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No room for comparison

From The Christian Science Journal - January 31, 2011

Originally appeared on spirituality.com


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.

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