Escape the Trap of Judgment.
Everyday for the last six and a half thousand years there has been war, greed, poverty, oppression and genocide. The daily lives of many people are the same on a smaller scale. The difference between world affairs and what will take part in today is often only a matter of degree.
Why does the human race live this way? The answer that is given in old religious and philosophical writings is surprisingly constant. In variably judgment comes into it. From Genesis we have ‘Do not eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ The Jewish Book of J says the same. Taoist philosophy gives many warning against judgment. There are countless other examples
Is the meaning being missed because judgment can mean so many different things in the English language? Is there a special type of judgment that fouls up the way we think and behave?
Toxic Judgment
If we do not know something we make a wild guess and claim that our wild guess is true. This is toxic judgment. It is toxic because our wild guesses are not true. They are not related to reality.
If people act on their toxic judgment the results will never be what they intended. How can they be? Their judgment is only a wild guess and has no reality attached to it. The results will have nothing to do with the reality of what was intended.
The Two Types of Toxic Judgment.
The first type of toxic judgment is claiming something to be false because it cannot be proved to be true. Scientist say there is no proof of any harm in genetic engineering therefore genetic engineering is safe.
The first part of that statement is true. There is no prove that genetic is harmful is true. But any harm there is in genetic engineering has not been invented yet. Any harm that exists in any new technology does not exist until the technology is introduced.
There was no proof that the auto industry would cause pollution because before Henry Ford that pollution did not exist. All new technologies can have major unforeseen side effects.
The second type of toxic judgemental is the reverse. It is claiming something to be true because it cannot be proved false.
Someone robs a bank and gets caught. They are tried, found guilty and thrown in jail. I see no problem with this. But often people are found guilty and thrown in jail because someone said they where thinking about robbing a bank.
How often have you been tried and found guilty for something someone said you where thinking about. This includes assigning attitudes and motivation, judging what someone wanted or where trying to do.
How often have you done the same to someone else?
The Way Forward.
There is a way out. It is both easy and hard at the same time.
Be aware of the form of information you are receiving. If something is true can it be shown to be true, or merely unable to be shown to be false? If something is false can it be shown to be false or merely unable to be shown to be true?
Came to recognize these forms of communication and avoid them, both from without and within. If a person can do this their decision have a reasonable prospect of working as intended because they will be reality based.
David Young.