PEELING THE COSMIC ONION ON NON JUDGMENT

Today let’s peel the cosmic onion on non-judgment and view its many layers- and ever deepening nuances! Living in non judgment can be a ...natural ...moment to moment... healing process! 

‘Thou shall not judge’ is one of the first principles we come across in our spiritual quest - with all texts and masters unanimously emphasizing the practice of non-judgment. And it is only somewhere into the journey that we realize that non-judgment - like any other ‘spiritual’ quality is not encouraged because it is ‘spiritually correct’- but that it is spiritually correct because it enhances our day-to-day life and very beingness! Let’s start with the simple yet all important understanding that we live in a vibrational universe- surrounded by or made up of- energy! And ‘energy’ functions in certain ways or according to certain universal principles with one it’s most basic features being: Like attracts like! Thus, as you think, as you feel, indeed what you focus on is what you attract as your life experiences- people, things and events! If your focus is largely positive you further attract positive vibrations (and thus experiences) but if your focus is largely negative it’s likewise vibrations (and experiences) that you attract! Now many of you must be thinking, “Yes we are aware of all of this - we are aware of the importance of positive thinking and affirmations - but what does this have to do with non judgment?”

And this is where we unravel its first eureka – non-judgment is one of the best and most long term ways to switch from a negative & depleting focus to a positive and life enhancing focus! Come beloved readers ponder on this - your perception is an act of creation! As you focus so you create and experience! Indeed you create your reality moment to moment through your thoughts, feelings and focus! If you live in judgment, no matter how trivial it might appear to you then your focus is on the negative; on what isn’t right; or doesn’t work! So if you tend to judge the world as sinful & problematic; or view those around you as arrogant, selfish, cheats; or label situations as unfair or troublesome… then that is where your focus subconsciously lies - on the negative! You often don’t even realize this (and those on the ‘spiritual path’ may even go through their life thinking they are focused only on ‘God’) but through this very subtle labeling this is where you are dwelling; this is what your energy fields are attracting; and thus this is what you are creating as your current realities! Now become aware of what happens when you inculcate non-judgment - you automatically move away from negative labeling; you automatically move into acceptance of things and people they are; you automatically move into a positive focus, you automatically move into a vibrant energy field! Indeed, living in non judgment trains your subconscious mind to remain positively focused in permanent ways and confers on you a powerfully steady life affirmative energy signature- making you go beyond the need to ‘do’ positive thinking because you live increasingly in a positive state of beingness! It is a simple practical and permanent way towards all of this… and indeed why it is a stepping stone in any spiritual journey!

As we go along our spiritual journey ‘Thou shalt not judge’ further unravels to the gnosis that ‘There is nothing to judge outside us’! this is an important shift – enabling us to understand that the world and its people are but reflections of self; enabling us to truly embrace everything and everyone as aspects of self; helping us to understand that all that we judge on the outside are qualities we have chosen to empower or disempower within self; enabling us to move into the deepest of realizations that there is no one other than i! this helps us in that all important move from judging the outside- to looking within! it helps to move from blaming the other or life or god to complete self responsibility! once again non - judgment becomes a means to a deeper goal than the goal itself!

However like any onion there are layers within layers and even this stage continues to unravel - for initially it leads to a phase of self judgment - where you may not judge the outside or other- but begin to flagellate self as the source of all that you meet as life! And while self-condemnation is as important to move away from as moving away from judging or blaming another - it initially serves a vital purpose! Indeed when you realize that it’s all about you, you cannot distance yourself from the qualities you’ve been projecting onto others and perhaps for the first time you make efforts to change the source that is you - rather than pass the buck outside! it’s very easy to judge another but when you realize that it’s all about you, when you realize that “I am responsible and I have to change this within” then everything in you yearns to change and grow and evolve - it is humanity, it is energy, it is evolution! Just like when you wound yourself - you automatically put your hand on it to heal; if you see dirt on your leg you automatically try to wash it off! So when you realize that all that you were judging on the outside is actually all about yourself you ‘automatically’ seek to change, grow, expand and evolve!

