There's a medieval Jain concept called 'ahimsa of the mind' — the idea that cruelty begins not in actions but in how we mentally classify other people. The Jain philosopher Umasvati argued in the Tattvarthasutra that every living being carries its own karmic perspective, what he called a 'naya' — a partial but legitimate view of reality. The practical implication is uncomfortable: when you find someone difficult or frustrating, your mental act of reducing them to that label is itself a form of harm, done before you've said or done anything. Kindness, on this account, isn't warmth added on top of normal thinking — it's a discipline of resisting the snap classification, holding the person as more than your current read of them. Today, the next time someone irritates you, try this: before responding, name one thing about their perspective that makes internal sense, even if it's inconvenient. That's not softness. That's precision.

Who are you mentally 'filing away' right now — and what would you have to give up to hold them as genuinely more complex than that?

Drawing from Jain Philosophy (Anekantavada — the doctrine of many-sidedness) — Umasvati (Tattvarthasutra, c. 2nd–5th century CE)