The Wholeness of Humanity

Below is the response to my last piece ("It's the Other Side's Fault") from my brother, Timothy D. Haley.  Over the years, Tim and I have disagreed on a number of concepts; but on this one, we are in full agreement.  After his response, I've included a quote from Carl Jung, and my own closing comments.
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In my understanding and experience, ALL thoughts/feelings of duality/separateness/otherness, are struggles (battles?) within ourselves, denying the ONENESS of creation.  It’s long been known that those qualities in others that we HATE, are all the repressed thoughts, feelings and concepts about OURSELVES we don’t want to face.    All the stuff we thought “they” were guilty of is equally in ourselves.   "What goes around, comes around.”   “The more we point the finger of blame to others, the more that finger comes back to point at us.”   To the degree we lift ourselves individually and collectively out of unconscious motivations to conscious awareness, is the degree to which we heal and move toward wholeness.   It is our expanding individual WHOLENESS that allows us to grasp the ONENESS of humanity, a place where COMPASSION AND SELF-COMPASSION grow and thrive. 
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From Carl Jung...it may be a tiny bit paraphrased (I don't have the exact quote in front of me)---
"The Self is a circle, the center of which is nowhere, and the circumference of which is everywhere.".

I interpret that as:  the oneness of humanity.  We in the Western World, in particular, often seem to be utterly opposed to that concept.  Instead, we tend to embrace the ideas of opposing factions, strife, self-righteousness, and imposing our will on others...because, as the Bob Dylan song mourned, we have "God on our side".  Or, something else equally important (in our minds) is on our side.  All "sides" think that.  Hello.  

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

It's the Other Side's Fault

Below is my response (edited a bit) to an email from a friend.  His email was a commentary on my piece here titled, "Republicans & Democrats - Time to Cowboy-Up".  The name "Hartmann" below refers to Thom Hartmann, the pundit and author.

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You & Hartmann seem to have the premise that all Republicans are sociopaths, but maybe only a few Democrats are that.  Really?  You actually believe that everyone in an entire group is sociopathic?  Please.  Forgive me, but that's prejudice.  In fact, it sounds very similar (not the same) to Nazis claiming that all Jews are deceitful, conniving, & filthy.  Or, some Republicans claiming that all Democrats are totalitarian communists.  All of the above is ridiculous.

You don't have to sell me on the egregious actions of Repub Administrations; I agree.  That doesn't prove your premise that all Repubs are sociopaths.  Neither does the study you mentioned some time ago about Right Wing folks having some sort of flaw in their brains.  Here's another study that tends to suggest this whole thing is not as one-sided as you believe---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SOQduoLgRw&t=3s

Perhaps you watched it the 1st time I sent it, but maybe your bias against Repubs prevented you from getting the point.  I don't know.  Jon Haidt studies the moral foundations of politics; he's a well respected psychologist.  His study results are quite revealing.  http://people.stern.nyu.edu/jhaidt/

Those of you who continue to pit one side against the other are making things more entrenched...worse, in my opinion.  You and I apparently will never agree on this topic, so of what use is it to talk about it?

To put all people of a particular persuasion into one psychological/social basket is a huge mistake in my opinion.  It causes big problems.  Too many unwarranted assumptions, too much jumping to conclusions, too much prejudice.  I've known some mighty fine people in my life; some were Repubs, some were Dems, some were Libertarians, and some were Socialists.  I've never found each separate political group to be homogeneous in their beliefs or actions.

 We humans seem to have an innate drive to divide up into groups/factions/teams and oppose one another.  Too often that opposition winds up in violence... mainly thanks to propaganda.  And each group firmly believes that it alone is "in the right"...for whatever reason.  The "other" side is always "wrong".  All that is probably why we'll wind up like every other species that had some degree of dominance on Earth---extinct.

None of the above is too much of a concern to me because, in my belief/faith system, this existence of ours is The Grand Illusion.  As the old song goes, "... Life is but a dream.".  And that's a good thing.  

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well