A Thoughtful Flame to PL (and PL's Response) on "UNDECIDED-UNFORGIVEN"

"LOFF56" writes:

"Wow!
I never thought I'd hear a therapist use a word like "unforgiven". Especially one who's blog is entitled "Full Permission Living". Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't "full permission" include a sense of self forgiveness, not to mention a forgiveness; and certainly non-judgment from their therapist?
I can only hope that none of your patients are voting for McCain or are undecided. I would think that it would not be such a good place to start if your therapist starts out thinking you're an idiot.
Besides that, although I don't disagree with your points about the differences between the two candidates, what you are saying is more of a dis to McCain voters than "undecided" voters anyway.
And I won't even start with the fact that this is all coming from someone who made the decision to remain "intentionally" undecided for 30 some-odd years.
Sorry Pete, but I'm calling you out on this one!"


PL"

Thanks for the call-out, LOFF56!

Here's the deal -

First, "Full Permission Living" is an understanding of how we are meant to live, how we are naturally created, and how we can behave outwardly in our lives, IF - and that's a huge "IF" - we have freed up and cleared out of ourselves the distorted, destructive deformations of our character structures (our collection of defenses). "Forgiveness" is the natural state of things, and yes, I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek by using the title of Clint Eastwood's movie to describe people whose motives are suspect.
Second, it is not always a "judgment" (which comes from fear, prejudice, ignorance and/or hostility) to call someone stupid. It can be an accurate assessment. As I said in a previous post about Sarah Palin, my definition of "stupid" is when you rely on superstitious, regressed thinking and behavior for ego-driven purposes, for a self-aggrandizing agenda and/or out of exaggerated pride, while pretending there won't be any negative consequences for such behavior. My use of the word does not imply intellectual limitations or a low level of mental capacity. In fact, to qualify for my version of stupid, you have to be of at least normal intellectual functioning. (By the way, I do sometimes lovingly let my patients know when they are being stupid!)
Finally, I have not been undecided during the years that I didn't vote for a presidential candidate. I was most definitely "DECIDED" that my vote was going to be a well-thought-out, firmly delivered "None-of-the-Above." (I was tempted to say "Thanks, but no thanks," but unfortunately, that phrase has been tainted by someone stupid!)