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Inspired by Fiction
I love Jodi Piccoult, her writing challenges me in ways I would never expect of fiction. I recently read her latest book, "Nineteen Minutes" about a mass school shooting. As usual, her story inspired me to give up all that I thought I knew about right and wrong. She does such an amazing job at defining humanness that I have to pause and realize how much I still judge, label and expect. I wanted to hate the shooter in her story; I wanted to cry for the oppressed, I wanted to celebrate victory. . . but I couldn't. The rules got all tangled up in emotion and perspective.
I'm sad to say that what I realized as I read this book was that I carry these labels and judgements and expectations into the supermarket, the mall, onto my children's playgrounds. . .
The question is, I suppose, do we label and judge from our own fears or do we accept a label or judgement from social consciousness and project it for others to use against us?
To be conscious of judgements and work to eradicate them are two very separate things. Judgements, labels and expectations come from a place of what we think is truth and how we are going to go about protecting those ideas. It would serve us well, I think, to remember that there are multiple truths and struggle comes from all of us trying to proves ours as the RIGHT truth.
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Teri,
I think you hit on a complex topic. I think we all judge, that's part of what we do and how we define what we want in our lives. I think the trick is not to get into the 'better than, less than' type of judging, or 'right and wrong'...to look at each circumstance and hold all of it before we decide, knowing that it is being perceived through or own lense and might need some more love and light.
Marcia King, CPCC
Infinite Focus Coach
Wealth Dynamics Coach
See what expands when you focus
310/471-8703
Marcia,
I couldn't agree more; because we are human we have egos and those egos serve to protect us in a vehicle called judgment. I believe where I desire to be more aware is in those moments when my actions, attitude and behavior are in response to a judgment. Am I refusing to help someone because I perceive them as a bully? Am I overly nice and helpful to someone because I perceive them to be insightful or kind? In most cases I only know one side of the story and am most likely drawn to the "side" that my ego knows how to navigate best -- this doesn't necessarily represent "Truth."
Whatever I choose, my intent is to act through my heart not my judgment -- in truth, I suspect we will all work on this our entire lifetime. I agree that the first step is to take away the right/wrong, black/white or better than/less than label. Thanks for your insight!
Peace and Light,
Teri Johnson
Spiritual Life Coach and Intuitive
Guiding You Into Authenticity with Grace
www.flowinharmony.com
What a great topic and something to definitely chew on. Teri, in regards to your question I would have to say we judge based on both; our own fears and those we labels we receive from things around us. Something that has been resonating a lot with me as of late is to look inward and to really listen to what my heart says about a situation, person, thing, etc. The heart is an amazing tool to use when trying to discern life, right from wrong, etc. :)
I like what the Buddhists say: This is just my take on it...that we are all in the same boat and it's a difficult boat to be in. We need to be easier on each other because of this predicament. It's easy to have compassion when we realize we are all hurting and reaching out for love. We are not always acting from our own best side when we perpetrate any action (therefore, why should we be so quick to judge others...we're only human?).