Self-blame is not a healthy frame of mind however, and once it has accomplished its purpose in making you look within, you are ready to move from it by unraveling the next layer of non judgment: ‘True non judgment is in not judging self either’. This layer of non judgment is that all important step that enables you to move from self condemnation and guilt into self acceptance and self love! into accepting self in all its myriad nuances - it is not turning a blind eye to perceived areas of growth or parts you wish to enhance or disempower - but the attitude you view these with! if you render them bad or dislike parts or allow guilt to creep in - you move from self-acceptance to blame and judgment. Instead know deep in your heart how utterly unique a being you are and how valiant an expedition you have chosen towards exploration of this self, and pat yourself in this acknowledgment. Sure you can choose to incorporate change and extend current self- but always in this positive awareness. This is of great significance because you relationship with self is your primary relationship and the corner stone of how you relate in all other relationships- and thus as you move from self judgment into self acceptance all your relationships will reflect this change! If you are self critical, you will find others to criticize you! if you feel insignificant, you will experience that in your relationships. Indeed the more you accept self the more you let your brothers and sisters off the hook! in self-recrimination do you impose negative judgments on others. it is called projection - if you find yourself labeling the other as arrogant, ask yourself is it because you begrudge him a confidence you don’t have? Have you called anyone selfish recently? Dig deep and you may discover it stems from a fear that there isn’t enough for you! And aha- what’s behind finding that ‘other’ promiscuous? Do you feel a lack of sex appeal, or perhaps fear losing your spouse to them? The responses will be personal and different for each one of - but will always lead you back to self and indeed surprise you how it is never about the other! Self-love is not a vague esoteric ideal and but based on the same law of energy we explored above: your self view is a moment-to-moment energy signature and self-appreciation is an empowering positive focus to attract more of the same! Remember like attracts like! furthermore it creates a personal energy field so vibrant that another law of energy comes into play- the law of least resistance- which indeed resists its opposite to enter your energy field. Think about this: if you are loving and accepting of self, then anger, hatred, critique and the like by-pass you due the resistance your loving aura offers!

At this point non-judgment unravels even deeper! and this layer makes you take a leap in your understanding of self, life, the others and the universe - for it now proclaims: ‘There is nothing like ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ to judge - within another or self!’ You learn that there is nothing like bad or evil because everything that exists (however seemingly wrong or difficult to understand) are aspects of consciousness experiencing itself in different ways; you embrace that everything that is (however seemingly wrong or difficult to understand) plays a vital role in the larger picture; you begin to understand that there is a deeper purpose -even if you cannot see it- beneath everything (however seemingly wrong difficult to understand it may seem) ; you arrive at the deepest gnosis that all is consciousness… everyone is spirit… everything is but an aspect of the one god… and so how can there be anything bad or evil! Through this lens, you stop judging the other –or self- knowing that there is a larger purpose behind each quality or experience that you might have formerly judged as negative! Indeed judgment is loosening its grip on you… indeed judgment is becoming redundant… indeed non judgment is becoming a natural state of being!

This is a beautiful stage of the journey- because every time you meet people or view events that you would normally have judged- you understand that there is a larger soul purpose being played out! You stop judging people’s fears or desires - because you realize there is a larger cosmic purpose being played out! You move from judgment into acceptance… into the unconditional acceptance that we are all creators, experiencing different aspects for the highest good of the whole! Again layers within layers because even at this point you initially tend to turn every thing and everybody into ‘spirit’ or ‘light’ or ‘consciousness’ or ‘god’ - for it is then easier to accept the differences or what you may not like or understand! But when there is truly no judgment - you move from the need for this abstraction… into accepting them in day to day ways; you move from imbuing things with this golden glow shorn of all differences into accepting differences … without judgment!

And yet there is more to come! Another startling revelation! The final layer of non judgment is now ready for unraveling! So far, non-judgment has always implied moving away from judging anything as negative or wrong or less… but a natural extension of ‘Not judging anything as ‘bad’ implies not judging anything as ‘good’!’ This is a big leap in consciousness because often, when we are on this journey, we stop judging things & people as bad or wrong …but we still judge people & things as good or spiritual! and unknown to you… you don’t even realize it… when you judge anything as good, your negative judgment is only hidden, as everything that does not fit in with your criterion of good, is actually automatically rendered bad! And indeed a subliminal judgment is still present! Deep down you are still judging things as not good! Indeed this is an insidious judgment - dangerous in your very unawareness of it! And thus is the last step of non judgment moving away from judging things as bad or good!

Again layers within layers - non-judgment thus does not mean turning blind! Many seekers ask me how they can live a day-to-day life without seeing and responding to people’s myriad actions or modes of behavior. So yes, observation will be present; yes there can be preference; you may even discriminate what you choose to further experience or stay away from in any current moment; you many indeed view someone as ‘angry’ or ‘arrogant’ or a ‘cheat’ for example- but without the judgment of that being good or bad; without adding the usual inner plethora of: “she should not be”; “how can he be thus”; “I would never”; “it is wrong” and so on- for this inner plethora is truly where judgment lies! this is a subtle but important understanding because we cannot move away from the spoken language and will need to use words, yes, words like x is ‘angry’ or ‘arrogant’ or ‘difficult’- but if you are truly not judging within you, then your energy signature is not emanating judgment! So don’t get trapped by words - if you are firmly planted in non judgment the words do not vibrate to the frequency of judgment! of course when we truly imbibe all of this, we cannot speak… or think… because these words sound so judgmental! Sometimes we initially use such words with a mental ‘semi colon’ around each word! so we say x has been ‘good’ or my servant has ‘cheated’… but the semi colons convey that we don’t mean the word we use as it is usually used- it is devoid of the judgment normally implied in it!

