I Blog Poetry and Prose

Dealing with Biases on a personal level

Fiḍál (Grace), 12 ‘Aẓamat (Grandeur) 176 B.E. - Tuesday, May 28, 2019

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PROMPT: On this last Talk Tuesday of May, let’s talk about bias. How do your own biases influence your life? Is it possible to ever be truly objective?

How do my own biases influence my life? I'm sure my biases do influence areas of my life. I work hard at not allowing my biases to influence my interactions with the rest of humanity. I have learned over the decades that personal biases don't aid interaction with the rest of humanity. Another thing I've found is that I can show respect to other humans because they are human and deserve respect because they are divine creation, without agreeing with their opinions or biases.

I am responsible for my own spiritual development, which means I have to look at my own biases and determine why I have them. I have found that, most biases, come from one of two sources. They were either taught to me as a child or learned from interaction with the other human beings. These biases will slow my spiritual development if not dealt with, and I--at least from my perspective--have spent too many years avoiding dealing with my own biases, weaknesses, and sins.

Is it possible to ever be truly objective? Yes, but it takes a lot of work, meditation, and prayer. An individual has to decide--at the very least--to put aside any biases and deal with the situation on a higher plane of existence. One thing that really irritates me, is judges and other people deciding that they can disobey a law, such as issuing marriage licenses to same gender couples because they consider it a sin. It is the law of the land, and if part of their job description is to issue marriage licenses the gender of the couple should have nothing to do with them performing their job. If they don't like the law, then attempt to change it or get another job.

Please note, I may have a different view on the subject in the above paragraph when it comes to religious organizations. My view in this case depends upon who is interpreting the metaphors in the religion's sacred writings. Are they looking at the deeper meaning of the scriptures, or are the choosing a literal definition? In addition, the translation of the scriptures and who translated it from the original language will influence the translation.