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Old 06-11-2008, 03:40 PM   #47
Fred Little
Dojo: NJIT Budokai
Location: State Line NJ/NY
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 641
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Re: The poll on aikido spirituality

Quote:
Jonathan Hay wrote: View Post
The Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, none of them use the "dark glass" of Scripture to frame their understanding of God. They are not using the same "glass" from "a different angle," they are seeing and understanding a different god through another means altogether.
It is astonishing how broadly thoughtless and offensive one can be by simply misusing a common article of speech, for example: "the."

Were such patterns of language merely matters of momentary thoughtlessness of no consequence whatsoever, then one could easily dismiss them, and those who use them, from one's attention.

But when one considers the uses to which similar phrases such as "The Jew," "The Communist," "The Armenian," "The Gypsy," "The Unionist," "The Hutu," "The Tutsi," "The Lake Arab," "The Eyeglass Wearers," (and a number of others that I'm sure others could supply) have been put in recent history, one is perhaps obliged to make cautionary note of both the current usage and some of the less salutary -- and historically documented -- tendencies that often seem to closely follow such usages.

Please be careful out there.

Best,

FL
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