A more “realistic” view?…

What sets our judgmental “holier than thou” mind into action?

I am puzzled by this.

Every day in yoga when I come to the mat, before I do any postures, I stand in mountain pose, tadasana, with my hands at my heart.  I settle in and breathe and open my mind to check in with and accept myself as I am–not as I was yesterday, nor as I think I should be or could be if only…

For a moment, I feel that I am worthy as I am.

Then I begin to take various asanas breathing deeply and stretching into those nooks and crannies that are tight, resistant, or weary.

Today, during my meditation, yoga, and afterwards,  I thought about and contemplated the following:

Have a deep respect for what others have gone through–battered and loved, abused and aided–weathered by life.  Have compassion for all!

What if we accepted everyone as worthy?

We are no more intelligent or “in the right” than any before us.  We are all creatures of our times–the cultural norms, the attitudes we are taught or almost seem to absorb by a type of osmosis.  We are now and always have been  mere and incredible human beings, with our foibles and intelligences , doing our best at our time .

Yet this may not seem enough.

This could be our problem. We can and should judge that there are ways to improve as a species without being judgmental.  We can and always should want to dream about and work for improvement–towards true equality–without feeling superior.

Our children too will try to improve on what they learned from us, on how we lived, and so will their children…and so on…

Maybe rather than being judgmental, it is better to be compassionate and “realistic” and honest and accept and love us as an evolving species trying to make the best of our circumstances.