Tolerance

Tolerance

Tolerance is a word that I feel gets a heavy bashing these days without it being really understood properly. In as far as I can see it is the word describing the act of allowance without committal acceptance. That is to say we tolerate something even if we don't like it or believe in it ourselves. Or we put up with it because it is there and cannot sensibly be removed. A kind of ying and yang, or a trust that for everything good there equally must be some bad.

Here are a couple of examples of how I see that we use tolerance.

1. The sun is beating down on us and the heat is relevant to the time of year, our place on the surface of the earth and a whole lot of other determining facts. To tolerate this we either, go somewhere cooler, shade ourselves from it, or slap on some U.V. Sunscreen and enjoy it.
2. Our neighbour is a real pain in the ass, because they play drums until late at night, which keeps both us and our children awake. To tolerate this we can either, call the police and have him arrested for disturbance of the peace, we can sell up and move house, or we can buy some head/ear protection to drown out the sound of him drumming, because he is Cozy Powell the most amazing drummer in the world, or go round there and enjoy the party because he did invite us. (Yes I know that you are all adding your own suggestions to the list...) (In Britain you can't get a gun and do that...)
3. We move to a country where their laws are different from the ones we were brought up with, and we don't want to marginalise our beliefs on right and wrong. (Dependant upon whether there is freedom of action/speech in this country or not) To tolerate this we make a choice about what is more important to us or bow to the law of that land regardless. Do we perhaps accept that the law of this country is our law now, or do we inculcate our own above the law of that land, because we 'know' ours is better?
4. We are in a country that says that they believe in freedom of speech and of religion, and that also pushes one particular religion as 'the nations religion', despite the evidence that in the formulation of those countries many peoples from around the globe (coming with their own religious/social/economic/cultural values) were adopted as co-workers/founders of those countries and nations. To tolerate this do we, now evict all those people who's ancestors came and died in the formation of our great nation, move to a desert island and set up our own laws, shoot everyone who disagrees with us, or send them to a detention centre without trial for many years ????
   Or do we say hey, the constitution upon which our civilisation is built is actually only workable, when we actually fully adhere to it, despite that some feelings of hatred/dislike, towards another's views exists ??

For the record I am adding now a dictionary statement about what this word means, as I could have misunderstood the word, as I often do these days.

Collins on-line dictionary version.

tolerance (ˈtɒlərəns) 

Definitions

noun

1. the state or quality of being tolerant
2. capacity to endure something, esp pain or hardship
3. the permitted variation in some measurement or other characteristic of an object or workpiece
4. physiology the capacity of an organism to endure the effects of a poison or other substance, esp after it has been taken over a prolonged period

Synonyms

View thesaurus entry

= broad-mindedness, charity, sympathy, patience, indulgence, forbearance, permissiveness, magnanimity, open-mindedness, sufferance, lenity,

= endurance, resistance, stamina, fortitude, resilience, toughness, staying power, hardness, hardiness,

= resistance, immunity, resilience, non-susceptibility

= variation, play, swing, fluctuation,

Quotations

• "Live and let live" J.C.F. Schiller
• "Tolerance is only another name for indifference" W. Somerset Maugham
• "Tolerance should really be only a temporary attitude; it must lead to recognition" Goethe

Usage examples

• I endured all the preparations and the panics with amused tolerance.

  Harris, Elizabeth, Time of the Wolf (1994)

• We have always had, and always will have, a policy of zero tolerance.

  Cycling Weekly (2004)

• Nothing is being done or seen to be done and the aspiration of zero tolerance is long since forgotten," he said.

  Irish Times (2002)

• Ministers were also expected to ask for views on whether the government should go ahead with " tolerance zones" for street prostitution.

  Liverpool Daily Post and Echo (2004)

• This quality of tolerance was matched with a sense of humour.

  Stewart Lamont, WHEN SCOTLAND RULED THE WORLD: The Story of the Golden Age of Genius, Creativity and Exploration (2002)

So as you can see, tolerance is all about being broad minded, sympathetic, patient, open minded and lenient. I would add (hopefully not out of context) agreeable, amenable, allowance, and compassionate.

The first thing about this whole subject that struck me as I contemplated writing it was that it is pretty well a subjective debate. It rests wholly on the assumption that there is, either a RIGHT or a WRONG. Tolerance therefore is dependant upon the basis upon which you would determine either of those labels.

If, for example you were a butterfly none of this matters in your day to day being a beautiful creature. If you were a cat or a dog, this would have no bearing over the issue of where your next meal was coming from.

Sentience has no bearing upon it either.

But if you are a HUMAN BEING, you have a (some would say) God given right to make these kind of judgements.

So if your indoctrination, education, social or economic foundation is based upon some belief of right or wrong, then subsequently your decisions are then based around those ideas to. And logically if you are right then the rest must be wrong, for order and reason to exist...

