Sometimes, sadly, I live life on a ladder: I am on one rung, and everyone else is either below me or above me. Life on a ladder takes a lot of energy and effort, because I have to judge and categorize each person in order to assign him or her the proper rung. When someone is on a higher rung, I feel less-than. When someone is on a lower rung, I feel more-than. Either way, I am stuck on my own solitary rung, which is lonely and grim and tiresome and taut.
Sometimes, gladly, I live life in a circle instead. Circles do not have rungs, so there is no judging and categorizing. In a circle, one seat is as good as another. When someone new arrives, the circle just gets wider and more interesting. In the circle, I can relax and receive and enjoy and let go.
“[T]he dreadful habit that human beings have of sizing one another up. . . .” Dallas Willard
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3