Sometimes we need to be flexible I guess… Flexible even in what we believe. This does not make us less committed to what we believe. In fact, it strengthens it. This, of course, is a personal opinion.
The First Degree of Flexibility: The first degree is being open to accept differences. Just because I follow a religion or worship a particular God does not give me the right to hate or harm someone. Yet, religion is the most common cause of unrest, riots and even war. What kind of “religious people” believe it is okay to kill another human being?
The Second Degree of Flexibility: 
The second degree is to bend your rules a little to make leeway for human sentiments. Take, for instance, something that happened recently. A little over six months back, I turned vegetarian. A few days back, a colleague of mine came to office, bringing with him biryani (a mutton dish) and kebabs. It was part of the Eid feast his mom had cooked. I had a spoonful of the biryani. Why? Did the food smell so delicious that my commitment to vegetarianism had wavered? No. It was about honoring his sentiments. To think of sharing his Eid feast with us was such a sweet gesture. My bite of the biryani was meant to convey, “I am grateful for your sentiments.”
The Third Degree of Flexibility: Although you may believe in one philosophy or value system, be open to revising it. As Alfred Tennyson said in The Passing of Arthur, “The old order changeth, yielding place to new… Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.” What we believe to be true may not be the truth. So, it’s important to be open to debate and questioning.
My endeavor is now to internalize all three degrees of flexibility.
well written….i love its purpose
Thanks, Ashutosh… very encouraging
I don’t know whether these are degrees of flexibility.. to me, they sound different aspects of being flexible about what you believe in and how you act on it. But yes, totally true. While beliefs should be strong, they should not be rigid.