Subconsciously summing people up that we see in everyday life

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Is subconsciously summing people up ,comparing when we are amoungst other people a natural human trait that everyone has ? Is it a flight and fight instinct that we have to learn to go against for the most of it?
Depending on temperament types is it more of a trial for some than others?
How did /do you as a person overcome this?
To a certain degree we need to sum people up for our own physical and spiritual safety.
God bless 🙂
 
If it leads to pride or excessive self hate on your part, you should stop. Otherwise, I would say it is harmless.
 
Greenfields said:
Is subconsciously summing people up ,comparing when we are amoungst other people a natural human trait that everyone has ? Is it a flight and fight instinct that we have to learn to go against for the most of it?
Depending on temperament types is it more of a trial for some than others?
How did /do you as a person overcome this?
To a certain degree we need to sum people up for our own physical and spiritual safety.
God bless 🙂
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Honestly, we all have an innate ability to “sum people up” It’s called common sense. The sin would be if we continued to judge them by our initial parameters when they’d proven otherwise.

But “gut feelings” are often right. God gave us these senses for a reason. We can be wrong, of course, but outside of holding resentments, it’s important to use the brain God gave us. And to add to that brain wisdom like “safe environment” and good medical advice, etc.
 
Greenfields said:
How do religious get up and beyond this?
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Beyond what? Common sense?

If you are talking about how they treat people well even if they raise your red flags, that really isn’t a “religious” thing. I’d say more “Emotional Intelligance” related…adn there’s lots of good materials on that.
 
Well, a wise person gets more attuned to seeing people as God sees them. But then again, it also depends on what exactly you mean by “summing people up”.

For example, I had one pretty negative interaction with a person I got along with fairly well and thought fairly well of. Now, it’s hard for me not to see her in a negative light because of how much that one negative interaction made an impression on my mind.

Often we judge by appearances, sometimes we need to make judgments for various practial reasons, but they can often be very wrong.

My preliminary 2 cents.
 
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Greenfields said:
So that every person you encounter you see Jesus in
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There’s a difference between seeing Jesus in a person and allowing harm to come to yourself. For instance, you can see Jesus in the sleezy used car salesmen you know is lying to you but you shouldn’t buy a car from him just to show him what a good person does.

I think you may be over thinking this.
 
For example, we might say to ourselves, that person is a real jerk, when they are suffering from clinical depression. Or that person is lazy when they have something physically wrong with them. All sorts of things.

Too add:

If you can, try not to sum people up in the sense of you knowing what they are all about, I guess. I think this is a good question.

Some of us are quick to judge people. I think it’s a personality trait, among other things.
 
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Greenfields said:
Is subconsciously summing people up
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It’s a sort of “first impression”. You can be right or not, it can be fair or not. Normally patience and prudence are in waiting and giving the person a chance to be themselves at their best. And yes, it is also a defense and nevertheless prone to judge-mentality. The contrary tends to an exercise of meekness and abandonment. But there is such a thing as “sound judgement” and “rash judgment”. I tend to resist and avoid the temptation unless I find myself in a situation requiring self-defense and keen wits on the spot. There are also sure tell signs one would be naive to ignore.
 
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Good topic.

I guess there are different aspects or ways here.

We should be very attentive to the presence of others. They are souls. God made them and had big plans for them.

In a big city it’s much harder. And there can be dangers to be sure.

But we can let self-focus lead to an indifference about others, and that’s dangerous to the soul too.

And finally we can get into the “comparison” game…who has what, how well off are they, how competent are they, how beautiful are they, or contrarily how stupid do they appear, how fat, ugly, etc.

The devil doesn’t care which way we go, so long as it isn’t “how can I love God by being attentive to this or that person”!

So,
  • no indifference
  • no comparisons
but it seems to be me we want to be very attentive to souls around us…how can I help God in this or that one.

Very hard to do as we have to get things done during the day, protect our children.

But that’s where the “order of charity” can help us…first God, then family, then friends, workers, neighbors, then strangers.

God gives us different ways to help…acts of charity, sacrifice/fasting/mortifications for others, and then prayer.

So we can always have a “spirit of prayer” for the hundreds of people we pass by…we can’t ask each whether they need food, a home, etc!
 
Thanks for all your replies 🙂 I want very much not to just see a crowd of people but recognise the soul in all of them ,acknowledge them in my heart,
I want to see people as St Theresa of Calcutta did.Something that really helps is thinking of each person having their guardian angel,having a soul.When I do that I don’t see anything else.
First impressions have kept me safe travelling countries alone over the years thank Goodness.
I don’t ever want to feel indifferent to people in crowds ,it would be nice to know of prayers to say if anyone has any to share.
God bless.
 
This is one of my biggest failings. Just looking at another person I don’t know and I jump to conclusions like I’m something and they must be less… I hate to admit it because I think of myself as a charitable person. Then in reality those thoughts come…
I think of myself too much OR I think too much of myself… and yes, I have taken this to the confessional…
 
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