Likes and dislikes
Are not reliable criteria
October 2nd 2017
Every day we meet different people and we cannot stop ourselves from spontaneously feeling either like or dislike for them, for these are natural feelings that even the sages experience. However, the difference between the sage and ordinary men and women is that the sage controls his dislikes and does not give way blindly to his likes, because he knows that neither one nor the other are good criteria.
Liking and disliking are often instinctive, purely personal feelings which originate in experiences lived in other lives. They do not provide impartial information about the value of a person, their qualities or their faults. Many imagine that their intuition dictates these reactions. No, not at all. That is why we must make a habit not only of behaving with understanding and kindness toward people we do not like, but also of recognising the mistakes and weaknesses of those we do like.