Psychological growth and spiritual growth

“The judge is the force in you that constantly evaluates and assesses your worth as a human being and thus limits your capacity to be fully alive in the present moment.” *
– Byron Brown

Disrobing the “judge” and exposing the truth of your nature as a living soul is a journey of liberation. As you come to recognize that you are in a prison guarded by the judge, you appreciate the soul’s powerful longing for freedom. Every external form of bondage in human history reflects the psychic confinement of the soul resulting from ignorance and unquestioned beliefs. You are a slave to your own ideas of who you are and how you need to be.
The ability to defend against the judge’s attacks and disengage from its activity offers you the possibility of discovering who you are, independent of ideas. Actively standing up for the truth of your experience breaks the habitual patterns of your familiar identity. Where expectations and standards ruled, there can be openness and allowing. Fear of retribution can give way to self-trust and curiosity. From hopelessness and defeat can arise acceptance and confidence.
And truth guides the journey. In combination with the grounding and practicality of your personal will, truth acts as an objective conscience for action in the world. One of the original functions of the judge was to act as your conscience. The judge learned standards of right and wrong from parents and society. Then by using guilt and shame, it helped you as a child to behave and act appropriately according to that moral code. Unfortunately, this process suppressed your spontaneity, aliveness, and instinctual power in order to make you socialized and acceptable. You needed the judge’s firm support and direction as you developed your own ability to perceive, evaluate, and understand. However, the outcome of that development was not grounded in your true nature. As an adult you have continued to rely on the judge’s internalized standards of right and wrong. Only true maturation can replace the judge with a living conscience. This capacity of the soul depends upon the recognition of your essential nature and the development of your ability to be authentically yourself.
Disengaging from the judge thus serves two functions: to free you from the confinement of old, limiting patterns and beliefs and, at the same time, to demand that you actively practise living in a way that eliminates the need for the judge. You cannot simply throw off a structure that has defined and supported you unless you have something more effective to replace it with.
You must learn to function, interact, and make choices freed from the standards of the judge, which means living in alignment with the truth and reality of your own life at the present time. This creates a living conscience that is not based on rules. Such a conscience allows the fullness of your living soul to express itself. This happens when you have transformed the self-centeredness of instinctual impulses, the self-destruction of compulsive patterns, and the rigidity of internalized authority. This is not a small task. It is the work of learning to be a responsible, mature human being. You cannot plan how to do it, you cannot only read about how to do it, you cannot simply follow someone else’s instructions. You must learn how to live spontaneously by recognizing and following the guidance of what you know to be true.
* other terms for “the judge” include inner critic, super-ego or inner judge.

Excerpted from Soul Without Shame by Byron Brown, 1999. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. www.shambhala.com
Soul Without Shame uses the Diamond Approach of A. H. Almaas to understand the inner judge and gives concrete examples and practical techniques grounded in a uniquely integrated spiritual approach.

Byron Brown is presenting a workshop on Soul Without Shame at the Plaza 500 Hotel in Vancouver, May 6-8, as part of a series of events presented by Diamond Approach Vancouver. For more information contact Judith Bradley 604 251 9033, judithbradley@shaw.ca www.ridhwan.org or www.ahalmaas.com