I feel it reasonable to conclude then, that dependant upon where you were born geographically speaking, that will have a huge if not almost overwhelming importance as to how you evaluate any given topic.

Clearly any amount of permutations exist, so we won't need to go into a detailed response to every single one, sufficed as to say we will deal with some of the most obvious and common ethical/religious/social differences.

(The following assessments are based upon a present day view.)

So if you are born in the United States of America, your views are based supposedly, upon the CONSTITUTION of the U.S.A. You are permitted to join/follow any religious, economic, social group you chose, providing that they don't try to live outside of the constitutional law. Seems very reasonable to me. (I don't live there though)

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution

If you were born in Britain, then similarly you can do/be who you want, as long as you adhere to the law of the land, and don't commit treason to the Monarchy. (One does reside here, lol)

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_United_Kingdom

If you were born in Italy then you likely were born into Catholicism and a fairly open minded democracy. Fascism has been eradicated over recent decades. Same for Spain in most cases.

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Italian_law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholicism

If you were born in Israel, then you are fairly sure to be a Jew, and live under laws laid down by the faith descendants of Abraham. The ten commandments and such.

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Israel

If you were born in Northern East Africa, Egypt or Saudi Arabia, then you are more likely to be a Muslim and live according to Sharia law.

Link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia

If you were born in China or Tibet, then you are likely born into Buddhism, and follow either the Dalai Lama or the Laws of the Chinese government.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_China

If you were born in India, depending upon which region, you are likely to be either Hindu, Sikh, Jain, or Buddhist

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_India

If you were born in South America you are either a follower of whatever Jungle tribe you hail, or a Catholic or Christian.(Dependant upon which invading force got there first)

So I think that covers the majority of scenarios. (I won't be offended if you have other ideas as to my inclusivity, I swear)

I believe that if we were able to decide for ourselves and not have to follow the one religious or ideological pattern set out for us by our ancestors, then our ability to tolerate would be dramatically increased. I don't see children finding this difficult, as I watch the way in which, in most cases they are very open to inclusivity, only excluding when they are taught to. I am fabled for being all too simplistic, yes that's true, so I realise that what I say may have a grating, nauseating affect upon some of you, but please try to look beyond the simplistic nature of my comments to a road that we can all walk along, whatever our chosen idea of RIGHT or WRONG.

I SEE IT IS ABSOLUTLEY POSSIBLE, for me to hold my views and opinions whilst other also have theirs, and we still live happily and peacefully on this planet. I haven't concluded my views are the ONLY right ones, as I daily adapt them to include new discovery and understanding. They are simply RIGHT for me now, today, (and possibly only me) but none the less right for me to follow and try to accept and tolerate everyone else. I see tolerance as the route to any real and lasting peace in our world. Sure I don't want to live by Sharia law, because I don't believe or accept the basis upon which it was founded. I don't want to live under the law of my land for pretty well the same reasons.

HOWEVER, I do live here in this society and WILL abide by their laws, as far as is humanly possible, because I am not a rebel who wants to cause chaos or live as a totally free entity, otherwise my choice would be that island one.

(There are a couple of exceptions to this statement. (1) If they ask me to kill or be involved in killing another Human Being. (2) Be cruel to anyone intentionally or to other sentient beings. (3) Worship gods I do not believe in, be they heavenly or material)

I am a lover of Peace and Harmony and Love. These beliefs are the motivational factors in any of my present daily decisions. I will do my utmost to inculcate them at every turn of the road as I walk through my life, and if I fail it will be as a result of nothing short of exhaustion or ignorance. Hey I'm not perfect, but I'm doing my bit to make the world a better place. Better means more enjoyable for everyone, more fair and sharing with a compassionate spirit.

So in finale, have you seen what tolerance can be? What it can do to save the world from complete ruin?

Maybe if we all push, just that little bit harder, toward a global understanding and tolerance, we could all see world peace in our time.

I have been a follower of James and Salle Redfields attempts for a long time now. As too those of the Dalai Lama, and many more wonderful people who care enough to sacrifice their entire lives for the cause of global peace. I am in awe of these great spirits, Mahatma Gandhi being amongst the list of incredible motivators to the peace on earth wave of concern. Please take a look at what they are doing with regards to the global shift in consciousness of the critical mass. Loads of love to you both James and Salle.

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My hands go out to you all in friendship, to hug you and care for you, and offer a hand of support and comfort on the road to experience.

May you come to shine as the sun, and share love that is abundant.

And just before you go away thinking you are not tolerant enough/too tolerant, have a look at something I just found that has really touched me as I hope it will you also.

Thank you Pamelanred

I'm touched xx

Peaceful Warrior.