The iciest judge whom I
have across up to now is the biblical god.
On the day of the final judgment, according to the Bible, god will stand
in all his glory before the entire nations and divide the countless souls into
good and bad. As simple as that. Those on his right are good and the others “cursed.”
The next harshest judges
I have come across are in real life and are the priests of the biblical god. They condemn people every moment, in the
church homilies, retreat sermons, biblical conventions and the simple
conversations you may have with them on the roadside. There’s a whole list of sins, mortal and
venial, to guide their judgment, in addition to whatever the men of god may decide to be right and wrong
according to the expediency of the situation.
And yet Jesus was a very
compassionate man. He asked his
followers never to judge others. He
wanted his followers to be compassionate so much so that they should offer the
other cheek when one is slapped. He
asked people to love others as they loved themselves. It is the same Jesus who promised the
thunderous last judgment, who drove out the money changers and traders from the
synagogue, and called a section of people “brood of vipers.”
It is impossible to live
without judging. Every moment of our
life we are judging others. We judge
people to be good for us or bad, kind or unkind or indifferent, and so on. We judge our tailors, shopkeepers, workers,
everyone so that we can choose the right service at the right cost. We judge the newspapers we read and the TV
channels we choose to watch. We judge
our politicians, our doctors, our teachers.
We judge the person sitting next to us in the train or bus even if we
have nothing to do with him or her and may never meet that person again.
Judgment is an integral
part of our everyday life. There’s no
need to wait for the Last Judgment. There’s no way of getting on with life
without making judgments at every step.
Blessed are those who can make good judgments. But as A A Milne, I
believe, said, “Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from
bad judgment.”
When it comes to social
and other public issues, the easiest is to stand with the community, the
majority, and nod in agreement to whatever they judge. Just nod.
To show them. After that, in the
privacy of your heart and home, follow your own judgment. If you stand out of the group too conspicuously,
the same people who preach nonjudgmental attitude to you will be the first ones
to nail you to the cross, thrash you on the street, or bury you beneath
shrapnel.
Finally, it’s our own
choice. Each individual decides how overt
his judgments can be depending on his or her malleability and ductility. The
only thing that’s certain is that we can’t live without making judgments.
Excellent perspective on judgement. You have covered all the aspects on it. Perhaps the framing of the topic was wrong. It shouldn't be about judging as such but about mocking and eventually discriminating others.
ReplyDeleteThe topic was framed all right. Perhaps, I took a personal view of it. Or is it impersonal? :)
DeleteMocking and discriminating also are products of judgment, aren't they? The dominant worldview affects the judgment and leads to mocking and discriminating of those who fall outside the worldview. Only exceptionally gifted people can afford to question dominant views and get away.
Enjoyed reading your views on judgement. It is true that "Judgment is an integral part of our everyday life." and unfortunately, we often judge people without knowing enough about them.
ReplyDeleteVery, very true. I have personally experienced a lot of victimisation simply because people never tried to understand me. I'm sure a lot of people experience such victimisation frequently. An obvious example would be how many people in Delhi judge those people from the Northeast - I have seen it often enough.
DeleteSir, please post some new book review. It is long due.
ReplyDeleteWe simply love your analysis :-)
My last book review was posted on May 29, just a few days back 😊
DeleteYou nailed it. Rest I leave for judgment to whom.... :D
ReplyDeleteTo all concerned 😊
DeleteVery true. That's why our world's "Judge" population is increasing :)
ReplyDeleteAnd one Judge throws another in prison. 😊
DeleteSo many judges who lay charges of treason on others....