Must a loving person never raise his voice, or say an angry thing, or use sharp words to make a point?
My entry here yesterday brought some wonderful and interesting responses…among them, there was an entry from the person posting as “StormyMusic”, which said, in part…

Dearest Neale,
Please know that I mean this with love. I don’t see unity as meaning uniformity, but I do see that there is a way in which one speaks and acts through the awareness of oneness. There is a way to address one’s thoughts and actions without making it into a personal attack. There is a way to disagree with a point of view without seeing the other person as separate.
In Mr. Wise’s article, I still see a separation being not only expressed but encouraged. It is an honest opinion, but I still hold that it is not one spoken in love but out of FEAR of Sarah Palin, McCain, and the GOP. When people term the McCain/Palin ticket as frightening, then what exactly do you think they are basing their opinions on?
…If we want to discuss how Palin doesn’t believe in Global Warming, fine. I know quite a few people who don’t. If we want to talk about her comments expressing lack of experience, fine. If we wish to address her stance on creationism, that’s cool even though it’s really not about her but about a stance a good amount of people take in our society. Mr. Wise attempts to address such things in his essay. There was still this undertone of superiority that came from him, something that felt it ok to attack personally rather than discuss.
Posted by: StormyMusic | September 26, 2008 8:48 AM

To which I would like to reply….
Do you know what, StormyMusic? I agree with you. I mean, I agree that the tone of the Tim Wise essay was…shall I use the word, “biting”?
I wonder though…I see people taking the “high road” who would never use such a tone…and who, it seems, are not very well heard. And, as I tried to make the point yesterday here…sometimes passion and deep commitment to a point of view creates lively interchange and yes, even a “heated debate.” But is that bad? I am asking seriously now. Is it not okay for us to say even one single word that is not soft and gentle and nice?
And…on the matter of fear….has it become completely “not okay” to say that we are afraid of something? If we are “enlightened beings,” we are not to admit or say out loud that we are afraid of anything?
The McCain/Palin ticket IS frightening. To me, at least. And to many others, who see another four years of Republican orthodoxy and Republican rule as the last thing this country needs right now.
Conversations with God says that fear is a natural emotion, a device allowing us to say “No, thank you.” Only when fear is represseddoes it turn into a very UNnatural emotion: panic.
So I “get” that all true “spiritual leaders” never use biting language, or ever speak in anything but the softest tones, and never express fear about anything — or at least, none of them ever should do these things, if they are truly “spiritual leaders”…BUT…
What about the “fire and brimstone” preachers who raise their voices in the pulpit all the time, raging about hell and damnation and working to place the “fear of God” into us?
And what, for that matter, about Jesus, chasing the money changers out of the temple? What about Jesus, in still another instance, using the words…”You brood of vipers!”
Yes, StormyMusic…is there place in human encounter for a bit of spice? Even a bit of biting exchange?
“You brood of vipers!”
Wow, strong language. And right there in the Bible. Wow. Out of the mouth of Jesus. Wow.
Is that okay, coming from Jesus?
I wonder. I am just wondering here…