Ever inspected what we easily believe just because at a point in our lives it was hammered into our heads?
It is fun to analyse the true meaning behind what is commonly understood in a certain way and has been glued to a certain common 'meaning'. At the same time, the words, if you examine them well, tell something totally different than how they are commonly used. So it is with 'respect'.
Deriving from Latin, it simply means
[Online Etymology Dictionary, as I find a real good one, © 2001-2012 Douglas Harper].
Haven't so many of us, at least the somewhat elder generation, received those implants that 'to respect' means something like slavishly obey, to do anything that person says because he or she is 'higher' in the hierarchy, to honour that person just for being the elder, the first, the one who keeps the overview - but in the end, it was just to control, to have the power in his or her hands and such, refuse the other members of that group to decide somewhat freely and live their lives and grow up? The latter is not always obvious or visible and is difficult to find out behind an outward attitude of helpfulness, interest or concern (the passive-aggressive part I was writing about somewhat earlier).
Haven't many of us at least a few times in life experienced that someone expected or, even better, demanded respect though if you look back at what that person had done in life and how that person behaves there is no good reason to honour what she or he had produced there?
I mean, we all make our stupid mistakes in lives, that's simply normal and part of it, and it does not mean that we judge others because of that. Some real good re-inspection just makes us see clearer about the world we live in and what we ourselves want to follow, achieve or produce ourselves, without beeing steered by what others have chosen for themselves to live with, as ours. Each one got his or her own life. It is up to everyone what he or she makes out of it and what he goes for.
In this sense, the 'command' (I'd better call it a real good advise) to 'Respect Your Parents' or 'Respect Family', again, is very good reason to 'look at what's behind'. Maybe we should understand that advise in the sense to examine and re-inspect and what the persons under whose influence we grew up or still are or with whom we are connected, in reality have created, brought forth or have accomplished in their lives, and what re-sults this had in the chains of causalities for whom.
You may call it psychological hygiene, in the end it is good to re-view and re-assess our own believes and perceptions regularly or at least from time to time - or if never done before, at a point in life, even if it is already quite late, to at least at a late stage catch up with what we had missed to do earlier.
It will open our eyes and hopefully at a later point, our senses, if we start to do so. And, as there is always the option to forgive, this may allow us to see things much more relaxed than if we remain with the dogmata we have been conditioned to believe and are steered by such until the end of our days.
This is what I would then call real respect and how I have always considered the term 'respect'. Well, for me who has always questioned everything this is not diffcult but I know, for many it is.
The information is lying just on the street in front of your feet.
And if you like so, you can ask yourself:
What is it you have learned to 'respect', and then have later never questioned?
It is just a nice little exercise for own re-adjustment. It is good to look at how things are and provides a more free view. And in principle it is so easy to understand. We inspect any object when it is not functioning where the problem is, or when a pipe is leaking we try to find out where the leakage is, but just with our own lives we refuse because of whatever strange reasons. It is so obvious we need to re-inspect also our internal and external re-lations to find out what we look back at and what is such the fundament we build on.
With kind re-gards
(a playful way to 'get' the meanings of the words we use everyday and usually don't re-flect ;)),
Lyn
It is fun to analyse the true meaning behind what is commonly understood in a certain way and has been glued to a certain common 'meaning'. At the same time, the words, if you examine them well, tell something totally different than how they are commonly used. So it is with 'respect'.
Deriving from Latin, it simply means
"act of looking back at one,"
pp. of respicere "look back at, regard, consider,"
from re- "back" + specere "look at"
[Online Etymology Dictionary, as I find a real good one, © 2001-2012 Douglas Harper].
Haven't so many of us, at least the somewhat elder generation, received those implants that 'to respect' means something like slavishly obey, to do anything that person says because he or she is 'higher' in the hierarchy, to honour that person just for being the elder, the first, the one who keeps the overview - but in the end, it was just to control, to have the power in his or her hands and such, refuse the other members of that group to decide somewhat freely and live their lives and grow up? The latter is not always obvious or visible and is difficult to find out behind an outward attitude of helpfulness, interest or concern (the passive-aggressive part I was writing about somewhat earlier).
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| pic of little Kennedy found on triviazoids |
I mean, we all make our stupid mistakes in lives, that's simply normal and part of it, and it does not mean that we judge others because of that. Some real good re-inspection just makes us see clearer about the world we live in and what we ourselves want to follow, achieve or produce ourselves, without beeing steered by what others have chosen for themselves to live with, as ours. Each one got his or her own life. It is up to everyone what he or she makes out of it and what he goes for.
In this sense, the 'command' (I'd better call it a real good advise) to 'Respect Your Parents' or 'Respect Family', again, is very good reason to 'look at what's behind'. Maybe we should understand that advise in the sense to examine and re-inspect and what the persons under whose influence we grew up or still are or with whom we are connected, in reality have created, brought forth or have accomplished in their lives, and what re-sults this had in the chains of causalities for whom.
You may call it psychological hygiene, in the end it is good to re-view and re-assess our own believes and perceptions regularly or at least from time to time - or if never done before, at a point in life, even if it is already quite late, to at least at a late stage catch up with what we had missed to do earlier.
It will open our eyes and hopefully at a later point, our senses, if we start to do so. And, as there is always the option to forgive, this may allow us to see things much more relaxed than if we remain with the dogmata we have been conditioned to believe and are steered by such until the end of our days.
This is what I would then call real respect and how I have always considered the term 'respect'. Well, for me who has always questioned everything this is not diffcult but I know, for many it is.
The information is lying just on the street in front of your feet.
And if you like so, you can ask yourself:
What is it you have learned to 'respect', and then have later never questioned?
It is just a nice little exercise for own re-adjustment. It is good to look at how things are and provides a more free view. And in principle it is so easy to understand. We inspect any object when it is not functioning where the problem is, or when a pipe is leaking we try to find out where the leakage is, but just with our own lives we refuse because of whatever strange reasons. It is so obvious we need to re-inspect also our internal and external re-lations to find out what we look back at and what is such the fundament we build on.
With kind re-gards
(a playful way to 'get' the meanings of the words we use everyday and usually don't re-flect ;)),
Lyn
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