If I react to something in the world, typically in another person, I can find the same in me.
I can find it here and now. And I can find examples in the past.
For instance, I get annoyed by people being inconsiderate and playing loud music in the neighborhood. So how am I doing the same as what I see in them? How am I inconsiderate at that moment? Right now, I am in the countryside outside of a small town in the Andes mountains. The ones playing the radio at high volume at 5 am are farmers or do other manual labor. They get up early to do their work, and this is one of the enjoyments they have in a generally difficult life. So without knowing the fuller picture, it’s a good guess that judging them for playing loud music, and wanting them to stop, is – in some ways – inconsiderate towards them. They, most likely, would see it that way. I am doing what I see them as doing. That doesn’t mean I can’t talk with them about it to see if we can find a solution that works better for everyone. But it does mean that I likely will be a bit less reactive and a bit more understanding in how I relate to them – and myself.
Another example is how I sometimes react to people who go into conspiracy theories. I feel frustrated, angry, and disappointed. These are all signs of reactivity, unexamined beliefs, and that I have the same here that I see in them. So what’s my conspiracy theory at that moment? One of my favorite ones is that they are pretending, they can’t be that stupid, they must know they are just repeating patterns from history, they know their stories are founded in bad logic and bad data, they are saying these things just to rile others up. This is the unexamined conspiracy theory I have about them, and since this story is out of alignment with reality, it’s part of the reason for my reactivity. I am telling myself they are pretending, knowing that many of them may actually believe and feel that their stories are true.
I do the same when I see many spiritual and even nondual teachers. I see a lack of clarity. A lack of differentiation. What looks like immature views. And I tell myself they know better but for an unknown reason chose to present it that way. They have to know better. They have to have more clarity than that. When I tell myself those stories, I am doing what I see in them. I am pretending. I know better but chose to make myself dumber than I am. Somewhere in me, I know they are probably just doing their best.
INITIAL DRAFT
If I react to something in the world, typically in another person, I can find the same in me.
I can find it here and now. And I can find examples in the past.
For instance, I get annoyed by people being inconsiderate and playing loud music in the neighborhood. There is some validity in how I see it. In a civilization, we need to take each other into consideration. We have freedoms balanced by duties. And yet, how am I doing the same as what I see in them? How am I inconsiderate in that moment? Right now, I am in the countryside outside of a small town in the Andes mountains. The ones playing the radio at high volume at 5 am are farmers. They get up early to do their work. They typically don’t have the resources I do. (Even if I am far from wealthy.) Their range of activities may be a bit more limited than it is for me. This is one of the enjoyments they have in a generally difficult life. So without knowing the fuller picture, it’s a good guess that me judging them for playing loud music, and wanting them to stop, is inconsiderate towards them. They, most likely, would see it that way.
I react to people who go into conspiracy theories. I feel frustrated, angry, disappointed. All signs of reactivity, unexamined beliefs, and that I have the same here that I see in them. So what’s my conspiracy theory in that moment? One of my favorite ones is that they are pretending, they can’t be that stupid, they must know they are just repeating patterns from history, they are saying these things just to rile others up. This is the unexamined conspiracy theory I have about them, and since this story is out of alignment with reality (I am pretending), it’s part of the reason for my reactivity.
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Another example, which has been coming up over the recent months, is conspiracy theories. I sometimes feel frustrated, angry, and disappointed when I see people going into conspiracy theories obviously founded on bad logic and bad data. And these are all signs of reactivity, unexamined beliefs, and that I have the same here that I see in them. So what’s my conspiracy theory in that moment? One of my favorite ones is that they are pretending, they can’t be that stupid, they must know they are just repeating patterns from history, they are saying these things just to rile others up. This is the unexamined conspiracy theory I have about them, and since this story is out of alignment with reality (I am pretending), it’s part of the reason for my reactivity.