Judgment is one of those things that I come by naturally. I constantly look at the things around me and make judgments based on my own experience or my world view. Thinking that if everyone one would just do things 'my way' all would be well.
As I seek a deeper relationship with my Creator, I find the more I judge people, places and things whether it be positively or critically, the more I judge myself or feel that I am being judged.
In all major faith traditions, we are discouraged from judging others.
Confucianism considers judgment a disease of men:
"The disease of men is that they neglect their own field, and go to weed the fields of others, and that what they require of others is great, while what they lay upon themselves is light"(Mencius 7:2.34.3).
The Islam faith states: "He who sees his own faults has no time to see the faults of others" (Islam, Instructions of Ali Ibn-abi Talib, WR 285).
Wow, doesn't this strike a cord. How many times do I presume or assume what is good for you when I can't even keep my own house in order. I used to make it a habit to share with people how great their life would be if only they did things 'my way'.
I was jolted into reality when I was sharing 'my way' with three other women, and they said, "Becky, if your life is a reflection of what "your way" has to offer, we are not interested." This statement forever changed my life.
After I picked up my jaw and my pride and whaled myself to sleep, I heard what they said. My life or my field was so unkempt and weedy that I better stay in my own yard.
This lesson has served me well. I attempt to no longer presume to know what is best for anyone nor assume that my way is any better than yours. I take the time to hear your story, to seek to understand your way, to open my heart to other possibilities. The results are magical.
What I know is we are all doing the best we can with the information or the consciousness that we have at the moment.
Take the time to examine your own field, if it is like mine, you will be so busy, you won't notice your neighbor's.
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