On Making Decisions and Being a Judge
I chose to write this piece because I am trying to understand something in specific. In my life, I have encountered a countless amount of people who are of the opinion that ‘judging’ others and otherness is simply no good. Many are of this opinion, it is quite popular.
I for one judge; I judge everything – I am not saying that I make the right judgments, all I am saying is that I do always judge. I find that some decisions are more important than others and that is in itself a judgment. I suppose, I am of the opinion that judging means thinking or perhaps it is the outcome of thinking. Nonetheless, when I make a judgment, I make a choice.
For example, at the beginning of my day I look outside. Depending on the weather (and my activities of that day), I judge how I should dress: lighter for hot days, heavier for cold, etc. Even at night-time, I have to judge depending on the schedule of the following day, when I go to sleep. If I have to wake-up early, I judge that I have to go to bed a little earlier.
Do we not all have to judge, in order to make decisions and do anything? I am puzzled by the people who claim that: “we should not judge”. And at the same time, I have to laugh … when one says to another: “Do not judge”, that person in fact is judging the person who he/she is telling not to judge.
Judging is our reasoning (in my opinion). To be able to tell someone “do not judge”, one has to judge themselves. So, I can judge that someone is judging people then, turn around and say: “you are judging, stop it”? Without “judging”, one could never make a statement such as, “do not judge”.
I think that is why we have morals and values: so we can have some sort of criteria by which to make decisions in our lives. Judging is not only necessary, it is critical for surviving this three-dimensional perspective. Yet, I think judging /making decisions is something very difficult to do (perhaps an under-statement)) without any risk of mistakes/failures. A mistake though, is a lesson Life is trying to teach. Anytime we make a mistake, it means we have not learned a lesson and we will continue to make that mistake until we learn the lesson Life is trying to teach us.
I also think judging improves with experience. I do not mean age or time – I mean experiences. The more varied one’s experiences are, the better prepared one will be in making judgments. We learn from our experiences (sometimes, some of us …). Thus, my encouragement here is to be social, to travel and to experience this Matrix to its fullest.
The more we learn, the better we can judge – I do think it works that way. And I do not think one should ever be afraid to say “sorry”, “I made a wrong judgment”. Judging is not bad – judging bad is bad. We can learn from one another by talking about the way we judge. We can perhaps give advice or opinions to each other (since we live in societies and we are social animals). We can learn about each other that way and from each other.
I will not go into details here but I grew-up in a very enclosed dictatorial regime in Eastern Europe. I knew very little about other people, for example. Other people as in culture, ethnic groups and so on. I grew-up Romanian, along Romanians and the world could have all drowned around Romania and I would not have cared. Such was my judgment growing up.
Yet, now I have lived just as long in Canada. Coming here allowed me to meet people from all over the world and learn about their cultures, traditions, etc. I now have learned to appreciate everything in this mysterious world. No longer in a dictatorial regime – I can travel! (I know … most people are probably thinking traveling is not a big deal but it is when you grow-up in a country where if you try to cross the border you get shot.) Traveling for me is so important. Words fail me here ... Traveling means learning; it means gaining knowledge. I hunt knowledge – it helps me judge in my opinion.
So yes, somehow I am back to judging. I am not sure we can/should expect anyone not to judge. I have been thinking about this issue for many years now. Or I can say I have been judging this issue for many years now – same thing. If anyone can logically back-up an argument with reasons on how we can operate in this three dimensional perspective without judging, I am certainly interested in hearing it. I do not pretend to have all the answers and if some of my answers need improvement and/or change, I am indeed open to change.
Cheers!
P.S. I can always link my thoughts to a hip-hop song. The Moment of Truth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4riCUJ3l6Lk