Universal Brotherhood, Volume XIII, No. 10, January 1899: A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, the Theosophical Movement, Philosophy, Science and ArtVarious
Religion
Universal Brotherhood, Volume XIII, No. 10, January 1899: A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, the Theosophical Movement, Philosophy, Science and Art
Various
Theosophy -- Periodicals
Is there a reconciliation between the three policies thus indicated? In
trying to follow the path of Brotherhood and promote the best interests
of our fellows, we make a series of critical judgments. Seeing a cause
about to come into operation, we make a judgment as to whether its
effects will promote Brotherhood. The usual "causes" are the acts of
persons; we judge whether their effects will be satisfactory; deciding
No, we condemn such acts, saying, "I regard Smith as acting against the
interests of Brotherhood." That is not to say "The motive of Smith in
those acts is self-interest." The chief point to be observed in my
attitude is that I shall not injure Smith's evolution. Our final
judgment concerning most things is compound, and the factors that enter
into it are two. These are (1) MY self-originated judgment, (2) the
judgment of others, expressed in words, or, more potently, silently, and
in the last case subtly infusing itself into my mind and blending with
my own proper judgment. The resultant of these two factors is my final
judgment. The judgment that Smith arrives at respecting his acts is,
therefore, a blend of _his_ opinion and of _my_ opinion respecting their
tendency, and it is none the less true even if after consideration of my
opinion he rejects it and leaves his own, as he thinks, unmodified. But
suppose I strongly think that Smith acts from motives of self-interest.
I have made a judgment respecting _Smith_ as well as his _acts_. Am I
wrong? Not necessarily. My mind will become a mirror wherein Smith may
see himself and reform. It will induce a self-examination that must be
beneficial in tendency. But if my judgment to that effect respecting
Smith is consciously or unconsciously colored with personal feeling,
that is, if I consciously or unconsciously feel that Smith's
self-interestedly based actions may interfere with _my_ personal
interests or comfort, then that feeling of potential or actual anger or
irritation will tend, not only to darken my judgment but that of Smith,
and to excite similar detrimental emotions in him.
No human being can avoid making such judgments as to another. The right
counsel of perfection would be, not to avoid them, for the higher we go
the more numerous are the people we have to _help_, and, therefore,
preliminarily to _judge_ that intelligent help may be given; but to aim
at the exclusion of the personal self from the judgment, making it as
lofty as possible. To judge should be to sympathize, that is, to _feel
like_. To judge Smith is to understand him, that is, for a moment to
feel as he feels. _To compare what I have thus sympathetically
ascertained to be his feeling with my ideal of the highest feeling of a
judgment on Smith._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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