Judgment

Everyone - at least moral people - knows that it's not right to do it. Yet, everyone does. The Bible warns about it. "Judge not, lest you be judged." The New Age has taken this edict seriously. Judging others (and ourselves) presents a moral dilemma. One ingenious way around this problem is to give judgment new names. Some have renamed it "discernment" or "opinion." But does switching tags and changing definitions make a difference?

When you think, you judge - putting people, actions, emotions, and ideas in categories. The mental body functions like that. The emotional body works in a similar way. If it experiences something negative, it tosses the event into the "bad bin." If you're clever, you can shift the paradigm here, as well. "Oh, I'm not feeling 'bad.' I'm just experiencing energy." Cool, but that's a judgment, too. You've judged it to be so.

Judgments don't cause suffering; people acting on judgments cause suffering. For example, I can have an opinion. "People who wear tongue rings have no taste in fashion." Thinking the "bad thought" didn't damage anyone. Everyone is free to their opinion. However, what if I went around yanking off their jewelry? That would hurt! I'd be putting my opinions into action.

One group suffers whenever they play the role of the Judge. These are the sensitive souls who criticize themselves for judging others. Whenever they think a bad thought, they flinch and immediately try to change the way they are thinking. This useless guilt is harmful. How can you understand yourself, if you keep running away in shame?

Here's an example. You might think, "Yuck! That person is soooo pushy!" Immediately, your Inner Judge shouts, "You're judging!" Internally, you jump. "Yikes! Umm . . . He's pushy, but, ah, it's OK because, ah . . . he's a Leo [or whatever]." You try to rationalize a negative perspective into a positive one. Superficially, this sounds like a good plan. In that moment, though, you're in denial of your thoughts and feelings. You are rejecting your psychological state. When you're in denial like this, the problem continues to lurk in the background.

You're also blaming yourself for being intolerant. "I should be more accepting. . . ." Or, "Who am I to judge?" You're a human being. Who else judges? It never occurs to you that your assessment of the situation might be right! ("Right" means "correct within the limits of whatever model you are using.") However, it's also possible that you're wrong.

So, you can criticize yourself. You can rearrange your thoughts so they conform to some ideal. This ideal is usually something that you've borrowed from a religious or metaphysical system. However, this ideal is not you. It's what you've come to expect of yourself. Playing the role of Thought Cop robs you of the opportunity to know yourself more intimately. To know yourself deeply, you must first accept your judgments and that you judge.

Additionally, humans have a tendency to identify with their thoughts. When you "adjust" your thoughts to a "higher level," you hallucinate and believe that you are at a higher level. You are, instead, momentarily deluded. The phenomenon of identifying with your thoughts also explains why you judge, condemn, and penalize yourself whenever a "wrong" thought pops into your head.

It's all right to judge. Look at your opinions without fear. Don't beat yourself. You'll begin to understand how you really feel about things. Hiding yourself behind "correct" models of "how I should be" keeps you a stranger to yourself.

I'm not, of course, suggesting that you cultivate bad thoughts. That's as unnatural as trying to have only good ones. (The relativity of "good" and "bad" further complicates the matter.) Life on earth is a balance (or imbalance) of positive and negative. The point is to understand rather than to control and manipulate. You'll find that the former is a more positive and effective catalyst for change than the latter.

Thoughts

It's helpful to have a clear understanding of the role and limits of thoughts. For instance, to think, "I'm going to drive my car across the Atlantic Ocean" misses the point. Automobiles are great for cruising the boulevard, but they make the worst boats.

Thought plays an important role in human existence. At the very least, life would be meaningless without this measuring tool. You could argue, though, that the physical and emotional bodies are equally important. Without the former, you are "dead." Without the later, you're a robot.

You have a mystical aspect, as well. It's like an ocean of creative energy ecstatically waiting to manifest. The mental body is an interface to this ocean. It translates certain strands of this energy into thought patterns. In turn, your brain, an organ of the body, downloads these patterns from the mental body. The result: You have an idea.

A few kinds of thoughts exist. It's helpful to differentiate them. "Ordinary" thoughts, those that concern common, local phenomena, aren't produced at non-local sites. For instance, you hear the telephone ring and think, "The phone is ringing." God or your guides don't have to tell you that. The brain can handle it.

