You should trick yourself into respecting others,

more than they deserve

 

Indeed, most don’t deserve much respect,

Almost innately — for by the virtue of individuality — most can’t possibly share your values

You not liking them, not listening to them, not giving them the least of your attention, ultimately thus not giving them any respect — is but a way to save time

 

And then of course if you do AT ALL better than average — this becomes even more clear

There’s simply no time to respect every random person whose insights and life outcomes you are utterly uninterested in, and demonstrably can fend for yourself better

It becomes basic hygiene

Unspoken one, but real

Hierarchies exist for a reason

 

However,

Simultaneously with this reality — there’s the reality of compassion and love and appreciation and curiosity

And its converse: hostility, resentment, anger, envy, fear

We too often confuse our rational act of discrimination — with the irrational, emotional, undue, unwarranted experience of hostility, negativity

Ironically negative emotions are often the one way in which we manage to assert ourselves, and our individuality, and our boundaries

But this is of course quite dysfunctional, poisonous

The negative emotion poisons you and distorts your perception of reality

And in the worst case scenario — you develop all this negativity, negative perceptions, negative emotion habits — yet you’re STILL ineffectual at asserting yourself

Then you’re just a bitter clown

 

This is why I believe we should trick ourselves into respecting others,

This, and many other reasons

We just have to learn how

 

The point is to know who you are and what you believe and why,

and be at every moment able to assert it, to defend it, and to be proud of it

Not proud as in egotic way,

But proud as in that being your PRODUCT, something you thought about and care about

And the SAME attitude should extend to others,

To others, and their STUPID, BRAINDEAD FUCKING OPINIONS

Because that protects you from negativity

And it protects you from arrogance

Instead you just CURIOUSLY engage the argument

This is the trick

 

Of course it’s difficult,

We form opinions about others almost completely instinctively

And then have the lifetime of heuristics, cognitive shortcuts used to classify things we see in the world, ESPECIALLY others

So though you’re merely engaging with a stupid opinion — your brain instantly fires “this is likely a stupid person, until proven otherwise”,

and like I said, if you also developed habits of requiring more negativity to deal with that person — you will also experience a degree of anger, or disgust, at that point

 

But what if you tricked yourself?

What if your brain fired a different algorithm?

What if you tricked yourself into respecting them… except not really,

Meaning you’d still retain access to entire understanding of WHAT GOOD they are for, and what they aren’t good for,

while tricking yourself to either hearing their precious opinion with care and reverence as though your LIFE DEPENDED ON IT,

…or IGNORING it entirely, as though it never happened

 

Again,

it’s easy to babble about love and compassion in the vacuum,

It’s only really tested when you do meet those people you disagree with,

and especially those people you’re not particularly fond of,

AND ESPECIALLY those people who quite DESPISE you

 

…but it doesn’t hurt so much if you just ASSUME that it is absolutely in your best interest to RESPECT THEM deeply,

e.g. imagine they are the absolute top experts in your fields, or the VIP there, or someone very important in the world,

imagine you’re literally speaking to a KING,

see the king can be as despicable as it gets — but on the account of their power — you would nevertheless revere them,

without failing to understand WHAT THEY ARE,

but crucially — genuinely WITHOUT experiencing the negativity

 

I would imagine this advice is even MORE important in our modern OUTRAGE ECONOMY

When the more polarising — the more attention it gets

Negative or positive — doesn’t matter

So it literally trains you to be OUTRAGED,

And to view people, and even merely their options — instantly as THE DEVIL,

And experiencing like outrage and indignation,

and disgusting sense of self-righteousness

 

Again, the simple advice would be: “just respect your brother”,

The deeper advice is to just respect their opinion,

But the deepest observation is that the action is going on at the subliminal level:

-the reflexive emotional reactions, biases

-the instantaneous labelling, forming of conclusions

Become aware of it

Then hack it

Hack your monkey brain to be not only rational, but optimal