The Dangers of Labeling

"(The mind) expects and assumes the worst from the world, from other people, and ultimately from God. Every detail in the universe is measured by the mind against its usefulness to the mind's story of the self, the ego. The mind attempts to replace the real center of being, the heart, with a center of its own creation.

This mind is judgmental in everything it does. To demonstrate this point, I often recommend an exercise that consists in taking notice of people (although not in such a way as to make them feel uncomfortable). The catch is to notice people without mentally labeling them in any way. Sit quietly at an airport or a bus terminal and notice people without giving them any labels. It is actually quite a difficult thing to do. As we walk down a crowded street, those people we notice are labeled one by one, and often not in the most flattering manner. The ones we ignore are implicitly labeled as unworthy of a label.

It is as if we attempt to deal with each person as a threat or challenge. 'Too small, too fat, too good-looking...' But in so doing, we also dismiss the people as individuals. 'You have your label--I have summed you up--now go away.' Having given each person a label, we then feel free to pass on to the next as if labeling actually made them in some sense, ours.

The purpose of this exercise is to get to a point where we can notice a person without giving him or her a label. At that point we can begin to experience true compassion--indeed, to see that person as God sees him or her. The less inclination there is to label (which defines people and sets them apart), the more intense is the love--a love that goes in both directions at once, both to and from the person being noticed. This is a very powerful experience."

Archimandrite Meletios Webber from Bread & Water, Wine & Oil, which can be purchased here.

"He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins..." - St. Maximus the Confessor

"Always remember that at the Last Judgement we are judged for loving Him, or failing to love Him, in the least person." - Archbishop Anastasios of Albania 

"You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil." - St. Seraphim of Sarov

"A man can know nothing about the judgments of God. He alone is the one who takes account of all and is able to judge the hearts of each one of us, as He alone is our Master. Truly it happens that a man may do a certain thing which seems to be wrong out of simplicity, and there may be something about it which makes more amends to God than your whole life; how are you going to sit in judgment and constrict your own soul? And should it happen that he has fallen away, how do you know how much and how well he fought; how much blood he sweated before he did it? Perhaps so little fault can be found in him that God can look on his action as if it were just, for God looks on his labor and all the struggle he had before he did it, and has pity on him. And do you know this, and what God has spared him for? Are you going to condemn him for this and ruin your own soul? And how do you know what tears he has shed about it before God? You may well know about the sin but do you not know about the repentance?" - St. Dorotheos of Gaza