Beyond Positive And Negative Thinking

Judgment decides what something is before it has truly been seen. In this short teaching, Tiger points beyond the mind’s habit of labeling life as positive or negative.

For anyone caught in mental certainty, self-judgment, or fear of the unknown, this reflection invites the honesty of not knowing — and the freedom that comes when the mind no longer needs to pretend it knows.

Transcript

I don't really see things through the lens of positive and negative so much. Because that which is seen as negative could also be seen as positive. And that which is seen as positive could also be seen as negative. So the question of what is it really? In many ways, Is so far beyond. Labeling it as positive or negative. Seeing what it really is. Requires the release of judgment. Because to have judgment towards something is to decide already. What it is. When you judge something, You're effectively saying that you don't want to understand it. You've already decided. And furthermore, The more you see the truth of what something is, It becomes impossible to judge it. Same with seeing the truth of yourself. The more you see the totality of what you are, It is impossible to judge yourself. Therefore, If there's self-judgment, You're not truly seeing what you are. Same with life. Same with others. And I love the playful sacrifice that comes with that. To release judgment. I have to release all of the things I'm pretending to know. And acknowledge just how much I don't know. You notice this, Yeah, Behind the judgments? We're proclaiming that we know something, That when we look, We don't really know that. Do you see how this is simply acknowledging the truth? It's really quite simple. Can I surrender to the truth of what I don't actually know? There's so much emptiness there. And I imagine that that scares people. But the more you see the truth of the unknown, You see that you don't have to fear it. And then the truth of the unknown can simply be the truth of the unknown. But I understand the knee-jerk reaction. Where, Beyond our own control, Things are seen as positive or negative, Judgments come about. And so I'm not implying that somehow one should. Live with the complete absence of such a thing. It's more about just a. . . Willingness to be honest with ourselves. And for me that honesty sounds like I can see how I see this. I can see how I turn it into what it's not. And in that, I can acknowledge. That it's not what I turn it into. Even though there's a conditioning playing out. There's beliefs playing out. There's assumptions playing out. That's all fine. But I don't need to live. In a way that is fooled. In believing that my mind could actually know.