I Disagree With You, However, I Do Find Your View Interesting

 
An argument is the longest distance between two points of view.
--Dan Bennett

The point of view that we have on any topic is often formed by the information that we have from research, our own experience, and from our friends and family. Therefore it should come as no surprise that there are many differing points of view.  What I find fascinating, though, is that the person who disagrees with me continues to work very hard at changing my point of view to his/her viewpoint. I wonder about this trait in humans all the time! It seems illogical to me that another would want me to absolutely recant my views in favor of their view.  I guess this is not too much different than what the Catholic Church did with Galileo in 1616.

For those of you that don't know the story, Galileo is sometimes called the father of observational astronomy because of his intense use of the telescope and because of his observations and discoveries. Galileo believed that the Sun was the center of the solar system, that Earth is a part of it, and this belief is known as heliocentrism.  His view was not popular with the Catholic Church which believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and that all things (sun, moon, stars, planets) revolved around the Earth - a belief system called geocentrism.  As an aside, this thought gives a whole new perspective to the saying "I am the center of the Universe".  Regardless of the "proof" supporting heliocentrism that Galileo had on his side, the Catholic Church said they were right - there was more of them - and that he was wrong, and that he better change his view point. In the first wave of the Catholic righteousness in 1616, Galileo did recant.  However, his original beliefs got the better of him by 1630 and by 1633, the Catholic Inquisition had placed him under permanent house arrest for disagreeing with the Catholic Church's view.

I realize that when some one debate's their point of view with you that they are not putting you under house arrest. They are working though, extremely diligently, at removing your power from you. This, in my opinion, is like putting someone under house arrest since this remains with you for the rest of your life unless you take your power back.  When someone harps on you to make you change your mind, they are actually making a judgement about your ability to see truth, and they have decided that they will give you the truth that you will use.  There are many natural laws that this action violates including the principle of non-interference, the principle of harm none, and the true north principle of integrity. 

Parents do this with children all the time because the child is young and therefore has no experience. The parent then provides the experience based on the parent's life experience.  The parent's life experience may come from their parent - etc.  This is how values and belief systems are propagated through time.  Is this wrong? No.  It is something that is.  What we do not do a good job of in child raising is teaching children that it is okay to learn or relearn things and form their own view which may be different than the parent's view. This is very necessary when the parent's view comes out in the form of statements such as, "You are worthless!", or "You are stupid!", or "You will never amount to much!", or even "There isn't any happiness in life so get used to it!".  The list of beliefs that pour out of parents' or teachers' mouths that influence the children well into adulthood is endless. 

Ideally, as the child grows, he/she will be able to see that the words do not have value for the child, that the words that fall over them, quite often in a thoughtless or careless manner, are empty words.  The child then has the chance to move forward and create their own truth.  Another idealism is to teach the children that everyone is allowed to have their own point of view, and that in the moment that point of view is real and true until the next experience comes along that changes that view point.  The best idealism is to teach children that all views matter, and that the background behind the view may be a fascinating story that makes the view point all that more interesting.