Where does compassion stand when the judgement kicks in?

Compassion and judgement are not the two opposites.

Let’s look at different roles judgement can assume in our lives, how it manifests, and what are some of its pros and cons.

To start with, judging can be a type of behavior, a habit, tendency of one’s reaction to different events. For example, I can judge myself, various situations, or other people.

On the other hand, judging can also be a very useful process and a skill to be applied while using clarity and wisdom. Even the wises people use judgement to correctly estimate the situation and act accordingly. Let’s say you’re interviewing a candidate for a new job.  You have to apply judgement to assess the suitability of that candidate for the offered position.

What about compassion?

Take a look at the image with me and my dog Daisy. It’s so easy for me to feel compassion for her, she feels divine, loving. Same energy goes for a child; when they’re playing or simply being. All I have to do is relax, soften up, connect and I get a feel of the bonding sensation, a feeling between me and another human being who is pure love. I am able to see “God” in a waking state. That is compassion for me.

It’s quite easy connect, to see “god” in children or Daisy, or others people who I love and trust. I becomes very challenging when a person who has cheated me for $15k is standing in front of me, picking up his cheque I had to sign.  

Sometimes, people tend to come across as cruel, but that is only due to my own experience and perception. In that moment judgement kicks in, and distorts the ability for me to feel any bond or compassion for that person. My ego flares up, all I can see in that moment is a cheater, someone who hurt me and me as the victim. I have to try really hard to go beyond my judgmental ego, to calm down, to see beyond my limitations, and behave as the self.

I feel it is the ego that is the opposite to compassion.  When my ego flares up and interferes, any room for compassion disappear.

Some people with very strong personalities have a tendency of being quite judgmental. They want to fight, prove, resist, compete, analyze, in a very restless way. I often notice in those moments the room for compassion is taken away, the space becomes sullied.

I wonder how you can perceive the difference? If you are able to notice what takes away your ability to be compassionate and how your ego interferes when it comes to your relations to others? Humans, or non-humans? Friends or strangers?

I believe compassion arises through us all, out of love for another. Another being, plant, visible, or non-visible object.

In that very moment, the self that I am, recognizes the self in the other. It is the same self itself. Not two, nor three, but one. One self, like one sun, reflecting through milliards of mirrors. Its purpose to shine.

The cleaner your mirror, the more you reflect, extending your luster & shine.

Like the full moon, continuously rising, waning, reflecting. Sometimes less, sometimes more, sometimes not, and sometimes fully…

Become like the full moon, my friend, bring through your full light, especially when the night appears to be dark.

Every mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, or a child has experienced compassion. There’s not a singles human under the Sun, who hasn’t. We all have it, we all know it, it happens through all of us at one point or another.

I think we only narrowed it down a bit, shrank the orbits of our compassionate selves, showing it only towards those closest to our heart, to those we love.

Yet the sun shines for all, doesn’t it?

And still we constrain, out of fear, judgement, anger, resentment, sadness, animosity, rage, doubt, blame, shame, stories, struggle, pain. We create our own self deprived reality of our co-existence on planet Earth.

I wonder, would it hurt to give it a go, wipe the slate clean, and let go? Drop that, which takes away our fully fledged luster and shine? That, which is given to us as a birthright? Something so precious, something that no one can ever take away. Not even me or you, because it’s always there..

You matter just as much as I matter. We all matter, we all can smile and shine the light.

Matter=physical substance=all life forms=Prakriti, Shakti—through which the Purusha, Atman, the Sun=pure awareness= consciousness—shines.

We rely on the Sun’s energy to live on Earth, and we all have the same potential to shine that light, to live life, and to support life on Earth. Simply plant a sunflower seed – or any seed – give it the right kind of environment, watch it grow, and you will see.

As above, so below, as within so without.

Further reading: I found this beautiful piece on The Ancient Yoga of the Sun. It resonates deeply.