We are the only ones responsible for our growth and well-being, and at the same time, we are also the only ones responsible for our shortcomings and setbacks. It is all about our orientation—it determines our success. If we want to see ourselves evolve with time and become better than before, we need to put effort into bettering ourselves, working on our inner mechanism, and strengthening it. And this requires letting go of our lower traits and egoic orientation, where judgment and blame games reside. This is where community becomes very important—because community ensures that we stay in check.

The more we meet people who are completely opposite to us in their thought processes, in their ways of life, in their backgrounds and upbringings, the more our own school of thought can be challenged. And it must be challenged. Because as long as we hold on to one specific school of thought and refuse to at least be open and receptive to another, we will remain rigid and stuck in our own ways. And currently, the algorithm is such that it gives us more and more of what we already like and prefer. It keeps us stuck there—thinking that we know everything, that the other doesn’t, that we know better, and that we are the only right ones. This thought process is very narrow-minded and breeds exclusion and separation. We become more and more limited in our understanding of life and lose the ability to expand.

To expand ourselves, we need to allow other thought processes—to at least observe and be patient with how others are, especially when they are very different from what we learned before or what we once believed was the only way. We should just allow them to be as they are, as long as their ways don’t impose any threat to life. We let people be as they are, become receptive, and practice non-judgment.

The more we allow without judgment, the more inclusive we become. And we allow disruption to beliefs that may no longer serve us. If what we once believed to be the truth turns out to be a mirage, then why do we need to hold on to it? We can just let it go—and embrace inclusivity.

Through the practice of receptivity, non-judgment, and observation, we allow ourselves to be in the flow of life—not clinging to this way or that way. Because if we were born into that specific setup, with that upbringing, in that country, we would likely have the same thought processes and biases as them. So just as we expect others to accept our ways of being and doing, we shall accept others’ ways too. We may not need to adopt them necessarily, but allowing and accepting everyone to be as they are—diverse from us—is the true beauty of all of us.

When we are in a community, we can integrate ourselves with all different thought processes without needing to be rigid with just one understanding of life. We all have one source from where all knowledge comes, and how evolved we are determines how much we can attune ourselves with that source. And if what we learn does not help us behave harmoniously toward everything around us, then what is the use of all the knowledge we’ve acquired?

No matter how intellectual we are, or what we’ve learned from books and scriptures, if we fall short in our conduct, then the knowledge we’ve accumulated becomes redundant. What matters is who we are as human beings and how consciously we conduct ourselves in each situation—that is most important, not just knowledge. Being intellectual is fine, but having discernment in each situation and conducting ourselves more harmoniously is something else entirely.

How can we be harmonious within ourselves?

By going through a process that requires us to rise above one specific thought process and become inclusive—being in the flow of life. And that growth happens most exponentially when we have a community.