Misinterpretation, Misjudgement, Prejudice and Mistake.
Freedom From the Opinions of Others.

Misinterpretation and prejudice. This life is full of these things. We cannot expect to be human and to avoid these aspects of life. There will always be people who do not like us and will misinterpret our actions and misjudge our intentions. Thus, we need to learn an important lesson, and this is "Freedom from the opinions of others." Yet, we need to still be able to reflect upon our behaviour in relation to others.

For example, we come across a person who will not relate to us on an equal level. They may distribute criticism like candy, but when criticised by others, they may play the card of "Status and title", ie you cannot assert your right to dialogue because they imagine themselves "not as other people." Immediately we have a problem. This person, suffering from inflated egoism, will misinterprate and misjudge any attempt to open up a normal dialogue as an attack upon themselves. We know that they may benefit from this dialogue but because of their prejudice and status ("I am not as other people") we know that this can never take place. Thus we need to learn how to learn to live with misinterpretation, prejudice, and mistake.

At this point if we can learn to be "Free from the opinions of others", then we can learn to be unaffected by the other in this example. Being free from the opinions of others does not mean that we never accept criticism or listen to others views and ideas. It simply refers to a conscious decision making process that we have a certain degree of choice as to whether or not to take on board these opinions.

For example, somebody praises your work or somebody criticises an aspect of your character. Being free from the opinions of others means that we learn to have a choice in whether we we are affected by these opinions or not. This means not only that we learn to protect ourselves mentally, but also emotionally and in some cases physically.

This process is intertwined with "Self Assertion" - learning the techniques of assertion - something that is very important for any degree of successful living.

Ultimately, we have to allow for a certain, inevitable percentage of misinterpretation and prejudice in our lives. The deciding question being; How important is that relationship in our lives? We may be able to easily put up with certain misinterpretation at a sports club or office, but we realise that we cannot allow that behaviour to gain ground in our personal, private, and intimate relationships with friends and family.

Other relevant issues that are connected with this topic are; the ability to let go of people and events, the ability to "choose not to say or act", and definitely the ability to respond diplomatically to life situations.