Principles for Discerning People’s Caliber

These past days, our fellowship has been about the topic of how to discern caliber in various aspects, right? (Yes.) Through our fellowship on the specific manifestations of various aspects and levels of caliber, can you derive what is good caliber, what is average caliber, what is poor caliber, and what is a complete lack of caliber? We fellowshipped quite a lot about this aspect, so you need to be able to summarize this content and then match it to the specific manifestations in daily life. In this way, your evaluation of yourselves and of others will be relatively more accurate. If you do not know how to summarize, when encountering certain people in daily life, you will not be able to discern them, and you will also not be able to discern your own manifestations and revelations in various aspects. Wouldn’t that mean you listened in vain? You must be adept at summarizing. What does summarizing mean? It means finding, within the specific content of all these various aspects, the principles for discerning or understanding different kinds of things. In this way, the purpose of summarizing is achieved. When you have found the principles, you will be able to use the truth principles to view people and things, and you will be able to discern others and also discern yourself. This proves that you understand the truth. When you understand an aspect of the truth and are able to apply it, you will achieve entry into the truth reality in this aspect. So, shouldn’t we summarize the specific content of various aspects of caliber? (Yes.) We have to summarize it. Only in this way can you clearly understand the truth principles related to caliber.

Using the Truth Principles to Evaluate People’s Caliber

I. Manifestations of Good Caliber

You need to know the principles in order to carry out an overall evaluation of people with good caliber, right? (Right.) We have fellowshipped on many specific manifestations in detail, using these specific manifestations to evaluate what a person’s caliber is like. So, what are the overall manifestations of people with good caliber? They have certain specific principles in their hearts for conducting themselves and acting. Even when they do not understand the truth or have not yet heard the truth, they have some of the most basic principles for viewing people and things, as well as for conducting themselves and acting. That is, they have certain boundaries for their self-conduct. To a certain extent, these boundaries relatively align with or are close to the truth principles and, at the very least, are close to the standards of the conscience and reason of humanity. After they come to understand some truths through eating and drinking God’s words and accepting the watering and provision of God’s words, even if they have not experienced many matters or special environments, they can still understand and grasp some truth principles in their hearts. In actual life, they are then able to apply these principles to handle various people, events, and things. Of course, when they handle various people, events, and things, it is not just about handling simple, single-faceted issues. Instead, when they encounter various complex and intertwined people, events, and things, they can apply God’s words and the truth principles to treat and handle them. This is a manifestation of people with good caliber when it comes to matters involving principles. Because their caliber is good, through the watering and provision of God’s words, they can find for themselves the principles within God’s words for viewing and handling various people, events, and things. People with good caliber like this can independently take charge of work, completing each task on their own. This is a manifestation of good caliber. What is the main manifestation? (The main manifestation is that they can, through the watering and provision of God’s words, find for themselves the principles within God’s words for viewing and handling various people, events, and things, being able to solve problems on their own and independently take charge of work.) Exactly—through eating and drinking God’s words, they can understand the truth and find the principles for viewing and handling various people, events, and things, being able to shoulder work on their own. Only this is what it means to have good caliber. Previously, we said that being able to shoulder work on one’s own requires possessing various abilities. Now, using the truth principles to measure this, this is a manifestation of people with good caliber.

