Children in my part of the world have a saying: “If you say it onto others, you say it onto yourself.” But it is not until they grow up that they realize the true weight of these words.
We all judge others, it’s a habit. We like to judge. There is even an industry catering to our needs – the show biz. What we love about shows like American Idol is not the performances but the ability to judge those performers from the comfort of our couch. Heck, we even judge those “judgemental” judges. It’s a real thrill.
Judging is closely related to a Buddhist notion of “discriminating wisdom,” which refers to our mind’s ability to perceive all phenomena ‘as it is‘ and its ability to discern how it is all interrelated. This is our power to act in ways that are most beneficial to sentient beings at any given time. However, because of our ego and its inability to experience non dual nature of reality we tend to cling to concepts and build relationships with them, often times elevating our own superiority. This is what unenlightened judgement really is: “I know better, I am better, but if I’m clearly not better then I know who’s better than you, because I’m smart this way.” Ego, too, works in [click to continue…]
