compassion, non-competition and non-judgement are frequently linked together as three legs of the path to spirituality and contentment.
we're told not to judge people. that is, not to judge whether that person is a good person or a bad person. not to assign relative values to human beings. we should accept them as who they are. we should accept ourselves as who we are. no more, no less.
on the other hand, we're also seeking goodness and truth - which is impossible without judgement.
yet we have expectations of people. is that judging? based on past actions, we have clear expectations of how others would behave around us, respond to things that we do and say. if he's known to lie, we don't trust him so much. if she is a great listener, we seek her advice when we have problems. without these learned expectations, it would be pretty difficult to function among our social groups.
but people also change. good people succumb and do bad things, and bad people redeem themselves by doing good. our judgements and expectations shift accordingly.
judgement taken too far becomes intolerance. non-judgement taken too far becomes ignorance.
how do we find the balance?
