Judging Others
There’s a very powerful line in A Course in Miracles that says “Nothing so blinding as perception of form. For sight of form means understanding has been obscured.”
In other words, we are so captivated by what we see, that we rarely understand the why behind it.
It’s very clear to see through Covey’s quote that we judge ourselves by the intention behind our actions. But when it comes to others, we judge them purely based on their actions.
But the why behind others’ (and our) actions is not what you might think.
I used to get very upset when someone aggressively cut me off on the highway. And I tried playing “mind tricks” by pretending they might be rushing to the hospital for an emergency – or some other sort of justified projection.
But I came to realize that my angry reaction had much less to do with a near-miss accident and much more to do with my sense of being victimized. I was reacting from a place of fear, and my enraged response followed suit.
It makes no difference if the person was on their way to the hospital or even if they intentionally tried to disturb my peace. When I’m coming from a place of fear, my reaction will always be some sort of unpleasantness – even if that’s trying to justify someone else’s actions.
The ultimate why behind my indignation was my choice for the ego.
And that awareness is the key to liberation.
Once we can appreciate that any time we’re unhappy it’s because we’ve chosen the ego – and never because of what someone else did or said – then we can let others “off the hook” for being responsible for our lack of peace.
That certainly doesn’t mean condoning their actions. But it does mean seeing their true why, which of course is the same as ours. No one can be a victimizer unless they’ve first chosen their ego mind.
Thus coming back to Covey’s quote, by recognizing that when we and everyone else choose the ego, our actions will always be some projection of fear.
And with that recognition comes release. Because now we can make a different choice in the mind, and experience completely different results.
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