J is for Judgement - Pagan Blog Project

This kind of just happened... We were only just entering 'J' week, and I had this epiphany last week sometime and started to write about it. I am reading a book by Suzie the Ghost Whisperer, and in it she mentions about being judgemental and it got me thinking... so this is the finished product of such thoughts - just in time for 'J' week!!! Well, it would have been had I not been sidetracked with other things... so much for committment! Anyway, I also had to edit and re-edit this a few times to make sure what I was saying firstly made sense, and secondly was really what I meant... This was a tricky one and I needed to get all my little duckies in a row... hehe

From the Rider Waite Tarot Deck

This one has been hard for me to put into words. I think for me, its more about the differnce between judgement and judgemental. Judgements can get us out of some possibly scary situations, such as judging that you wont make it past the car in front before oncoming traffic reaches you. This is a good thing, and helps us keep safe.

Being judgemental is not so much a good thing. It is what you do in relation to a judgement you make. You might judge that the big, hairy biker (sorry to use an old cliche here...) is scary and may hurt you, but to act with disrespect towards this person based upon this judgement makes you judgemental (not to mention narrowminded!). Lifewise, to avoid having contact with this person may leave you wanting for entertainment or intellectual conversation... N'ever judge a book' right???

People make judgements every day, about clothing, when they cook, drive, hang out the washing etc. But these are harmless, and should be acknowledged as part of the human experience. It is when your judgements become part of how you show yourself to the world and treat others that you (and the rest of the world!) have issues.

I know in some situations I have been judgemental of late, mostly towards myself (which in the world of spiritual growth and understanding is probably the worst person to show judgement towards!!), but also to others. I have judged people based on gaining small snippets of insight into them as a person and acted accordingly. You might think that this is ok, as it is not a factless judgement, and you are partly right. The problem is that it is based on a small part of the person, not the whole. I asoknow that people show certain parts of themselves in certain situations to meet certain needs and may not even be who they are at all!!! I need to open my mind to the possibilities and not make judgements about an entire life based on one interaction with it. Sure, if these snippets appear to make up more of the whole than it now does, I will act accordingly, but in the meantime I am going to try to embrace all people I meet and get to know them on a deeper level before discounting them.

Also, I am going to acknowledge that judgements are a part of the human experience, and work through those that help and hinder me in an attempt at personal growth... Let's see where this goes, shall we?