What is judgment?
QUESTION: Masters, please help me out. I need some help on learning about making judgments. In some of the replied messages I read from the Masters, I see a very direct judgmental viewpoint; e.g., Sept 1st: “This man is a manipulator, a liar and a cheat;” Sept 14: “He is also paranoid, possessive/selfish and domineering.” What is judgment? Is self-making decision a form of judgment as well? ~HC, Singapore
ANSWER: Judgment occurs when the ego feels compelled to assess everything as right or wrong, or to grade people or actions as better or worse than other people or their actions. Someone who evaluates himself according to a standard of society—or, as a matter of pride, decides he is better than another human—is exhibiting judgment. If, on the other hand, he makes an observation about a person’s trait but makes no determination of the trait’s rightness or wrongness, he is noting what he sees without going into judgment.
Our answers, such as those you quoted, are simply descriptions of people about whom we are asked—a matter of identification. We do not judge the merit of their traits but merely, by identifying them, enable the asker to decide whether or not to remain in a partnership. Frequently, people on the spot cannot see what is happening around them and need an outside perspective for clarification.
When you make decisions for yourself, you are using your freedom of choice about what direction to try at that time. You are not judging something as wrong based on society’s opinions, but just going with your gut feeling that it is not the best thing for you. If, however, you act based on what you think others would want or expect you to do, you are relying on your ego and judgment to make decisions.
You can tell the difference by examining whether you are making the decisions based upon: (a) your thinking—your hard-drive mind supplied with information solely by those outside of you, or (b) your feelings, which rely on your own internal information.