Step Eighty-Two

Step 82. I Will Not Judge Another Today.

Again we practice this lesson, which we will repeat at certain intervals as you proceed. Judgment is a decision not to know. It is a decision not to look. It is a decision not to listen. It is a decision not to be still. It is a decision to follow a convenient form of thinking that keeps your mind asleep and keeps you lost within the world. The world is full of error. How could it be otherwise? Therefore, it does not require your condemnation but your constructive assistance.

Do not judge another today. Remind yourself of this upon each hour and consider it briefly. Remind yourself of this in your two meditation practices, where you make this statement and then enter into stillness and receptivity. Do not judge another today so that you may be happy.

Practice 82: Two 30-minute practice periods. Hourly practice.

Here you will find the entire book free for download http://stepstoknowledge.com/

Here you will find pointers for getting started if this is your first encounter with this practice: Taking the Steps to Knowledge.

February 27, 2013 Round One: This Step presents for me a very different way of looking at “judgment” when it says:

“Judgment is a decision not to know. It is a decision not to look. It is a decision not to listen. It is a decision not to be still. It is a decision to follow a convenient form of thinking that keeps your mind asleep and keeps you lost within the world.”

What particularly jumps out is the word “decision,” which puts the ball in my court, meaning I am the one doing the deciding, making the decision, and instead I can decide to know, decide to look, decide to listen, decide to be still, and decide to wake up and steer my course toward Knowledge within the world.

October 4, 2014 Round Two: I can make non-judgment a conscious decision. I can remind myself at every moment that the world is full of error and needs my compassion rather than my condemnation. Ignorance abounds and people live in ways that compromise them. They are not to blame for this, they just do not know any better right now. There will come a time when more and more people will know how to love, spread light, and help raise the consciousness of the planet. I can make a conscious decision not to judge. Judgment is a cop-out.

September 17, 2018 Round Three: Judging clouds my vision. I see how it clouds Sasha’s. He is blinkered. A pity. I am not judging him when I say this for I am seeing beyond his defects. I am seeing, knowing and listening to them and still accepting Sasha as he is, feeling compassion for him. This is what I was telling him yesterday, that people are not bad because they do not see things the way he does, they just don’t know any better. This is my basic stance on this and has been for years. It serves me well. I do not have prejudiced views about people, I just know that they are in a different place.

I did 20 minutes of meditation (5.02-5.20) in the bathroom. It was sufficient.

I talked to Hilary about judgment. She talked back. We are on the same page. Judgment is unforgiving, it is unflexible, it is prejudiced, it is static, it is frozen. I will not judge another today.