Renouncing Judgement

-

“If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?”
― Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Often times, people tend to question values outside of their beliefs.  Rarely do you find people questioning the individuals representing these values, or at least, taking the time to know the inner psyche of said person.  They may question one’s principles, but not one’s character.  Until they find a reason to.

Now, what happens when our sense of self is questioned?  Do we focus our energy in trying to fix our character?  Do we realign our values just for the subjective experiences of those around us?  A part of us knows that their perceptions are subjective.  Yet, why do we believe that these notions are inherent to reality, limiting who we could be as a person? 

We as humans fear the absence of possibility, and limit ourselves in doing so.  Now, what does this mean?  Simply put, we fear the loss of what others could become, and we also fear what we’d become in failing to reach our potential.  This breeds the desire to fix the people dear to us.  We tell ourselves that their personal growth is a reflection of our own capabilities.  When these people do not grow, we fail.  Or so we believe.

The development of others is often times outside of our control, through no fault of our own.  Our efforts to bring out the best in everyone may be judged if they themselves aren’t ready for change.  Does this make them bad people?  Of course not.  Yet, when we forget to keep this in mind, we end up challenging their own values, creating unnecessary conflict.

When we as individuals are met with judgement, we must remember to give these people room to grow.  We must remember that we were once like these people.  We’ve all been at a point where our doubt has consumed our potential.  Trying to inspire growth may be an arduous process.  Knowing this, we must accept that these people may never change.  They may never come to believe in what’s possible because their lives have taught them otherwise.  

So you, as a person, must believe in their growth by working towards your own self development.  You must believe in your ability to create potential.  In doing so, even if you fail to guide these people onto a path for growth, you will find many more willing to grow with you.  People that believe in possibilities.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Competence is Moral

-
Image
“From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time”  ― Friedrich A. Hayek, The Constitution Of Liberty When competency is discarded for diversity, can there be true morality?  Based on the forced diversity quotas that were imposed, it appears that those in power favor emotional inclusiveness over equality in opportunity only (that is, not equality of outcome). “In December 2013, the FAA began its new hiring process, discarded its long use of the difficult cognitive-assessment test, and implemented instead a new, unmonitored, take-home personality test — a Biographical Questionnaire.” (Pendley) ...
Read more

The Human Condition

-
Image
“Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman--a rope over an abyss.  A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.  What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an over-going and a down-going.  I love those that know not how to live except as down-goers, for they are the over-goers.  I love the great despisers, because they are the great adorers, and arrows of longing for the other shore.  I love those who do not first seek a reason beyond the stars for going down and being sacrifices, but sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth of the Superman may hereafter arrive.”  - Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra When we face the moment in which we question our intentions in following a certain truth, our ego is at its most vulnerable point.  One of the most interesting dynamics in the human psyche is the clash...
Read more

The Rhetoric of Intuition

-
Image
“Some virtues, when they become fashions, also become exaggerated. Just because nobody likes a judgmental attitude does not mean that there isn't a sort of spoiled, self-righteous hypocrisy when one man obsessively commands other men not to judge without knowing the circumstances without himself, too, knowing their circumstances behind their judgments.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy   Within the realm of online conversation and debate, you may have heard the pejorative known as “virtue signalling”.  It essentially refers to any overt display of moral superiority in an attempt to gain unearned approval or to avoid any form of nuanced discussion.  This is especially relevant to issues within the political spectrum that come down to individual choice, whether it’d be pro-life versus pro-choice, for the second amendment or for gun control, and so on.  When tackling such accusations, it’s easy to become invested in such labels and slander the opposing side using the sam...
Read more