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About Us
One of the things that I hope to do before I leave this world is to add some rationality and sense to the dialog of spiritual people or should I say people who want to be spiritual. Nowhere is there more misunderstanding and downright evasiveness than regarding the concept of judgment.
Judgment has a very high charge about it. Many of the Dark Ages legacy religions claim to believe that there will be a day of judgment, when "God" will sit in judgment of every soul that's ever had the chance to enjoy human life and that, of course, most of us will be found wanting - a big reason to contribute and worship the legacy religions' "God" and no one else's, a kind of brand warfare, for only by coming to a particular "God" can big trouble be avoided and good business connections made.
For the life of me, pun intended, I cannot understand why any "God" worthy of the name needs any human to do anything at all - what does "He" care what I'm doing or what anyone else is doing? The question is not "Is there a "God?" The question is do you believe that there is a cosmic busy-body with the power and desire to not only see what's happening to every atom in the universe and all that they make up, but to sit in judgment of everything? I suppose it's possible but I suspect that any being with that kind of power has better things to do, though it's more likely that that kind of being does not exist in the first place.
By my judgment, since everything in the universe we know of is made up of the same "energy," as was stated in Einstein's theory of relativity, E=MC2, then it is not too-far-fetched to imagine that all of that same energy is either in communication with all parts of itself, or that all the energy of the universe IS that kind of cosmic knowing/being of all there is, inseparable at that level. But does it care if I have a piece of chocolate? You can almost hear The Sum of All Being shouting, "Go ahead and eat it, you're on your own on that account; I'm here if you want to talk, but have fun! That's what life is all about!"
Oooooo, I've made a judgment, a big no-no in spiritual circles. Judgment is a bad thing according to the Dark Ages legacy religions and good people don't judge other people. I disagree. In my opinion every day is judgment day, in fact every minute is judgment minute, unless you're asleep. Without our ability to judge distance, time, the edibility of food, the dangerousness of animals, people - especially their honesty and their intentions, our needs, our resources, our limits, our strengths, our abilities and judge all of these things in others, we would soon perish.
Judgment is essential to survival and anyone who says different is kidding themselves. I don't even like to harm an insect if I can avoid it but I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1950's, '60's, and early '70's and I've had enough guns pointed in my face to know that not everyone loves me and wants me to live long and prosper. All it takes is one human being who has forgotten than I'm a human being, too, and not a threat, a mark or an infidel not deserving of life and my glorious, wonderful life of love and service to humanity, including my killer(s) is over and done with. Do I like knowing this to be a fact beyond doubt? No. Does that make it any less true and worthy of being acted on? No again. Never expect a panther to not act like a panther, unless you're suicidal.
While it is true that there is a saying in Raja Yoga, "The Snake knows your heart," as an explanation of why the greatest yogis can walk in the forest without fear of dangerous animals, I am at the stage of development where I am not without fear. Animals know that they can kill and eat what is afraid of them and they should run away from what isn't afraid of them. Therefore, I have to take precautions to stay out of the way of dangerous animals and actions to defend myself when avoidance is impossible and I support everyone else who does so. I believe that precautions and actions of this nature have to be taken regarding human animals, too, and if you think that loving your enemy will work when your enemy wants to rob, hurt or kill you and especially if he believes God wants you to die, that is a judgment that can get you killed.
So when I meet someone, do I judge them? Well, yes, don't you? We are self-protective beings and the first thing we do when another being crosses our path is figure out - judge - whether or not it is a threat to us or not. Not whether it consciously means us harm or whether it is a spiritual being - we're talking limbic snake survival brain function here - we're looking for telltale signs that this being could be a problem. This takes a fraction of a second, by the way and is usually unconscious, just like we human beings are.
I am a very self-confident person and I am also big and strong and trying to stay that way, so I am not afraid of people. I like people and enjoy being useful to others. But I am not naive enough to believe that there are not people in the world and in my neighborhood who believe that the way for them to gain is for me to lose, people against whom I need to be protected by the government through the military, the police, and by my own efforts and by locks and by my good judgment.
So let's have no more of this pretentious New Age non-judgmental judgment, OK? To make a statement and then have someone avoid replying to the core issue by retreating into the verbal thicket of "You're making a judgment!" is to find one's self harshly judging the "Judgment Police" person and that prevents real dialog from taking place.
Judgment is not only necessary, it is crucial, at least in my judgment. What do you think? Write me if you have something to say about this or any of my blogs. I promise that I'll judge what you say fairly, meaning that I am always aware that there is a chance that I could be wrong. To me, this is not an admission of weakness, but the greatest strength, the strength of the scientific testing method.
I pray that we are all judged and found not wanting.
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