The 11 Standards for Evaluating a Person’s Caliber

In the last gathering, we fellowshipped about what caliber is, as well as how to evaluate a person’s caliber. How many standards for evaluating a person’s caliber did we list altogether? (Eleven.) Repeat these eleven standards once again. (Learning ability, the ability to understand things, comprehension ability, the ability to accept things, cognitive ability, the ability to make judgments, the ability to identify things, the ability to respond to things, decision-making ability, the ability to evaluate and appreciate things, and innovative ability.) These eleven abilities are each one part of the measure of a person’s comprehensive caliber. Last time, we fellowshipped about ten of them, fellowshipping up to the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. For each ability, we fellowshipped about the manifestations of good caliber, average caliber, poor caliber, and having no caliber. People without caliber basically have no strengths, no genuine hobbies or interests. When encountering anything, they have no opinions and no ability to make judgments. They have no ability to identify people, events, and things; they also have no ability to accept anything, and of course they can even less be said to have the ability to respond to things or decision-making ability. Because such people have no strengths, they are even less connected with the ability to evaluate and appreciate things.

Number 10: The Ability to Evaluate and Appreciate Things

Regarding the ability to evaluate and appreciate things, in the last gathering, we fellowshipped about part of its content. What does the ability to evaluate and appreciate things mainly refer to? Evaluation refers to what people call discrimination, in the sense of an ability to identify the thoughts, viewpoints, stances, and the advocated themes of people, events, and things. The ability to evaluate and appreciate things mainly involves one’s thoughts and viewpoints with regard to certain issues; that is, things related to the realm of thought. If you have the ability to identify and appreciate these things, then you are a person with the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. If you do not know how to see and fundamentally cannot perceive these issues related to thoughts and viewpoints, then you cannot be considered to have the ability to evaluate and appreciate things—this ability has nothing to do with you. However, when you encounter something, if you can identify the origin of this thing and the purpose behind it, and can identify whether the thoughts and viewpoints it conveys and advocates are correct or not, and can also identify whether these thoughts and viewpoints can hold up, whether they are positive things or negative things, and whether they conform to the developmental laws of things or are close to phenomena within the laws governing all things created by God—if you have this kind of ability to evaluate and appreciate things, then it proves that your caliber is quite good. If the thoughts and viewpoints advocated by this thing, or the direction and goals it promotes, contain errors, distortions, things that do not conform to humanity or to thinking logic, or things that fundamentally do not align with the objective laws governing all things created by God—if you can detect all of this, and you can detect both what is correct and what is incorrect, this is sufficient to prove that you have the ability to evaluate and appreciate things and that your ability to evaluate and appreciate things is high; the fact that you have this ability means that your caliber is very good. For example, when you read an article written by a brother or sister of the church, you can detect whether their understanding of things, their understanding of people’s nature essence, and their understanding of God’s words align with the truth principles, whether the viewpoints expressed in the article are distorted, and whether the perspective and stance they take are correct or incorrect—you can detect all these things. If you can agree with the thoughts and viewpoints within the article that are correct; and if you can also identify and correct the fallacious thoughts and viewpoints within the article, and you know why such thoughts and viewpoints are incorrect, and which aspects of thinking logic or which objective laws of positive things they violate, and, on a deeper level, you can see which aspect of the truth principles they violate that God has admonished humankind about—this proves that your caliber is good. For one thing, if you can see what positive things there are in this article that are worth learning, and you can also assess what positive direction it provides to people, as well as what positive provision, help, and support it brings—and, furthermore, if you can know which adverse, negative, and distorted things the article contains; what fallacious thoughts and viewpoints it contains that may lead people’s thinking in a bad direction, and what negative impacts they might have on people; how these fallacious things should be corrected; and how certain deficiencies should be offset so it can bring greater benefit to people—then this is one manifestation of having the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. For example, in learning dance, when you observe a dance performance, you can detect which movements are very humanized, expressing the thoughts and wishes within humanity, and originate from the perspective of humanity, and are grounded in humanity, and very much conform to the needs of normal humanity’s conscience and reason; and you can detect which movements, facial expressions, and expressive methods of body language, as well as the thoughts advocated within them, are positive and can enrich a person’s spiritual world—you are able to see all these things. You are not merely able to dance or perform some simple movements—rather, you can see the thoughts advocated in a dance performance; you can apprehend the meaning of the thoughts within it, as well as the dance forms employed under the guidance of these thoughts. If the dance’s forms and body language are beneficial to people, and are something you should learn, accept, and draw from—you are able to see and learn these things, and you can accept its positive elements—then this is a manifestation of having the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. Of course, if the dance presents some distorted thoughts that don’t align with humanity, and you can also perceive them, and you can identify where the errors lie, and you also know what is wrong with this form of presentation, and what the guiding thoughts behind it are—if you can see and identify all this, then this is also a manifestation of having the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. After giving these two examples, do you now understand what the ability to evaluate and appreciate things is? Has this standard for measuring whether someone has good caliber and the ability to evaluate and appreciate things been established? (Yes.)

