A Course in Miracles teaches that judgement is totally misunderstood by the world. It is confused with wisdom, and substitutes for truth. It’s confusing because we are taught by parents, teachers and society that a person is capable of “good” and “bad” choices and then typically we strive to make more good choices than bad choices. But, just as so many other things in this world, what is good to one person may be bad to another and even to the same person, the same decision may be good at one time in life and bad at another time in life.
Judging ourselves and others is one of the hardest behaviors to un-do. It goes against our whole thought system, but to God, to give up judgement isn’t really giving up anything. It is just remembering that it is inconceivable that we can know the intricacies of the past, present and future details, that lend to a particular scenario’s occurrence, and that our own perceptions are skewed by our own experiences. Learning not to judge is learning to be more honest in the realization that we do not know, nor were we supposed to know. We are not created to judge. Only God sees the whole picture.
If you think about it, it is harder to try to maintain judgement than it is to let it go. Maintaining judgement causes one to notice ugliness in the world, to feel pain, loneliness, a sense of loss, a sense of passing time and growing hopelessness, a sense of despair and fear. None of this is in fact true.
Letting go of judgement is meant to be a relief. A relief because we can let go and accept that we need not do anything. We can relax and focus on love and acceptance. And, as we do this, others around us can then begin to do this. Wisdom is not judgement, it is the relinquishment of judgement. May we all try to lay judgement down, not with regret but with a sigh of gratitude.
And as we let out a sigh of gratitude, may we rest in peace.