When I went through a trying time in the math department, my brother said, “Don’t care what other people think.” He said it because he cared about me.  But I needed to learn how to operationalize it.  I didn’t want to grow colder, which seemed to be a byproduct of not caring.

But after some reflection, I think I know what “not caring” truly means.

“Not caring” means not noticing anyone’s flaws or negativities.  Moreover, it means embracing others’ inner beauty, no matter what they may do.  Finally, it means loving others unconditionally, letting go of our ego, and embracing humility.  In other words, it means selflessly growing from experience.

It also means growing closer to infinite love, embracing only positive, loving, and joyful emotions.  That all involves constantly refuting any thought that doesn’t generate love for every living soul, including the spiders and mosquitos, who also possess souls of infinite love.

I saw one near-death experience story that said every act of unkindness filters down to at least two hundred other people.  But the opposite is true, too: the kindness we give others filters up to at least two hundred people, but in a beautiful, miraculous way.

“Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.” That’s excellent advice.  It means “not to care what others think,” but with a sincere and caring agenda.  This Japanese saying goes to the heart of loving unconditionally.  It encourages us to overlook flaws or insults from others and speak only positive, uplifting words.  It’s missing one component: think no evil, but I think that’s implied.  After all, everything that occurs is a learning ground for us to arrive at a place of higher love.

And here’s another reason why it’s crucial not to react to offenses with anything but love:

In Sikhism, they believe there exist infinite dimensions to the afterlife.  So, in other words, there are increasingly better levels of heaven and worse levels of hell.  I like to consider this Earth realm as somewhere in the middle.  So, if a loved one demonstrates flaws, it is crucial to overlook them.  That’s because if that loved one was in the hell realm, the flaws revealed might be magnified a million-fold.  But does that mean I stop loving them?  No, it’s critical to overlook the flaws in this realm so that it’s easier to ignore any ghastly flaws should we meet in lower realms.

And then, I consider it critical to overlook everyone’s flaws (except my own).  That way, it’s easier to love everyone.  If we encountered flawed souls (and everyone is flawed!) in the highest heaven, they’d be so easy to love.  I yearn to give everyone in every realm that natural flow of love.  (So, here’s a joyous shout-out to Sikhism for its beautiful perspective on infinite dimensions.)

So, if people make you feel bad, don’t simply “not care” or “ignore” it.  Instead, go extremely positive with it.  Find deep empathy.  Pour on incredible love.  And see how you can become a better person from it.  You’ll instantly grow more beautiful by finding ways to love despite slights or negativity.

That’s the way to “not care what others think.” It’s to overlook slights and flaws while embracing the sheer beauty of every soul.  By doing that, at least two hundred people might feel your joy.  And bringing others joy makes you more beautiful, for you are made of genuine love.