Suspicious imperfections. I mean, there are no imperfections. So when people complain it's suspicious. Why complain about the ephemeral?
The things that I was trained to dislike about myself, the things that other people do not like about me, those are signs pointing away from the reality of True Perfection. They keep you stuck in material and intellect. It's not intuitive, especially when you're young, to think that all the signs and signals that people are giving you are the opposite of the truth.
And this is probably one reason we need to have 1-to-1 teachers. Not a math teacher or history teacher but a kind of teacher who helps us learn to interpret the signs and their meaning.
When people criticize you it's because they don't realized you're already perfect. And they are too. There's nothing to complain about. Here's an example.
If an athlete wants to win the gold medal in the pole vault she needs to practice coordination, flexibility, and strength. Better be better than the competition. Those are things athletes must do. Supposed Monday the athlete awakens and she recognizes that she is perfect exactly as she is right now.
That is not doing - that is recognizing which is already true from the beginning. Now the athlete in the material world will have some consequences. Maybe not win the gold medal in pole vault if not going to practice. Or maybe do even better because of the new realization. But a new unimaginable direction is more likely.
Another consequence is she will be much happier than she would be if winning that gold medal. And this happiness will not fade and replaced with addiction like the competition.
And I think this is what what is meant by the titles I saw on books such as "don't just do something, sit there." And the monks say that this is not doing it's recognizing something that is already true. And I got this idea from a man named Bertino who emphasizes that using another analogy which is "allowing things to happen or not allowing things to happen." He said don't try to allow or don't practice allowing, because that is setting conditions.
Instead see that you're basic nature already allows everything.
I'm grateful for this awareness and for these people who pointed out that the material signs pointed the wrong way.