The R+ community can be caustic to those that question it, and that’s deplorable.
But it isn’t the R+ community. It’s people, in any group committed to any ideal. I can say I’ve had the same experience in whatever “other” community I happen to be in (I’ve been called a lot of names), no matter how neutral I try to be. It’s *everyone* who fails to see the larger perspective, and faults others for doing the same.
Saying, for example, that operant conditioning is invalid because we’ve learned more since then is like saying gravity doesn’t exist anymore because we also have quantum physics. It’s just missing a deeper understanding and wider perspective if you can’t hold those two things (and even more) at the same time. It IS the quadrants, and ABC, and reinforcement and punishment, and neuroaffective systems, and feel, and intuition, and social interaction, and biomechanics, and, and, and. Thinking otherwise is failing to acknowledge the vast and messy possibilities inherent to inter-species interaction.
Get comfortable with multiple perspectives. Align them so that, when you look through them overlaid on top of one another, you can see how the truths of each show through all the layers. Be able to ask questions, and really hear the answers. “How *could* this be true?” You don’t need to act on everything, or even anything. When you have more to bring, you can bring more when it’s time.
Photo credit: ShortHorse Studios
