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cross-posted ---------------------------------------------------------- from: pegleg posted May 19, 2001 07:44 AM ---------------------------------------------------------- quote by janet >if we 'expect' perfection in ourselves as well as in >others >we will be constantly disappointed >and bitter > >if we 'expect' imperfection in ourselves as well as in >others >we may be frequently surprised >and delighted End quote hmmmmm? This is deep, really deep. But the soluion seems simple. Is it possible to expect imperfect perfectionism? Alexander Pope said, "To err is human; to forgive divine." Millions have agreed with him. If we accept Pope's quote, then to be imperfect is expected. It's the unforgiving that may cause problems. Right? We cannot isolate ourselves from the world. Thoreau attempted to do this, but his thoughts were still with him. BUT we CAN be in the world but not OF the world. Man is inherently evil in nature. It is up to us to turn our thoughts toward the good. David Burns has nothing new, but has restated it quite eloquently. Listen to this quote, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. . . we take captive every thought to make it obedient . . . " Obedient to whom? In my belief, to the standards set up by Christ. And even if you don't believe in God, it's a great way of living! Am I totally off the track, janet?? Your posts are always thought provoling. Peggy ----------------------------------------------------------- from janet313313 posted May 19, 2001 08:36 AM ----------------------------------------------------------- thank you peg! one of the first steps in this spiritual adventure for me was, strangely enough, 'the road less traveled' by m. scott peck. it's been on the best seller list for over 20 years, but i discovered it in 1990 his premise is 'life is difficult' and that turned my head around i have only paraphrased his ideas in re expectations - if we expect life to be easy, we will be disappointed - if we expect life to be difficult i.e. a learning experience, a universal university, then we will not be disappointed, and once we fully accept the premise and the challenge inherent, then we will not even see the difficulty but only the challenge man cannot be inherently evil not if created by god the things humans do may appear evil to us but they are manifestations of the mistakes we all make as we are learning, or as we are trying to learn, or as we are frequently stubbornly trying not to learn each one of us is a child of god most of us have forgotten that but the forgetting doesnt make it any less true if i close my eyes to the gift in front of me that does not mean it has been lost it only means i cant see it at the moment wow you inspired me ! janet ---------------------------------------------------------- janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky . pd: 54/41/37 cd: 54/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask] . a new voice: the nnnewsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/janet313/ . a new voice: the bbbook: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/wordbook/ . a new voice: the wwweb site: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn