Hello!
I was wondering if there were discussions/norms/etiquette in the plural community surrounding system origins of various beliefs. I've noticed when learning that some system/alter origins relate to religious/spiritual/metaphysical beliefs. Some of those are not in line with my own beliefs. So I was just wondering how people tend to come together in light of such things. Especially since this is an area that has potential to turn hurtful. I don't think it has to be hurtful. I think love and respect between people is possible even while maintaining different beliefs. But this is just the kind of stuff I think about whenever I see that some people are cruel in dismissing certain types of origins.
Hi! This is a really good question - thank you for asking! We’re not a religious system, and we haven’t had much confusion or struggles when it comes to respecting the beliefs of other systems, but we see how it could be potentially troubling for some!
To us, we feel similarly about systems with different spiritual beliefs as we do about singlets with different spiritual beliefs. And that is: we may not understand your (general you) spirituality, we may not believe in the higher powers that you believe in, but that doesn’t mean we are incapable of showing you and your spirituality the respect and acceptance you deserve. You don’t have to be spiritual or religious in order to respect others with different religious faiths or backgrounds. If someone says they experience plurality or spirituality in some way, it’s not our job to argue with or critique them!
People get to choose how they label and define their own experiences. So, if a Christian system says their headmates are angels or saints or something along those lines, we will believe them and treat them as such, even if we ourselves are not Christian and don’t even have faith in Christian beliefs.
For us, plural solidarity means showing kindness and respect to all sorts of systems, even those with beliefs that conflict with our own. And as a system, we even have some conflicting beliefs amongst our alters! It really is possible to uplift, support, and respect systems with many different beliefs without compromising your own faith or values.
When it comes to norms/etiquete, we do believe our ideas may generally fall in line with the majority of the inclusive plural community. Although we are just one system and we don’t speak for the whole community, so we can’t say for sure!
And as far as discussions go, system discourse can be found in the “#syscourse” tag. Honestly it can be rare to see genuine, thoughtful, productive discussions happening in that tag, but that is the right place for those conversations.
We’d like to invite any systems who have thoughts on this to please share! We are a community full of diverse individuals with a wide range of beliefs. How do you show respect and solidarity to systems with beliefs that differ from your own? If you respond, please remember that this space will always be welcoming to systems of all origins, so respect and thoughtfulness is appreciated!
Anon, we hope this helps answer your question, at least a little bit. Plurality, like spirituality, is not a monolith! And it is possible to be polite, welcoming, and accepting to all sorts of systems, even if their beliefs don’t align with your own. We hope this response is at least somewhat coherent and beneficial for you! Thanks for reaching out!
