Balancing Action and Judgment

We are doomed, as humans, to make mistakes when we act. And yet it is impossible to not act. And when we fail we judge not only ourselves, but those around us; those we have failed, those that observed. Those that judge us as well, and often more harshly. And it is often through external censure that we learn the inappropriacy of our actions, as well, making judgment not only inevitable but necessary. But our judgments are also frequently based on incomplete information and not quite correct on the circumstances. So how do we act, and judge, as best we can? And how can we correct our mistakes when we do make them?

Whenever we interact with people, we affect them. Something so little as a smile or a frown can change another person's day, even when you don't even see them in the crowd. Which means we are always interacting with people and affecting each other. The question is how we do so in an ethical manner, what is appropriate, and how we make amends when our actions have unintended negative effects. And things like the Golden Rule are incomplete at best, for there are many situations where we don't want what the other person does. So how do we act? How can we be the best people we can be?

It starts with mindfulness. We cannot simply act on instinct as we fly through life and not dim Flames, both our own and others. It is very easy to be caught up in the moment, in the everyday, and simply respond to things. And it is also easy to become mired in a sea of confusion, and realize that we can't know for certain how people are going to react, and what the best path is, and choose inaction over action, in the belief that if nothing is done, there is no fault. But fault is irrelevant, and inaction is just as much an action as anything one chooses to do. So try we must, even though we know that we are sometimes going to make horrid mistakes. And when we make those mistakes, instead of throwing our hands into the air and giving up, we must then do the best we can to fix them.

We all have the right and duty to help make the world a better place, to better ourselves and others so that we improve the Divine with our existence. We do not have the right to corrupt Flames, our own or other people's, or otherwise injure the Divine. We are all part of the Divine, and as such, to injure ourselves or each other in any way is also injuring the Divine. While we cannot be perfect, we have to be the best we can be.

How do we accomplish all of this? There are many ways, many possibilities, and we should be open to them all. The most important thing one can do, however, is care about and love one another. The Divine in each of us recognizing, no matter how much we can't stand someone, they, too, are Divine. And as we are all Divine, we all deserve and require our basic needs met, a chance to pursue love and happiness, and a chance to improve ourselves. While we cannot help but act, and judge others only as harshly as we judge ourselves.

Questions:
Why is fault irrelevant? Do you agree? Why or why not?
Why is inaction an impossible choice? Why does inaction have a moral quotient to it?
How do we get past confusion to action?