shared perspective" of a group of individuals, which is continually re-inforced by each other, affirming each other's perspective again and again. So it makes it difficult to break out of the aura of negativity "agreed upon" in order to have the ability to view things differently.
Again, this is one perspective, just one, as I observe, myself in relation to all of you.
Possibly we can gain some understanding, and gain the ability to watch ourselves as it plays out.
Open for comments.
lizanne