Guideline III

Never try to convince people to your way of thinking.  You may educate passively if you wish, but don't actively persuade.

If something works for you, such as meditation for instance, don't try to persuade others to think the same way.  People all have different points of view, and you have to respect that. Remember to tolerate, and practice gender sensitivity, cultural sensitivity, political sensitivity and religious sensitivity as much as possible.  Otherwise, you'll end up being argumentative and psychotic.

For instance, I find painted Hindu temples and idols to be very unattractive.  In fact, they look frightening when painted.  And during my stay in Colombo, Sri Lanka, when I facilitated technical training for several U.S. ISP tech support engineers, my work associates toured me around some of the Hindu and Buddhist temples there.  Some Buddhist temples had Hindu idols of Brahma, Shiva, or Vishnu--the Hindu Trinity.  And while I gazed at one of these strange deities, having multiple faces, or multiple hands, I couldn't help but wonder if these multi-tasking gods used to be ancient Indian gurus who had some form of mental illness, such as MPD syndrome.  So, while I gazed on one of these idols, a Buddhist monk passed by.

"Why does he have so many hands?" I politely asked the monk.

"It's too complicated," he replied.

My Sri Lankan work associate then introduced me to the monk as a visitor.

"I hope you enjoy your 'tour' around the temple," he told me. "And have good day."

He then left us by ourselves.  He gave a simple "answer." It was obviously appropriate for him to do so since engaging in explanation, debate, and persuasion was a total waste of time.  After all, I could have asked him additional questions like, "I heard from our Muslim Sri Lankan driver that some Sri Lankan Buddhist monks carry guns, is that true?"

And he could have answered, "well, hundreds of years ago, Buddhists monks invented Kung Fu to defend themselves.  But nowadays, some monks need more practical defensive methods against the Hindu Tamil rebels...Lightsabers are imaginary, you know! Ironically, it was the Chinese Daoists--the extenders of life--who invented gunpowder. And the Chinese would later use it to invent the world's first mines, flame-throwers, rockets, and of course, the earth's first gun, which the Chinese invented in the early 12th century. They probably never realized the extent to which it would be used offensively when they shared this technology with the Arabs and the Europeans. But sharing this technology allowed the weak to defend themselves against the mighty--the ones who argue, kill, and destroy anyone who disagrees with their beliefs."

Of course, in reality, the Sri Lankan monk probably would have answered in the same manner as he actually did: "It's too complicated."   And that's the best answer for most situations.

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