UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. – Mother Teresa

So much harm is done in our world by standing in judgment of others, yet that behaviour seems to be ubiquitous when it comes to the human ego. As a small child I remember one set of relatives always speaking negatively of another branch of the family. I never met any of the people being criticized, but in my child’s mind I knew they were the “bad” ones.
I also recall my siblings and me criticizing each another and seeming to enjoy tattling on the others. Once in school, someone was always gossiping about someone else. There was a kind of “group-think” when it came to who was okay and who was not okay.
No one consistently taught us to behave otherwise. Yes, we learned the golden rule, but it seemed a lofty ideal that did not really apply to survival in daily life. Oh, we could pull it out when we were commenting on someone else’s behaviour, but in truth, our lived rule was more like do unto others before they do unto you, or do unto others because they did unto you first!
The reason the “love thy neighbour” sentiments did not “take” was because it was not what we saw happening around us. We were more likely to hear mom and Mrs. A over coffee trashing Mrs. B. who lived up the street. And perhaps, without his having to say anything, we knew dad thought the guy who lived on the corner was an idiot.
Life can be such a battleground for ego. First, it polarizes everything into me and not me, then with me or against me, then good/bad, right/wrong, and so on. While this may be an extension of the ego-centric nature of the child – where all that brings pleasure is good and that which does not serve me is not – some never get past this kind of polarizing.
That seems to me to be a hard way to live, for there will always be something to judge, someone not to like and somebody to exclude. All these are negative processes which put the body/mind into a state of contraction and separation. This creates stress and tension in the body, which in turn weaken the immune system. It is simply not healthy.
We do, however, have the option of evolving beyond the struggles of ego, frequently created by self. We do not have to continue to identify with, and be directed by, the more primitive aspects of our humanness. Soulfulness is also part of being human, but ego and soul cannot both perform on the same stage. If ego has the floor, there is no room for the gentle, wise voice of soul. Soul has no cause or reason to judge. From the perspective of soul, we are all one, all part of the same human family.
To diminish another is to diminish ourselves, and ultimately the collective. A judgment is primarily a statement about the judge. It is ego saying, “I represent what is ideal and am much better than you. I know the truth and my way is the right way. Your way is unacceptable and wrong.”
Interestingly, this is the way extremists talk. If the microcosm is reflected in the macrocosm, it is not surprising that we live in a world that is so divided, territorial and adversarial.
What is happening at the cellular level of the body affects the overall health of the entire being. If we are each a cell in the global body, then each time we judge another we are adding more polarizing toxicity to an already dangerously polarized world, as well as polluting our own physical, emotional and spiritual environment.
“… Lest ye be judged” is no longer reason enough to stop judging. We must stop judging not out of fear, but out of love. (See below for information on obtaining my CD A World of Kindness: Experiencing Personal and Global Harmony.)

Gwen Randall-Young is a psychotherapist in private practice and the author of Growing Into Soul: The Next Step in Human Evolution. For articles and information about her books and personal growth/hypnosis CDs, visit www.gwen.ca