Abundance
The more time we spend considering the shortcomings of others, the smaller a person we become.
Escape the Punishment in Judging Others
It seems to me that we are always looking for faults and weaknesses in others… are we just covering up inferior feelings within ourselves?
By and large, everything we condemn in others is just a way of hiding something similar within ourselves.
I know that when I look at people, I end up judging them on superficial things. I also know that this hurts my relationships as well as myself. I want to stop. How do I turn this judgmental nature off whenever I see something in someone that doesn't meet my approval?
The idea is not to try to turn off this nature, but to come awake to the actual experience of yourself that you have in these moments. Resisting thought does nothing. Learning to "taste" what judgmental thoughts bring to your inner table will teach you to leave the establishment called yourself.
Sometimes when I see people that seem -- at least on the surface -- not quite "all there," certain fears go through me, especially if I have to interact with these people. Why the fear?
This takes a little extra thought on your part, but it will be well worthwhile. Reactions of a negative nature that come up in us towards any human being arise out of the content of our own conditioned past. This conditioned nature fears anything within which it is not able to easily recognize itself, therefore it will judge or condemn anything it gazes upon, whether up close or at a distance. This state of self lives in an undetected state of fear because it is forever looking for itself, and when it doesn't immediately find this, it pushes away the offending object.
It seems that all I am seeing of late are the negative things in people and how much suffering this causes. I am not very comfortable with this development in myself, as I usually like to stress the positive. Will I get past this stage, or do I just have the wrong point of view?
One of the wonders of this Work is to begin experiencing the inner nature of the people around you. Don't avoid this, or think it misplaced. Gradually, as you become more inwardly sensitive to the manifestations of people, compassion is born. This higher inner awareness grants you patience and new forms of consideration, because now you realize just how much pain everyone is really in. Keep going.
-- Guy Finley
