“Holier than thou” is an interesting phrase.Holiness was a state we were taught we should aim for.But how should we aim for it?Can one become holy by will power?I suspect not.Though one could be wicked by will power though I suspect most  people don’t usually want to be wicked.And I don’t believe babies are born evil as I was taught.But we do wicked things.Pride is often involved.So what are some qualities that may help us to become ,not holy perhaps, but better.The first is one thing doctors have to agree to:

Do no harm.

How can we do no harm? Well paying attention is a possible beginning.If we are not attentive to ourself and the lives around us we don’t have the basis for  choosing how to act.Then there is the quality of our perceptions.To a large extent these may have been formed by our experiences in infancy.If we are insecure and anxious we will perceive mainly danger,

This leads me to think that we need to gain trust in either God,the Universe,our deeper selves….. something beyond us.If we have little trust we will live on guard and see things in relation to our own safety…..Somehow we will have to move to a wider perception/How many of us truly see others as people who  are just as valuable,just as interesting,just as worthy of respect as we are.That when we kill aperson physically or emotionally we are killing a whole world.Each person has their own world…..I believe.

If we trust we can perceive and as we perceive so we can act justly, caringly or in the best way possible towards that person.And we hope to receive it back.There is also grace which  is a gift… if we live well and are open then grace may come from  another source which  may help us.But only  if we are empty enough for it to come in.Being “full of oneself” is  unlikely ro be good.Self forgetting,absorbtion in the other,the world,a task,a creation may be the best part of life.I end my musing here although I have not finished…I have just begun wandering ;I will wander on tomorrow
Snow can bring peace and emptiness in winter.