Recently I’ve had discussions with atheists, homosexuals, uneducated Catholics, liberals, secularists and fundamentalist Christians and there were two things that they all had in common that hampered any discussion leading to truth (BTW, this isn’t to imply that everyone in the above named groups is guilty of the following):

(1)  They broke the rules of logic. They had placed defending their “position” above being guided by truth. That is, they were emotionally bent on defending their position in spite of reasoning. Opinion took precedence over provable fact and an open-minded spirit of discovery. And distortion of facts and slanted presentations were resorted to in order to make their point.

(2)  They broke a spirit of civility. They became emotional and even name calling in their defense of the position that they had come to identify with. And being that it wasn’t really a position that they discovered from scratch, but rather a position of some other person or organization that they identified with, they were weak in their defense and yet emotional in their attachment to that position.

Whether their steadfastness and emotional presentation of the position they identified with was born out of ignorance or insecurity, they nevertheless weren’t secure enough in their position to maintain peace or open-mindedness. If a person doesn’t display those two attributes, then whatever they say is discredited.

Regarding division in the Christian world, there should be a spirit of working towards unity, which was even a prayer of Jesus (in John 17:20-23), whom Christians are supposed to be following.

Being that I am a person who has evolved through many different organizations and approaches to lifestyle, truth, problem solving and personal growth over 40 years of searching and experimenting, I say that everyone needs to be open to the fact that there might be higher ways than the one that they are currently “attached” to. Truth and love should be the constants, and attachment should be the variable. That would indicate a REAL desire to find THE truth and the optimum ways to view and approach life. And one way that we can elevate our clarity and understanding is through friendly, open-minded discussions. And a skill that helps that is an ability to maintain an inner sensitivity to when we are being humble and open versus when we are either pushing an opinion (against that sensitivity) or blindly believing and then pushing that belief.