I woke up this Saturday, April 25, wondering what to share today. And I remembered the funniest conversation I had from a million years ago, when I was at DLI (that's a whole 'nother story!) with one of my Russian instructors. There was a lot of drinking involved (vodka), which meant that my Russian was really good! Basically the conversation (debate? argument?) started when she responded to something I had said, telling me that, "my opinion was wrong."
Wait, what?! My opinion was wrong?? Oooh...you know how that went down, right?
Me: "Opinions can't be wrong. Because, well, they're...opinions." And we know what opinions are like, right? They are like a**holes, and everyone has one - it's a personal thing.
Probably there was more that was said, because of well, ..vodka. Alcohol can definitely exacerbate a situation. These days I take my reality straight up, because it's intense enough as it is!
Today, I'm revisiting that. Her opinion that opinions can be 'wrong' was just that: her opinion.
How many times have I gotten into a silly (intense, angry, frustrating, dangerous) argument over - an opinion? Ugh. Embarrassing...How about you?
Instead of looking at how to make someone else wrong for sharing their opinion, maybe
we can look at where they are coming from?
Are you familiar with Plato's “Allegory of the Cave”?
It's a metaphor about perceptions and belief. He tells of a cave in which prisoners look upon the front wall of the cave, being made to believe that the moving reflections they see projected there are truth and reality.
Any prisoner willing to exit the cave, step outside into the bright sun would (ha!) literally see the light. If he then, willingly returned to the darkness to share his perspective, he might be ridiculed or rejected...and yet, (can you see where I'm going with this?) this one opinion/perspective might be worth investigating.
Right now, we are hearing in the news about the benefits of healing and disinfecting with UV light.
Wow! Perhaps this is all more than allegorical?!
Maybe we can hold light for those still in the cave - knowing there is healing, when we all investigate for ourselves....