Conscious Choice Seattle: Stick to Your Values

October 2004 | Letters to the Editor

Stick to Your Values

Standing up to New Age Bullies

Thank you, thank you, thank you for publishing the article by Julia Ingram on “New Age Bullies” (EM, September). Her points about demeaning pain, blaming the victim to alleviate feelings of vulnerability and empowerment resonated deeply with me.

Too often, I have experienced the lack of compassion she describes from the New Age community when I have addressed various issues. Often, the responses and explanations are downright hurtful and dismissive of my pain from longing.

According to some self-proclaimed pundits, I must not be “ready” for some basic things in life that non-spiritual people, no-more-worthy-than-I am people have and take for granted. Unbelievably, I have been told to manifest things by disregarding my longing for them. I have been told that there are unnamed spiritual obstacles to my desires. I have also been told that things will occur in the best time for them to occur, regardless of the pain of waiting and the universe’s seeming disregard of my discomfort.

I have also been told that waiting is a test of my faith. In what universe does any doctrine claiming a basis in love test anybody?

That is always my litmus test. If the blessings of life can be granted to those who completely ignore their spiritual development, than what can “worthiness,” as we understand it, have to do with it? I have to think there are some rules at play beyond my, and other casual observers’, understanding.

Laura Standley, Tacoma

Sorting the Facts About Fluoride

I very much appreciate Evergreen Monthly and look for it every month to read interesting and useful articles on health and the environment.

There have been a couple items in recent issues with which I must take exception. One is the comment in the June issue (Forest for the Trees) that advocates getting fluoride from toothpaste. Fluoride-containing toothpaste is required to carry a “poison” label (a warning for kids 6 and younger if they swallow more than used for brushing) because fluoride is, frankly, poisonous.

The other point is about tap water (Living Green, July). Tap water contains fluoride in the Seattle area-that cannot be removed by ordinary filters in spite of vendors’ claims. It takes a good-quality reverse osmosis to remove some of the fluoride, not all.

A full report on fluoride from the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology is available at snipurl.com/94f6.

I am glad you are at least addressing the issue. Thanks again for Evergreen Monthly.

Maria Abdin, Seattle

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