"We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions."
~ Ian Percy
This goes back to perception and how mine will never be like yours. You can never feel what I'm feeling because my experience, genetics and environment isn't the same as yours. Even in the same family or two people witnessing the same event, this is still true.
It's amazing we get along at all... our experiences and perceptions are so vastly different.
We do our best to relate to each other. We use words like, "I understand" when we really mean, "I only know what I think I would feel if I were in your situation but I'm not in your situation and, quite frankly, it scares me to death and therefore, I'm going to project my fear on what I think you're going through and how I might react to it and hope that it is as close as possible to what you're feeling" or "I know what I felt when it appeared that my situation was just like yours but I've moved on since then and have a different point of view than you do." Or various other projections...
Even when we're struggling in relationship with someone or with an encounter, we forget that their thoughts, experiences, feelings and perceptions are different. We don't stop to think that they may have just found out horrible news and therefore, that's why they cut us off in traffic. We don't consider that our assumptions of their intentions may not be their intentions after all.
The point of it all is... we only see OUR point. Even when we try to see others'. Still stand up for your point, yes. But consider that others may not agree and allow them that.
Maybe the best stance, sometimes, is as simple as agreeing to disagree.
Don't you think?
What does this quote mean to you?
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