When it comes to the topic of the ability to evaluate and appreciate things, even if it does not involve the issue of pursuing the truth to cast off corrupt dispositions, in terms of human life itself, if you do not possess the ability to appreciate things, you have no viewpoints on anything you see, nor any opinions at the level of thought—looking at everything as though there were a layer of gauze covering your eyes, being unable to see that there is a problem there—and you only know the process of the unfolding of the entire event or the people, events, and things involved, but you do not know what the essence of the problem is, or what the related thoughts and viewpoints of people are, then this indicates you are a person with poor caliber. This is because you have no thoughts whatsoever regarding all the problems in your life. You do not know how to consider, think, or define the problems at the level of thought. You do not know how to consider, based on your own age, the maturity of your humanity, or your past experiences, what kind of problem something actually is, what you should learn and draw from it, what impact it has on you, what lesson it brings to you, from what perspective you should view and handle this kind of problem, or how you should act and what you should avoid if you encounter this kind of matter again. You lack all of these reflections. No matter what happens to you, you are as simple-minded as an animal and have no viewpoints. No matter how old you live to be or how much you have experienced, you still do not know how to think about problems. You do not know how to use your own past experiences, your knowledge, and what you have learned to reflect on problems in various aspects. People like this are those with poor caliber. For people with poor caliber, never mind having entry into the truth—even in trivial matters of daily life, they cannot derive any patterns. Even if they live to be forty or fifty, or seventy or eighty years old, they are still muddleheaded people who cannot share any experiences. Such individuals are slow-witted people, who have no thoughts. Because their caliber is poor and they lack the ability to evaluate and appreciate things, no matter how old such people live to be, they never look at anything at the level of thought. They do not know how to view things and cannot see through anything. Therefore, when assessing someone’s caliber, specifically whether they have the ability to evaluate and appreciate things, do not look at their age or their past experiences. Instead, what should you look at? (We should look at whether they have thoughts.) That is, you should look at whether, after they have experienced various people, events, and things for forty or fifty years, they have any personal apprehension at the level of thought, as well as whether their past experiences involve the value of human life, the path that people take, or things related to the depths of human thought and their spiritual world. If their experiences only pertain to certain matters and do not involve things at the level of thought, then they do not possess the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. For example, some people often say, “In our generation, we lived hand to mouth. It wasn’t easy eating something good; we could only eat some meat during the New Year or other festivals. People from our generation were so simple and guileless, and we dressed so plainly.” They go on about such things as these. To which others say, “Why is your generation so worth reminiscing about? Are there things that we young people can draw from and that we can communicate about at the level of thought?” They reply, “In our time, when we went to the battlefield to fight, we went for days without sleeping because we had to march continuously. Sometimes we didn’t have a single meal all day. When we reached the camp, the new recruits would go straight to sleep, but we veterans would eat first and then sleep. Otherwise, we’d have to hit the road again after mealtime, and we’d end up going hungry on the road.” The others say, “This is just an incident; it doesn’t count as something at the level of thought. Share something that is worth us young people learning, or some lessons that can help us avoid taking detours, and prevent us from making mistakes or committing low-level errors due to foolishness.” They say, “At that time, we weren’t like young people nowadays who are lazy, gluttonous, and love ease while hating work. Back then, we just wanted to endure more hardship, do more work, and perform well so that we could gain the attention of our leaders and get promoted.” Is there anything at the level of thought in these words? (No.) After hearing this, does it make you feel like these are the words of a spiritual mentor, the kind of inspirational talk that nonbelievers say? Does it broaden your thinking, elevate your level of thought, enhance your ability to be cognizant of things, or help you discover some new things or correct thoughts and viewpoints that you had never thought of before? (No.) Then do such people have the ability to evaluate and appreciate things? No matter how you ask them about matters involving the level of thought, you won’t get anything out of them. It’s not really that they are unwilling to speak; it’s that they simply don’t have anything inside. This is what it means to have poor caliber. Even when they reach fifty or sixty years old, they have no thoughts or viewpoints; they just muddle through life like this. They do not know that living is not only about pursuing prospects, a good family, a good job, or a good life, but that there are also matters at the level of thought that require reflection, pondering, and constant distillation within the depths of the heart. They do not know that on the path of human life, people will encounter many unknown things, nor do they know how they should face them. When nothing happens to them, they do not think or contemplate in advance to avoid taking detours or going down the wrong path. They also do not know why they acted a certain way in some things they have experienced, whether acting that way was