Hello.
Since I am the author of the statement:
" They are into learning as much as any of the rest of us are."
I think I owe you an apology. I wasn't thinking through what I was
writing. I was not meaning to be (much less sound) patronizing.
There is a strong tendency to fall into the "us versus them" mode and I
fell into it big time. Your comments about my friend Abdallah were also
quite insitefull, Yes I can't (and don't) regard him as typical of his
fellow Muslims, he is his own self, and his motives come from within...
You point out a truth that applies to all of us, we do what we do from our
own motivations, the framework presented by our various theologies provide
us a standard of sorts to aim for, but how disciplined we are at working
toward that standard varies from person to person.
Speaking as a christian, I would like to say that the LO list contributors
can not be characterized by the statement "being predominately christian".
While most of us are western American, or European, and our forbearers
were christian, many of us aren't. We just are. So the discussion of
Christianity and LO is from a more neutral perspective where the christian
hard cores occasionally speak up with theological viewpoints, and the rest
contribute from where ever they are. It's a real mixed bag, which for me
adds a lot of perspective I don't normally enjoy.
Thanks for you comments, someone has to keep us on our toes.
later...
Michael Erickson
sysengr@atc.boeing.com
On Thu, 8 Aug 1996, Jyotsna Pattabiraman wrote:
> Since I am one of the few Hinudus in this list, which I presume consists
> predominantly of Christians, I will try to add my own viewpoint...
>
> One of the charecteristics of Hindusim is that it is a vast and huge
> relegion, only partially identified with the Hindu holy books such as the
> Vedas. I find that the soul of Hindusim is tolerance for other ways of
> thought and the search for the truth.
>
> Although the perception is that the eastern relegions place a lot of
> emphasis on personal mastery --- which is probably true if any relegion is
> practised in its undiluted form --- the way that most Hindus live is once
> again a personal choice and not once that is taught by relegion.
>
> Although Michael sent a very thought provoking mail about his friend
> Abdullah, I would caution against thinking of Abdullah as a sort of
> template for all other Muslims. The way Abdullah lives is his own
> interpretation of the Islamic law just as the way I live is my own
> interpretation of Hinduism. Most of the muslims I meet are just like any
> other people and their interpretation of the relegion does not seem to be
> directing them toward mastery, rather it is their own dirve and will that
> pushes them.
>
> I think it is appropriate to add that I was also slightly put-off by the
> statement since I heard it as being slightly patronising-
>
> >They are into learning as much as any of the rest of us are.
>
> I like to think that every group of human beings is into learning and the
> unspoken assumption that only a certain, superior relegion promotes
> learning. Moslems , Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews are all into learning.I
> guess it should be no surprise that Muslims focus on mastery, too. The
> urge to learn as old as mankind itself and no-one has a patent on it !
>
> I am not criticising anyone, just bringing into the open something that
> was in the unsaid. I think that most of you would have just skimmed by
> this statement, but I was totally hooked by it, because I'm sure that I
> don't belong to the same relegion as most of the people on this list.
>
> Bis spaeter...
> Jyotsna
>
> Jyotsna Pattabiraman <jyots@blr.cybercash.com>
--Michael Erickson <sysengr@atc.boeing.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>