Are you a wayward soul in need of direction???
I once had this question posed to me...
when this guy got off his soap box and followed me for two blocks down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Other notable questions from his mouth -
"Are you ready for your soul to be eternally damned?"
"Have you prepared to repent - for the Apocalypse is upon us?"
While I am very respectful of all religions - this guy was clearly crazy.
Personally, I am a religious person as well as a spiritual person (two different things by the way).
My religion is not a choice, how spiritual I choose to be - is a choice.
And whether or not I am a morally obliging, decent human being who is contributing productively to society, is between G-d and myself AND ONLY G-d and myself.
This is why I am not (in general) a judgmental person. I do not care for the self-righteous mumbo jumbo that so often comes from someone who believes he or she is on a mission and has an obligation to save a soul. My feelings about, intrusive, uninvited opinions of my personal level of religious practice is not specific to those just from religions other than mine, but also include those opinions of people who share the same religion as me.
Am I a perfect person?
Absolutely not - is anyone?
I think we spend our lives working on ourselves. I mean, just my potty mouth is reason alone, that I am not perfect. But we all have vices. The point is, if we are people who are self-aware, we recognize our vices and try to curb them while also recognizing our virtues, and expanding on those.
If we are people who are not aware, I am pretty sure that G-d will somehow make us aware (hopefully, delicately). But I certainly don't need a guy who calls himself "Messiah Moses" to help make me aware.
And ONLY G-d should be judging me, partly, because only G-d has the entire picture before Him.
Sometimes we see something awry in someone, and judge them on that small indiscretion. But what we don't know, is this person had 10 other things about them that we could find fault with, only they just worked on those 10 things and have become a much better person, left with only this last remaining indiscretion.
I liken this to weight loss...
How so, you ask?
Let's say you are walking to your local public pool with your very judgmental, health obsessed friend. Just as you arrive, you notice a hard to miss woman who looks like she must weigh at least 300 pounds.
Your judgmental, health obsessed friend turns to you, snickers, and says,
"Oh m' gawsh, look at the size of that thing. She should serry us lee, contact, like, Jenny Craig, or like, those Weight Watcher People. She so, like, let her self gooo."
(I wrote this in immature "valley girl" language, because I do not want to accept that someone with more appropriate language skills would be this obnoxious...)
Anyway, what you and your friend don't know, because you are not privy to the COMPLETE PICTURE, is that this lovely lady (who is probably at the pool focusing on her current exercise program of choice) used to look like this...
But, she worked her a*# off (literally and figuratively). She spent an enormous amount of time working on herself, and continues to do so, so that she might be healthier and in a better place in her life.
The only difference between this woman who has conquered a battle with weight and the first person who has dropped about ten vices, is that one revolves around physical work and one revolves around spiritual and religious work.
And yet, they are both still judged by others, for the one vice and the remaining weight that they still hold onto.
My point - obviously, is that people need to stop and think before they use their own personal measure of right and wrong to judge others.
I mean, there is no need to hold someone else in such contempt over how he/she lives his/her life to the point of creating righteous indignation.
I don't even know how people have the time to work on themselves, if they are so busy judging others.
REALLY - Who is the wayward soul in need of direction?
The self righteous Judge or the one who is being Judged by their peer?
I once had this question posed to me...
when this guy got off his soap box and followed me for two blocks down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Other notable questions from his mouth -
"Are you ready for your soul to be eternally damned?"
"Have you prepared to repent - for the Apocalypse is upon us?"
While I am very respectful of all religions - this guy was clearly crazy.
Personally, I am a religious person as well as a spiritual person (two different things by the way).
My religion is not a choice, how spiritual I choose to be - is a choice.
And whether or not I am a morally obliging, decent human being who is contributing productively to society, is between G-d and myself AND ONLY G-d and myself.
This is why I am not (in general) a judgmental person. I do not care for the self-righteous mumbo jumbo that so often comes from someone who believes he or she is on a mission and has an obligation to save a soul. My feelings about, intrusive, uninvited opinions of my personal level of religious practice is not specific to those just from religions other than mine, but also include those opinions of people who share the same religion as me.
Am I a perfect person?
Absolutely not - is anyone?
I think we spend our lives working on ourselves. I mean, just my potty mouth is reason alone, that I am not perfect. But we all have vices. The point is, if we are people who are self-aware, we recognize our vices and try to curb them while also recognizing our virtues, and expanding on those.
If we are people who are not aware, I am pretty sure that G-d will somehow make us aware (hopefully, delicately). But I certainly don't need a guy who calls himself "Messiah Moses" to help make me aware.
And ONLY G-d should be judging me, partly, because only G-d has the entire picture before Him.
Sometimes we see something awry in someone, and judge them on that small indiscretion. But what we don't know, is this person had 10 other things about them that we could find fault with, only they just worked on those 10 things and have become a much better person, left with only this last remaining indiscretion.
I liken this to weight loss...
How so, you ask?
Let's say you are walking to your local public pool with your very judgmental, health obsessed friend. Just as you arrive, you notice a hard to miss woman who looks like she must weigh at least 300 pounds.
Your judgmental, health obsessed friend turns to you, snickers, and says,
"Oh m' gawsh, look at the size of that thing. She should serry us lee, contact, like, Jenny Craig, or like, those Weight Watcher People. She so, like, let her self gooo."
(I wrote this in immature "valley girl" language, because I do not want to accept that someone with more appropriate language skills would be this obnoxious...)
Anyway, what you and your friend don't know, because you are not privy to the COMPLETE PICTURE, is that this lovely lady (who is probably at the pool focusing on her current exercise program of choice) used to look like this...
But, she worked her a*# off (literally and figuratively). She spent an enormous amount of time working on herself, and continues to do so, so that she might be healthier and in a better place in her life.
The only difference between this woman who has conquered a battle with weight and the first person who has dropped about ten vices, is that one revolves around physical work and one revolves around spiritual and religious work.
And yet, they are both still judged by others, for the one vice and the remaining weight that they still hold onto.
My point - obviously, is that people need to stop and think before they use their own personal measure of right and wrong to judge others.
I mean, there is no need to hold someone else in such contempt over how he/she lives his/her life to the point of creating righteous indignation.
I don't even know how people have the time to work on themselves, if they are so busy judging others.
REALLY - Who is the wayward soul in need of direction?
The self righteous Judge or the one who is being Judged by their peer?
3 have shown Orah a little love:
Quite the post!! Thanks for visiting my blog!
Wonderful blog today....really makes me stop and think about not judging a book by its cover, which I admittedly do do sometimes. I also dont like to judge the people that do the judging cuz they are judgemental for a reason, I believe. I'd like to think that they are insecure for a good reason and make theselves feel better by putting others down. None of us are perfect, but as long as we recognize that, then we can be tolerant of those that dont realize this and think that they are perfect.
Amazing photo of that woman who had lost all that weight...by the way...
- Miss S.
Telling the story of the lady in the pix is an awesome way to illustrate your point!
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