We can impartially judge something only when we stand apart from it. Detachment cannot
exist when we have a sense of intense ownership or possessiveness. That is why an author
or an artist consults reviewers for their opinions.
Our attachments lend a false beauty to things; blinded with the pride of possession, we
often fail to see the ugliness of cherished possessions. Just as we, blinded by attachments and
prejudices, fail to see the real nature of things and beings, so also we, deluded by our lack of
detachment, remain blissfully ignorant of our own weaknesses and faults. The divine life starts
with the practice of detaching ourselves from our body, mind and intellect, and impartially
estimating the motives, intentions and purposes that lie behind our thoughts, words and deeds.
Such impartial witnessing is called introspection. It is no easy feat to accomplish. Self-analysis
and self-criticism are hard and relentless tasks. At every stage, our self-conceit and egoistic
self-congratulation covers our faults and shortcomings and invest them with a false charm.
No one can easily understand himself as he is, though he may be an intelligent and
acute critic of other people and their actions, of institutions and their achievements; yet, in
himself, he may be harbouring a million weaknesses and faults, often the very same he so
honestly condemns in others! This contradiction exists because, even for the best of us, it
is a trial and a severe challenge to be asked to observe ourselves.
Each person generally goes about with the idea that he or she has an ideal personality.
Very few of us are without some kind of conception of what the ideal is. The very attributes
of the ideal – honesty, goodness, love, selflessness, tolerance, pleasantness and cheerfulness
– create in our thoughts a total ideal personality; and, in our eagerness to be that ideal, we
accept ourselves as actually established in that ideal already. Only others around us know
how far away we are from the goal!
No one approximates his own idea of the ideal. This mistake is often seen in elderly
seekers and in the majority of neophyte monks. In fact, they behave, think, and feel differently
from how they believe they are behaving, thinking, and feeling!
Now and then, take an honest look at yourself. It pays!
