I have a dilemma. It’s been one of those lifelong dilemmas if I am honest. Here it is. I am interested in people’s thoughts on this one.
Inside of me is one character or persona who I will term The Judge. He sits in judgement (reminds me a bit of the Tarot image of The Emperor card to be honest) of me, life and everything. Often, He is quick to speak – “That’s wrong, that’s right, How dare he? What an ass” and so on. He is also the faculty that I use to decide what is right and wrong and what is truth or fiction. He has a purpose. A valid purpose and yet…..
I have another aspect that tells me I should not judge and that I am not a judge of anything except what is within me – what is mine. If I judge I should weigh my own self and spend time working out the knots and stresses inside of me. In doing so, I can look out on the world and see it in a better more wholesome manner.
So who is right?
I mean, without judgement, how could I function at all? How would I be able to decide on a course of action, who my friends should be and that sort of thing? Yet, if I judge wrongly (and I assuredly will since my ability to judge is easily swayed and influenced by internal and external stimulae), how am I hurting others and myself in the broadest sense.
Yes, It is I am aware a polarity issue…. but still.
I took a look at some interpretations of those two tarot cards and was amazed at how they do address my dilemma. The Emperor ‘represents power and authority, and his stern attitude is quite a departure from the sensual beauty of the Empress. The Emperor has a long, white beard, a symbol of his experience. As an archetype, it is common to see masculine figures of authority or father figures with long white beards. It suggests that this man has acquired years of wisdom and experience and he is worthy of listening to because he has seen first-hand the consequences of his actions.
Behind his throne are barren mountains and the throne itself is decorated with four rams’ heads, representing intellectual heights, determination, action, initiative and leadership. The ram is also a symbol of Aries, the astral ruler of the Emperor. In his right hand, the Emperor holds an Ankh, the Egyptian symbol of Life, and in his left is an orb representing the world over which he rules. The orange background and the Emperor’s red clothing symbolise his passion and energy for life and the challenges it offers.’
Meanwhile, Judgement card ‘calls for a period of reflection and self-evaluation. Through meditation or quiet reflection, you may come to a point of deep understanding about the common themes throughout your life and what you can do or change to avoid these situations in the future. Judgement tells you that you are close to reaching a significant stage in your own journey.’
I remain swayed to the idea that I need to eliminate the rapid, snap judgements from my life and that I should judge only myself – however, this is difficult to do and isn’t judgement of someone else really a judgement of ourselves anyway through projection? Then, what about those intuitive moments then when I snap judge something anyway?
Anyone?????
Hi Gary,
This is an excellent question and it means you are accelerating your spiritual growth..
Why? because to question your own judgement means self awareness. You are right to question this and yes, judgement is bad in ever form and every setting.
Again why? Because anything which says you are less than a divine and immortal being in a human body is false. The moment that even the thought of judgement comes up means; ‘I am less than’. We judge ourselves incessantly and it’s one thing I have worked hard to eliminate.
But we must not mix judgement with discernment. One is negative and one is spiritual. Judgement can of course have two meanings but in this context I am referring to judgement of self.
I hate to shamelessly promote my own book (hate is relative here lol) but in The Adept Magician the Adept notes that one of his greatest abilities is that of discernment or perspicacity even though the Adept could stop time itself.
I have been working on this problem (discernment) and what it means for some time. It seems to me that the God within, or the Supreme Being we are parts of is constantly working through our feelings, through events, through experience and when all of those fail, He resorts to words. So discernment is identifying which thoughts come from our environment and which come from The God Within.
So the Adept was following this internal/external God and that led him to higher and higher spiritual growth because the Creator only wishes for our happiness Love and joy.
Thanks for that… I understand and will deliberate on that… and promote your book all you want – its a really good book and I highly recommend it…