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Huh. Imagine me reading the article below. The brain flatlines and I fall backwards onto my butt — hard. 
Mentally that’s what happened when I read what you’re about to read.
While I have always embraced (based on life experiences) that ’whatever you resist, persists’ — this one from Miceal Ledwith has me struggling.
Perhaps it will do the same for you. I previously blogged about an equally-troubling article of his.
In this most recent article, in his frank and no-BS style, Ledwith writes about how, by the energy of opposition, we feed the very thing we oppose.
Tough to read, because I suspect he’s right. The challenge I’ve been wrestling with since reading it is ‘How do I civilly oppose something without making making it grow stronger by my opposition?’
Frankly, I’m having a hard go at it.
The clip is below and click the link to read the article in full. Troubling. And yet, perhaps freeing as well. I fI can just get there.
“From an enlightened perspective, campaigning for or against capital punishment, for example, can only generate the fuel from which those opposing groups originally drew their strength, which in the case of capital punishment will be the horrible and gruesome murders which first gave rise to the conflict of those opposing or favoring the death penalty.
In the case of war, the injustices that generated war in the first place will be empowered and strengthened. In the case of rights for women the savage abuses that enslaved one half of the human race for most of its history will be re-magnetized into society.”
Source: Empowering what it is we oppose | The Bleeping Herald
But I wonder how someone like him actually applies this in his day-to-day life, and if he gave some examples, I wonder if that would help me (and perhaps you, dear reader) grasp this one better?
And I also wonder how he, as an RSE instructor would address this issue: I know students in that school have protested everything from local cellphone towers to Wal-Mart openings — and they did so by opposing the other side by launching activist-styled campaigns.
So what gives? Does this philosophical understanding have real-world application or does it come apart when faced with a tough application?
Hmmm. Perhaps I’ll email Dr. Ledwith and see if he wants to to a guest post and illuminate the thickheaded (me). By the same token, if you’ve solved this dilemma let me know and I’ll let you comment or post on how you solved it for yourself.
* = About Heisenberg Fridays. Each Friday I post about whatever I want outside of the realms of marketing, sales, advertising or copywriting. More often than not, it will be about one of my favorite studies – the research into quantum mechanics and how consciousness influences reality.
So while most of the week you’ll be certain of the overall theme of my posts, each Friday you will experience uncertainty about the topic, which is my tip of the hat to Werner Heisenberg the creator of quantum mechanics’ Uncertainty Principle.
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Comments
Mentally that’s what happened when I read what you’re about to read.
September 15th, 2007 at 11:47 am
I’ve seen the value of this point of view for several years, but I didn’t get it from Miceal Ledwith.
I confess that I often slip, and I find myself predisposed automatically to being in opposition to many things. It’s usually around politics.
I’m learning to catch myself in the act and choose another way to be. I used to yell at the TV news. I’m not as easily plugged in now.
Some of my friends can’t understand why I’m not more passionate and edgy - why I don’t like to argue. I think I’m just more willing for things to be the way they are. I have found that resistance gives me tunnel vision, saps my energy and leads to ruminating thinking. Once I allow life to come as it may, I have the energy to take actions FOR what I want in my life.
In a course we teach called “The Source of All Results” we invite participants to see that it’s not the circumstances in life, it’s our relationship to those circumstances that makes the difference.
What I’ve gotten is that I choose to be FOR what I want and then focus on that, putting no energy or focus upon what I don’t want.
So, one could stand FOR good copywriting, professional conduct, clear thinking, integrity, authenticity, straight talk, compassion, etc. One could point out shining examples of such and acknowledge whoever/whatever is at the source of it. I am FOR “what works” and having it expand all around me.
I don’t mean to present myself as a master in this area, but I am committed to this path.
September 15th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Some good points, Rob. Yet, I’m concerned about the points of practical applications where philosophy tends to break down.
> I think I’m just more willing for things to be the way they are.
So how do you just be “willing for things to be the way they are” work when something bad is happening or developing? Something that, if you (general you, not personalized) take action, you could prevent or at least mitigate?
Does silence not give consent in your understanding? In human nature, if someone puts a toe over the line and there are no consequences for crossing it, then they test you by putting the entire foot and before you know it — they’ve taken up residence on your property.
While I can grasp what Dr. Ledwtih and you are saying, at least philosophically, it is more challenging when I attempt to apply it to Hot Button areas of my own life.
Let’s chunk up to a larger level. If you are “for” peaceful co-existence of all Muslims (even the fanatical ones) and you only “focus on that,” and you “put no energy or focus upon what I don’t want”, then are you saying a reasonable outcome of that is the problem goes away because you no longer focus on it and thus put no energy on it?