Believe People as They See Themselves (or, at Least, Believe Their Sincerity)

[Anonymous]

I added the following in the Quote of the Day post, but I thought it deserved a separate post of its own for discussion.

Quote:

“In order to empathize with someone’s experience, you must be willing to believe them as they see it and not as you imagine it to be.”

That applies to church membership and faith from both sides: people who are orthodox judging the non-orthodox but also we who are non-orthodox judging the orthodox.

[Anonymous]

I heard something similar from a person that I very much respect. It was that in order to have a productive conversation one must approach from the perspective that one’s own perspective might be limited and that the other person’s perspective might have something that we are missing.

I feel that this is in line with one of Steven Covey’s 7 habits: Seek first to understand before seeking to be understood.

[Anonymous]

I think the problem nowadays is that we are beginning to see people as “packages” not as individuals. Party politics is one factor, plus the “social justice”/intersectional movement.

I am frequently suspected of holding views that I don’t. That is because some of those people see me as a type not an individual. They think if I say A, I must believe B, or if I oppose C, I must agree with D. I can see some of them visibly confused when they realise that I have combinations of views that they never expected.

[Anonymous]

Amen, Sam. I baffle people regularly who assume I believe one thing just because I believe another thing.

[Anonymous]

Old-Timer wrote:

Amen, Sam. I baffle people regularly who assume I believe one thing just because I believe another thing.

We see this stuff all the time. People have assumed from my accent than I am uneducated and untraveled, and then when I tell them that I’m involved in the arts world (peripherally admittedly), some of them assume I’m a gay man. When I tell them I follow rugby and used to play myself, they can’t square that with the arts thing, because they think one is macho and the other isn’t. When I tell them I’m a church goer, some of them assume I don’t like gays, even though I’ve worked alongside openly gay and trans performers and have been involved promoted their work…. And some of them think that I’m uneducated and of low intelligence because I’m a Christian (like my original point), or some raving hypocrite who is unaware of his own shortcomings.

And so on and so on. It’s all so very contradictory.

I’m sure most of us could come out with a similar string of such trashy thinking we’ve each been exposed to. I really liked the “I’m a Mormon” campaign since it busted apart a lot of stereotypes.

I’ve been quite open about the fact I like some aspects of the church, but there is room for improvement. I’ve also stated that I regret the Priesthood Ban and think it should never have happened, yet I get people assuming I support that stuff. Because I’m a long standing member of the church, I have a pretty good idea of how many of us think, and the variety among LDS people, and it’s not what many outsiders think – or even some people inside the church.

[Anonymous]

Well said, Sam.

Thanks for stating it so clearly. :thumbup:

[Anonymous]

Old-Timer wrote:

Well said, Sam.

Thanks for stating it so clearly. :thumbup:

Thank you. I fear I waffle though!

[Author]

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