Judging Judgments

We go around all day making judgments about things, people, and more. We judge people on how they dress, how they look, perhaps how they talk. We race to conclusions about people we really have no real idea about. We just have our perceptions, and they are colored by ignorance or misconception. We look up to the rich and famous, and often look down on the man standing on the corner holding a sign asking for help. Yet we cannot accurately know who is truly a success or who is not. We like this, or we don’t like that. We probably make more judgments than we need to. Certainly we make wrong judgments. The old Daoist sages in their writings advised to limit judgments. However, our judgments usually know no limits. Some people judge themselves or others more harshly than others. Maybe it we didn’t judge so much, we would be happier. I don’t know. Maybe if we tried to take things as they come more often, we would have less stress and more harmony. Yet it is not realistic to think that we should not have judgments at all. Some beliefs point to not judging as being a key to if not happiness, than preventing sadness. Without judgments we would be stuck in a state of ennui. We would be caught in a languor that would not allow us to experience any emotion, or to achieve anything. We would be zombies. Some judgments are unfair, based on stereotypes or plain ignorance. Some of these however might be correct at times. But we must be wise when making judgments. Judging on emotion can often get one into trouble. We must consider the facts and then decide, and not let emotion or ignorance rule the day.