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Authors, sign in!Beginning assumptions often determine results and outcomes.
This is especially true when it comes to how we decide to regard people.
When I begin with a worldview defined and informed by the categories and parameters of judgment, I quickly head in a direction that expects very little of others in their current state and assumes the necessity of my presence to affect the much needed change that I find so obvious.
Such a perspective creates the illusion that occupy a position of superiority, power and dominance. While shrouded in the false nobility of moral obligation, a worldview dominated by judgment cuts me off from authentic relationships. Such a stance weakens and, ultimately, destroys community.
If on the other hand, I enter every relationship as a fellow traveler involved in a quest for hope, the outcomes turn in a completely different direction.
Assuming the position of peer, partner and prospector, I now can join others in the quest for hope and the renewal it always delivers. The honest seeking of hope frees me to approach others with high regard and limitless expectations as they face their own futures.
At the same time, hope allows me to reach out to fellow travelers for help, assistance and partnerships. Freed from the undue sense of being a "required presence," I can find the space I need to fall naturally into unexpected, but vastly rewarding friendships and connections.
In the process, community is strengthened and given new life to see the beneficial cycle repeated again and again.
Judgment versus hope.
I've seen this choice worked out often. The direction we choose, the worldview we adopt will determine our ultimate destiny and destination, as well as our practice.
Published August 27, 2008 by Larry James |
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