One’s thoughts of others most certainly affect the harmony of his or her own experience. All too often I’ve found myself passing judgment on others, both people I know and even strangers. It’s probably easier to pass judgment on strangers because it’s easier not to feel guilty for doing so.
Last year, I was heading back to school from a weekend trip and I found myself judging others. I was acknowledging what I saw to be deficiencies in the people around me in the security line at the airport. I was judging the Transportation Security Administration officer who was diligently doing his job; mentally making fun of the woman behind me who was impatient; and labeling with limitations physically handicapped elderly people. As I passed judgment on these strangers, I was making myself feel better by being grateful that I wasn’t like them and was somehow better then them.
Soon after having these self-justifying thoughts, I found myself not feeling well. My thoughts were consumed with worry about the work that I had waiting for me back at school, I felt unhappy, and my stomach was bothering me. I saw that I needed to fix my thought and see these people as God created them. As I went into the bathroom to put some water on my face, the gentleman walking in front of me had an issue of Time in his pocket. I realized I was making assumptions about an individual’s lifestyle by the way that they dressed, the way they communicated with others, or even the kind of magazine they read. I started to question the basis on which I judged and evaluated others: Did I see others with material and corporeal labels, or with spiritual qualities? I made a conscious decision that in my thoughts I was going to begin seeing spiritual qualities in each individual I came across the rest of the day.