If you see something and know the thoughts and viewpoints it advocates or the perspective and stance it takes, but do not know whether these thoughts and viewpoints are correct or incorrect, then you do not have much ability to identify things. You might only feel, “This dance is pretty good; this article is pretty good; this film is pretty good; it has artistic value, and its expressive techniques are great,” merely observing and learning about this thing from the perspective of the industry or from the perspective of knowledge, but not being able to determine whether the thoughts and viewpoints advocated by this thing are correct or incorrect, right or wrong, positive or negative; and you might ask such questions as, “Do these thoughts and viewpoints conform to the truth? Does this act align with humanity? Does it conform to the developmental laws of things? Do such people exist? Have such events occurred? Is this a positive thing?” If every sentence you utter ends with a question mark, then you lack the ability to identify things. If you only know the technical, professional, or knowledge-based aspects involved, but when it comes to things on the level of thought, you lack the ability to judge whether they are correct or incorrect, right or wrong, what does this say about your caliber? This indicates you have average caliber. Although you have some ability to evaluate and appreciate things, your ability is limited to appreciating the author’s thoughts from a technical, professional perspective. You can only apprehend or understand why the author did what they did, but you cannot evaluate whether the thoughts and viewpoints they advocate are correct or not, and whether they are positive things, or how big an impact these thoughts and viewpoints have on people once presented, or whether it is a positive impact or a negative impact, or what consequences they bring to people—you don’t know any of this. Based on this level, the caliber of such people is merely average. They can only appreciate but cannot evaluate, and therefore cannot reach the caliber of having the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. Some people, no matter what duty they do, have very poor ability to identify things. They think doing things any way is acceptable. Their viewpoints and attitudes are very murky and completely unclear. No matter what anyone else says, they can accept it, not having accurate viewpoints or principles of practice. As a result, they do not do any duty well. Regardless of what work they undertake, they are especially murky and unclear when it comes to defining and drawing boundaries regarding the positivity or negativity, and the rightness or wrongness, of various thoughts and viewpoints that arise in the course of their work. When people ask them, “This kind of thought or viewpoint has arisen—is it correct?” they say, “People’s minds are free. They should not be confined. There must be diversity—any kind of thought should be allowed to be presented and expressed.” This is their viewpoint regarding the existence of various thoughts. That is, no matter what thoughts or viewpoints arise—whether they are right or wrong, correct or incorrect—they believe they should all be allowed to exist, and that they should be presented freely. They think that, as long as someone thinks some way, as long as someone has some need, as long as there is an audience for some thought or people who endorse it, then there is value in its existence. This thought and viewpoint of theirs is very murky. In the words of nonbelievers, it often exists in a “gray area” without boundaries. These people do not have strict standards or criteria for judging whether things are correct or incorrect. It can also be said that such people have no stance, no real thoughts or viewpoints. Of course, it can also be said that these people have no positive advocacy regarding anything. So then, can such people accept the truth? Can they understand the truth? It really is hard to say. Having poor caliber is problematic. When people with poor caliber encounter the appearance of two thoughts or viewpoints at the same time, they have no opinion of their own; they do not know which is correct and which is incorrect. Whichever side is more forceful, they follow that side. This is called having no stance. Such people are muddled individuals. We won’t discuss how the pursuit of their humanity is or how their character is—just speaking in terms of their ability to evaluate and appreciate things, for people like this, their caliber is just average. Why do I say this? Because although their caliber enables them to appreciate certain things on the level of thought, they lack the ability to evaluate the authenticity of things and to identify whether things are right or wrong, correct or incorrect. Therefore, their caliber is classified as average. Because when it comes to evaluating things, their thoughts, viewpoints, and stances are very murky, and they don’t have positive things as a basis or criterion, they can do some good things but also some bad things. They can do some relatively correct things that benefit others and assist humanity, but at the same time, they can do things that harm others and have an adverse influence on them. Therefore, the caliber of such people is just average. For example, suppose there is a film in which the thoughts advocated by the director are relatively positive and relatively humane, and are things that relatively align with humanity’s needs—needs that are justified in today’s society, such as democracy, freedom, human rights, and other positive things—and through the film, the director brings out these things deep within human thoughts to help people come to know them. If a person of average caliber watches this film, they can recognize that those thoughts are good and correct. They can see that those thoughts are relatively popular and revered in today’s society; they can perceive the correctness of the thoughts advocated by the director. But if, in this film, the director