"Non-ordinary" thought, however, can stream from various non-local sources. Your mystical aspect is one of these non-local sources. Examples of this include ESP, past-life experience, and mystical revelation. Destructive non-local "suggestions" - the "voices in my head" kind - can originate from the dark legions. "You should kill them all. . . ."

Thoughts aren't tangible items. You can't stack them on a table. Rather, they are a function that serves your creature body and your mystical aspect. The mystical aspect is your creative center - your power source. The Mind Cult mistakenly believes that thought is this power source, but it is not. Thought is the brush, not the artist. (The emotional, astral, and physical bodies are brushes, too.)

An influential philosophy within the Mind Cult is the "Power of Positive Thinking." Many have elevated this system of thought from theory to "Truth." This conceptual trap has snared millions and has become so psychologically ingrained that few question its validity.

In this system, True Believers act as Mind Sentinels constantly on the alert for undesirable thoughts. To become a Sentinel, you must first paint the walls of your mind in self-scrutinizing colors. When the paint dries, you've created a mental buffer zone. The zone, however, doesn't protect you from negative thoughts. Oh, contrair: It actually amplifies their power in your head! If you'd just leave them alone, they'd tumble away like dry, brown leaves in a brisk autumn wind. But, noooooo. . . . You have to make a big deal out of them. . . A thought, however, can have a real impact on others - positively or negatively - when the emotional body supports it. For instance, if you think AND FEEL that someone is a thief, this projects. The target's emotional body can "physically" sense this energy. This only happens, though, at close distances. You can feel and think lovingly about someone, but if they're 100 miles away, they won't receive it.

Other forms of projection exist. Sometimes, astral forces utilize the raw energy produced by subconscious emotional trauma. This nasty brew can transmit such unwelcomed feelings as hate, envy, and jealousy. These can inflict damage, but only at close range.

For example, if your father severely abused you when you were young, you'll probably have a problem with authority figures. While being abused, you probably made silent deals or vows, and the Dark Forces took you up on them. "Please protect me!" "I'll never forgive you for this!" Certain circumstances can trigger these programs, causing unwarranted psychic attacks. You don't use conscious thought to release this energy. You can conveniently zap others while you sleep.

Conscious at-a-distance effects happen when you invoke astral entities or perhaps the gods. (For either good or bad purposes.) This is magic. Taken a step higher, you can invoke fifth-dimensional (and above) beings. This is miracle work.

Upon analysis, Positive Thinking is the same as "wishful thinking." Many examples lend credence to this. For example, in the 1960's, almost everyone loved President John F. Kennedy. Countless admirers bathed him and his wife in good thoughts and wishes. Yet, one man with an attitude - acting on a judgment - assassinated the president. (Conversely, many unpopular presidents weren't killed.)

"Long Live the Queen" - on the lips and in the minds of millions - is another example. You'd think that the Queen, with all of this positive psychic support, would live an extraordinarily long life. Historically, though, queens don't live any longer than other aristocratic women.

Lastly, the ancient Egyptians showered their Pharaohs with the thought, feeling, and words of "Eternal life!" Did it work? Not in this earthly life.

You can test the theory of Positive Thinking, and if it works, YOU'LL WIN BIG. Here's what you do. Buy a lottery ticket, and take a week off work. Then, spend all of that time thinking, "I will win the lottery. I will win the lottery." Concentrate; focus as much power into it as possible. (Hey - it's worth at least a million bucks.) Doing this, you'll have invested more "positive thought power" in winning than anybody. Will you win?

True Believers imagine that by thinking only positive, happy thoughts, their lives will improve. They imagine that they will become more loving. How can you become more loving when you don't love yourself? Where's the acceptance? The practical result of this discipline is a lifetime of mental arm wrestling. What's worse, the Power of Positive Thinking is insidious. As you use this system, you become psychologically addicted to it. That's a fact! If you try to quit, you will experience fearful withdrawal symptoms. Guaranteed! The hook goes deep.

Allowance

Allowance leads to understanding. Understanding allows transcendence. Transcend, and you stand before the gate of mastery. When you pass through the gate, you grab a board and begin surfing the mental plane. As a surfer, you know what freedom is. You ask, "How are the waves today?" You don't make them. Ironically, Sentinels patrolling the beach think that they do.

Lastly, you hear, "Judge not, lest you be judged." You understand that someone will surely judge you even if you've never judged anyone in your whole life.

Live a miraculous life!

Evin Starbuilders