The recent post about not judging provoked some interesting correspondence, both online and in private messages.  It appears that Jesus recognised a very human tendency when he gave his counsel to avoid making judgements, because until today we are still struggling to overcome it.

The previous post characterised judging as an attempt to control the world, and this gives a clue to at least one reason why we get into the habit of judging: it is because we feel insecure.  This is the result of a misperception of who or what we are.  When we identify with something limited, then of course there will be uneasiness, for in every moment the limited is liable to change.  This uneasiness becomes habitual, and we consequently live under the clouds of doubt and fear, building and constantly repairing walls to keep out what we cannot control.

Of course, this does not make us happy, and those who are struggling to awaken feel a wish to drop this habit of defence – but how?  To let go of the anxious craving to be correct, to be more ‘right’ than the rest of the world, is an act of surrender; it means letting the walls we have built tumble down, permitting others to enter ‘our’ space–but also giving us permission to travel outside our old enclosure.  Our horizon expands incomparably when we surrender in this way.

Speaking of surrender, we might think of this phrase from the Gayan:
All surrender to beauty willingly
and to power unwillingly.
This wisdom certainly gives us valuable advice concerning how to deal with others, but it also can be understood as a lesson about our life and our spiritual journey.  We live in this earthly life from day to day, thinking mostly about our own small affairs and without regard for the inevitable future, but at some moment a power comes to which we must surrender–and then this life on earth is over.  But if we have already surrendered to beauty, that moment of transition will be no more difficult than discarding a worn-out  pair of shoes.

The walls of judgement that we build keep out the view of the infinite beauty.  The best incentive to pulling down those walls is the flood of beauty that will enter when we do so.