right or wrong, or how they should walk the path ahead to live happily, live with peace of mind, and live a life of value, not living in vain. Because such people have poor caliber, they do not think about these issues. When these people reach sixty years old, they just sit there reminiscing, saying, “When I was young, I was beautiful and talented; so many people pursued me! Ah, in my youth….” They only ever bring up stories from their glory days, those things that are not worth mentioning. People with poor caliber, no matter how old they live to be, do not think about issues related to human life, the path people take, or how people should live. They do not think about what kind of viewpoints people should have when dealing with various matters. As a result, no matter how they live, their level of thought will not improve, their thoughts will lack substance, their spiritual world will remain impoverished, and they will have no genuine life experience. This is what it means to have poor caliber. When you interact with such people, at twenty years old, they are quite childish and simple, they are full of sap and have a big temper. By the time they are thirty, they are still the same rotten way. At fifty, the way they speak is still at the same level—they only know how to say a few simple phrases. Their faces have more wrinkles and age spots, and they have more white hair. They clearly have some age, but they have no thoughts or viewpoints. When conversing with others, they never have anything to say. All these years of their life have been wasted, and they have made no progress. People with poor caliber are like this in life, and if they believe in God, their manifestations from beginning to end are the same. When they first believe in God in their twenties, they are like this. By the time they are thirty or fifty, they are still like this, having realized no progress at all. The things they say are still the same as before. It’s just that they’ve experienced some things while believing in God, have come to understand some words and doctrines, and can speak spiritual terminology more completely. However, they have no real experiential understanding. Their thoughts still lack depth, their viewpoints on things have not changed, their knowledge of God and the truth has not increased, and their knowledge of themselves has not grown. They haven’t undergone any change, right? (Right.) Accumulating some words and doctrines or spiritual terminology through memory or the tempering of time is not change, is not progress, and it certainly is not gain. This is precisely the manifestation of people with poor caliber. No matter how many major ups and downs they go through, or how many setbacks, failures, or frustrations they experience, they do not learn any lessons or gain any experience, and cannot obtain anything beneficial. Once something is over, it is simply over for them—they only go through the process and ultimately achieve nothing. Such people can be described as very pitiful. We say that such people have very poor caliber precisely because they lack the ability to evaluate and appreciate things. Even less can it be said that they have any ability to comprehend the truth, nor can they be said to have any change.

For people with poor caliber, in terms of the ability to evaluate and appreciate things, they do not measure up. As for those without any caliber, they lack the ability to evaluate and appreciate things even more—they cannot appreciate things, and even more so they cannot evaluate them. When you share your thoughts and viewpoints about something, people with poor caliber will be stunned as they listen, showing no reaction. In their hearts, they think, “There are thoughts and viewpoints in this? How come I didn’t perceive this?” Even if they can understand a little of what you say, they can only listen to it as words and doctrines or a formula. As for people without caliber, when they hear others fellowship about the thoughts and viewpoints within something, or the essence of the problem and the stance people should take in regard to it, they cannot understand it. They only feel that it is somewhat profound, but it is beyond their grasp. The more you fellowship about thoughts and understanding, the more confused they become. They feel, “How has this ordinary matter become complicated? Why can’t I make out anything about thoughts, viewpoints, or stances? What stance? We just have to believe in God properly and do our duties properly, and God will approve. Why is it that the longer one believes in God the more complicated things get? Listening to you, it sounds like no one can enter the kingdom!” Can you communicate with such people? (No.) Not only can you not communicate with them, but they can also say some unreasonable things: “Are those thoughts and viewpoints you mentioned really so good and so correct? I don’t think so! People can never do without money. People should always eat well and enjoy good things. Without money to spend or good food to eat, how can anyone do their duty?” What kind of logic is this? They say, “You are always talking about human life, about people’s values, thoughts, and viewpoints, and the path people take. Why don’t you talk about eating and dressing? Why don’t you talk about how to take care of your body so you can do your duty well?” What they are thinking about are these things—can they still comprehend the truth? You simply cannot communicate with such people. When you try to talk with them, they just talk about making money. They treat earning money, living their life, pursuing the world, and spending their lives eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves as the major matters of human life and the path that people should walk in life. As for what people should pursue or gain by believing in God, these things do not exist in their thoughts or consciousness. They believe that no matter how many years people believe in God, they still need to eat and live, and that to live well, you cannot do without money—having money means having a good life, and without money, life cannot go on. This is their logic; such people are prone to distortions. People who are prone to distortions have no correct thoughts or viewpoints; they are like people without souls. What difference is there between the lives of such people and those of pigs or dogs? (There is no difference.) If you try to educate a dog or cat to make it obedient and act like a well-behaved child, can it understand? (It cannot.) What can a dog at most understand? If you tell it “sit” and then give it a piece of meat, it will remember. After that, as soon as you say “sit,” no matter how far away it is, it will immediately sit down and wait for you to feed it meat. A dog can remember this mechanical action; as long as you let it know that sitting leads to a reward, it will obey. Its thoughts are that simple. So, how big is the difference between the thoughts of people without caliber and those of animals? (There is no significant difference.) After animals finish eating each day, they go out to play. When it’s time to eat again and you call them back, they immediately come running. Whether you tie them up or have them sit, they will comply. Why is that? Because there is food to eat. They are more than happy to obey your commands for the sake of that little bit of food. The thoughts of animals are this simple. To them, it is enough to hold to a regulation or formula that benefits them; they do not think about much else. Because the instincts God gives to animals are limited to these things, which are sufficient to sustain their survival, and God has not given them any commission, animals do not need to consider life, the future, their destination, or their responsibilities and obligations. They also do not need to consider what path to take or pursuing a meaningful life, and so on. But people are different. God has endowed people with various instincts and also bestowed the truth to be their life. Therefore, God has required standards for people. Thus, people should consider these issues; only doing this is conducive to their gaining the truth to be their life. This is the responsibility and obligation that people should have, and it is, of course, also their right. But if you cannot exercise this right or lack this ability to think about issues, it proves that your caliber is very poor. Among living beings at the level of humans, you belong to the category of those with poor caliber. You cannot think for yourself, and even when others explain things to you, you cannot understand. In more severe cases, you resist, mock, ridicule, or even criticize others. If your caliber is poor to this extent, it means you have no caliber at all. For example, a person without caliber reads an experiential testimony article, and you ask them, “Is this article good?” They say, “It’s quite good. Each paragraph is divided accurately, and the punctuation is mostly accurate. The first paragraph explains the time and place, the second paragraph explains the background of the characters, the third paragraph starts narrating the course of the story, and then it moves to the climax and conclusion.” If you then ask them what the author’s thoughts and viewpoints are, they say, “There are thoughts and viewpoints? The section of God’s words that the author quoted are the thoughts and viewpoints.” You ask, “Are the words of God that they quoted relevant? Are the thoughts and viewpoints they want to express accurate?” They say they don’t know. Then you ask questions like, “Is the understanding that the author shared genuine and practical? Is what they understand doctrine, or is it close to reality? Does it edify others or have value to them? Does it provide help or benefit to the readers?” They don’t know any of this and cannot perceive it. This is what it means to have very poor caliber. If you fellowship with them about the errors in the thoughts and viewpoints in the article, which parts are practical and which parts are not, they still don’t know and cannot connect it to the article. Does this show a lack of caliber? (Yes.) Even when others fellowship about the problems that exist, they still don’t know. Doesn’t this show a lack of caliber? It’s like some church leaders: When evil people or disbelievers appear in the church, they don’t know how to handle them. After you fellowship the truth principles with them, they don’t understand and ask you to give an example. After you provide an example, they still don’t know how to handle them. They say, “Please teach me. How exactly should I handle that person? Should I place them in an ordinary church, place them in a B group, or clear them out? How should I fellowship with that person? Please explain it to me word by word. I’ll record it and then follow it verbatim to handle the situation—that way, I can do it.” With them being this way, what’s the point of fellowshipping principles with them? Even when you give examples, they don’t understand and cannot handle the matter. Such people simply have no comprehension ability. In the end, they still ask, “Tell me what I should do about this present issue, and I’ll do it.” You tell them where to go to handle the matter, what to say to whom to get it done, and to what extent the matter must be handled to be considered thoroughly resolved. After you finish explaining, they seem to understand, but they still can’t handle it, and you have to find someone to cooperate with them to complete it. Such people are extremely slow-witted and lack caliber. For example, suppose that you tell people learning dance that the steps of a certain dance are very good and have them follow a video to learn them. After a few days, when you ask how they’ve progressed, some slow-witted people will say they couldn’t tell which steps were good. Even though they have teaching materials, they still can’t learn it. They don’t know which movements are good or which ones are useful, and they don’t know how to choose. What do they ultimately do? They have one tactic; they say, “Just pick a few dance steps for me to learn, and I’ll follow them—end of story.” They do have this knack; while they don’t understand principles, they have a bit of shrewdness. Aren’t they just like robots? They may have knowledge and education, but