People judge each other in different contexts and for many reasons. With respect to the context, the consequences of judgment greatly vary. While in some contexts judgment may result in someone not feeling comfortable, in others it may lead to the initiation of wars or committing genocide. How people judge each other is a determinant of how they relate and greatly influences all personal, social, and political interactions.
Before we start, let’s check how Judgment is defined.
Judgement: The ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions. Oxford Dictionary
Judgement: is to draw conclusions from evidence and evaluate events and people. psychology dictionary
Basically, Judgment as a cognitive faculty is critical to our wellbeing and growth. Unless we can make judgments, we would not be able to survive or move forward with our lives. for example, we have to judge if an animal is wild and may hurt us, which career path to choose, which food is healthy, or when to cross a road. On the other hand, we have also to judge people in many circumstances and situations, like if someone is dangerous, whom to befriend, whom to start a relationship with, or whom to learn from. Everyone has a life and it is crucial to judge whom you let into one’s life. That is why Judgment is not at all dispensable, and it is also obvious that judgment as a mental function is wired into our minds.
Having defined judgment and what is its function, let’s make this distinction between healthy and unhealthy judgment:
If I am buying a pair of shoes, I would have to judge different pairs in order to decide which one best suit me, but what would be the point if I judged someone else’s shoes, judged the person based on them or made a comparison between My shoes and His shoes?
In all these cases I made a judgment, but in the first case I used it for a practical and healthy purpose that is quite relevant to me, while in the other cases I judged something/someone that is irrelevant and has no impact on my life.
Judging something/someone that is irrelevant to one’s life is one of many scenarios of unhealthy judgment.
Many believe that judgment is ingrained in our minds, I agree with that, but it doesn’t mean we are born with a tendency to judge others, neither negatively nor positively. While Judgment as a mere mental function is innately wired in our minds; how, when and why we use it is a habit we acquire while we are being raised.
Different scenarios of unhealthy judgment:
In addition to judging someone with no impact on our lives, there are many different scenarios of unhealthy judgment.
Prejudice, when someone is conditioned against others from different race, religion, or nation, they usually start dealing with them based upon what his own group have planted in his mind and heart without thinking of getting to know the person they encounter. This kind of unhealthy judgment sometimes extends to people from different careers, supporters of competing political candidates or fans of competing sports teams.
Clinging to social norms without giving them much thinking. Within the boundaries of a single community, where there are certain norms upon which it is determined everyone’s worthiness, people tend to look down upon those who don’t comply with their norms.
Single-mindedness, this when we judge someone based on one thing that seems of the highest importance to us. Like when one is involved in spirituality and take it as a basis to judge everyone he encounters. When we judge others based solely on how they wear, behave, look or how big their bank accounts are.
Closed-mindedness, believe in one version of reality and attributing other’s adoption to other versions to being ignorant, or having a hidden agenda.
Assuming the intentions of others, this is much related to believing that others are conspirers and interpreting their actions and words in such a way that supports that belief.
Why do people unhealthily judge each other?
Fear, I believe the most dominant reason is fear.
People are usually fearful of what they don’t understand and what they are not familiar with. Fear also can be taught, when people from different groups believe that the mere existence of others threatens them.
On an individual level, people are more likely to judge others when they feel insecure, unappreciated, or threatened by others’ success.
Low self-esteem, taking pride in others perceived misdeeds make up for one with low self-esteem. People who feel down because they are being judged themselves especially if they suffered intense criticism at an early age usually get involved in judging others, simply because their lives are centered about weighing and evaluating others as well as themselves.
A mind that runs on duality is an incubator for judgment.
We can’t understand judgment apart from duality-consciousness. Not because Duality is the reason for judgment but because when the mind perceives life as one whole, there would be no perceived contradiction on which we make judgment. While, if life is perceived as contradictory aspects, it would be a matter of learning that people would acquire the habit of judgment. When in a person’s mind, people are divided into the good and the evil, the worthy and the unworthy, the superior and the inferior, it would be crucial for everyone’s ego to determine to which side he and everyone else belong.
Positive and negative judgments are unhealthy judgments:
Since positive judgment feels good for both who judge and those who are being judged we usually overlook the fact that positive judgment stems from duality-consciousness quiet the same as negative judgment. Being able to judge someone positively means having a certain criterion upon which others are judged negatively.
On the other hand, for someone to judge another he must, in the first place, see in himself the person who is superior, righteous and proud while looking upon the other as less superior and as a subject of judgment. This works the same when one positively or negatively judging another.
The problem with unhealthy judgment is that people often react to judgment by being judgmental themselves creating a vicious circle of hostility, increasing the separation and excessively dividing within what is already divided.
