| Even given behaviour that we may judge inappropriate at the time, the person is not “just” the behaviour.
For example: A “naughty” child is not just a naughty child. An “angry” teenager, is not just an angry teenager. By removing the judgements (nominalisations) we can see behind the behaviour and accept the person as a whole individual who is happening to behave in a certain way at a certain time/place. Your mind will seek to confirm its own biases, so by giving it a bias (assuming people are their behavoiur) it is stopping us from seeing all that there is to see about a person. When we drop the nominalisations (or judgements) from describing people we allow them to be so much more than we assume. Suddenly we can open up our own thoughts about them and notice them for the human being they are. Tips for using this presuppositionStop describing people. Either inwardly to yourself, or outwardly (where you are giving someone else a prejudice of your own). |
