Question: How can I stop judging things as “good or bad” or “right or wrong?”

Answer: On the cover of my first book, The Blessings Already Are, there’s a quote from Rumi, which is “Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” What do you suppose that means?

There is a state or a place, a reality, where there is no disagreement. When we’re there, we’re in a communion and a great understanding that the experience is good for us. It’s not about a right or a wrong, a black or a white, or anything like that. It’s something that transcends our judgment of that experience.

One of the ways I look at the blessings is they have a transcendental quality that goes beyond how we experience a situation. So if we’re having difficulty, that’s a blessing. If it’s the greatest moment of our life, that’s a blessing. Our willingness to look for the blessings makes a big difference in our ability to find the blessings in each experience.

You can a look at an experience so that you see parts of it coming out of the negative power and then other parts coming out of God. Could that happen? It happens all the time. Then it just becomes a choice. What do you choose to relate to?

In each experience is the choice of whether or not to judge it. There’s place within that you’re invited to experience which would be to stay out of judgment. You can say to yourself, “It’s not really my business to decide was that right or wrong or should they have done that or shouldn’t they? I’m staying out of that.”

I’m reminded of this story of when John-Roger was working in a psychiatric institution. There was a woman throwing around feces, and for the most part everybody working there was standing as far back as possible. But J-R got dressed up for the occasion and got into it with her and threw some feces back. She reacted with, “What are you doing? You’re not supposed to do that. I’m the one that’s supposed to do that.”

You might say, “Well, I’d never do such a thing. That’s horrible. That’s so degrading.” But I found that story so amazingly loving. I bet it wasn’t in any manual for psychiatric workers that told him to do that. J-R’s evolvement in loving was so awake that he found a way. He found a way that nobody else did.

These are the points of inspiration, when you turn towards the highest consciousness which is always going to register in loving. You’ll never be wrong if you do it in some loving form. So whatever comes forward, even if you have nightmares and murderous thoughts, it doesn’t mean you’re working for the negative power. That’s just a little test, or maybe even a big test, but a test you can pass by loving whatever it is.

In Fulfilling Your Spiritual Promise, John-Roger wrote, “I call the negative power ‘the loyal forces of the opposition,’ since its job is to make sure we learn our lessons so that we can go back into the higher spiritual realms. It does much to strengthen us, and in this way it can be seen as positive” (p. 44-45).

I think one of the temptations is to think we are so evolved that we would never have violent thoughts. But no one is exempt from the negative creation. There’s no need to find out where the negative thoughts came from. Just love those violent thoughts by letting them go and giving them to God to handle. And then forget all about them.

So whatever it is that comes to you, bless it. Make that your request also to God as your partner. To me, that’s God’s will. That’s God’s work. It translates in a very simple way to the greater good. And the greater good would be to drop whatever’s unnecessary in your consciousness so that you can move onto what is most needed for your learning and growth.

What we’re doing to come in to the fullness of soul transcendence is to release every single one of these negative episodes in our existence. But you don’t need to take inventory for every single item in your warehouse of negative expressions. You can simply forgive it all and give it up to God. Like, “God, help me release this without having to visit every single moment and episode of my negative expression.”

Then look for the good in your midst. Focus on the good until you give and contribute to the greater good. It’s as simple as making the situation you are in better than it was a moment ago. Become part of the solution. Help clean up when there is a mess. Give some strength to those who can use it. Cheer somebody up, perhaps by starting with yourself. Be the bearer of a smile and good tidings.

I don’t spend a lot of time trying to order, label and categorize negative expression. I realize my position is that I’m going to love it, whatever it is, wherever it came from, however it happened, whoever did it. You can give me all the facts and information. But I’m taking the position of, “I love it. I forgive it. I let it go. I’m moving onto something better.” My faith and trust is in knowing God has already prepared the way.

Baruch Bashan