Thread: Dealing with Ignorance reply.

So the previous thread was locked for reasons I am unaware of.

In reply to the last post, it isn't my duty to tell those who are ignorant they are wrong, for I'm not arrogant enough to assume that I am in such a position.

Here's somthing I read on these forums a while ago that really made alot of sense to me. forgive me but I forget who said it.

"What we see is always ourselves. It is useless to correct anyone's behavior. If he knew what he was doing, he wouldn't be doing it, true enough, but he is just as capable of knowing it as we are. If he doesn't see it of his own free will, is he any more likely to do so when we tell him? By denying him his freedom to be wrong, we are equally wrong. Giving others the freedom to be stupid is one of the most important and hardest steps to take in spiritual progress. Conveniently the opportunity to take that step is all around us every day."

-thankya

Sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever.

Otherwise you'd never learn anything. You aren't born with inate knowledge of everything. The only way you grow is by learning from your mistakes and taking advice.

If you do something wrong and no one tells you its wrong, chances are you'll keep doing it wrong forever and ever amen and what good is that?

My guess is the previous thread was closed in order to prevent further replies.

Originally Posted by Billy Preston

Sorry but that makes no sense whatsoever.

Otherwise you'd never learn anything. You aren't born with inate knowledge of everything. The only way you grow is by learning from your mistakes and taking advice.

If you do something wrong and no one tells you its wrong, chances are you'll keep doing it wrong forever and ever amen and what good is that?

But advice isn't always good advice, is it? I'd agree totally that we learn from our own mistakes and others around us, but you must take what I said in context.

It's like telling an angry person calm down, yet just angering them more. If I pin down a guy who's mugging somone and tell him that what's he's doing is wrong, I doubt he's going to listen. If anything, he'll be more inclined to rebel against my advice.

People need to find their own paths, not follow others. If people are messed up due to poor upbringings and such and such then that's not somthing you can repair in one conversation. I can't go around telling everyone who I percive as ignorant that they are wrong and need to be more like me, because what works for me works for me, and not for everyone else I chose to "educate".

There is no way to telling somone they are wrong when I can't comprehend why they think they are right. It's an utterly induvidual perspective that would take the clarity of Gotama to evaluate.