When thinking about making the world a better place, I think about love vs fear. I also know that these are general and broad terms. But they can be broken down into more specific ideas. Fear is based on control, and Love is based on freedom. Both are tools of progress, but one puts the progress into the hands of the powerful and the other puts the progress into the hands of the people regardless of power. The people will make progress only in the presence of love. The controlling agenda of fear will try to excuse itself as reacting to a threat and as meeting that threat with appropriate action. Fear is a tool of those who desire power.
Failure is a teacher. Fear is not. You can fail without having fear, but with fear there is only failure. Fear can create action but this action is fearful, and will never be from a place of making things better. Fear creates the impulse for flight, freeze or fight, not for educating. Education is a generous and open condition, but fear shuts down rationality and falls back onto muscle memory and reflexes. Being at odds with someone or something doesn’t require fear. One should be able to be different, controversial, educational, without fear. This is a high art that requires experience, and maturity, altho some may have a natural gifting of tools that make this condition easy. They become leaders, teachers, and influencers.
Fearful confrontations devolve into basic attacks on character and threats of resource disruption. It only takes one person to stop the progress of a conversation. When education stops, on either side, the conversation stops. Without constant feedback, there can be no sensitivity in a conversation. Opinions, reactions, etc all flow easily and generously. Yes, giving your opinion in context is an act of generosity. Giving your opinion without context or prompting is an invitation for the other to respond or react and turn that new topic into a discussion.
Preaching is fear. A preacher does not allow a response or reaction unless it supports what he/she is saying. This is the same with propaganda. Any message that postures itself as being above reproach is propaganda. It is fearful of being spoken badly of and being discredited. A monologue can be given by a teacher in a classroom but there is always opportunity for questions. This is education, not preaching. That’s the difference. These situations limit the number of participants so that questions can be handled. A Preacher wants as many followers as possible and doesn’t answer any questions. Politicians also don’t answer questions. When faced with a question, they will deflect, attack, or ignore it, or use the attention as a platform to activate more propaganda, usually not answering the question. This is fear based because it is not trusting or trustworthy.
The teacher is the one that takes questions and answers with compassion to a degree that their answer will be heard, felt, and honored as nourishment to the authentic seeker heart and mind.