Many spiritual traditions caution against judgment.\u00a0 It is certainly not consistent with being loving, much less unconditionally loving. In a way it suggests that we know what something or someone should be or do\u2014and we never have the whole context of what God\u2019s plan is or what anyone else\u2019s process and evolution is.<\/p>\n
Judgment goes beyond evaluation in that is locks the person or thing that we are judging into a kind of frozen place in time and eternity that doesn\u2019t allow for change or growth or evolvement. It is not just about behavior\u2014it is about who or what it is. In a way, by judging we add to the negativity by holding that lesser picture of what is rather than holding a Vision of what the person or situation can be.\u00a0 When we don\u2019t hold the vision of the person as a soul or a situation as only a step in the evolution of mankind on the planet, we reify them\/it and add energy to the current state rather than holding a vibration of love and goodness to which they\/it can evolve.<\/p>\n
More than that, our againstness hits against what is\u2014it is stuck energy. It can\u2019t go anywhere\u2014it can\u2019t contribute to the motion or evolvement of the thing we evaluate as bad or evil or wrong.<\/p>\n
When I look beneath the judgment I am holding, I almost always find that there is a vision underlying the judgment.\u00a0 It is often my love for and valuing of that vision which can generate an attachment to the judgment. I feel that if I give up the judgment, I am denying or abandoning the vision.<\/p>\n
In fact, it is just the opposite.\u00a0 When I focus on the vision that underlies the judgment I have, instead of directing my energy against the thing\/person I am judging, I can instead do a kind of aikido move and direct the energy, even just as an intention, towards the vision instead.\u00a0 I can hold the vibration of the vision I want to see manifest.\u00a0 I can direct my actions to creating that in my life or in the world. The energy can now flow freely towards something.\u00a0 I can experience that freedom instead of the frustration of the energy not going anywhere.<\/p>\n
In addition, I can examine the judgment and see if there is anything about what I am judging that I may be projecting.\u00a0 That is, what part of me does the person, situation, behavior reflect that is part of me\u2014and a part I may be rejecting and not owning.\u00a0 It may show up in a microscopic way or what I think of as a homeopathic form.\u00a0 It may be something that is much subtler than what I am disapproving of in the world\u2014but it is still part of me.\u00a0 And it is a part of me that I can embrace and re-own and learn to love\u2014another way that I can learn to increase my loving for myself by incorporating that shadow self.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I may judge something that I don\u2019t do \u2014that I don\u2019t even allow myself to do.\u00a0 Do I resent when someone always tries to grab center stage\u2014because I am afraid to be seen or have too much self-doubt to ever be the center of attention?<\/p>\n
For most people there will often be things in ourselves, in others and in the world which are not to our liking and that we think could be more loving, uplifting and harmonious, peaceful.\u00a0 When we focus on the vision of what we want more of and align our intentions and actions towards that, we can not only maintain those same qualities within ourselves but can direct our energy in a way it can flow to manifest that vision.<\/p>\n