Intolerance & Judgment

[pseudonymous]

Intolerance & Judgment

I remember that one of the big lessons I once learned came from a radical right wing conservative. There was some sort of debate going on during one of those talking head shows about politics. The liberal guy was going on and on about the right's intolerance, and how the left was inclusive. The right winger stunned everyone involved by reminding the liberal that the left is inclusive as long as it doesn't include the ideas of the right. That opened my eyes to how pervasive intolerance is, even by those who are its supposed victims.

As my awareness expanded, I found myself able to allow another person to have different ideas and experiences as I had, without that cancerous need to defend an illusional turf. It was self-evident to me that our paths would not be the same, or right/wrong. Any awareness is appropriate for the experiences, education, and inheritance of the person expressing it. If another's ideas seem limited, then I try to teach by example. I will not be able to do teach by making someone defensive.

In my experience, one of the surest ways of being unconscious is playing the judgement game. I try to regard everyone as a work in progress. By reinforcing the patterns of the other person's behavior, I would become the opposite of a healer ~ the opposite of a holy person. How could I allow for my own growth, while denying my neighbor?

Being unconditional does not mean that I had to condone, or embrace the other person's shortcomings. It is the behavior, or the script that I detached from. The unconscious actor/actress was merely playing a role, that got reinforced on a daily basis. Shouldn't my responsibility as a spiritually mature person be to discern where the fiction ends, and the conditioned individual begins? In my opinion, it takes an aware person to see and hear another's story, and be able to know the difference between the Self and its dream. Sometimes the best gift of love that I could offer another was to refuse to stand on their stage.

It was an epiphany for me to realize that every time I valued or judged another's script, I was indeed holding a script of my own. Every time I confused the fiction for the truth, I was within the fiction myself. Once I knew the difference between being awake and asleep, it is a fate worse than death to find myself on the stage wielding a script, when I knew better. Only by setting the script down did I teach by example, and ever know true liberation.

For me intolerance, being judged, and judging others was never that interesting of a script to begin with. There are other roles I can play. And certainly ones that are more original and impactful in scope. Judging may be expected, and even understandable in mundane states, but should be recognized as an unconscious reaction, and not the aware Self.

©2004 DC Vision