Dictionary.com defines Vain: excessively proud of or concerned about one's own appearance, qualities, achievements, etc.; conceited.
Hmmm. Seems to me being judgmental goes hand in hand with vanity. To be vain one must be judgmental about one's self (and others). How else could one be “excessively proud” about one's self?
Judgment is one of the topics I got from today's Lesson 301. In fact, the Lesson triggered the following thoughts as I meditated on it.
Father, unless I judge I cannot weep. Nor can I suffer pain or feel I am abandoned and unneeded in the world.
When I judge the world I perceive, I may weep because my perception is faulty. I perceive a dream.
This is my home because I judge it not. And therefore is it only what You will.
When I “see” this world without judgment, I see God's Will. His Love.
Let me today behold it uncondemned through happy eyes forgiveness has released from all distortion. Let me see Your world instead of mine. And all the tears I shed will be forgotten, for their source is gone.
I can (must) choose again to see God's world. His Will. My body's eyes cannot do that, but my Mind can.
Father, I will not judge Your world today.
I choose to judge nothing, and especially God's Holy creation.
Lately, I've been wearing the T-shirt you see above. When I wear it I am constantly reminded that judgments; placing expectations on people, events and situations; making demands on people and the world around me; and, living in illusion—that none of those are what I wish to do. When I wear the T-shirt out in public, I imagine maybe a person will read the words and think about them as well.
Crazy? Might be. But in my novel, Computing Love, those four ideas are key to the development of the story's main characters. In fact, Kyle Williams learns in one scene how dispensing with those behaviors opens a clear channel to the Holy Spirit, which he calls his Teacher, Voice for God and Right Mind at various times.
Here's an excerpt from Chapter 35 that recounts a meditative experience Kyle had when he reached the “Oneness,” which is the term he uses to mean God's Real World, or Heaven.
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During the next morning's meditation―the longest of the day on most days―Kyle found himself in a state of mind, a mental “place” of stillness and peace that had become familiar. In that “place” he imagined the Oneness as a blanket of Love that enfolded everything God had created. Perhaps only the tiniest corner of the blanket touched him―or even just a single thread—to bring him to that “place” he knew as the Oneness.
He opened his eyes and the feeling of being in the Oneness persisted. He walked to the edge of the lake and half way around it, mindfully aware of each footstep and of each thought that slipped into his awareness from his Right Mind. Forgiveness empowers us while we're here. It isn't needed and doesn't exist in the Oneness. There, it's impossible there would be anything to forgive. But for a while, during your dream, forgiveness is the foundation that leads to true Vision, Knowledge and Love.
That wisdom settled into his mind as he pondered how forgiveness could be restored to the world. His Right Mind spoke with its always subtle voice. Forgiveness is silent and does nothing but choose to ignore the illusions of the ego. It restores the Peace you were given when you were created apart from time. It allows Love to reappear, while all thoughts of conflict and fear fade away. Forgiveness brings a new light to the world. The light of Love.
An image coalesced in Kyle's mind. He saw, in his mind's eye, an image of the planet; a rotating globe spinning slowly in the blackness of space. He saw himself as a giant, standing on its surface with each foot on a different continent. Yet as he looked at himself he noticed the image appeared almost plastic, an unreal likeness of a man; a cartoonish mimicry. A man who was living his life on a fabricated, false, unreal and rather comical stage. He saw he was an imaginary character on an imaginary world.
He recognized his gigantic body monstrously straddling continents and oceans, and thought he might be visible from thousands of miles away in space because he was so huge. Yet that gigantic body standing on the earth was but a silly dream that meant nothing and had no reality. Kyle stared at that image. From the giant's vantage point a thousand miles above the planet, that mimicry of Kyle looked down upon a world blanketed in pockets of war with bombs falling, people dying. He saw fear in every corner. And he knew that when he no longer judged the world he saw, all those false perceptions would fade to nothingness.
He knew his Right Mind had given him the image. He knew it would become a permanent memory, an understanding that would never fade away. An image he could recall vividly for the rest of his life. A memory that would remind him, no matter what might seem to be happening, that he―Kyle, the individual―was nothing more than a construct.
He thought: I, Kyle, am a joke. A joke my ego played on me. My life isn't real. I'm not real. The world I perceive isn't real. Thank you for showing me this image.
His awareness rested on the image. This person I've always thought I am…it's a fabrication. That cartoon man is just a dream body thinking certain things matter. Nothing matters! Nothing he thinks or believes is real. He goes about his life with fears and worries and loves and hates. With preferences and attitudes and beliefs and perspectives that sometimes seem so profound and deep. None of that is real. He's a puppet of the ego. He looks so huge, standing on the planet with each foot on a different continent. How silly. How insane.
The image faded from his mind and Kyle knew he would be able to recall it any time his ego tried to make something seem important. Any time he felt put upon. Any time he was tempted to judge another person or event. Any time his ego tried to take the upper hand in his thinking. Thank you, Voice for God, for showing me this dream!
