By Peter Butler. This website provides you with two “clicking” options, representing two people and two different perspectives – HILARY’S DESK and OUT OF THE MOULD. I suppose you could say that it is two sides of the RRMT “coin”. It is not a case of which side is more important.
Both are needed equally to make the “whole”. If you ignore one you do so at the expense of the other.
Tossing a coin can be part of a process whereby a decision is made and an outcome set in motion – one way or another.
On other occasions the unique circumstances and individual needs will make the right choice very obvious. A course of action will be initiated. The other side will still need to be confronted – sometime.
Like it or not, voices and choices cannot be escaped.
Let’s return to the RRMT “coin” – Hilary’s Desk and Out of the Mould (or Pete’s web!). Perhaps another analogy or illustration could be helpful, always bearing in mind that no illustration is perfect in every way.
Let’s consider two ways by which food can be provided and eaten. One is “spoon feeding” and the other is preparing a meal for yourself.
Spoon feeding often applies to infants and younger children or to older people with particular needs.
Generally speaking the food is selected, prepared and administered by others who are aware of the best ways of providing those needs. The recipient receives the benefits of the knowledge and work of others. It will be delivered in response to the “hunger” and needs of the individual.
Preparing a meal for yourself will require the assuming of responsibility of the knowledge, work and time involved. To do the job well you will need to select the “voices” and make the choices that will provide a “nourishing meal” that satisfies you by meeting your expectations. Or you can choose to submit to someone else providing your needs e.g. a restaurant or café, and you will have to “pay” for it. This type of action entails the choices of convenience, compromise, procrastination or default. See A BLESSING OR A “CURSE”?
Hilary’s Desk is like the spoon feeding side of the coin. Seemingly far more attractive in numerous ways.
Out of the Mould is the other side of the coin. Easily discounted as being of minor importance.
It requires the recipient (e.g. the reader) to answer questions and evaluate voices by employing the hard work of thinking.
Making wise choices by listening to the “still small voice” that keeps nagging away in your gut, in spite of the strident sounds trying to drown it out, will frequently mean having to take the consequences of sticking your neck out and plodding on against the flow.
Hilary’s Desk seems to have so much appeal. Undoubtedly it is loaded with the fruits of meticulous and tenacious spade work. It can be like a lifeline for people who are crying out for help. It addresses specific issues which challenge the system’s mindsets. In a sense the choices available in such circumstances probably boil down to acceptance or rejection of what is being made available.
The full impact of Pete’s ponderings in Out of the Mould may not be immediately apparent. In fact, they may seem irrelevant at a casual glance.
They can be easily dismissed.
The “fruits” are not dangling within reach, temptingly, awaiting to be picked. The choice to disregard Out of the Mould for this reason, or because it makes you feel uncomfortable, is a dangerous one. Digging beneath the surface, reading between the lines and sorting out the crucial issues inherent in a complete and all embracing lifestyle, is absolutely essential - long before some emergency arises that might send you scuttling to Hilary’s Desk.
The fruits of the future depend on the ground work being undertaken NOW.
From the experience gained in talking to the vast majority of people about lifestyle issues, it is amazing how many people can make the right sort of “noises” during the course of conversations, but when asked what the practical outworkings are for them, they so often reply, “I don’t know”!
Ostriches burying their heads in the sand?
Please, before it’s too late, make it a top priority to work through Out of the Mould concerns. Weigh up the questions and comments carefully, and make your choices painstakingly and with conviction.
Not because I have said so - I am only another voice – but because the future of every one of us depends on how conscientiously we do this.
Test your resolves, even if the real-life examples are hypothetical. Don’t presume anything.
How are you using the RRMT “coin”?
I repeat what I said above. It is not a matter of which side is more important.
BOTH ARE NEEDED EQUALLY.
If we ignore one, we do so at the expense of the other.
