Judgments, Blindness & Being Right

     It's so instructive to hear another person being harshly judgmental towards people that one happens to know well. One then realizes that judgments are often narrow, exaggerated, inaccurate, unfair & worst of all, unkind.
     There are always reasonable explanations for any inappropriate behaviour, including being judgmental. But preservation or promotion of one's own ego seems to be at the core of most inappropriate behaviour. If one makes a mistake, it's very difficult to accept it fully, make appropriate amends, and move on.
     Those who "catch" & penalize the "offender" are themselves invariably far short of sainthood, & tend to capitalize on their moment of "being right". This of course leads to an ugly seething ego battle (instead of an intelligent, mature, moral resolution). While nobody "wins" such battles, the losses can be tragic.
     The stronger the sense of "I'm right & they're wrong" the more "adversarial" the situation becomes & the more deeply one gets burried in one's own hell - the circular maze of the ego. There is NO clear perspective here. Mediation typically is rejected out of hand "because I've done nothing wrong", "I'm the victim here", "I have my rights", etc etc etc. Hitting rock bottom is often the only way out. See: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/search?q=being+right
and http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2014/02/486-well-travelled-path.html

     Consistently evolved adult behaviour is rare. Each of us is directly & solely responsible for our own slow evolution of consciousness, every moment of our short life.

Rudy Pohl   http://www.flickr.com/photos/rudypohl/sets/

Critical Spirituality - A Holistic Approach to Meaning

     Spirituality is “that which gives life meaning, in a way that connects the inner sense of meaning with a sense of something greater.

     Using this definition of spirituality makes it clear why it is important for human service workers to include spirituality in their work with clients and colleagues: how can you understand what is happening for another person in a holistic way if you do not have a sense of what gives life meaning for them?

     We need to be asking critically spiritual questions and seeking spiritual growth in order to create the kind of life-affirming communities and societies that we want for ourselves and our clients. Critical spirituality is about seeking meaning in a way that creates wholeness individually and leads to communities that live in sustainable, inclusive and socially just ways. Implicit here is that as critically spiritual workers we also need to include our own spirituality; we need to be able to reflect critically on what gives life meaning for us and the implications for how we practice.”

       Gardner F. Critical Spirituality. A Holistic Approach to Contemporary Practice. Ashgate Publishing Co. Burlington VT, 2011. 

See Rod Meade Sperry's editorial "Welcome to the Big Tent": http://shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4097&Itemid=0

Photo: bijan64   www.dpreview.com