I cannot recall where but this was posted on a public discussion board anonymously. Dance is the most important part of our lives. How we respond to each other's steps, voice and other movements. The person who gets along well with others has learned to dance gracefully through life. - Randy

dancing. n the act or art of moving in measured step corresponding to the time of the music.

Behind the obvious posturing we do in conversation with others, there are a great number of behaviors we do almost unconsciously. None are more complex than those we perform in our interaction with others. As we grow up, we learn how to respond to certain types of people in certain ways, and our interaction with those types become part of our personality. In addition, there are numerous sub-types in human behavior; mini-interactions between people that could be understood more as part of a dance, than a logical progression of events. Sure, we may be asked how we would respond to someone who wants to argue for/against abortion or left wing/right wing politics, and we probably have a certain behavior pattern established from past encounters. But every once in a while, someone comes along who responds to our chemistry in a very different pattern than we are used to, and it takes us off guard. We might even enjoy the refreshment of the dance, so to speak, by playing along and establishing a whole alternate way of responding to some of our more classic confrontations. Perhaps we have a new friend as well.

In 1982 at its beginning, Free Minds was then known as Bethel Ministries and was given shelter by a local church called Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach, CA. We began to operate as a nonprofit organization at that time for the first several years, sheltered under the wing of Hope Chapel, but not financially supported by Hope Chapel. My goal at that time was to make friends with all of the former Jehovah's Witnesses out there in the world and try to get them together into a camaraderie; or at least to get along with one another, since there were factions, mostly based on doctrinal differences. Most of these organizations were invariably run by Christians. None were run by atheists, and so the focus of Bethel Ministries for the first few years was on Bible doctrine, and on what differed between what the Watchtower taught and what orthodox Christianity taught... or at least, I should say, what was taught by the known Christians from the first two to three centuries before the time of Constantine.

With that in mind, I became fairly prolific on theological issues, made friends with many people in "high places" such as theologians, pastors of large successful churches, and authors. I read hundreds of books on theology. I was never afraid of the outcome of my research, for if orthodoxy really did interpret the Bible the same as the early Christians, there's nothing to worry about. Hey, I made it through the Witness cult, so I was never again to be intimidated over believing certain doctrinal issues. I knew God was not going to strike me dead because I believed in evolution of homo sapiens, or whether dinosaurs existed and when. In fact, I have never once been afraid of God, even as a Witness. Maybe it was my Baptist background, or just my own personal musings, I'm not sure.... but He was a father, and I loved my own father, so this guy should be even better, or he's an imposter or non-existent. Or maybe aliens were just messing with our minds. (Just kidding.)