If Only Everybody Believed The Same Thing, Things Would Be Fine!

"Well," it will likely be retorted, "I don't think things would be fine if everybody was a militant Muslim!" But if everybody was a militant Muslim, would anybody be a militant Muslim? It seems a militant Muslim would have nobody to be militant toward and hence no reason to be militant at all. Which just begs the question, how could a militant mindset originate without a purported enemy?

It takes an opposing view, not necessarily any more right or wrong or good or bad than another, to foment conflict in the first place! So once again, if only everybody believed the same thing, things would be fine.

I must confess, however, I'm not quite that naive. After all, I'm pretty certain if we did not have religion or politics or alma maters or whatever else to fight over, we would "find" as-yet-unknown things to fight over. After all, we must fight. It's that pesky ego!

Skepticism.....Friend Or Foe?

What values can a skeptic reasonably justify? How can a skeptic justify any if he is skeptical? I can think of a value which systematically stems from skepticism and is thus implied.....humility. This further corresponds to open-mindedness.

What arises from those that are most certain about any given issue? Close-mindedness and hence lack of humility. Anybody who has chosen "once and for all" has forever closed off his mind. New found information which (potentially?) contradicts this "closed-off" mind will likely be seen as erroneous and hence disregarded.

How is one to progress in life if he does not acknowledge new found information which might conflict with his "closed-off" mind?

Winning Isn't Everything

Why is it so important which team wins? Why not just accept and embrace whichever team wins? Why can't we all be happy for the winning team? In fact, why limit our happiness for the winning team? Why not be happy with the winning team? Why show partiality? Presumably, each team is just as deserving as the next and, therefore, whichever team wins is the rightful winner. In this way, what is, it seems, is exactly what should be.

Now I am not against winning. I like winning like everybody else, but if I do not, it is of little or no consequence as I still have my identity in myself as opposed to having my identity in being a winner or loser.

I think the insidious effect of this identity in winning or losing (think politics among other things) is it unconsciously encourages the ego to create enemies where they are not. It's that evolutionary mindset hardwired into each of us that tells others you're either with me or against me!

Sadly however, once an "alleged" enemy has been created, it is too late. The "alleged" becomes an enemy by definition. The ego then valiantly “stands its ground” through arguing, fighting, hating, resenting and/or harboring distrust which only serves to perpetuate this friend/foe dichotomy leading to much disharmony and destruction.