Tolerance, Acceptance, Understanding | Psychology Today
Credits: Psychology Today

In a recent discussion with a friend this concept struck me, I know many of you might have come up with the same question especially while having an argument.

Is it necessary that we accept everything we understand?

Being from a Hindu Indian family I have religious parents, especially my mother. I understand her devotion for God but its hard for me to accept it. Acceptance means taking or receiving someone/something as it is without attempting to change it, protest or exit. I would heavily question my mother regarding so many concepts of Hinduism and like some say,” True understanding inevitably leads to acceptance”, but every-time I struggle with acceptance of that concept.

It’s not that I don’t agree because i don’t understand, like my mother would usually argue. But my truth is, I understand, I just don’t agree. I have seen people often argue, that they don’t understand because they do not have enough knowledge. But to me nonacceptance in general simply comes from the fact that different people have different priorities; we give different weight-age to different factors. One might not know enough of the history, background or facts, but the question is,” Who knows everything?”.

So, I might agree to disagree, but I dont agree that understanding brings acceptance.