Marcus:
Using the term "perspective" was probably not the best way to express my thinking. Two people can witness a car accident from two very different perspectives, or vantage points, share their view of what they witnessed of the car accident and, even if they say different things about what they saw, provided they don't directly contradict one another, may both be quite accurate about the events of the accident. However, if person A says, "There were two green cars that collided" and person B says, "There were two red cars that collided," then one of the two witnesses has got his/her facts about the color of the cars wrong. They cars can't be both red and green at the same time. To hold that both witnesses are equally right in the color of the cars is to be completely illogical.
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I beg to differ. Do you agree that the size of the universe is infinite? If you believe this is true, than from your perspective as an individual you are the center of the universe, but also at the same time from my perspective I am also the center of the universe. Under the laws of the universe both of our individual perceptions do not conflict.
Just as the person you excert the most degree of control over is yourself. So from your perspective you are the most powerful person in the universe, and that would be true. But, I could also believe that I am the most powerful person in the universe and this would be true too. However, where it would not be true is if I believe that I could have control over you. Which I really don't.
There are times when our individual perspectives and also in alignment with the laws of the universe. This is when we obtain true power and are the most powerful. When we take a view that is against the universe, we will come to the conclusion that we are really not that powerful.
O-Sensei, Jesus, Buddha, and others may have come to the same conclusions, even by walking different paths.
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Yes, well, your words here make my case for me...
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I believe that more ignorance comes from blind faith than from doubting and seeking knowledge and understanding of the truth.
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I don't believe ignorance comes from blind faith; I believe it is the
cause of blind faith. You make it sound as though blind faith and seeking for truth are mutually exclusive things. Why is that?
The really mature believers in the truths of the Bible that I know are not blind in their faith -- rather the opposite.
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I don't pretend to know or understand completely any truth. I also try and not be critical of others that believe or the paths they are on...because that is a personal choice.
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The most confused and logically corrupt people I know are those who resist the idea that there is knowable, inflexible, universal truth.
It is possible to be critical of a person's beliefs and thinking without rejecting him or her. This is the route I take; I can value a person while denying their beliefs.
If I had an Aikido teacher who said, "Do whatever you want! It's all good. There is no wrong way to do Aikido!"; if that teacher refused to correct his students' technique for fear of offending them, I'd be finding another teacher as fast as I could.