"Let Man be punished for his own sins, and not for Adam's transgression"

The quotation above will be recognised by some, as it's an "Article of Faith", pertenant to the particular faith I have.
It obviously has a religious overtone, relating to how we perceive and judge others, and is a platform to self-critique our own actions.
In my own life, I have a slightly differant twist to this Article of Faith, putting it into a more "laymans terms" expression: "White, Black, Pink or Green, if you're an arsehole you're an arsehole"

How often are we guilty of labelling others, not looking at them as individuals but seeing them as an entity within a group or catagory which either society, the media, Family or religious sect we belong to labelled as a "certain type", and we blindly follow suit, without questioning this act of judgement, but are prepared to be sheep to satisfy others and gain perceived acceptance of that particular group.

Pressure to conform to the expectations of others has been part of Humanity since time began, from Family, friends and Religious Faith, which I find extremely hypocritical, especially from a religious point of view. Every religion teaches tolerance and forgiveness, however, in reality, it seems the majority of religions of the world are the first to judge and condemn whole groups of people, from minority groups who differ in thought and principals to entire Nations, without either looking at the individuals involved in the group/Nation and holding the individual accountable for his/her own actions, nor do many consider the motivations of the individual/groups actions.

Within every group/Nation/Religion, there is always a fundamentalist group of individuals who become the focus of attention due to the exposure they receive because of their actions, and in an instant the whole group/Nation/Religion is labelled and judged on those actions and intent of a small group.
These comments will be equated, by many, as a comment on whats happening with the Middle East, Osama and Islam, ie, the reader making a judgement on the overall, not the individual aspect, and thats fair enough, it's a perfect example, although this example is not the motivation for writing about this particular topic. My motivation was more of a personal observation on things happening around me, in my life, and certainly not an attempt to "right the World".

How often are we judged by others, harshly and totally out of context, based on misinformation, looks, friends we have or the particular group we gladly/willingly associate with on a day to day basis?
However, in turn, are we guilty of doing the same?

Looking at an individual, and allowing them to show themselves to you, without bias or prejudice, is sometimes one of the hardest things to do, as in order to allow that to happen we, in turn, have to open our own hearts to accept them, and that is often not an easy task.
Before we can look at another individual, without bias, we have to look at ourselves first, our own hearts and motivations, and accept the person within, good, bad or ugly, and come to peacefull terms with who we are. Once we have done that, and can be open about that which makes us tick, and have opened the closed doors within our own hearts, it is only then we can look at another in an honest attempt to understand them, their life, loves and motivations.

Ugliness is not a natural order of things, it is a manufactured human attribute created by people who either haven't looked at themselves and come to a peacefull understanding of their spirit, or they haven't accepted who they are, and lay blame at the feet of others.
The wonderous aspect to all this, for me, is that we continously grow and learn about ourselves all the time, with every incident which challenges our motivations and principles, and how we react to them.

Life itself is only a short experience, and this time period in my life is wonderful, in many, many ways.
Why?
Because those whom have showed me their hearts, and have held my hand and embraced me, have shown me what true beauty is, and what true friendship encapsulates.

An expression which has so few words, but holds so much meaning, in so many ways:
"We just is"...:)

Just my thoughts.