Hi Ken: First, thanks as always for your support and interest in my work.
Really appreciate your thoughts, and I have landed in a really good place. Working my way through the emotions and hard feelings I harbored toward my stepfather is something that I feel really good about. It is impossible to go through this life without experiencing conflict and loss, and my life has benefited from me learning the skills to work through those things.
I contend that it was an easy question for him to answer, because in reality, he does not believe in God or that there is any final reckoning with a supreme power when one dies. To him, it’s a silly fable that he goes along with in order to curry favor with certain groups of people. He is, above all, a liar.
a) Thanks for reading, Esme. I appreciate the note.
The challenge I created by using this specific example is that people have very firm ideas about the psychology of this President, and I'm not disputing the validity or accuracy of the specific model you've offered.
President Trump has a documented history of lying, but in the case of his answers about his grudges, I do think he's telling the truth. He recognizes that there's answer the question is nudging him toward, and he chooses not to say what the interviewer (and in some senses a portion of his constituency) to say he'll always hate his enemies.
We are, in many ways, in an era of grievance. The wrongs we want to see made right. As human beings, I think we have a tendency to seek to hurt those who have harmed us. Speaking from my experience, I've wasted a lot of time stewing on things I've experienced (or felt I've been subjected to, and thinking of ways I can balance the scales or achieve some level of justice. But following this instinct has seldom yielded the results I wanted. In fact, when I've acted on those feelings, I usually wind up feeling remorseful about it.
Yes, I have learned that vindication and grudge-holding may be satisfying for a brief time, but does nothing to improve anything for me or anyone else. I didn’t watch the interview beyond your clip. My sense was he was playing to a different audience than me.
pragmatic peace sounds like a good landing place for you. sorry the path has been so fraught.
Hi Ken: First, thanks as always for your support and interest in my work.
Really appreciate your thoughts, and I have landed in a really good place. Working my way through the emotions and hard feelings I harbored toward my stepfather is something that I feel really good about. It is impossible to go through this life without experiencing conflict and loss, and my life has benefited from me learning the skills to work through those things.
I contend that it was an easy question for him to answer, because in reality, he does not believe in God or that there is any final reckoning with a supreme power when one dies. To him, it’s a silly fable that he goes along with in order to curry favor with certain groups of people. He is, above all, a liar.
a) Thanks for reading, Esme. I appreciate the note.
The challenge I created by using this specific example is that people have very firm ideas about the psychology of this President, and I'm not disputing the validity or accuracy of the specific model you've offered.
President Trump has a documented history of lying, but in the case of his answers about his grudges, I do think he's telling the truth. He recognizes that there's answer the question is nudging him toward, and he chooses not to say what the interviewer (and in some senses a portion of his constituency) to say he'll always hate his enemies.
We are, in many ways, in an era of grievance. The wrongs we want to see made right. As human beings, I think we have a tendency to seek to hurt those who have harmed us. Speaking from my experience, I've wasted a lot of time stewing on things I've experienced (or felt I've been subjected to, and thinking of ways I can balance the scales or achieve some level of justice. But following this instinct has seldom yielded the results I wanted. In fact, when I've acted on those feelings, I usually wind up feeling remorseful about it.
Thanks again for reading, Esme.
Yes, I have learned that vindication and grudge-holding may be satisfying for a brief time, but does nothing to improve anything for me or anyone else. I didn’t watch the interview beyond your clip. My sense was he was playing to a different audience than me.