Everyone who owns a pair of
working brains judges. Anyone who can add a couple of digits judges. In more
than one way, Judgment is the byword of the society and keyword of our
survival. It is primitive and cardinal.
Interestingly, the urban youth
has a growing phobia of being judged. One can clearly see the hysteria. They shy away or cocoon
themselves if necessary, from the sleet of judgements. It is problematic when a generation does want
to confront itself. It prefers drowning itself in metallic noise, gibberish
slogans and deafening loudness of everything. ‘Do not judge me!’ it asks the
society. Now, this ailment has begun a part of a pseudo-responsible parenthood
and in doing so, they do not allow the child to grow its immunity, evolve its
strengths and be aware, however painful the realization, of the imperfections he
embodies. Sometimes, we do need to step back from identifying with the judgment
of society but we should never shut ourselves against self-judgement. More than anything, this causes sociophobia!
When each man had to gather for
himself, once upon a time, he was much in alignment with nature. He just
instinctively knew to find and fend for himself. A baby knows how to breathe without being
taught. This is Nature. Further, he will learn the tricks of breath. That’s
Mind. The toddler intrinsically knows well to wail and call for mother’s
attention. Nature. It will learn to sing beautiful songs, make plenty of
sounds, imitate and act, render through his voices, sounds ancient and new, of
men and gods. Mind. It has soft limbs that helped him survive within the womb,
wrapped by fluid where the body maintained itself in a beautiful osmotic state.
Nature. He shall gain vigor and strength, enlarge and grow. He may choose to
make himself flexible like a gymnast or steely like wrestler. Mind.
The cost of mental growth is
dissociation and distance from nature. While it has helped man overcome
nature’s many whims and tyrannies (and what a glorious tyrant can it be!), it
has also diminished the gifts he did enjoy in its association. When hunting,
more than his physical senses, his strategy and caution took over. This was the
individualization of his mental principles in a non-moral sense (Nietzsche
invoked). Judgement is an evolutionary gift in the rung of growth.
Judgment is not evil. It is a
reminder of our imperfections. Although we live in an Archies era where
imperfections are charming and perfection boring, let us humbly agree that
there definitely exists, one or two areas of our being, which each one might be
better off attending to. Mira Alfassa says that our imperfections represent our
possibilities, like a great shadow of a terrible light. The depth of our flaw
signifies the possible summit of our virtue.
The mind ticks without rest. Even with all our inanities and efforts to
desensitize it, inure ourselves against self-reflection, the mind still ticks
ceaselessly. When we binge, it protests against the abuse of the body. When we
flare up, it protests against the abuse of life. When we overcome obstacles, it
rewards us with pride. When we make sacrifices, it fills us with purpose. A
part of our mind doesn’t participate in any action. It is pure and just judges
us on the merit of our actions.
Judgment and self-reflection is
in our subconscious and conscious and rather than being afraid of it, we must
look at perfecting it. It is the timidity and clever corruption of the human
mind that makes it shrink from the better powers of its own. It is a bright
sun-flame and ascertainment of intelligence-this ability to judge- that can
save us a lot of groping in the dark.
Our inherent assumption always
is: we are better than our actions. Why should that be? It is just delusional,
a device of self-defense that serves our insecurities and shelters our
cowardice. Our inabilities murkily hide behind these shadows and creep through
the quarters of our hearts. Most of us are intimidated by judgment. We are intimidated by what we project into
the world. Ironically, we are enslaved to the judgment of the other person,
quietly pleading for mercy in our own languages. We cultivate this slowly
through our childhood and eventually offer the game to the subconscious as we
do with several of our habits, where the dark emerald creepers may thrive. Why
we do it is a primal and curious thing but first we must understand the ‘what’.
Until now, however, we have
employed it to a great detriment and personal suffering. When a puppy fractures
itself, it will cut down its running and wait till it is back on its feet. What
I will do is agonize on the things I could have done if I wasn’t tied to the
bed. That is more acutely painful than the fracture itself.
Generally, we crave for the company
of people who do not judge like parents, close companions or even pets. Pets do not judge. Parents do
judge. Close friends judge closely. People do not pronounce. They often
do not see it profitable to express and make peace with your errors. Or at least their judgment doesn’t
translate into words or actions till it hurts them. That is just clever! Sentimentality is
one of the most dissipative forces in the world that has man fettered to its
misery. It must be soundly differentiated from emotions and its brighter offshoots such as compassion and love. Sentimentality is nothing but blind love
of the false-self. It is like demon-worship where the priest doesn’t know he
will be dispensed away with when he has run out of utility.
The power to judge ourselves and
others is human mind’s ability to turn its inward eyes and look at itself. It
is a miracle if we compare it with the rest of the life in the planet. A
constantly self-aware mind noting its thoughts and actions every second! Truly
splendid! Although it is the judgment of the heart that is precious, it
may not be timely and can put us in precarious situations. Sometimes, it may
come muffled or not at all. A sound judgment, untainted by
sentimentality and protected by reason, is an art. Lets not be afraid of being judged, let us just
hope we judge ourselves right!
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