Truly Gentle

June 10, 2019 Empathy - Compassion No Comments

Being truly gentle includes being gentle to truth in a most humane way. Thus, striving to be gentle is of the highest importance.

As in gentle-man, again

[see: “A Lady’s Beauty is a Gentleman’s Delight”]

Of course, this is not to acquit the ladies from any responsibility or other personal involvement. I’m talking from a personal position, which is of the male kind. A woman can write the same text from a female position.

Truly gentle is gentle to truth

The elusive ‘final truth’ remains what it is. [see: “What is Ultimate Truth?”] Nevertheless, clearly getting closer to truth about human being, including human emotions [see: “Beyond Sadness”], helps in understanding – and putting into practice – how people can really be helped. In error, ‘helping’ can be detrimental. I see many examples of this.

A search for truth – as in striving towards an understanding of the human condition – is a matter of gentleness. One very important element concerns a modern, scientific, post-Freudian view on the existence and pertinence of human subconscious processing. [see: “The Modern Subconscious”]

In my view, the other way around is equally important: an in-depth search for truth about human being also needs gentleness. For instance: scientific research questions guide research. The way these questions are put, guides the research itself at meta-level. This way, gentleness – or the lack of it – deeply influences science itself.

Apart from science, this is applicable in a much broader sense. The endeavor to see clearly and truthfully – in a most gentle manner – is needed for truly being able to help. To me, there is no way around.

Especially in a ‘post-truth era’

[see: “Post-Truth”], it’s important to see that striving for truth is not a personal matter of money and power but of morality and human dignity. These comprise characteristics of a gentleman.

When the going gets tough, the gentle keep going because it’s principally not about choosing the easy road. [see: “Weak, Hard, Strong, Gentle”]

A person who mistreats truth-seeking in undignified ways is not a gentleman. I doubt whether he should or should not be ridiculed. Anyway, if he is in a position of power, time should drill a huge pit in which his reputation is bound to fall and hit rock-bottom sooner or later. A lady would balk at being seen at his side. His children… no, I don’t go into that.

I hope we get past even the possibility of any post-truth era asap in a gentleman’s way.

Is ‘truly gentle’ also ‘truly aurelian’?

According to me, it is. AURELIS as a whole is a striving towards experiencing human being in totality. One may not reach this end. Maybe it’s unreachable. Still, the striving can be so. What counts, is: striving as well as possible. [see: “‘Doing Your Best’ is Good Enough”]

This way, every little success is success, even without any need to ‘reach it’ annex frustration when ‘it’ is not reached. ‘Success’ is at every corner on the way, at every stretch, at every next little stone one encounters.

This way, the striving is also a truly gentle one.