On Commenting
I want this to be a forum for honest discussion, and welcome all comments to that end. Please respect basic norms of civility and respect. Disagreement is welcome, but I will delete comments that I deem malicious or slanderous. Please feel free to provide links to relevant articles and sites if they relate to the discussion, but avoid just a bunch of links. WordPress’s spam settings are not always 100% reliable—if your comment does not appear, drop me an email and I’ll try to fix the problem.
On a technical level, it’s most helpful if you reply directly to the specific comment that you are addressing (comments can be nested up to three deep). Just click on “Reply” at the bottom of the comment you are responding to and it will show up as a response to that specific comment. On long comment threads, this makes it easier to track the conversation than if each new comment just appears at the bottom of the thread.
To sum up: follow the golden rule and I will try to do the same. Sometimes it can be easy to forget that there are real human beings behind words on a screen—especially if we find those words threatening or they make us angry. Blog commenting can quite easily degenerate into hurling insults at one other in an accountability-free vacuum.
But not here, right?
Hi,
I thought your comparison to a combover as a last resort (to hang onto) and giving yourself or surrenduring to God was very interesting. I am currently collecting pictures of good combovers for a research project and was wondering if you would be willing to let me use this one, it is quite good. Thanks,
Paula
No problem at all, Paula. The picture doesn’t actually belong to me – it’s public domain (I found it on a google search). Must be an interesting research project!
“sometimes it can be easy to forget that there are real human beings behind words on a screen—especially if we find those words threatening or they make us angry.”
Bravo. Well, said. I might quote you in my own comment/etiquette section.
Thanks William.
Hi Ryan –
I was just cleaning out a magazine stand, and read your article in the MB Herald “Hockey Dad”. I have to say, your words were so inspiring. I am a “Hockey Mom”, who was born and raised in Arizona – married my best friend from Saskatchewan and voila – hockey mom of 3. I actually started skating/playing a couple of years ago due to my love of the game. It is so easy to love this game, but we have struggled with where the committment it takes fits in with our committment to our church and other areas. I have searched for the ways I can reflect Christ to my hockey families and have shared my testimony with a few – but your article has given me a new desire to make my all-time coach, Chirst, proud of my effort. Those are words an athlete can understand. Thank you so much, and keep your head at playoffs.
Jules
Thank you very much for the kind words, Julie. Like you, I find the commitment required to be a challenge—especially when Sunday mornings don’t work very well for me (at least not after 8:30 am!). It takes quite a balancing act some days, and we’re only at the beginning of the journey! I imagine it will get even trickier as my son gets older. We’ve just signed him up for “spring hockey” so the march goes on
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Hello Ryan,
I like the spirit of your “rules” for commenting. Really, that is the only way to go! Thank you for that. I just — over the last 6 weeks or so — got a blog up and running and would like the exchange to be the same (only have a few comments so far).
Mine at http://thetanetworker.wordpress.com is spiritual, but quite diverse and freethinking — at least I freely think so
Theta Networker’s Open Channel
Open the theta door to the vibrations of your Higher Self and mindbody reconnection
{Note: Theta, besides being a letter of the Greek alphabet, refers to brainwaves in a somewhat deep state of meditation…}
Here’s my “Welcome!”
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away … or maybe it was Brooklyn … I decided upon another earth life … Time for some more life lessons …
I do not “own” the ideas expressed in this space … I want to share them … This blog is a channel open for expansive communication to flow among those engaged in self-cultivation … evolving and discovering their own truths and paths … without wishing to devalue or eliminate other beings they have decided they don’t like or “don’t want to be like.” It is about rediscovering your innate yearning for spiritualization that may lie dormant … Take a look around … Participate … Reach and withdraw … Discover what is true for you … You are not alone …
There is a world of difference between support and entanglement … between people who help you expand your choices and your freedom and those who “know best” and would limit your options or your world by promoting their spiritual beliefs or belief systems as the only truth or path to truth. As Jesus said [John 14:2], “In My Father’s house are many mansions,” which may be taken to mean that there are many paths back to perfect union with the Divine Self within each of us. Here are a couple of basic ways to tell if a person or group is expansive and empowering rather than limiting:
If you’re being told what you should do, or what you must do, or a group or individual claims to stand for freedom, but prohibits or inhibits you from thinking for yourself: That’s not compatible with freedom … That’s a disconnect between what they say and what they do. If individuals, teachers or coaches encourage and help you to discover your own best options, to find your own truth … they know there are many doorways to healing and joy, and are truly interested in your growth and happiness … They’re delighted when you discover the clarity of your own guidance … and they are respecting your innate curiosity … individuality … independence.
“Many spiritual people anticipate the return of White Light to the planet. They imagine it will come in the form of a unique individual like Buddha, Jesus, or Muhammad. However, from my newly acquired spirituality, I see that White Light will only return to the planet when every human being recognizes every other human being as an individual frequency of the White Light. As long as we keep eliminating or devaluing other human beings we have decided we don’t like, i.e., destroying frequencies of the spectrum, we will not be able to experience the White Light. Our job is to protect and nurture each human frequency so that the White Light can return.” — Bruce Lipton, from the Epilogue to The Biology Of Belief http://www.brucelipton.com/biology-of-belief-overview/ “We must all learn to listen to one another with understanding and compassion, to hear what is being felt by the other.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
Al
Thank you for the kind words, Al.