If you judge, investigate.

Far Away.

I have said it before: if we abolish the idea that such a place exists, we could end war, inequality, and hatred. But the story which makes me revisit this theory has little to do with physical place. What if this also applies to the quality of our minds?

In this article the lamentable stories are told of mentally ill Chinese citizens and the victims of their violent crimes. Many of the cases are those of untreated or ignored schizophrenia resulting in violent acts against children and the elderly. In the case of Yang Jiaqin, he has received only one month of treatment in the past five years despite obvious signs of schizophrenia. It should not have been surprising when he took a butcher knife and roamed around his home village slashing anyone he came across, including a group of children coming home from school and an elderly couple chopping wood.

It is so easy to make space between ourselves and these instances. In fact, it is our instinct to do so in order that we be able to continue on our way without being damaged. If we absorbed every terrible thing we came across we would all suffer from severe and constant heartbreak. In order to even survive reading articles like this, we must create a little air between ourselves and traumatic events described. However, if we carry this to excess then we enter the realm of judgment and the assumption that such things could never happen to us. So is this the key to curing the mind of judgment?

Winston Churchill said "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals." If we embrace our inner swine, then it will never have to prove to us that it exists. Accepting that insanity, misbehavior, and ignorance are right around the corner levels the playing field between ourselves and the recipients of our scrutiny.

Haha, I feel like I go through all this work to arrive at very obvious conclusions. I suppose that's part of the reality of definitions existing before words.