[Crisis & Awakening - I]
The world is a mirror. The things we dislike and judge in others is a reflection of what we detest and judge in ourself.
This is why Carl Jung said, “Although our conscious minds are avoiding our own flaws, they still want to deal with them on a deeper level, so we magnify those flaws in others.” In other words, as an act of avoidance, we amplify and throw onto others our problems. Or, we first reject that which is in us and then project it onto others. Reject then project.
But we only see dimly the lives of those around us. That neighbor, coworker, or stranger has a long and convoluted story behind the thin shell that you witness (and judge).
Judging is both a judgement of something in us that we haven’t fully owned and judgement of an other we don’t fully understand. The damage goes both directions.
Judging closes us off… from ourself and others.
Judging separates us… from ourself and others.
Judging injures… us and others.
The “judgement cycle” begins to break when we awaken to our propensity to avoid our own flaws. A sign of renewal is using the mirror of the world to be more curious about our shadows and more empathetic about the depth of others.
