Judgment
By Don Bradley 12-8-08
One of the things I’ve come to understand in this life is how to perceive reality without judgment. It’s been quite a road getting to that place. Of course, I’m talking about judging human beings, rather than say a movie or some other qualitative reality. Even then, what I might find “good” and palatable in say a sandwich might be completely revolting to someone else. So, qualitatively, even judgment is relative to the person, their circumstance, and who and what they are at the moment. As a boy, I couldn’t stand onions. Now, I use them frequently in the kitchen.
And that last point brings us presently to the main issue at hand. If we come to see that beauty is, in fact, in the eye of the beholder, than so too is the qualitative reality of human beings. What one person sees as admirable character traits, another would find displeasing and distinctly horrendous. What we perceive as “bad” and “good” is relative to who, what, and how we came to be in this life. The circumstances we were born into, how we were raised, the value systems we were given (or not) and how we’ve fared so far in any one life as we’ve moved throughout the tapestry of our life events.
It’s been my experience that one of the greatest dangers on the razor’s edge is that of falling into the trap and fallacy of judgment. In point of fact, it’s one of the more displeasing qualities of those following a so-called religious path, black or white. I’ve seen the same ferocious hate beaming from a narrow-minded Christian as I’ve seen from the darkest black magician. Same Hate. Both follow a religious path suited to their character, desires, ambitions, and soul quality. Yet, hate is hate. As jealousy is jealousy, and so on.
Judgment is only part of the inverse relationship of elitism and both stem from ego. They are qualities of the dweller on the threshold, that part of our selves that is fed on vanity, ego, self-glory, and snobbery. From these devils, we are capable of any and all heinous acts of savagery. Witness war, apartheid situations in the Middle East and in Africa, and one can easily see how these vipers are the very scourges of mankind in our time and throughout the history of the world.
From the beginning, and usually starting with a religious foundation, elitism and judgment are taught to children, whether in a synagogue, a mosque, or a church. From there, its venom spreads throughout all our lives, filling us with even more ego and doing the one thing that is truly reprehensible: separating us from our fellow man and woman.
Of course, one person may enjoy a good pizza, which another finds detestable. This is just your personality and how it’s tastes, perceptions, and life modality is at the present moment. It will change, given time. And there’s the lesson.
We are constantly changing, as do all things, should we but notice it. Some people in life start out very corrupt and selfish, but over the span of decades, the end up for giving, loving, and wonderful people - same person, different year. And once we see this, then we can understand that our lives are like pearls on a necklace. We start out at pearl number one as a lump of coal and by the last pearl, a shining diamond of great beauty. What is constant in all those various pearls? The necklace itself, the thread connecting all those pearls together. That’s you: the soul behind the body, the feelings, and mind.
It’s so obvious. As parents know, just by watching their children grow up through the school years, starting with crayons in kindergarten and graduating with honors in the upper grades. Change. It’s all about change. And it’s qualitative in the sense that life will bring those events we need to help us through our changes in the best way for the thread that runs through the core of each pearl!
Once we come to this understanding, we find ourselves free. Even in the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Koran, we read that only the One True God can judge. And upon reflective consideration, we ultimately see that this is so. Only Divinity truly knows the pearls and the thread of each of us. How we came to be, our life experiences, and where we are headed through it all.
Of course, some pearls tend to revert back to lumps of coal, based on the freewill of their life choices, choosing to repeat, over and over again, the same circumstances of their life and ignoring the lessons contained therein. For these souls, the fire of the furnace of love will ultimately bring them around, in due time and under divine supervision. There is nothing for us to do, save love all that come to us.
Also, this is means as well, that if we see murder, conspiracy, and the ills of the world, that by choosing to stay away from those self-destructive life choices is more an issue of understanding that those kinds of life choices are what they really are: self-destructive. Drinking a quart of booze a day is self-destructive. So is stealing. Or murder. The more harm it brings to others, the more self-destructive it is to the pearl in that one life. And folks who choose those paths find themselves in constant repetition of events in this life and others, depending. And each of us has the freewill to choose. And live with the consequences of those choices. As all must.:
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