1. Volume One
2. Volume Two
3. Volume Three
4. What is God
5. On Conflict
6. To See the Clear Pond
7. On Family Issues
8. Birth and Death
9. The Supremacy of the Lotus Sutra
10. The Ultimate Philosophy
11. On Flourishing
12. Happiness
13. Love & Respect
14. Parental Guidance
15. Circumstances in this Life
16. Why Daimoku

Love and Respect

April 8, 2006

Please take a deep breath and read this short letter with an open mind. Everything in this letter is written with all my heart and compassion.
You asked me several weeks ago, what I meant by your diminishment. Here I will tell you.

I have tremendous respect and love for you. This attitude bolsters my wishes of success for you as an individual and as a possible partner. To have you as a partner would be a truly remarkable experience and accomplish wonderful things.

You have made mention of your ability to "crush" and "destroy" people. And in your dialogue you are ebullient at flourishes of insult, "button pushing", and all variations rude. It would seem you value this "ability" as honesty. And then you surmise that it is this "candour" that pushes others away. I cannot speak for the others, but I can speak for myself.

With all the offence you offer, you should know that I take none of it. All your histrionics are your own. The "harm" you believe you inflict on me is simply not there. What actually happens is that you make it painfully obvious that all my respect, and my love, is completely misplaced and that you are not worthy of my support and affection.

I won't psychoanalyze this here. I leave that to you. I find you are fully capable of being loved and admired. Why you work so hard to destroy that possibility is truly harmful to you and any who offer their love, support, and respect.

I personally find it embarrassing, and shameful.

I urge you to take a closer look. I urge you to seek my support and help. I urge you to be the wonderful person that so many others know you are. You do deserve love and respect. Please stop pushing it away.
With all my compassion,

Reverend Sylvain Nyudo

BACKGROUND

This letter responds to a very prevalent problem in our modern societies. The gradual shift of focus on image versus identity, the memetic culture of "the latest and greatest", the consumerist ideology, and ever lower standards of education and personal spiritual advancement, have all lead to huge breakdowns in communication in lieu of control, power, money.

Here the reverend addresses the mistaken perception that strong language is a weapon of honour and victory over others. He points out in very straightforward language that the damage caused by these weapons are completely reversed. He goes further to show that the harm done is actually feeble effort to conceal the real culprit of this social "disease", lack of dignity and self-respect.