The Dance

Nobody has the right to judge anybody, negatively or positively. These are the ways of dominating people. When you judge someone you are trying to interfere in his life, which is not your business. A real authentic man simply allows people to be themselves. (Osho)

“You are stereotyping”, our boys always shout at me when I make one my my generalizations. Their school has made them sensitive. While the effort was likely made to keep all critical and non-PC statements off the school grounds, it has been a fairly successful campaign to train these young minds not to fall too easily prey to any black and white assertions.

‘Asians are smart; Germans are hard-working; African Americans are athletic; men love sports’; the list is endless; even if true on average, the problem with these generalizations is that they will steam-roll the Souls that deviate from the trodden path. The other serious problem with stereotyping is that every positive assessment comes with a negative attribute attached. Just because we don’t say it doesn’t mean we don’t believe it, or is buried in our subconscious somewhere.

Spirituality is  the ability to see and the gauge what is, independent of the priors of our overactive mind. I was born with a powerful mind and it ruled my perception of this world for the longest time. I literally had to learn to observe, and to feel the energy of people and places. Spirituality gives us the interest in finding out what truly makes a person special, and what truly makes him tick, not proving what our mind has already decided on.

Some of you know, I spent years analyzing financial markets, and was taken to the cleaners way too often when my mind had decided on an established pattern of the past, while it turned out yet again that ‘that time was different’. The pain of being caught on the wrong side of the trade taught me to perceive what is instead of what I wanted to see. In fact, the fear of missing the boat was so intense that it set in motion my spiritual Awakening on life’s battlefield, which is a common theme for many.


There is no stereotyping on a spiritual path. Not because it is morally wrong—which it of course is—but because life teaches us to see ‘as is’. We are naturally interested in meeting our counterpart as she is here and now. Sometimes we even see in her aspects that she herself is only Awakening to. In the past, my mind was working overtime. Now, it is still whenever I meet you. I am way too busy taking in all of the the infinite impressions of that holy encounter.

Tell me, do you think on the dance floor or when you are making love? Why would the daily dance of people who appreciate each other in life’s many interactions be and different?