K: We agreed, all of you I think, that comparison is a form of violence. But you have to compare - right? Between two pieces of cloth, between two poems, between two carpets - right? And so on. Better washing machine than the old one. You have to compare .
But psychologically, inwardly, why do you compare ? - Brockwood June 1985
**What is the nature of psychological comparison? Is it intelligent to compare one human being with another human being? Or, to compare a human with some ideal of how they should be? Is it intelligent to expect any human to be other than they are?
Are we âchoosingâ to compare, or simply acting out of a cultural programming to compare? Do we see the incoherence of this activity?
Would we expect one tree to be like another tree? Would we expect one dog to be like another dog? Why do we apparently think itâs âsaneâ to compare one human with another human, or to compare anyone with some thought-ideal?
Is it because we erroneously think there is a âmeâ inside the head that âknows betterâ and this fictional âIâ is âchoosingâ to âbehave badly?â
Do we see that itâs violence to expect anyone to be other than they are? Expecting them to be like someone they arenât? Do we see that itâs also violence to expect ourselves to be other than we are at any given moment?