II. Manifestations of Average Caliber

What are the manifestations of people with average caliber? They are certainly much worse than those with good caliber. However, regardless of whether people have good or average caliber, before they receive the provision of God’s words and understand the truth, they will not have the correct principles for conducting themselves. Attaining a grasp of the principles for conducting oneself must be done on the foundation of receiving the provision of God’s words and coming to understand the truth. Only through actual experiences can one gradually come to understand the principles for conducting oneself. If it is a person with average caliber, when reading God’s words, they can only understand the basic meaning and the required standards expressed in God’s words. They understand these things in terms of doctrine, but when faced with situations, they are still unable to apply the truth principles. Only through the guidance and provision of others, or after experiencing many things, can they come to understand some basic truth principles. What does “basic” refer to here? It means that the principles they understand and grasp are primarily single-faceted and relatively simple principles, and enable them to handle and resolve ordinary problems, but when faced with complex situations or contexts, they do not know how to act according to principles. They must rely on guidance and help from people who understand the truth to deal with some complex problems or multifaceted tasks. These are the manifestations of people with average caliber. What is prominent in the manifestations of people with average caliber? They cannot independently understand the truth or find principles of practice within God’s words. They cannot accurately understand what God’s required standards truly are. They need someone to fellowship with them, support them, and help vet things, and clearly tell and remind them. Only in this way do they know: “This is a truth principle. I must remember it. I must practice according to this. I must implement the work according to this work arrangement.” This is in terms of their comprehension. Secondly, in terms of doing work, when doing work for which they have no experience, they cannot quickly apply the truth principles to view or handle various people, events, and things. They can only handle some single-faceted work based on understanding a few basic truth principles. When faced with complex work involving multiple truth principles, they need others to vet things, and support and provide for them. These are the manifestations of people with average caliber. In terms of personal comprehension, they need others to fellowship with them and help vet things. They need to listen a lot—not just to one aspect of the truth but to various aspects, and in the end they need someone to tell them what the basic principles of the various aspects of the truth are in order for them to understand some of them in their hearts. However, when they encounter complex situations, they again do not know how to comprehend and still need to seek. This is in terms of comprehension. As for handling various matters in work or actual life, their ability to handle problems can only reach the level of adhering to the truth principles to handle single-faceted work. When faced with complex work involving multiple truth principles, they find it somewhat difficult and need to seek and have someone vet things. They themselves cannot guarantee that they can do the work well and cannot determine whether what they do aligns with the truth principles. Sometimes, there will be deviations in their work. However, these deviations are merely deviations and not distortions. If they were distortions, then it would indicate poor caliber. There is a distinction between deviations and distortions: Deviations mean that the work is not entirely in line with the truth principles, is not done adequately, or lacks sufficient consideration, but the direction is not wrong. It’s just that, because they have insufficient work experience, or a rather superficial understanding of the truth and a grasp of the truth principles that is not sufficiently precise, their work is not sufficiently up to standard. It may approach being up to standard but still requires improvement to be fully up to standard. These are the manifestations of people with average caliber. What is the main characteristic of this kind of person? (It is that they cannot independently do an item of work properly; they need help and support from others to finish some work.) Their characteristic is that, whether in terms of comprehension or doing their duty, they are relatively inferior. They generally cannot independently do an item of work properly, requiring support, vetting, and prompting from others. Therefore, the basic reason that people with average caliber should possess is to seek more and wait more when doing things. When they cannot see through something, they should immediately and humbly seek—either searching for the truth principles in God’s words to serve as a basis for themselves or seeking from the higher-ups—and not act blindly or in a muddleheaded manner. After working for a period of time, if you find yourself confused about many things, immediately summarize and record them, and seek from the higher-ups. The purpose is to have those above you vet and check whether the work you’ve done during this period contains any deviations or gaps. Do not be too self-righteous, thinking that you have work experience, and do not feel too good about yourself. You must have self-awareness. The manifestations of average caliber have already been discussed, so what are the characteristics of people with average caliber? (They cannot independently do work; they need others to support, help, and vet things.) And what are their characteristics in terms of comprehending God’s words? (In terms of comprehending God’s words, they can only comprehend some basic principles but are unable to practically apply them in the work.) And what are their characteristics in terms of work capability? (In terms of work capability, people with average caliber cannot quickly apply the truth principles to view or handle various issues. Furthermore, they can only maintain a single item of work; when it comes to multiple items of work, they cannot grasp the principles. They are unable to prioritize various items of work by importance or urgency to complete them well, let alone reasonably arrange the work. They must have someone vet things and guide their direction, and constantly help and support them.) That’s right. People with average caliber can independently do some single-faceted work or, on the foundation of having a certain level of work experience, handle some simple work. However, when faced with complex issues, especially work involving multiple truth principles, they become confused and do not know how to practice. One moment, they think it should be done this way, and the next moment, they think it should be done that way, but they do not know just which way aligns with the truth principles. They are unable to evaluate the consequences that may arise after the task is eventually completed. In such situations, they are left without a path. People with average caliber can be competent for a single item of work, but when faced with multiple items of work or slightly more complex work, they become confused. For example, some leaders and workers among you can handle one item of work when it is assigned to them, but if they are assigned two or three items of work, they cannot manage them. Even though they want to do them well, they cannot achieve it. When they are busy with work, as soon as someone brings up one problem or another, they become confused and do not know how to resolve them. As a result, none of the items of work are done well. These are the manifestations of people with average caliber. People with average caliber cannot simultaneously shoulder two or three items of work. Especially when they encounter complex or special situations, they immediately become confused and do not know what to do. As a result, the work they could have done well is not done well, and the items of work they are responsible for encounter trouble and are delayed. Therefore, people with average caliber cannot shoulder two or three items of work and are only suited for simple, individual items of work. Some leaders and workers always think of doing work as very simple. When other people point out problems, they are always indifferent and do not see them as problems, even thinking that there’s something wrong with those people’s heads and that they’re making things too complicated. In the end, major problems arise, and they are unable to resolve them and only then report them to the higher-ups. Such leaders and workers have too little experience and lack insight. In their work, they always assume everything will go smoothly, merely adhering to some regulations and stubbornly sticking to a single path. No matter how serious the problems that arise are, they fail to realize them; even more so, they fail to realize that these problems will delay the overall work if they go unresolved. These are the manifestations of people with average caliber.

