Weekly Newsletter: Judge or Heal

​Rarely do we find that life gives us only two choices, and some might argue against the case I’m about to make, but when we are judging, we are not healing. We must let go of judgment in order to move to the point of healing. To use a simple illustration, during an argument, both sides fight to be heard and often judge the other person’s position as wrong, and at times they resort to judging the person — not that person’s beliefs. They judge that the essence of who that person is, is wrong. Of course, winning an argument of this nature seldom if ever heals. In fact, the accusations and judgments made create more hurt and pain that require additional healing.
 
The same is true when the person we judge is ourselves. As long as we judge ourselves as unworthy, evil, or wrong, we cannot heal, and we create an additional need for healing. Guilt causes fear, not peace. Guilt, the result of judgment, moves us further away from wholeness, health, and recovery.
 
A space is created for healing when we refuse to judge ourselves or others. Prisons are filled with people who have been judged guilty, but few prisons have found ways to restore the guilty to a place of health because the emphasis is upon the crime, not the cure. The golden rule would tell us what we are doing to our prisoners will fail and come back to haunt us if we don’t let go of condemnation and find better ways of restoring the prisoner to spiritual health.