Have you ever considered the actual definition of what fundamentalism really means? It means you haven’t given any deep thought to your religion or politics. It literally means that you are still stomping around in the shallow, wading end of the pool and have been too terrified to venture out into the deep waters. It means that you got so hung up on the most basic principles of what you believe that you have never bothered to expand the horizons of your mental awareness.

Here is the actual definition of the word ‘fundamental’;

Are you really proud of the fact that you have never advanced past the first grade? That you stalled in the doorway of what lies before you. You stopped at the beginning of the path to gaze up at the mountains in front of you and decided that was enough for you.

I am asking you to follow the path. Climb the freakin’ mountains. Use the fundamental bits of learning that you are clinging to like some kind of life raft to float you down the river of enlightenment. Better yet, combine the bits of fundamental wisdom into new shapes and structures. Don’t get fixated on the ‘thou shalt nots’ and the catch phrases. Don’t get stuck in the  worn out ruts of the plodding non-thinkers. Forge your own way. Look for the messages of love and acceptance in what you believe. They are there. And there are far more of them than the are words of hate and bigotry.

In the end, your religious and political leaders or your gods or at the very least your grandchildren and their children are going to judge you for who your persecuted and are going to admire you for who you accepted. If the people around you are caught in the swamp of fundamentalism, step boldly past them and strike out on your own.

You are smarter than that.

*****

Another old post… because I fight my wars with words, not bombs and bullets…