While some judge another from their own moral standpoint, the wise look also at the point of view of another.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
The mystics remove the barrier that stands between them and another person by trying to look at life not only from their own point of view, but also from the point of view of another. All disputes and disagreements arise from people’s misunderstanding of each other. Mostly, people misunderstand each other because they have their fixed points of view and are not willing to move from them. This is a rigid condition of mind. The more dense people are, the more fixed they are in their own points of view. Therefore, it is easy to change the mind of an intelligent person, but it is most difficult to change the mind of a foolish person once it is fixed. It is this dense quality of mind which becomes fixed on a certain idea and that clouds the eyes so that they cannot see from the point of view of another person.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume X – Sufi Mysticism, Part I: Sufi Mysticism, Chapter I – The Mystic )
The condition today is that people are rich, they have all convenience and comfort — but what is lacking is understanding. Home is full of comfort, but there is no understanding, there is no happiness. It is such a little thing, and yet so difficult to obtain. No intellectuality can give understanding. This is where we make a mistake: we want to understand through our heads. Understanding comes from the heart. The heart must be glowing, living. When the heart becomes feeling then there is understanding, then you are ready to see from the point of view of another as much as you can see from your own point of view.
The wise agree with both the foolish and the wise; they are ready to understand everybody’s point of view. It may not be their idea, their way of looking, but they are capable of looking at things from the point of view of others. It is not one eye that sees fully; to make the vision complete two eyes are needed, and so the wise can see from two points of view. If we do not keep away our own thoughts and preconceived ideas, if we cannot be passive and desirous of seeing from the point of view of another, we make a great mistake.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
By some is meant the people whose consciousness is still confined below the mind-mesh, who are in the manasic currents, who see only as their mind sees and have no vision further than the mind. But the wise have attained to the Buddhic condition, which enables them to see beyond name and form, and so to look at Life from every person’s aspect of it.