We want to feel like we are “doing things right”. Often this means we compare ourselves with others, making sure that we appear or at least feel like we are “better” than they are. But what does that mean? Why are we better? Who is the judge of what is better? Can we just look at someone else and see that they are the same just that they’ve made different choices?
Anthony De Mello in the book Awareness, said:
“Someone once had a terribly beautiful thing to say about Jesus. This
– Anthony De Mello
person wasn’t even Christian. He said, “The lovely thing about Jesus
was that he was so at home with sinners, because he understood that he
wasn’t one bit better than they were.” We differ from others—from
criminals, for example—only in what we do or don’t do, not in what we
are. The only difference between Jesus and those others was that he
was awake and they weren’t.”
In today’s episode, we’re going to talk a bit about comparison, how it keeps us from compassion, and a simple strategy to move past it.
You can read more about these ideas in the fantastic book, Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality, by Anthony De Mello.