Living in a Commonwealth of Love

Notes on Judgment in A Course in Miracles

I

A Course in Miracles suggests that one of the reasons we are slow to let go of judgment - which is an "obvious prerequisite for hearing God's Voice" - is because we perceive letting go as "personally insulting" (M-9.2:4).

In other words, we value judgment; we want to judge. We like being judge, jury and executioner.

And, at least on the world's view, letting go of judgment is obviously an error. How else will we be fed and clothed? How else keep a roof over our head? I can't even make a salad without exercising judgment, let alone raise a child and pay a mortgage. Of course I judge; of course I do.

But the Manual for Teachers brooks no argument here. If we want to know God and God's peace then we have to give up all judgment. Not some of it or some of the time. All of it. Forever.

The world’s training is directed toward achieving a goal in direct opposition to that of our curriculum. The world trains for reliance on one’s judgment as the criterion for maturity and strength. Our curriculum trains for the relinquishment of judgment as the necessary condition of salvation (M-9.2:5-7).

There is not a lot of wiggle room there which - as seasoned ACIM students - understand, is kind of the point.

II

In my experience, judgment is a reaction to change, which is itself a feature of both the world and the body. The system of judgment evaluates sensory data in light of past learning, calculates an ideal outcome, and puts in play a plan for that outcome. Judgment updates constantly; it never stops, not even when we sleep.

At the level of the world and the body, we can neither escape nor undo judgment. It's the brain doing brain things, the same way a river does river things or a cow does cow things.

But we can see judgment clearly! And that is what the work is, for most of us. We are learning how to see clearly the apparent inevitability of judgment, how it keeps on keeping on, even when we judge against it and wonder if there isn't another way.

For me, realizing that I couldn’t personally end judgment was existentially disturbing, but eventually I realized this also meant that judgment was as natural as chickadees singing in the apple trees or a thunderstorm coming down the valley.

Once we see judgment as natural - as a feature of bodies and the world, neither more nor less important than thunderstorms or chickadees - then it stops being personal. And when it stops being personal, it stops being so interesting and important.

We begin to realize that we've been giving an extraordinary amount of attention to our opinions and interpretations which, collectively, are judgment. We have been using judgment as if were truth itself and not just another aspect of a dream world. And we don’t have to do that! We can literally give attention to anything else.

So what happens when we stop relying so much on judgment?

III

There's an old Zen parable that you probably know.

A farmer is struggling to work his land when out of nowhere a draft horse appears. Good news! say the neighbors.

Maybe and maybe not, says the farmer.

His son tries to mount the horse, gets thrown, and breaks a leg.

Bad news! say the neighbors.

Maybe and maybe not, says the farmer.

That evening the military come through, taking every able-bodied young man. Because his leg is broken, the farmer's son is allowed to stay behind.

Good news! say the neighbors.

Maybe and maybe not, says the farmer.

The neighbors are the voice of judgment, right? And their judgments make sense! After all, what kind of idiot parent says of their child's broken leg, "maybe it's actually good?"

And yet.

IV

The farmer is not judging what happens. Nor does he accept another's judgment of what happens. For him, what happens is no longer personal. It's not of him anymore. In Buddhist terms, his mind is still. It is not projecting itself and not hypnotizing itself. It's not lying to itself. It's not trying to get anything from the situation. He is liberated and can respond with grace and love effortlessly.

In ACIM terms, the farmer is no longer relying on his personal interpretation of what happens in order to make sense of life in the world.

. . . no one can be angry at a fact. It is always an interpretation that gives rise to negative emotions, regardless of their seeming justification by what appears as facts (M-17.4:1-2).

And not just negative emotions but positive ones too!

Again, the interpretation - the judgment - is going to happen. The voice characterized by the neighbors in the Zen parable (and by "ego" in A Course in Miracles) never goes away. It’s a fact of the body and the world. But we relate to it differently. We don't give attention to it the way we once did.

When ego is seen as no more significant than bird song or lightning, then we don't have to do anything with it. It makes its argument - this is good, this is bad - but we hear it the way we hear a chickadee or watch thunderheads in the distance. What happens, happens. It's not a problem.

In all situations, as often as I remember, I want to see the judgment. I want to call it up and see it function. Basically, ego wants judgment running out of view, where it won't be examined and seen for the destructive force it is. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit, our right mind, wants to see judgment where and as it is so that we can stop prioritizing and relying on it.

That's it. Here in the dream wrought by judgment, all we need to do is bring the judgment to the light of the Holy Spirit. Saying "no" to judgment means saying "yes" to living with intention and clarity. Intention and clarity are what the Holy Spirit is.

Letting go of judgment is a learning process that naturally restores peace to our heart and stillness to our mind. We become better friends and neighbors. And the peace and stillness become like lights beckoning us onward to deeper and more sustainable healing. As our reliance on judgment diminishes, we join together, brothers and sisters making our shared living a Commonwealth of Love.

~ Sean