How Do We Treat the World? How Do We Treat Ourselves?

How we treat the world is how we are treating ourselves. And how we treat ourselves reflects how we are treating the world.

Wisdom is not related to age. Some people live to be 90 or even 100 years old, but if they haven’t gone through enough hardships, they may not have the courage or determination to awaken their wisdom. A person who has experienced enough hardships, enough to the point where they are truly exhausted and see no other way out, will eventually find the courage and determination to change. This is because we are all naturally lazy and reluctant to change. When we face difficulties, our instinct is often to avoid them and to blame the external environment for the problems.

However, a friend once told me that in his practice, whether it’s others’ fault or not, it’s all his fault. This is a valuable practice because it leads him to reflect on his own problems. But it also has a major side effect: we begin to judge ourselves. As we continue practicing, we may start to lose strength and motivation. We need to understand that it’s neither the fault of the external world nor our own fault. It’s just a stage we all need to go through.

If we encounter someone who brings us much distress, we can choose to blame them, or if it’s a partner, we might even consider changing partners. But we need to realize that the person can only behave in the way they do at this stage of their life. They are limited to their current words and actions, just as we can only act and speak in the way we do at our current stage. Everyone is where they are, and that is all there is to it.

So, when we understand and forgive others, we must also forgive and understand ourselves. Over time, we will all come to understand this: how we treat the world is how we are treating ourselves, and how we treat ourselves is how we are treating the world. This is not just a sentence from a book or a classic quote; it’s something that we can truly realize, observe, and experience for ourselves.