Second Law of Acceptance

Inevitability.
According to Dictionary.com:

 

Adjective-

1)Unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped; certain; necessary: an inevitable conclusion.

2)Sure to occur, happen, or come; unalterable: The inevitable end of human life is death.

 
Noun-
1)That which is unavoidable.

Accept that some things are inevitable. This is not to say one should throw up their hands and write off everything as inevitable, but rather realize that some things are easy to change, others are possible, some are difficult, and some are inevitable, at least temporarily. Recognize what cannot be changed and try not to waste time or energy worrying over such things. In regards to people and acceptance, realize that some aspects of people are inevitable, and in order to accept them, these unmovable aspects must also be accepted.

Guideline 2-Preconceived notions, shallow judgements.

We all have them. Some much more subtle than others, some are more critical or encompass a wider range of individuals. Regardless of what kind of person you are, certain thoughts(good or bad, right or wrong) come to mind just seeing another person, and opinions are formed. People claim they don't judge others, and ask not to be judged(or state the ever popular "Only God Can Judge me") but the reality is, the mind has already drawn conclusions about a person upon observation, let alone the first encounter, and continues to do so with every word and action observed, or even relayed by another individual.

 These however, don't need to be final. The suggestion here is 'Realize the existence of initial judgments, but weigh them carefully'. In other words, don't make any permanent decisions about a person's character based entirely off of a first encounter or second hand account. This is actually something I am working to overcome; as of now, I am relatively quick to notice the unfavorable qualities of those around me, and thus reluctant to admit to their redeeming qualities.

 In short: Understand that first judgments are not final judgments. Give people an appropriate chance to present their own character; and then take note of all qualities as opposed to only those you prefer or despise.

Guideline 1-Understanding

Find common ground.

I think the first thing one needs to keep in mind when seeking to understand others is the fact that there are always, always similarities. We are all human. That means we follow the same genetic blueprints with only the slightest variations on specific details. Hair color, eye color, skin tones, facial features, hair variation... These and more may differ, yet we all are designed to function with the same set of organs- a heart, two lungs, kidneys, etc.
 We're all intended to have two arms, with five fingers a hand, two legs, each with five toes.

 With physical makeup alone, we already share much in common. Isn't that reason enough to not immediately disregard or even despise one another?

Understanding(up for revision)

Understanding is something that, in my opinion goes hand in hand with acceptance- if you understand something or someone well, you're more likely to make an informed decision, which, in hope of the general theme of this blog, would be acceptance. Understanding gives us the power to reason when we make our choices, Instead of a choice based entirely on a preconceived notion or one bad experience, or even a first impression.
Eventually I'll be posting a series of rules of understanding(rather, a how-to guide) alongside my laws of acceptance, given they work quite well together.

First Law of Acceptance(up for revision)

I think, in my efforts to get this off the ground, that I need to set a few rules to live by, if one is going to adhere to Acceptance Theory. So, as I think of them, and revise them, they will appear here. This first one seems simple enough.

1- Accept that other people will not be accepting.

Pretty straightforward. Every human being has their preconceived notions, and then on those notions, experiences which shape their opinions. This law simply states that to being accepting, people must set aside their own prejudices/vices and reach out to accept others, knowing that the recipient of their acceptance may not respond in kind. Patience is key here.

Introduction

This is a little project I'll be working on. Eventually I hope to devote great time and effort to it, and I'm not sure how far it will go, but I'm going to give it a shot. The goal is simple. I'm going to be building a set of ideas I'll be referring to as Acceptance Theory.  In a nutshell, the basic idea is that people should strive to accept and understand one another regardless of various differences. If that sounds like something you'd care to read, stay tuned, as it's still very much a work in progress.

In more detail:

People learn to accept others. By accepting others, at the very least, a mutual understanding and basic level of respect is established, even if it is the respect to disagree civilly. By forming this most basic form of acceptance, I strive to encourage everyone to further work together- accepting and setting aside differences in pursuit of understanding, with everyone working toward the common goal of meeting needs.


Accept that people are different, yet still human-> Understand, that as humans, we share similar needs, but do not always have the means to meet them-> in understanding, agree to work together, covering one another, meeting those needs so that everyone can continue to live in relative harmony.

That's my ideal, the goal behind Acceptance Theory.