Generally, if people with average caliber are up to standard in all aspects of their humanity, they can basically be competent for single-faceted work. The reason I say they cannot independently complete comprehensive work is that their caliber only allows them to do well in single-faceted work. When it comes to certain work related to their interests, hobbies, and strengths, in terms of their caliber, they can be competent for it. However, when faced with the complexities of multifaceted work, they become confused. Even if they have some practical experience, their caliber is not adequate for the task. Some people say, “Is this because I’m young?” No, it is not. If your caliber is average, even when you reach your forties or fifties, you still will not be competent for shouldering multifaceted work. Why do I say this? After accumulating some experience through actually performing work, you may become capable of handling certain single-faceted work. However, you are only able to independently complete the work well in situations where you have guidance, someone to vet things, or follow-up from others—you remain forever unable to shoulder multifaceted work independently. This indicates you have average caliber. Some people, after accumulating some experience through many years of undergoing various situations, and after coming to understand some truth principles, still cannot shoulder multifaceted work, especially work where they must take charge of it independently. When they encounter complex situations, they become confused and cannot prioritize tasks by importance or urgency. Such people definitely have average caliber. Work experience only accounts for one aspect of a person’s work capability; it is not the dominant factor. The dominant factor is a person’s caliber and their abilities in various aspects. Work experience merely provides some reference. Of course, work experience is also valuable because it arises from personal experience, but this practical work experience cannot enable you to more accurately grasp the principles of multifaceted work. If your caliber is good and you truly understand the truth principles, even if you have no work experience or your personal experience is not extensive, you can still shoulder overall work on your own and independently take charge of work. However, people with average caliber cannot complete overall work on their own; they can only complete single-faceted work and need frequent prompting, vetting, help, and guidance. Therefore, for those of you with average caliber, do not think that being able to do well in certain single-faceted work means you can be competent for multifaceted work or take charge of work independently. This is an illusion and an incorrect understanding. There is a gap between being able to complete certain single-faceted work on your own and being able to complete multifaceted work on your own—that is, being able to take charge of work independently. This is something you will gradually come to know through experience. These words might not be easy to understand—only those who have served as leaders or workers for many years and have practical experience can understand them. Ordinary brothers and sisters may not understand, right? Leaders and workers who have shouldered multifaceted work have practical experience and understand the differences within this—they have principles in how they do their work. People with average caliber, however, fall short of this. The manifestations of people with average caliber have thus been fully summarized.