also advocates some relatively niche thoughts—things that most adults and people with comprehension ability would not think of, which are very extreme and, it can even be said, things that are rarely seen or almost impossible to happen according to the normal developmental laws of things—then people with an average ability to evaluate and appreciate things would not be able to discern them when watching the film. They would think, “These particular thoughts advocated by the director are not wrong. Even if these are things liked and embraced by only a small number of people, these thoughts should still be revered in today’s society; they should be made public so everyone can know and accept them.” You see, regardless of whether the things advocated by the director in the same film are positive, or have a negative influence on people, they will accept them and even particularly appreciate them. For them, there is no clear or definite distinction between correct and incorrect. Therefore, they can accept the positive things in this film, and they can also accept the negative things. Since they can accept these things, they will also apply them. They will incorporate these things into works that express their own thoughts and viewpoints, or instill them into others in daily life, influencing others. Of course, the positive things will have a good effect on people, while the negative things will definitely have a negative effect on people. Therefore, such people will also do some bad things while doing good things. That is, when you are hungry, they will, for example, give you a bowl of porridge, but it will not be clean and will be mixed with some sand, and eating it for a long time will be detrimental to your health. Or they will give you a bowl of food, but it will be mixed with things like flies and mosquitoes. You may find it tasty, but it contains some bacteria that are harmful to the body. Though such people will have resolved your hunger and filled your stomach, they will also have brought some adverse effects to your body. In the same way, if you lack discernment, then when you watch a work, you are very likely to accept some incorrect thoughts and viewpoints from it, being misled and poisoned by it. Therefore, possessing the ability to identify things is also very important. These are the manifestations of people with average caliber, in terms of their ability to evaluate and appreciate things.

The next level is people with poor caliber. People with poor caliber have no ability to evaluate and appreciate things. That is, when they see anything, they do not know which thoughts and viewpoints are correct to have, nor do they know what angle or stance is correct to assume. They even do not know what kinds of incorrect thoughts and viewpoints people hold in this matter, or what thoughts people used to be governed by when facing such matters—this involves thinking logic, and people with poor caliber simply fall short of this, so it is out of the question that they are able to appreciate things. Only after one is able to appreciate things can it then be said how their appreciation of things is or whether they have the ability to evaluate things. If they cannot even appreciate things, it doesn’t even make sense to discuss whether they have the ability to evaluate things. For example, after reading an article, some people say: “This article uses flowery language, is expressed very smoothly, and is quite humorous. The article is wonderfully written!” Someone asks: “What thoughts and viewpoints did the author aim to express in this article? What is their attitude toward people, events, and things of this type?” “Oh, there’s an attitude? It also involves thoughts and viewpoints? I didn’t notice that. Anyway, I think their article is well written, and I enjoyed reading it.” The other party asks: “Then which thoughts and viewpoints that they expressed did you enjoy? Do you know which paragraph or story expresses what kind of thoughts and viewpoints of the author, and what the central idea of the article is?” They say: “I haven’t figured that out yet.” They read it two or three more times and still only feel that the article is well-written and eloquent. As for what thoughts and viewpoints it expresses, they cannot perceive this. This exposes how their caliber is, doesn’t it? If they read this article and cannot perceive what thoughts and viewpoints the article explains, it can only be said that they lack the ability to evaluate and appreciate things and are a person with poor caliber. If the article contains clear language that already explains the correct thoughts and viewpoints and they still cannot perceive this, this proves that their caliber is extremely poor. They can only say, “The article is well written, the language is smooth, and the writing style is good,” but they do not know or understand whether the facts discussed in the article are objective, what it makes readers feel, or what readers can learn and draw from it—they would still need to ask the author. This completely proves that such people have poor caliber. How is their poor caliber exhibited? Their poor caliber is exhibited in their not understanding what thoughts and viewpoints are, and not understanding how to appreciate things, and of course, even more so in their being wholly unable to evaluate things. Collectively, this is referred to as lacking the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. The way people who lack the ability to evaluate and appreciate things are worse than those with average caliber is that they not only lack the ability to evaluate things but even lack the ability to appreciate things. Therefore, when it comes to things at the level of thoughts and viewpoints, thinking logic, or whether something aligns with humanity or the objective laws of things, they cannot see through them and do not know how to appreciate them. They cannot even perceive whether this article explains any thoughts or viewpoints, let alone identify whether the thoughts and viewpoints are correct