Friday, July 31, 2009

So many people annoy me

It bothers me that I find so many people annoying. I am supposed to see good in everyone.

There are a few things that are sort of excuses, reasons why I tell myself it's not so bad that I find so many people annoying:
  1. If I were surrounded by people I love, in good health, and felt I was making a meaningful contribution to the world, I probably wouldn't mind so much that people exist who aren't what I prefer. The reason certain people bother me is not because it bothers me that people with such traits exist, but because there is such an absence of people who can provide me the the kind of support, appreciation, and challenge which I would thrive on.
  2. I'm consistent. I continue to like the people I like. The people who annoy me for a certain reason continue to annoy me for that reason each time I see them. I guess this is reassuring to me because I have this fear that eventually I will dislike everyone. The consistency tells me that it's not a matter of disliking everyone, but that there are certain traits which consistently bother me. Of course, it would be more virtuous of me if I wasn't consistent, in the sense that I learned to not be annoyed by the people who currently annoy me.
  3. Maybe I just have to respect everyone's right to exist, but can still be selective about the company I choose.
The thing is, I don't entirely believe these excuses. I'm supposed to appreciate people, not be annoyed by them.

It's okay to be broken

Someone told me last week, "Everyone wants to be loved and accepted and has some level of fear of rejection. We're all broken in different ways to different degrees."

The reason I found this memorable was because it made it okay. It seems like most of the time, I'm getting a different message: that I'm supposed to be strong and independent, that I'm not supposed to be bothered by the things that bother me. But guess what. It sucks to be alone. It sucks to be rejected. Can't we just allow people to want to be loved?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Promises to make to each other

I am thinking that the promises people should make to each other are:
  1. I promise to try to always treat you with kindness and respect.
  2. I trust that you always try to treat me with kindness and respect, but if you lapse sometimes, I will forgive you.
  3. If you cease to be committed to treating me with kindness and respect, I reserve the right to choose to reduce contact with you.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Mission in life

Sometimes I think that my mission in life is supposed to be:
  1. To shine a light on people's strengths. I think that sometimes people express their negative qualities out of unhappiness, feeling threatened, lack of confidence, etc. When people are shown their positive qualities, then they are more likely to act on those qualities.
  2. To spread harmonious feeling. If you are driving your car and another driver honks at you angrily, that makes you feel angry, and makes you more likely to behave angrily toward others. My goal is to do the opposite, to be nice to people so that they are more likely to be nice to others.
  3. To knit people together in harmonious relations. This is similar to #2, but the emphasis here is on strengthening the bonds between people.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Pantheist organizations

The Pantheist organizations are World Pantheist Movement (WPM) and Universal Pantheist Society (UPS). WPM is larger and more dominant, but I prefer UPS. WPM is more atheist, while UPS is open to all types of Pantheists, including the more spiritual and mystical types. Some links for UPS:

Universal Pantheist Society web site
Universal Pantheist Society Facebook group
Universal Pantheist Society Yahoo group (This group can be very chatty. If you don't like getting a lot of e-mail, you might want to adjust your settings to read messages only on the web site or to receive them as a digest.)
Universal Pantheist Society on Ning

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Differences in responses to car accidents

Two stories I heard about how people reacted to car accidents:
  1. In Florida, a woman rear ended a car that was stopped for a red light. When the two drivers got out and met each other, she said, "Why did this happen to me? I'm a Christian." My thinking is if she's a Christian, her concern should be for the welfare of the driver whose car she just hit.
  2. In Woodstock, NY, after a collision, the two drivers got out and hugged each other. That sounds more like the kind of town I'd like to live in.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Gratitude

Last night I lay on the living room floor listening to music, and I felt so fortunate. I was there, safe at home, not having to worry about food, shelter, or the threat of violence. I may not be energetic, but I was not in pain or uncomfortable. I have my hearing, so I am able to enjoy music. How fortunate I am to have my hearing! I've listened to those CDs many times before, but suddenly I was noticing things about the sounds of the instruments that I never noticed before, and it was beautiful!

Quakerism and Pantheism

Quakerism and Pantheism seem like a natural fit to me. The fundamental idea of Quakerism is that of God in everyone. In Quakerism, we serve God by treating all people with love. Pantheism just extends that to the universe. Not only do we treat all people with love, but we also care for the environment. For me, there is no external heaven or afterlife, it's all right here, right now. The world is a wondrous place.