III. Manifestations of Poor Caliber

Next, let’s summarize the manifestations of people with poor caliber. The manifestations of people with poor caliber are certainly worse than those of people with average caliber. What are the manifestations of people with poor caliber? They are that, through their own seeking or eating and drinking of God’s words, although they can understand on a literal level the meaning of each sentence and passage of God’s words—as well as what God’s intentions and requirements are—they do not understand the truth principles or God’s required standards at all. That is, they do not understand God’s required standards for how to view people and things or conduct oneself and act, nor do they understand what the truth principles involved are. When they eat and drink God’s words on their own, they cannot understand these things, and after having experiences with people, events, and things in daily life, they still do not understand. Even after fellowship, they remain unclear about what the truth principles are. This kind of person has one characteristic: Although they do not understand what the truth principles are, they can summarize the regulations they need to follow by relying on their feelings. What they can remember are regulations—a kind of rigid dogma or set of rules. For example, God fellowships on one aspect of the truth principles, giving examples of the positive manifestations, negative manifestations, pure comprehension, and distorted comprehension of people, among various other manifestations, in this regard—what do people with poor caliber ultimately gain from this? They say, “I get it now. God does not allow one to do this or that. God does not allow eating this or that. God does not allow saying these words, those words, or using those terms.” This is what they remember, and they rigidly adhere to this, thinking that these are the truth principles. They believe that if they adhere to these regulations, sayings, and ways of acting, they are adhering to the truth principles. No matter how much you tell them that this is merely adhering to regulations, they will not accept it. They insist on adhering to these regulations, believing that this is practicing God’s words and practicing the truth. There is no way to deal with such people who have no spiritual understanding. If they are willing to adhere to regulations, let them do so—as long as their intentions are not wrong, it’s okay. For example, one time I said, “When you pray, you must be devout; do not pray casually. In suitable environments, it is best to kneel to pray, to prostrate yourself before God to pray, and during prayer, you must quiet yourself before God and pray with a focused heart. This is being devout and having a God-fearing heart.” People with poor caliber, after hearing this, remembered only one regulation: “To pray with devoutness and a God-fearing heart, one must kneel.” They treated having to kneel to pray as a truth principle, and adhered to it accordingly, believing that this is practicing the truth. So, no matter the environment, they insisted on kneeling to pray. Even when they wanted to pray at mealtime, they knelt under the table to pray. While working in the fields, regardless of how dirty the ground was or what might have been in the soil, they knelt to pray. Even when faced with calamities or major events when they were among nonbelievers, if they wanted to pray to God, they had to find a hidden place to kneel and pray. They believed that only praying in this way aligned with God’s intentions, so no matter the circumstances, they had to kneel to pray. They thought that by doing this, they were practicing the truth. Furthermore, they saw themselves as the most devout people, as those who followed God’s way most closely, as those who loved the truth the most, and those who could most submit to the truth and to God’s words. You see, these are the manifestations of people with poor caliber. This kind of person is inferior and problematic in terms of comprehension. They always rigidly fix principles on a single sentence or regulation. They use the method of understanding words and knowledge to understand the truth, and, of course, they also practice the truth by adhering to regulations, words, sayings, and formalities. No matter how you fellowship about the truth principles, after hearing them, they think of them as just sentences, regulations, ways of acting, or slogans. To them, it’s merely about following rules. They see practicing the truth as this simple, as just adhering to what can and cannot be done, and that’s it.

