Passing judgements

ITEM #1: 'Judge not, lest ye be judged by others.'

The reasons for not judging run deeper than this! How about: 'Judge not, because it is a shaky proposition to begin with'?

There is no such thing as a universal 'better'; this term has to be used in a particular context. For instance, one person may be a better runner than another, one may be better at sorting mail than another, this human might be better at solving differential equations than the next. These are all situation-specific things, which would be useless or even detrimental in other situations. Other notions of 'better' can be isolated in a similar way. The position of 'universally better' is generally used to justify terrible things happening to the people who aren't in that position. It works well because it inflates the ego of the 'better' and dehumanises the 'worse' - once a person is stripped of their humanity it means all manner of badness can be inflicted upon them with only minimal outcry from the conscience of the inflicter. A very convenient position to put yourself in if your lifestyle requires the misery of a number of other humans.

I have spent many years of my life passing judgement on others - of course I was always 'better'. Life experience and constantly being suprised at the incorrectness of my assumptions has meant that these days it is more of a non-binding guessing game, but there was a time when it completely shaped my interaction with other people. Fortunately I was not in such a position where my judgements could forseeably cause harm to their lives, but the amount of malice I could summon terrifies me! Far more terrifying is the fact that there are groups of humans all over the planet, in all sectors of society, whose judgemental ways are actively maintained in ways that are causing fear, misery and death to other humans. The only barrier preventing me from being part of one of these groups was my circumstances.

People wear so little of what they are on the outside - it's been said a billion times, but outward appearances are a poor measure of that flame of consciousness within. I'm not going to suggest that we all sit down and try to know each other, only that we acknowledge that we don't know each other. It has been said that sweeping generalisations make the task of navigating society much easier - I say it restricts us to groups of like-minded people, further entrenching existing prejudice. If there is no imminent danger in doing so, take people as they are on a case-by-case basis, reconstruct your assumptions and generally give others the benefit of the doubt. This way we are all open to recognise fellow humans as humans, to gather our scrambled minds together and put our animosity and alienation to rest.

Next time you find yourself JUDGING another human - STOP! Honestly ask yourself what has led them to their current state of existence, would you have done any different in their place? AND - would they have done any different than you in your place?


This mildly incoherent rant was brought to you by Wednesday night restlessness and a genuine desire to see the end of humans stamping on other humans.