or incorrect. It is only because they have been to school that they can read things related to words, knowledge, technical skills, and professions, but they remain at the level of being able to read, watch, and listen to things without being able to appreciate them. Such people are those with poor caliber. People with poor caliber can talk about things related to the level of technical skills and professions or knowledge, such as which famous person’s work something is, which famous person’s famous quote is cited, which style of expression has been referenced, or which technical skill or profession was utilized to achieve it—they can perceive these things. However, they do not understand the concepts being advocated and expressed on the basis of the level of these professions and technical skills or knowledge, as well as what the concepts, bases, or fundamentals behind the design and presentation of these things are. This is what it means to have poor caliber. Such people have one characteristic: They do not know how to ponder or think about issues. They do not know how to identify, judge, or come to know the root cause and essence of the phenomena caused by something, or the future direction of the development of these phenomena and the impact they will have on people, events, and things. Such people do not have normal thinking. The things they can understand and the life experience they can grasp are extremely limited. No matter what complex matters they encounter, they cannot understand them or see through them. That is, they can only think about the words they hear and the text they see on the surface concerning something, as well as the outward forms and methods involved, reaching only this level. As for deeper aspects, such as the relationships, logic, and mutual influences between various things, they neither think about them nor are they capable of thinking about them. Some people even think about something to the point of losing their appetite, losing sleep, or becoming depressed, and they still cannot see through it. This is what it means to have poor caliber. The measure of whether a person has the ability to evaluate and appreciate things depends on whether, when encountering a matter, they can make judgments to come up with several possibilities regarding the complex relationships, connections, or mutual influences among various things, as well as the subsequent effects they might achieve. If a person can only say what someone said or did, merely recounting what they heard or saw without any discernment and without being able to perceive any issues, this indicates that they do not have normal thinking. People who lack the ability to think lack the ability to appreciate things, and, of course, they also lack the ability to evaluate and appreciate things, and they do not know how to think. So why do we need to discuss this ability? If people lack the various abilities to appreciate the material world, these people’s caliber is poor. They do not know how to think and their thinking lacks logic, so such people lack the ability to comprehend the truth. This is because the truth, in one respect, involves various aspects of issues in people’s real lives; at the same time, it also involves the various principles that people should practice to cast off their corrupt dispositions. Of course, it even more so involves the various types of single-faceted or complex, multifaceted problems that people encounter in real life and the relationships between them. Whether it is about a single truth or multiple, interconnected truths, no truth is a regulation; rather, they are principles or criteria for measuring a category of things. Speaking of principles and criteria, they are not regulations or formulae like one plus one equals two. Since they are not formulae, when encountering matters in real life, people must be able to ponder and seek which problems of humanity are involved, whether the revelations of humanity in this aspect contain elements of a corrupt disposition, and what states and revelations exist for the same type of corrupt disposition, as well as which aspects of the truth people should practice and adhere to in order to transform it—this all needs to be understood by people. If you only know the words of the truth but do not know what the principles spoken of in this aspect of the truth are, then you will not know how to correlate it with real-life things, nor will you know how to practice the truth. If you do not have the ability to comprehend the truth, you will not be able to correlate it with the problems that exist in yourself or with the problems you encounter in real life. You will not know how many aspects of the truth are involved, what the path of practice and entry is, or what problems you should resolve. Of course, it is out of the question that you will be able to view people and things or conduct yourself and act based on God’s words, or that you will be able to adhere to the truth principles or practice according to the truth principles. If you lack the ability to appreciate certain people, events, and things related to human life, have no thoughts or viewpoints about them, and fundamentally cannot grasp things related to the level of thought, having no ability to appreciate them and even more so having no ability to evaluate them, it can be said that you do not have the ability to comprehend the truth. If you do not have the ability to comprehend the truth and are unable to understand the truth, what will you use to change the defects in your humanity and to cast off your corrupt dispositions? If you do not have the ability to comprehend the truth, you will not know which truth principles are involved in the matter before you. Of course, you will not know what truth principles you should adhere to either. In that case, you will act blindly—either following regulations, or acting based on notions and imaginings, or otherwise recklessly committing misdeeds. Not understanding the truth leads to these consequences, these manifestations.