they lack the ability to evaluate and appreciate things—this is what it means to have no caliber. They don’t know why they should learn what you tell them to learn. For the things you tell them not to learn, they don’t know what’s wrong with them or why they shouldn’t learn them. Even after being told, they still can’t see it. Tell Me, do such people have caliber? (No.) Lacking the ability to be cognizant of things on their own, and lacking the ability to independently identify and judge right from wrong—this is what it means to have no caliber. Like cattle or horses, they always need someone to lead them along—are they not just tools, then? If you had caliber, would you still need someone to lead you along? What do you have a brain for, then? Your brain is useless. To put it precisely, you have no caliber. You have to listen to others and be led along by them—you are just a tool. No matter how long people like this study a certain profession or how many principles related to it they hear, they still cannot understand or grasp them. In the end, they don’t know how to apply or implement these principles. These are the kind of people with the poorest caliber—those who have no caliber. Some people say, “Don’t think that just because they lack the ability to evaluate and appreciate things and always follow your lead in doing their duty, it means they have poor caliber. In fact, they only lack caliber when it comes to comprehending the truth. When it comes to matters involving their own interests, they always think of every which way to protect themselves from suffering any loss. In these things, they are sharp—they are definitely not slow-witted people. In the church, they seem slow-witted, but if they were to return to the world, they would not be slow-witted. In the things they enjoy, they have thoughts and created works; perhaps they could have some success.” There are also people who commit reckless misdeeds in the church, and everyone says they have poor caliber, but they themselves are unconvinced: “You say I have poor caliber, but if I were in the nonbelieving world, I could still make money and earn a living. I could still flourish—it’s not a given that I’d do worse than others!” Does the nonbelieving world measure everything by the truth principles? Does it rely on God’s words as a foundation? If not, then even if their created works can hold up in the nonbelieving world, it does not prove that they have caliber. For instance, some people paint, and at first glance, the colors, composition, lighting, proportions of the figures, and other aspects of their paintings seem quite good. However, when they paint certain ancient saints in God’s house, problems arise. I say, “This painter’s works used to sell quite well among nonbelievers, and people appreciated them. But why do I find their depictions of Abraham, Job, and Noah so awkward? How did these three people from different periods end up looking like they all belong to one family? Those were ancient Israelites, and the bone structure of their facial features should reflect the characteristics of that ethnic group. Even if they don’t know the personality of each figure, at the very least, they should understand what the skeletal structure and features of that ethnicity are like. No matter which period the person they’re painting belongs to, their ethnic characteristics should be emphasized and made evident through their hair, facial features, eye color, and face shape.” Yet how is it that the figures they painted from these different periods, despite being of different ages, all have bone structures that don’t resemble those of their ethnic group? They all have rectangular faces; the younger ones just have fewer wrinkles and darker hair, while the older ones have more wrinkles, darker skin, and more white hair. The features of these figures are basically all the same: broad, rectangular faces, tall statures, and particularly strong builds. I say, “Why do all these figures look the same? They are too similar and lack distinguishing features.” The painter themselves doesn’t notice the problem. Perhaps they’ve painted too many works of this kind, their technique has become too polished, and their style has become fixed. Whenever they paint figures, the men almost always have the same face shape, and they can’t capture the unique facial features of different characters. Isn’t their ability to evaluate and appreciate things a bit poor? (Yes.) After finishing the painting, they don’t know whether the facial features they’ve depicted align with the skeletal characteristics of that ethnic group; they aren’t sure about those characteristics. Would you say their caliber in this area is average or poor? (Poor.) Can they correct it after others give them suggestions? Once, I gave them suggestions, but when I later saw their work, it was still the same. At that point, there’s nothing more to say—explaining further would still be beyond their grasp.

When it comes to issues related to people’s ability to evaluate and appreciate things, these are the manifestations of people across different levels of caliber. People with good caliber can not only appreciate things but also evaluate them. Those with even better caliber, upon encountering correct thoughts and viewpoints, will advocate for them and share or provide them to others, and when they encounter incorrect thoughts and viewpoints, they can identify and correct them. People with average caliber have a certain ability to appreciate things but lack the ability to evaluate things—they cannot identify things at the level of thought. People with poor caliber do not understand things at the level of thought, so they cannot be said to have any ability to identify things. People without caliber cannot understand these matters at all. Even if someone explains these to them, they still cannot understand what the thoughts and viewpoints being discussed actually are. To them, it’s like hearing a story about another planet—it’s completely beyond their grasp. These are the different characteristics displayed by people of varying caliber in terms of the ability to evaluate and appreciate things.