Do you ever judge yourself or others harshly? Have you thought that others are ignorant? The word ignorant is mostly used in eastern literature. When I first read articles suggesting my ignorance, I was offended. I'm not ignorant, I protested, but as I've matured, I've reassessed and surely, in many areas, I am ignorant.

Gangaji put a new light on the word when she asked us to look at the root word in ignorant, ignore. If we ignore something, we are ignorant. That works. I do things that are against my best interests and ignore my better knowing.

Wisdom was the topic of our Saturday Theosophical Society Meeting. After each program, our president, Fali Engineer, makes a few comments. He is bursting with wisdom and he is one of the reasons I attend. I am quick to challenge or add to some of his teachings; he is gracious in the midst of a challenge.  He invites deep questioning on any topic. I greatly admire and respect him.  Fali was formerly the head of Transcendental Meditation in Pakistan and he continues to teach his own brand of meditation today. We celebrated his 85^th birthday on Saturday. You can count me in as a Fali fan. 

Fali put a new take on the subject of ignorance. The word ignorant is a competitive word. If you think you are smarter than someone, you put them below yourself - they are ignorant. If you think someone else is smarter than you, you think of yourself as ignorant. If you think of yourself and others as incomplete, then you level the playing field.  When you plant a fruit bearing tree, you don't think the plant is a failure or ignorant because it doesn't bear fruit immediately, you wait patiently until it produces fruit.  At six months old, the plant is incomplete, not ignorant. What a relief it is to think of others, regardless of what they think, say are do, as incomplete. With the word incomplete, we exonerate ourselves and others from judgment.