People with poor caliber view people and things, conduct themselves, and act using regulations to measure and approach everything. Regardless of how the external environment and the surrounding people, events, and things change, they persistently adhere to one regulation without alteration. If you say that they do not love the truth and do not practice the truth, they feel wronged in their hearts. They say, “I have forsaken so much, endured so much suffering, observed so many of God’s words, and practiced so many of God’s words—so why do you say I do not love the truth and do not practice the truth? Why do you even say I adhere to regulations? I am being wronged!” What problem does it indicate that they can say such words? What are the main manifestations of people with poor caliber? In what ways is their caliber poor? They completely lack the ability to comprehend the truth, so regardless of how much any aspect of the truth is fellowshipped on, for them it is ultimately all reduced to a single way of acting, a single rule, a single phrase, or a single formality, rather than a principle. If someone says a sentence or uses a term that violates that rule of theirs, then to them, this is a violation of the truth principles. This is troublesome. Therefore, people with poor caliber, for one thing, use various regulations, formalities, mere words, and ways of acting to determine that they themselves possess the truth reality. Additionally, there is another troublesome matter: They often use the doctrines they frequently speak, and the regulations and ways of acting they often adhere to, to measure others and even to measure God. In addition to measuring, they also often judge others and God, and delimit others and God. For example, I once said, “I generally don’t dare to eat cold things. After eating them, My stomach can’t handle it, so I basically don’t eat these raw and cold foods.” Someone with poor caliber heard this and said, “I understand You now. In the future, I’ll have to make sure not to give You raw and cold foods. Under no circumstances will I ever let You eat raw and cold foods.” But when the height of summer arrived and the weather was extremely hot, and the strawberries on the farm ripened, one day I ate two strawberries at the farm, and upon seeing this, he had thoughts: “Don’t You never eat raw and cold things? Aren’t strawberries cool? Didn’t You previously say that eating cool things makes Your stomach uncomfortable? Then why are You eating strawberries today? Aren’t You lying?” He thought this in his heart; it’s just that he did not say it aloud. Tell Me, was his view of matters accurate? (No.) How was it inaccurate? (He took one thing God said as a regulation to measure things without considering the context in which God spoke.) He did not know what these words of Mine referred to. Under normal circumstances, eating raw and cold things makes My stomach uncomfortable, but there are exceptions. For instance, when I’ve been doing physical work and my body is heated up, combined with hot weather where the temperature reaches around thirty degrees, and those raw and cold foods aren’t so icy, then in such cases, I can eat a small amount. It’s not that I absolutely cannot eat them. When I said “cannot eat them” I was referring to ordinary circumstances; in sweltering summer weather, I’m fine with eating a small amount. The person with poor caliber could not understand these words. When he heard them, he treated them as a regulation or formula. When special circumstances arose, he still tried to fit them into this formula. When he saw they didn’t fit, he couldn’t wrap his head around it: “Didn’t You say You cannot eat raw and cold things? How come You eat them now? Aren’t You lying?” Where did his inadequacy lie in terms of his inability to understand My words? (He had no comprehension ability.) His inadequacy lay in his inability to judge and comprehend this matter based on changes in the environment and special circumstances. If a person with sufficient caliber sees this, they will know that after working and My body is heated, combined with hot weather and the fact that these fruits are not too cold, eating a small amount is not a problem for Me, and this is very normal. They can understand this matter and figure it out. But a person with poor caliber cannot figure it out; they get stuck on this point and develop notions in their heart. What is the consequence once notions form? It easily leads to them judging and condemning. Isn’t this the case? (Yes.) Of course, this small matter is not a major issue, but they cannot let it go in their heart: “Isn’t this lying? So You also lie!” You see, they are quick to delimit and pass judgment even on this very small matter. And this is before even touching upon major issues—they have already developed notions. People with poor caliber cannot see through even such small matters and have no discernment whatsoever. No matter what issue they are viewing, they rigidly apply regulations. They believe that only those who can adhere to regulations have the truth. Regardless of how your words and actions align with the truth principles, as long as they go against such people’s notions and imaginings and clash with the regulations they recognize, they will judge and condemn you in their hearts. Even if they do not say it aloud, they will develop notions or prejudices against you. These people with poor caliber, no matter how many sermons they hear or which aspects of the truth are fellowshipped on, always reduce everything to a single statement, way of acting, or regulation, and they adhere to these statements, ways of acting, and regulations with great enthusiasm; they even believe that they are people who practice the truth, and that they really submit to the truth and really fear God. They even sometimes move themselves to tears, thinking that they really love God and that no one in the world loves God more than they do. In actuality, what they adhere to is merely a single regulation or a single way of acting. They carry out their practice in this way and can persist in it without change, believing that they have gained the truth and been made perfect by God. Tell Me, isn’t this troublesome? (Yes.)

