Embracing Opposition
Perhaps one big reason I tend to express unpopular views is because I find great value in opposition. I mean, it's not that I want to create opposition, because I don't. I'm not trying to get attention nor create trouble. We don't need to seek or create more opposition, but I think it's important to embrace the opposition that we face. I do believe there are more important truths that people are not considering enough in the positions I take, but that is not what I'm discussing here. I think too many of us too easily try to escape opposition, myself included. But opposition is a such a valuable key part of God's plan for us. It is what agency to choose between right and wrong are all about. It helps us learn and grow, and truly brings joy. So we don't need to be afraid of opposition, but we can embrace it.
I have heard it suggested that in our pre-earthly life, when Satan opposed God's plan with his own, to force everyone to righteousness, Satan's plan wasn't really to get us to choose the right, but it was to remove our choice... to remove the opposition. This makes a lot of sense to me, and I believe it. We aren't choosing the right if we don't have a choice. It's incredibly ironic that in Satan's efforts to remove the opposition that he became the opposition, fulfilling that important part of Heavenly Father's plan for us.
Don't be afraid of trials and struggles. Opposition means it's okay and good to struggle. Struggle is good, because it stretches and expands our understanding, tests our faith, helps identify what is important to us, and therefore helps to fulfill our life's purpose. Struggling activates our brain to solve a problem. We struggle because we feel strongly about something, but we have experiences in life that oppose those beliefs, thoughts and experiences and challenge them. Our struggle fulfills our life's purpose by testing and challenging our strongest beliefs, either to confirm more clearly and strongly what we do believe, and/or to open our minds to new understanding and beliefs (which is even more exciting).
For me, one synonym of the word "opposition" is "difference". I also believe that difference is good. It wakes up our brain to new information. In a way, it could seem unfortunate that our brains are so lazy, wired to expect everything to be the same, but it's really wired for efficiency, so we don't need to think about every single same action we want to do (e.g. breathing, eating, sleeping, etc.). But we do need differences and opposition in life, to wake our brains up, to learn new things that we can become more efficient at. That difficulty is where the brain is really fulfilling its purpose, and we are fulfilling ours.
When we encounter differences in our lives, our natural, automatic response may be to toss it aside and not deal with it, or even to criticize and fear it, because it doesn't fit within the perspective and paradigm that our brain is expecting. We feel like this interrupts and interferes with our life of efficiency. It's important to find the courage to overcome that... to train our minds to open up to new and exciting opportunities for learning and growth, again fulfilling our purpose. Otherwise, life can be quite dull and boring. If your life is dull and boring, try opening up to new and different opportunities, facing your fears, and doing things that are different, and out of your comfort zone.
During this Thanksgiving time of year, we can be grateful for opposition, because opposition motivates us more to be grateful. Does food and water mean more to you when you have plenty of it around or when you don't? I have heard a number of people talk about how they had never been so grateful for good air to breathe until they faced a situation where they suddenly couldn't breathe. Not having food and water, or especially air to breathe, are certainly quite tragic; however, these situations (that we obviously should not seek for) can have a powerful effect on us to find gratitude and value in the simple things in life. It's tough, because it makes it feel like the only way we can find value and gratitude for something precious and good is to lose it. Well, I don't believe that is the only way, but that is something to discuss and explore in another post.
At the root of the word "opposition" is the word "oppose". That seems like such a negative word to us, but it doesn't need to be. Just because someone opposes you or me, that doesn't necessarily make them or us right or wrong... good or bad. Okay, yes, I do believe in God, and that there is absolute truth and morally right choices; however, while God is perfect at judging, we are far from it, and we are called on more to love. So, don't be afraid when someone opposes you. Let's work more on embracing and understanding someone who opposes us. Opposition opens up new opportunities for understanding and love.
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