If there could have possibly been an eight sin in addition to the Seven Deadly Sins, it would probably be the-judgemental-attitude. Or maybe not? :-/
Well as a kid I always had this notion that one should not be judgmental. It’s not really a virtue to carry on with you. You are supposed to listen to people, look at situations and take your decisions. Passing judgements over other people’s actions, behavioural patterns and words is not expected out of the so-called “good” people. And to put it straight, I have grown up always trying to become “good” (not that I am really sure what that is actually supposed to mean).
But over the last few weeks I have been wondering about this. What’s so wrong about being judgemental? :-? Why is it such an obnoxious thing to be? Why does it count as a bad thing? Why can’t you simply be expected to depend on your judgements rather than your whims? And aren’t whims and judgements two different things? How does NOT being judgemental help anyways?
Wikipedia describes the word “Judgemental” as judgment of the rightness or wrongness of something, or of the usefulness of something, based on a personal view. As a generalization, a value judgment can refer to a judgment based upon a particular set of values or on a particular value system.
It is inevitable to have a personal value system just like it is impossible not to have a personal view about anything. And if one has either or both of these, why can’t one apply them to making new opinions? When you meet a new person, or get to know new people, how do you see them? Aren’t their words and actions the only doors to knowing them? Is there any human way possible to getting to know someone’s real thoughts and intentions? Come on! We don’t even know our own thoughts in an organized manner. Our words and their transition into actions define us, define who we are. And when two people meet each other, talk, share, love, laugh, cry… what other than words and actions have they got to exchange? And when we say, we know a person, what do we really mean? Obviously that we have known them for whatsoever amount of time through their words and actions. Nothing else is known, or knowable. Not that the unknowable isn’t worth knowing though.
So when we judge people, we actually make use of our intellect to determine what someone did or what someone appears to be is right or wrong, IN OUR OPINION. And how is that wrong? We all have the right to having and making our own opinions. I do not see how being being judgemental is not some sort of wisdom. Even more so in today’s world, which is flooded with falsehood, deceit, treachery, deception and lies. And (even though I am yet to meet with one single person who is not judgemental) if a person is not judgemental, what is her/his plan of action anyway? Being judgemental sure does not make you deceit-proof, but it does increase the chances of the same. Why, then, is it such a crime to be judgemental? It isn’t a crime to be wise for sure..
:-/
And still, whenever one of your conversations with someone you supposedly “know” ends up with that someone telling you that you are “judgemental” it sure doesn’t go down well with the system :-/
