How To Make Best Use of One’s Ability To Perceive
By: Prakash Kushwah
Tags: Perception, Self Improvement, Wisdom, Personal Growth, Spirituality

Perception models our experience and every experience creates a habit pattern and every pattern models our nature and destiny. Based on our nature we experience the quality of life and face the challenges. Thus perception is most responsible for creating the version of reality for us.

Let us explore how perception or judgment affects our life.

How we misuse our perception?

By holding rigid and negative judgment for self, others, and situations. Not understanding from various perspectives. Few common scenarios of misuse…

We create opinions about people. When we hear in media about a person or from someone who had a bad experience then we also create prejudice about that person. How transient one’s experience is and it is so much dependent on so many factors. It is incorrect to form opinions without knowing anyone fully.

When we see someone doing something wrong, since we don’t know background, drivers, context so it’s still inappropriate to jump to any conclusion. But normally we do judge them without any hitch.

We judge others through our standards which is due to our expectation from the other person to perform in certain ways we consider right. The rules or ideals that we make are for self and not for others.

We perceive ourselves from others’ viewpoints or past conditioning ( society, parents, teachers, and un-examined assumptions formed in ignorance). We keep living lives that is not ours and struggle all life to fit into others’ standards.

We perceive with partial judgment the difficult situations, which are not in our control. Laws of Nature keep bringing odd or even situations in everyone’s life. That has a meaning and purpose to dig up the accumulated dirt in one’s core by giving suitable challenges. No one can understand what and when Nature plans for us. It is in our best interest to trust in universal intelligence and avoid labeling unpleasant situations as bad and pleasant ones as good. Many times we connect dots later and realize that what once appeared bad are actually blessings in disguise. So, it is foolish to hold any negative perception about any situation.

Effects of negative perceptions

Normally when some wrong action is taken then that is condemned but according to mystics and saints it is much more harmful to think negatively for anyone. And even more harmful is to believe someone as a bad person. Our thoughts have an effect on the surroundings and if we believe someone as negative then thoughts for that person will always have some negativity. This negativity would be present in our minds and would be creating similar tendencies for future interactions.

On the other hand, it instigates the judged person also to judge others and struggle with the negativity created in the process.

In short, a negative action is a result of negative thought and negative thought is sourced from negative perceptions for self or others. So, judgments have a powerful impact on our lives and relationships.

In judgmental mode, we miss the opportunity of observing situations impartially and have fresh perspectives. Our attention gets misdirected in putting each other down instead of zeroing down on problems and finding win-win solutions.

By looking at other faults we forgive ourselves for our own weaknesses and comparatively consider us better than others. This tendency strengthens our little “me and my story” and comes in way of learning and personal growth.

How to reverse this deep-seated habit of forming opinions and judgements about others

Encourage introspection and vulnerability-based behaviors — When we point a finger on others they mirror the same. Similarly, if we see our faults and encourage others to see goodness in them then they also cooperate and take an introspective look. Hiding the faults preserves those and looking into those and facing without any defensiveness dissolves the faults and resistance to learn.

Using the ability to perceive and judge creatively and impartially for eliminating our own faults and weaknesses.

We can see within the faults and peel off layer by layer with pure and effortless observation. This is most effective way to learn continually and build reliable systems for holistic growth.

We can direct our attention in the body and experience how it feels when we become judgmental. We would normally find it rigid and uncomfortable. When we do not judge and just observe the situation as it is then our bodies remain relaxed. This we can see for ourselves thousand times and thus will become easily convinced about the ill effects of judgments. Once we are convinced at every cell level then we would happily refrain from forming rigid opinions about self or others.

We can pray for the good of all believing everyone deserving of the best treasures of Nature. This belief reinforces positivism and ripples the positivity and friendliness in the environment.

Our trust and belief in people will encourage them to prove themselves trustworthy and enable them to stop repeating mistakes.

Stop trusting blindly what media OR our senses show us and let’s be alert and use brains during information intake from any source.

Free up UN-Examined beliefs and ideals — our relationship with fellow beings is much more important than holding on to rigid mental structures that may just be relative and personal.

Saint Kabir’s popular verse in Hindi encouraging us to drop the judgmental habit.

कबीरा निंदक न मिलो पापी मिलो हजार , एक एक निंदक के माथे पर हजार पापिन को भार Meaning — I am fine to meet the sinners but afraid of coming across the judgmental personalities, as they are burdened with sins of thousand sinners.

Best wishes,

Prakash