Do you often see instances of people adhering to regulations? (Yes.) For example, you tell the person cooking that the weather is getting hotter, so each day they should prepare some cooling herbal tea or make some cold drinks, and serve some cold dishes when making food—what Westerners refer to as salad—to stimulate people’s appetites. A person with poor caliber commits this to memory: When the weather is very hot, people should eat cold dishes and drink cold beverages. They remember this well and adhere to it diligently. However, one day, when the temperature drops, they ignore whether it is cold or not and think, “It’s summer now, so I must make cold dishes and cold drinks. I’ll make them every day for you to enjoy to the fullest, to cool you down completely. I don’t care whether or not the temperature drops!” Not only do they make cold dishes, but even for noodles, they rinse them in cold water, then follow the meal with cold drinks, even adding a few ice cubes. Some people, upon seeing this, say: “It’s so cold today. How could you still make cold dishes? And you even put ice cubes in the cold drinks—are you trying to freeze us?” The person cooking feels hurt and says, “Am I really that malicious? Summer is so hot—aren’t I just doing this to help everyone cool down and eat a bit more? Isn’t this following principles and being considerate of everyone? How am I wrong? And now you say I’m trying to freeze you—am I really that lacking in virtue? Is my humanity really that poor? You all are just too inconsiderate of me!” By making food that way, are they following principles? What is the principle here? It is to adjust the food and drink according to the season and temperature. In summer when the weather is hot, consuming relatively cool foods or drinks that can stimulate people’s appetites—this is a principle, isn’t it? It is a principle. But now, with a sudden drop in temperature, how should this principle be applied? (When the temperature suddenly drops, the one cooking can no longer stick to preparing cold dishes or salads as they were advised to before, but must adjust based on the weather, and make warm dishes instead. They cannot adhere to regulations.) That’s right. When the weather cools down occasionally in summer, you cannot stick to making cold dishes and cold drinks in summer—you cannot adhere to this regulation. When the temperature suddenly drops, the food and drink that people consume must also change immediately. Cold dishes and cold drinks should no longer be made, and ice cubes should definitely not be added. Instead, you should cook hot dishes, make some warm noodles, adjusting food and drink according to the temperature and weather. This is the principle. But the person with poor caliber, as long as it is summertime, sticks to making cold drinks and cold dishes, regardless of the temperature or weather conditions—what is the problem here? (Adhering to regulations.) This is adhering to regulations, being unable to apply principles flexibly according to the circumstances. These are the manifestations of people with poor caliber in terms of how they go about doing things—they remember one statement and treat it as a regulation to adhere to, and no matter how the environment, people, events, and things change, they cannot flexibly apply principles to handle matters. In fact, the result to be achieved by establishing principles regarding food and drink is to ensure that people eat in a way that makes their bodies feel comfortable. Such principles are not at all regulations. Those who adhere to regulations, however, without considering the temperature or weather, nor caring whether you feel comfortable eating, stick to making cold dishes and cold drinks as long as it is summer—this is called adhering to regulations. Practicing according to principles means that everything done revolves around achieving that ultimate good result. Adhering to regulations, however, disregards the result and focuses solely on formalities and ways of acting. This is exactly how people with poor caliber handle issues—no matter what things arise, they use this same approach to handle them.