Oh, absolutely not, Recoverer, why stand silent?

The idea of tolerance does not preach silence. It preaches acceptance of differing views, and honest dialogue. Tolerance seems to be a process of negotiation, doesn't it?

We are constantly negotiating with the changing circumstances of our lives...and with the ideas we have about them. We receive a little help from our friends, as in the song.

So, of course, it pays to listen, and listen well, to every opinion in the circle...

love, blink

Hi R. The problem with purporting to call right and wrong teaching I think is that our response to anything spoken or written can only be wholly subjective. That is 100% personal, filtered by what we believe, what we perceive we're hearing, and by our ability to discriminate and make sense of it. All ultimately tested by our experience having applied whatever we may have drawn from it.

This means that what we regard as good teaching, and what we take from teaching can only amount to a personal view.

The reality can never ever be any more than this. But this reality has enormous implications. To illustrate.

Something like the bible is enormously important and the basis of all belief to some - because they are heavily conditioned to believe it to be inspired, or maybe even (rarely) because they have made an in depth study of it and been convinced. Likewise for other holy books and teachers all around the world and down the centuries.

Viewed another way the bible is just some bloody book that all these people who have made an industry out of it demand that you must believe and accept as sacred. They tell you it's inspired, they tell you it was written many centuries ago, but for all you actually know they could easily have made it up last week.

Viewed yet another way the fact is that for an individual a few words on a bubble gum wrapper coming at the right moment, or in the right frame of mind are equally important. Perhaps ditto the writings of some apparent loon claiming to be channeling the word of God.

The point is surely that we're each responsible within our own reality tunnel or bubble of existence for sorting out our own view, and for on the way to this deciding what we choose to read, who we choose to listen  to and so on. We're each in the end our own guru or teacher. It doesn't matter how much we want or believe it to be otherwise, it can be no other way.

That's not to say that there's not some that can help us to raise our view by providing input or teaching to us. That's not to say that there aren't some books, teachers and teachings that in our personal view merit the height of regard, and others we'd rather set aside. That's not to say that there aren't books and teachings we wisely assign more credibility to given the respect accorded them by people we're inclined to trust. That's not either to say that it's not OK to communicate the hard won insights and views we've reached on these topics, or to  speak out against teaching that we feel to be false.

But it's fine line between this and getting too much invested in teachers or in trying to dictate what's right and wrong teaching.

At the personal level the effect of over investment must be to leave us stuck in a belief system, when the game is actually to stay open, to keep on evolving our view. A given teaching will often over time reveal layers as we open anyway - layers that were not at all apparent to us when we first read it.

When we attempt to force our beliefs on others, or to put down their opinions we're almost certainly no matter how much we protest or justify otherwise moving into territory where this investment has reached the level that we can't handle the fact that others might think otherwise.

Everybody's situation is different, so how can we presume to dictate what's right for them? I doubt it's by accident that we're all allowed 100% free will, and that the one step no guide, realised teacher or person working through love will take is to mess with this....

Vajra:

What if some guy claimed to channel Robert Monroe even though he doesn't actually do so, and markets teachings he refers to as "The continued explorations of Robert Monroe."  If people on this forum knew better would they just sit idle and allow some con artist to misrepresent Robert, or would they show some grattitude for the contributions Robert Monroe made and not let such a con artist get away with his con?