I may not have always been able to articulate my opinion on matters very well or easily. Heck, sometimes it seems to take forever for me to feel I have enough fact-finding results to make an informed decision. But, once I have enough information, you would be hard-pressed to convince me to change my position - unless you had actual evidence to substantiate your claim is more accurate than mine. With all due respect, that is just how I am.
Speaking of respect, that very subject matter is what has been the theme of my thoughts lately. Generally speaking, the sum of my experiences (personal and professional) thusfar have converged into one conclusion: RESPECT for God + RESPECT for others + RESPECT for self = Harmonious Living. I tend to visualize it as an equilateral triangle, with God (or - more properly - the Holy Trinity) at the top corner, 'others' at the lower left-hand corner, and 'self' at the lower right-hand corner. I will attempt to make a text picture below, but I am unsure how well that will turn out.
RESPECT TRIANGLE
GOD
Jesus Holy Spirit
/ \
/ \
/ \
others ------------------- self
Ok, I hope that translates well to your viewing of the blog posting. If it doesn't then I apologize. Now that you have this visual (I hope) for a frame of reference, let me continue my explanation. The Respect Triangle is essentially what you could 'boil down' the Ten Commandments into for a simplified statement. Actually, it kind of covers the Golden Rule, too. (Of course, all due respect to Moses' experience on Mount Sinai, and Jesus for His glorious teachings.) Need more? Okay, let's explore.
1. "I am the Lord, thy God..." is the topic of the 1st Commandment. Reading this Commandment in full - verbatim - proves that God expects - and even demands - utmost respect for who He is. He is the Creator of Life as we mere mortals know it. He is Eternal Father in Heaven; He gave us His only begotten Son - Jesus Christ - to restore for us what Adam (& Eve) took away in the Original Sin; He gave us all His Holy Spirit - His Essence - to guide us back to the way that is right and just. All of this - and more - makes God's respect-worthiness self-evident.
2. Jesus was always concerned with the needs and wants of others, which is why I have him in the link-path from God to 'others'. To show respect for others, is to show respect for God by following Christ's example. Consider the 'Golden Rule' that Jesus was famous for teaching. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." So, if you expect others to show respect for you, you need to show respect for them. Jesus was the first to truly articulate the symbiotic nature of human interrelationships.
3. The Holy Spirit - although not often discussed to the length and depth that God and Jesus are - is God's Presence in us. Some have argued that the Spirit inhabits each of us in the form of our conscience's. I'm inclined to agree with that. It certainly makes sense that, each time you do something that either 'jives' with the Holy teachings or doesn't, you would feel an appropriately correlative sense of pleasure or guilt. Essentially, the Spirit acts as our internal 'God-barometer', as a self-diagnostic measurement of how 'in tune' we are with God's expectations.
4. Others: Are to be respected, but not at the expense of respecting the Almighty. This is a tough challenge, given the politically correct ('p.c.') world in which we reside. When we stop giving God the glory He's due around certain people or certain situations - because we fear backlash from someone taking offense to our statement, or some such - then we are failing to respect God.
5. We are to respect ourselves - because 'God didn't make no junk' as one shirt slogan cleverly says. But, let us not go loony-toony about our self-worth, either. We are all important enough to do God's work, but none of us are meant to go about it all by ourselves. It takes teamwork (self + others), with a focus on the fact it's all with a power-booster from God Himself.
6. The Self-Others pathway contains the perspectives of each party of the human interrelationships. Our individual perspectives color (and are colored by) the events, words, deeds and actions of ourselves and others that we witness (or believe we witness). It is also one of the more challenging links to reinforce and to maintain with positivity, and incredibly easy to allow it to be swallowed by the sea of negativity. It is vital that we relate to others on a foundation of respect for all (mortals) concerned; to do otherwise would be showing disrepect toward God, since we are all created in His image.
7. So, there you have it. Harmonious Living: Lies in the proper balance of the Respect Triangle. Any 'extreme' favoring of any portion of the triangle, is actually detrimental to the larger picture. To claim 'extreme respect' for one aspect over the others, is to actually show disprespect for all of it, including the 'favored' portion.
If anyone that reads this is offended by it, well, I respectfully maintain my position. I will not apologize for my point-of-view, nor for the facts that support it. If anyone can come up with other facts that contradict the above, then let me know. I am only human, after all, so I know only God is perfect. Until we all meet Him, I suggest we follow the Bill & Ted movie farewell phrase: "Be excellent to each other!"
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