This brings us to a profound understanding that if we were all to use all such adjectives without judgment - if critical mass humanity made this inner change - then we will indeed change the very energy behind these words - where they do not imply an automatic negative verdict - and we will indeed develop language to be without labels. How freeing for the newer generations!

But back to the last layer where we move from judging anything as bad - or even as good or better! This is an ongoing process within… helping us move into accepting every quality, experience and event just as it is!

-Non-judgment turns into unconditional love – which is not some soppy emotion for everyone but a state of allowance towards all!

-Non-judgment turns to witnessing- propelling us into a state of being without labels!

-Non-judgment enables us into accepting each moment without judgment of good or bad- into living in the Now!

-Non-judgment propels us into that state called bliss - which is not that state that we would normally label as ‘good and joyous’ but a state that is beyond the opposites of duality… beyond good or bad… beyond painful or joyous… into the neutrality of all is as it is…into what is truly beyond words and Indian asters try and describe through “neti neti… or ‘iti iti’…it is it is…!

Good bye judgment! Hello acceptance!

EDITED VERSION - PUBLISHED IN TIMES OF INDIA - SPEAKING TREE 30.6.2007

‘Thou shall not judge’ is one of the first principles you come across on any spiritual quest, with texts and masters unanimously emphasizing the practice of non-judgment. However aspirants soon realize that non-judgment, like any other ‘spiritual’ effort isn’t to be inculcated due to it being ‘spiritually correct’ but it is indeed spiritually correct because it enhances your day-to-day life.             

And how? Through non-judgment, you switch your focus from the negative towards the positive. So if you’re viewing the world as bad, ugly, problematic; or judging those around you as arrogant, selfish, sinners… then that is where your focus subconsciously lies -on the negative! You often don’t even realize this (and those on the ‘spiritual path’ may even go through their life thinking they are focused only on ‘God’) but through this very subtle labeling this is where you are dwelling; this is what your energy fields are emanating and thus this is what you are creating in your current realities every moment. Through a conscious practice of non-judgment you actually train your subconscious mind to remain in positive states of being.

As the journey deepens however, ‘thou shalt not judge’ becomes the gnosis that  ‘there is nothing to judge outside us’ since the world and its people are but reflections of self. This often leads to a phase where you do not judge the outside or other, but begin to flagellate self as the source of all that you meet as life!  This serves a vital purpose initially; because when you realize that it’s all about you, you cannot distance yourself from the qualities you’ve been projecting onto others and perhaps for the first time you make efforts to change the source that is you- rather than pass the buck outside!

Self-blame is not a healthy frame of mind however, and once it has accomplished its purpose in making you look within, you are ready to move from it by unraveling the eureka that there is nothing like ‘bad’ or evil’ to judge - because all your facets are aspects on the One Godself choosing to experience its different aspects for a larger purpose. Judgment is becoming redundant indeed - you stop judging self or the other –viewing all through the lens of the larger picture, knowing now that there is a larger purpose behind each quality or experience that you might have formerly judged as negative. 

At this point comes another revelation! Thus far, non-judgment has always implied a moving away from judging anything as negative or wrong or less! But a natural extension of not judging anything as ‘bad’ implies not judging anything as ‘good’! If you were to judge anything as good, your negative judgment is only hidden, as everything that does not fit in with your criterion of good, is actually automatically rendered bad! This is a big leap in consciousness and it takes you beyond ‘judgment’ into a state of being without labels.

Non-judgment thus does not mean non-observation – you will observe, there will be discrimination, preference even. You may indeed view someone as angry or arrogant or a cheat for example but without the judgment of it being good or bad; without adding the usual inner plethora of:  “she should not be”,  “how can he be” “I would never”,  “It is wrong” etc.  You cannot move away from the spoken language and will need to use the words, yes, but if you are truly not judging within you, then your energy signatures are not emanating judgment. This brings us to a profound understanding that if we were to use all such words like angry, arrogant, cheating, without judgment, we are going to change the energy behind these words- where they do not imply an automatic negative verdict- and we will indeed develop language to be without labels. How freeing for the newer generations.