Today I will judge nothing that occurs.
1. I will be honest with myself today. ²I will not think that I already know what must remain beyond my present grasp. ³I will not think I understand the whole from bits of my perception, which are all that I can see. ⁴Today I recognize that this is so. ⁵And so I am relieved of judgments that I cannot make. (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/657#1:1-5 | W-243.1:1-5)
Maybe this will be a lifelong teaching for me. Probably. I once thought non judgement looked like being generous to others: knowing I was right but gifting them my generosity to let them believe what they wanted to. ‘I’m not judging – you can do what you like’, but secretly (maybe not so secretly), it was clear I was making them wrong somehow in my mind. I did the same thing to myself. I’d tell myself it was OK to feel how I felt, to be generous when I made morally bankrupt decisions, but secretly I’d hold it against myself to beat myself up with at a later date. It all went into the vault to keep score, with myself and with others.
Now I recognise that true non judgement is the understanding that I cannot see in all directions of time and space. I do not know, truly, what anything is for. Therefore, whatever severely limited criteria I use to judge anything, will give me a minute and incomplete version of the truth. I simply don’t have the awareness to be able to judge anything with any level of certainty.
So, I can judge anyway; create separation and division, make people wrong and myself right (or visa versa), or I can recognise when I’m judging, and imagine, just for a moment, that we are all one, and somewhere along the line, this will all make sense. I can choose to believe that people have different beliefs, preferences and choices because that’s part of their journey, and instead of judging, ask instead, how is this person helping me become a more loving and kind person? By gifting me the experience of their path for a moment, I am able to practice that non-judgement, and enhance my own sense of peace and presence. Or, I slip into judgement, feel all kinds of annoyed and get to practice forgiving and not judging myself all over again 🙂