An exercise perhaps best done with eyes closed.
Suppose someone bumps into me. Or perhaps I am not looking where I'm going: suppose, without seeing him or her, I bump into someone. Just a bump: no injury, pain, or loss of balance and nothing from which haste or any other attribute of the other could be surmised. Suppose I know nothing about the other person: not race, gender, age, mood, appearance, social status, height, weight or anything else except that we bumped? What is my reaction?
Does my
reaction change after I learn his or her race?
Gender?
Age?
Appearance? Does my reaction change based on whether the person is well-dressed and good looking? Disheveled? Dirty? Ugly or disfigured?
Apparent mood or manner? Suppose the person is grumpy? Hostile? Apologetic - or not? Sad? Cheerful?
Does
my reaction change after I learn the other person's reaction to the
bump? What reaction of the other person triggers what reaction in
me?What other imagined attributes trigger changes in my reaction to the person?
What are the changes in my reaction, compared to my imagined reaction when I knew nothing about the other person? Where in my psyche or experience do those reactions come from?
Do my reactions serve me - including by pointing areas of needed growth?
