photo credit: Kevin Wright
The act of communicating knowledge can be interpreted as implying that others are ignorant and need to be schooled about something. So we may remain silent rather than correcting inaccuracies we may hear or read. Maybe we fear an angry response, or perhaps we are being polite, or we don't want the conflict we fear will occur. Sincere communication seems to be riddled with pitfalls, but I don't think it has to be this way. Perhaps this is a reason our world is suffering so severely when solutions seem simple: people are not willing to step outside their belief systems and listen to logic and scientific fact. Perhaps it’s a lack of trust which causes the idea that others want to indoctrinate us into their way of thought. I’d love to see us all step back from labels such as liberal and conservative and simply seek truth. Who cares if someone is a man or a woman, or a member of a certain political party or religion? Let’s not be afraid to speak out, to question, to listen, to learn, to love each other without caveat!“The role of teaching and learning is actually reversed in the thinking of the world. The reversal is characteristic. It seems as if the teacher and the learner are separated, the teacher giving something to the learner rather than to himself. Further, the act of teaching is regarded as a special activity, in which one engages only a relatively small proportion of one's time. The course, on the other hand, emphasizes that to teach is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same. It also emphasizes that teaching is a constant process; it goes on every moment of the day, and continues into sleeping thoughts as well.” A Course in Miracles, Manual for Teachers
