Spirituality · Foundations
The eight powers
Eight inner abilities I was asked to build, and one thing I noticed about my own judgments.
In class we were given eight powers to build in ourselves. These are my notes, in plain words.
- Tolerate: to bear what is hard without being shaken.
- Accommodate: to make room for other people as they are.
- Discriminate: to see clearly what is what, and tell the true from the false.
- Judge: to decide well, once I have seen clearly.
- Face: to meet a situation instead of running from it.
- Cooperate: to work with others.
- Withdraw: to pull back from what is spreading too wide or going too far.
- Pack up: to gather myself in and finish.
The first four come in pairs: tolerating and accommodating, discriminating and judging.
One line in my notes is worth keeping: we are not able to discriminate, and that is why our judgments go wrong. Seeing clearly (number three) has to come before deciding (number four).
I am only at the start of learning these, and I will write more as I learn.
Learn this from a teacher in person if you can. See Find a teacher.
— Ravi