Judgement is not for you...

Do you ever see someone and immediately "not like" that person for whatever reason? Maybe you don't like people with visible tattoos, people who wear a lot of camouflage, homeless people, hipsters, obese people, or people pushing a stroller with three kids in there. What causes you to "not like" this person? Judgement. You're judging them.

From what I've learned what we judge other people for is what we really fear that we have the ability to become or what we fool ourselves into thinking we're not; what we fight with ourselves to not be. What this is is just a separation that we've created between ourselves and this person that we judge when in fact these people are just mirrors of ourselves.

"As you see him you will see yourself. As you treat him you will treat yourself. As you think of him you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself." -ACIM T-8.III.4:2-5

You will find yourself or lose yourself. You will either find that you are truly connected and there is really no difference between you or you will lose your mind by convincing yourself that you are different. We all have to get to a point where we see no difference, where we judge to separation because we no longer see a separation between us. We all have to ask the question, "Would I condemn myself for doing this?" -WB124.

Are we not all in a position to grow into God's love no matter where we are? I believe that no matter where we are that there is where we begin our journey back to God. And, none of us have the extensive knowledge of the universe to be able to say where another person is on their journey. All of us are here learning our lessons, starting from different places, learning at different paces, some of us learn certain lessons easier than others, but we're all learning our lessons. If I see a racist and judge him for his hate, then that reminds me that I have my own anger to forgive and learn from. I don't have the ability to judge him for his anger because I don't know his lessons. If I do judge him, then it shows me what I fear in myself. I fear becoming a racist full of hate because somewhere I harbor that belief about myself. That's what "condemn myself for doing this" means.

We all share the same emotions and the same fears about the darker parts of ourselves and the higher parts of ourselves as well. It's what we choose to see in others and in ourselves that will manifest in our lives.

Think back to when you were a kid and you're parents taught you what was wrong or right in the world. The boy in school who got bad grades, acted out, and had head lice was not to be imitated but judged as "bad", dirty, and, a failure. You were supposed to sit quietly, do your work, and clean behind your ears everyday. Why? because that's what "good boys" do and they grow up to be good people; right? Early on we were taught the difference between what makes "good" people and "bad" people. Winners vs. Losers. Rich vs. Poor. Right vs. Wrong. And some of us were taught to judge and separate from those "bad" people and look on them as "lesser" than ourselves.
That thought system was wrong. We were taught the wrong things. How can we know this? Because they taught separation and they did not bring us connection to others, to God, and to ourselves. They did not make us happy, they made us judgmental, and they allowed us to feel guilty over that judgmental mindset.

"If the outcome of [your curriculum] has made you unhappy, and if you want a different one, a change in the curriculum is obviously necessary." -T-8.I.5:2
That's it. If you want a different view of these people and your world, then you need to change your mind. You need to change your thought processes and you need to change your whole curriculum. We all have to work to change how we project our entire world and forgive our separation from those in it. We have to be able to see them as we see ourselves, forgive ourselves so that we don't have to judge them, and then continue to practice not judging them for those fears that we have yet to conquer in ourselves.

Stop. Ask for help. Remember your connection to God and those around you.

This past week I tried really really hard to keep this in mind. Walking through life and constantly reminding myself that I don't know what any situation is going to bring me and I have no ability to judge it because of that "situational ignorance" was a very enlightening practice.
Have you ever told yourself, 'oh this is going to suck'? How did you know? What if that situation brought you an important lesson? What if instead you said, 'Help me to see this differently' or 'I don't know what anything, including this means.'? Well then you'd be able to stop and be able to just allow a situation to unfold rather than judging it and blocking what is intended to come your way. Not judging allows you to get out of your own way. It allows you to connect rather than separate. It allows you to learn rather than projecting what you "know."

Try it today. Try it this week. Tell yourself that you don't know. Tell yourself that you have no idea what anything means and that you have no way of judging it. Just let it 'play out' so to speak. Seek out those that you have judged and find what it is about those people that you see in yourself. The addict? What are you addicted to? The lazy guy? What to you do to overcompensate for that in your life because of what you fear in yourself?
Ask questions and then don't answer them. Let them be answered for you. Observe but do not judge. You'll find that there are lessons everywhere out there for you and that all of us are learning the same ones, we're all on the same path, we're all connected and there is no real separation between us.

Our judgment separates us. Our ego loves to judge. Our ego separates us and is the voice that tells us that "we know" what others are really like and how they're different and less than us. Listen to a different voice. Change your curriculum. Stop judging and start listening, looking, and get comfortable with connecting to the love that is all around us waiting for our acceptance.