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dspeyer comments on I'm becoming intolerant. Help. - Less Wrong Discussion

26 Post author: loup-vaillant 30 June 2011 03:30PM

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Comment author: dspeyer 03 July 2011 03:24:31AM *  1 point [-]

Another approach is to contemplate the various virtues that people can have, and consider their relative importance. You might need to do this as a sort of regular meditation.

As an off-the-cuff, how would you sort by importance: rationality, creativity, knowledge, diligence, empathy^1 , kindness, honor, and generosity^2 ? Does how you act correspond to how you answer? If not, make a practice of reminding yourself.

You may also find it useful to enumerate the virtues of the specific people who are annoying you. If you cannot think of any, stop associating with them. If the thought of not associating with them is unpleasant, examine that unpleasantness to discover their virtues.

1= Empathy is a talent for understanding others, which may or may not result in being kinder to them.

2 = Generosity should be taken in the broadest sense: determination to help others despite costs to oneself, and may or may not involve giving material possessions.