The Truth About Compromise

November 2, 2009 in Conscious Living

Flight of fancy

I’ve noticed that people often use the word “compromise” not in relation to a mutual concession or a trade, but to describe the betrayal of their principles, the surrender of their belief to the groundless claim of another.

A “compromise” in this instance could be a wife’s surrender to her husband’s irrational demands for social conformity or pretended religious observance. Or a writer creating books to please “the public”, against their own judgment and standards.

Let’s make a deal

A compromise, by definition, is an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions. That means both parties in the compromise have some valid claims and some value to offer each other. And this means that each party must agree on some underlying principle (or fundamental truths) that are the foundation of their deal.

It is not possible to compromise on basic principles or fundamental issues. Can you compromise between such issues as life and death, or truth and falsehood?

It’s not a compromise when I betray my beliefs

Rather, I am giving into another’s irrational, personal desires and encouraging them to grow. I am signing myself up for a tortured life spent in progressive self-destruction.

Integrity is displayed through being loyal to your rational ideals, subjective whims don’t mean shit.

I don’t care if you feel like it

Just because you feel like asserting your desires on me does not mean that I have a moral primary to meet them. You are not entitled to assert your whims on people. Not every impulse you have has equal validity.

Do not ask me to “compromise” on what I know is true and good. There is a powerful difference between conceding on basic principles and bending to irrational flights-of-fancy.

photo credit: mar00ned

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  • HERO
    OK. I agree. No compromises . Let us not do to others what you don't want them to do to you. In other words let us stick to the Golden Rule,of all religions. So let us redesign our human ego,greed and develop concern for everybody,so that that we may learn how to know one another. We understand that politics is the main origin of our current problems. Please help us spread compassion to other people, "the best idea humanity has ever had." Why don't we participate in a global conversation and start sharing a charter, that we can design with others in this context.
  • Are you thinking about contributing the the charter of compassion?
  • HERO
    Yes. For me this is something I finally grew up for. There is so much chaos, pain, hurt feelings and absurdities in this strange world of ours. The tragedy is that very few are truly conscious of this disturbing fact.
    Unfortunately most people, whether we like it or not are like a herds of sheep that are happy with their shepherds. They feel comfortable in their ignorance. This makes the position of the relatively few enlightened very delicate and difficult. But that is the way it is. We have to learn to face these tough realities and learn to cope with them.
  • "Unfortunately most people, whether we like it or not are like a herds of sheep that are happy with their shepherds. They feel comfortable in their ignorance."

    Any insights into why this is, Mike? Why are people so happy to be led and told what to think and how to act?
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