Love even those who trip and fall

our friend the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius reminds us in his meditations that it's human nature to love even those who trip and fall because humankind is a Brotherhood and that those people go wrong out of ignorance and not out of intent and that's a very important disc distinction to realize especially these days with everything going on it's easy to lose sight of what we have in common and what we have in common with every single human being on Earth no matter their political ideology no matter where they're from and where they're going is that each

and every human being prioritizes the good for themselves this sometimes manifests in the lowest form as the survival Instinct literally called an instinct but also in the so-called more higher forms of thinking on more sophisticated ways of computing in the intellect we go around every day in our careers and our jobs and relationships and we set things up and we aim to do things and we dream of things that will make life better for us in all these areas so we have that in common with everyone we have to realize that everyone wants what's what

they think is best for themselves now we might criticize someone for thinking that money is what's best for them and that any way they can get it is okay as long as they achieve their goal and they get what's best for them but that doesn't change the fact that in their mind all they're doing is to do their best to get what's best for them just like you are doing just like I am doing just like every single human being has ever done and truly have you never made a mistake have you never believed in

something wrong have you never believed in something wrong and you thought it was right and you thought that even if the means were not quite right that the ends would justify the means and has it also not happened that you believed something wrong that you believed was right but then when when you were shown that it was actually wrong with very rational logical reasoning and in a calm manner when it was pointed out to you in this way that what you're actually engaged in the behavior and the acts and the goals and the dreams that

you have are actually harming you harming others are immoral unethical illegal perhaps and just not right and as soon as you realized that the argument was valid as soon as you saw this conflict within yourself this problem you immediately stopped did it take any willpower was there still a desire to continue that act that behavior that wish that you know that you now knew was actually wrong and not at all good for for you or anyone else and just didn't make any sense no it didn't take any willpower it didn't take any more convincing once

you've actually saw a reason immediately it was dropped and immediately you couldn't even believe that you were ever engaged in that behavior there's no reason for you to think that all the people around you who you think you know are doing wrong are not engaged in the same exact mistake they simply still think that the wrong they're doing is truly right or that it's the best for them or their family or their friends their loved ones their children and you might say well what they're doing remains unchanged do the repercussions of what they're doing remain

unchanged the effects they're going to have remain unchanged how wrong those actions are remain unchanged yes that's all true but by looking at the world in this way which is by the way the true way because we can't assume that we when we do something wrong it's just a mistake but when others do something wrong oh they're evil they knew exactly what they were doing they were not misguided ever or mistaken they were perfectly clear on just doing harm you know that that's not how your psyche works and that it can't be that everyone else

who's doing wrong is doing this way so that's why that's why I would argue that that it's the right way to look at things because it makes sense to you that's how you operate it and there's no other reason why others are not engaged in the same mistake rather than intentful wrong evildoing so the first benefit like I said is simply see reality closer to truth than what we were before by labeling people as evil or stupid or just out with bad intentions but the second benefit is actually a much more selfish one the real

benefit to you personally of seeing the world in this way is that with people who we think are intentionally doing wrong we have an immediate sense of Fury within us of of observing and Injustice and being extremely angered or our blood's boiling that these people are doing this that they're allowed to do this that they're getting away with doing this but when we see them for what they really are which is essentially ignorant children they're misguided mistaken people whom if it only could be explained they would see reason and that they're just mistaken and they're

that they're not intent on doing wrong but misguided into doing wrong then there's no anger if anything at all there's pity because wouldn't you now retrospectively looking at your own life when you were mistaken when you were misguided when you were doing something wrong thinking that it was right don't you feel that you were wasting your time wasting your life hurting people illogically for no reason being irrational if anything that's a pitiable state you would not get angry at someone in that state you would feel for them and that's exactly what Marcus Aurelius is pointing

out here human nature is to love even those who trip and fall those people around you are not harming you they're harming themselves by tripping and falling they might be offending you because you think they're doing it on purpose or with intent or consciously or willingly or knowingly but what they're really doing is they're ignorant they're misguided they're mistaken they're tripping and they're falling they're hurting themselves not you because anyone does wrong for whatever reason even if they really were evil they can't make you evil when you think back in your own time of being

mistaken misguided and being engaged and and some behavior that you would never ever do again now you know that the greatest harm at that time you were doing to yourself not to anyone else if you had wrong opinions on things and and you were spreading your opinions to everyone essentially what turned out to be misinformation lies whatever you were the liar you were the spreader of misinformation to hear a lie there's nothing to be ashamed about that to speak a lie is where shame is and again people even if they're lying and they know they're

lying they're doing it for some greater good we must realize this in their own minds they're doing it for some greater good now we could say what is that greater good oh it's money it's power it's whatever that's wrong that should not be your greater good that should not be your aim that should not be your goal that should not be what informs any of your decisions fine but in their minds it is the greater good they're misguided they're mistaken if you can show them show them if you can't you must tolerate I mean isn't

it always the case that half of any country especially in the US thinks that the other half is wrong and then again there are the two types one think they're wrong because they're mistaken and unfortunately way way too many I think the overwhelming majority of those people on either side think that the other side is wrong because they're evil right but we must stop believing that we've grown up the same way we've had more or less the same background either because we grew up in the same culture the same country or simply because like I

said we're humans we were all born innocent little babies who had no idea who they were and then we grew up to be innocent little children who barely knew anything and then something happened and that's where we diverged whatever life experienced happened to us happened to us and that's where all the differences came in but don't you see that no one's born evil that hardly anyone is grows up even as a child with the intent of becoming evil and that only once for adults we have the responsibility to know when we're doing wrong and that

often we fail at that responsibility we all do there is there has never been a single human being who has not failed at that responsibility of realizing that they're doing something wrong in fact I would argue that in this very moment myself included you included everyone watching we are misguided mistaken about some belief some actions some behavior that were actively participating you in the back of our minds right the sense that we're wrong about something and that we're failing in that responsibility now just because you are not failing in one particular topic to know the

truth does not give you the right to be superior to call someone else evil or stupid just because they in that issue don't see the light just because you have uh more insight more understanding of one particular issue does not make another human being on the same issue who does not have that Insight a lesser human being they probably know something that you don't and even if they don't it doesn't matter it's all the same life could have happened to you that way too that you believe those things that you upour now that you think

are ridiculous and harmful to society and whatever you want to call it whatever it is that you don't approve of it could have happened to you that you were brought up in a way that you were influenced in a way that you never were given the tools to discern truth from wrong propaganda and misinformation from from good and solid evidence whatever you want to fill in the blanks it could have happened to you feel for those people love them to love other people is good for you to hate other people is bad for you out

of selfishness and selflessness realize that no one does wrong knowingly willingly with intent that they're either mistaken or misguided and that they lack the reason that you perhaps have to see the issue the way it really is show them if you can patiently calmly respectfully and if you've exhausted all your arguments and you don't know what else to say respectfully disagree and tolerate and if they ever come around they'll thank you for it and you will thank yourself for not having lost your cool for not mistreating someone for not cursing at someone for not behaving

the way that you don't want other people to beave always hold yourself to your own standard and bear or forebear and love even those who trip and fall