Separating ourselves from our opinions

From Sri Eknath Easwaran:

 One who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment. 
~ Meister Eckhart

Most of us identify ourselves with our pet opinions. Then, when we are contradicted, we take it personally and get upset. 

If we could look at ourselves with some detachment, we would see how absurd this is. 

There is scarcely any more connection between me and my opinions than there is between
me and my car. 

I have a close friend who is devoted to her Volkswagen Bug. If I compliment her on it, she is pleased;
if I tell her what her neighbor says about Volkswagens, she feels insulted. 

But why? Where is the connection? She is not a VW Bug. 

Once we realize at a deeper level of consciousness that we are not our opinions, most of the resentment in differences of opinion disappears. 
There is nothing wrong with disagreement; in fact, sometimes it is necessary to disagree. 
But we should do so with complete respect for the other person. 
_________________________________________________________________

Most of the issues I observe in work and social interaction involve someone getting their ego bruised or their feelings hurt because of simple differences of opinion. Most of the time, the opinion that another person has regarding the relative importance of "my opinion" or "of who I am" --as if that lack of agreement is a direct attack on the person being slighted. 
"You obviously don't know who you are talking to", or "no one speaks to me like that!", and on and on.
Do you really think that you are so important? No one should stand for being disrespected, but how we go about correcting those who do the disrespecting reveals our character and the relative self importance baggage we carry with us--very clearly.

Another issue that jumps out in this analysis: 
Politics and religion. 

My opinion about politics is my opinion, and while there may be deep truth in my opinion(or so I believe), just because another person disagrees should not destroy the interpersonal relationship. 
But invariably, it does, doesn't it? 
It's like a crowd mentality. If the community I live and work in denounces the president, then I might get attacked for defending him(or her). 
I used to defend former president Bush( GW, he really is a good guy), and get lambasted by my liberal buddies...and now if I compliment President Obama for his eloquence, I get labeled by my anti Obama friends as a liberal/whatever... maybe there is good and bad in both/either...and maybe both/either have made mistakes as well. I would rather stand in the middle and observe them both, finding good in both of them. I am not fond of either political party, nor do I appreciate the polarization that is tearing our country apart.
Others can devote their time to finding the bad, just go on Facebook and scroll down the posts for a while.

Detach. Observe. You are but a child of God, simply and completely. So is that person who just offended you...or that person who you think is so bad.

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