Monolithic or Not?

This morning I was praying for guidance about someone with whom I had a conversation yesterday. He is 1,000% sure he is right about everything. He is aggressive in his conversation and hostile to any other viewpoint, so not at all convincing about his points of view. He does not have the magnetic draw that Truth has.

I know there is so very much we do not know. With so many holes in our knowledge and understanding, it is quite unlikely that we can be absolutely definitive about anything. It seems to me that we need to be open and questioning while living and making choices with our best guesses. As you know, my yardstick is the teaching of Jesus.

I also look for patterns that seem consistent and possibly mostly true. My dad said little quips that seemed mostly true like you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, you can do anything you make your mind up to do, still water runs deep. 

The great religions and philosophies that we know about teach some form of karma, sowing and reaping, so some form of personal responsibility for one's life choices.

But there are holes in it all. I don't see how we can be responsible for seemingly random occurrences or other people's choices that affect us. We can be responsible for our responses to it all though.

Maybe the yin yang symbol is a good explanation of some of it. In light there is a seed of darkness. In darkness there is a seed of light. Little to nothing on earth is all anything. Everything can change, everything is in the process of change.

There have been great holy men and women across history. They thought they were teaching great truths that could lift others and that others could understand and live by. But along came the less enlightened who diluted and twisted the great teachings into strange shapes and shadows.

I can imagine the horror Jesus must experience as he watches his holy teaching of love, forgiveness, generosity, care for others, healing, prayer, meditation, oneness with God, etc into wars, pogroms, gas chambers, slavery, all manner of violence and tortures for those with different theologies - all claiming to be following  Him.

It seems to me nothing on earth is monolithic. There are many ways to look at anything here. Maybe we could be more charitable to our companions on this journey on earth. Maybe we could be more humble and give our egos a rest.