Judging Others

In Logic, it is said that the mind forms ideas by simple apprehension. It is the process of grasping or abstracting the essence of a thing. It focuses on the nature it signifies and leaves aside the concrete and sensible characteristics of that thing.

But the mind also compares two ideas, then notices and judges whether they agree or not with the other. This mental operation the mind does is called the judgment.

In our Gospel today, judging here refers to negative judging, that is, reprehending done largely as stereotyping based on cliché. Fr. Larry Tan, SDB, describes “cliché” as a type of conversation with no personal sharing. It is primarily based on the person’s external qualities.

Oftentimes, a person judges others using his or her own “measurement” or standard. Moreover, a person judges others person on the “façade” of his or her bias, prejudice or prejudgment linked with the person’s external qualities. One German philosopher in the person of Edith Stein, also known as St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, dealt it somehow this problem in her thesis entitled “On the Problem of Empathy.” Stein used bracketing, under the backdrop of Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology, in order to arrive at the essence of the person. This is called as the “pure I” or the I without bias, the I without prejudice or the I without prejudgment. Thus, it is also the grasping of the essence or nature of a person regardless of his or her concrete and sensible characteristics and background.

Henri Nouwen said, “…we have to give up measuring our meaning and value with the yardstick of others. To die to our neighbors means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus to become free to be compassionate. Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.”

According to my friend Francis Von Saulo, the former president of the Psychological Function Society in Letran-Calamba, “in negative judgment, the person who judges others, also judges his or her own self. He or she is grasping his or her own concrete and sensible characteristics of imperfections, insecurities and weaknesses”. He or she is not really grasping others; instead, he or she is grasping his or her own very self. Similar to Wayne Dyer, he said that “…when you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.”

In contrast to negative judgment or reprehending, positive judgment focuses on the real essence of other person. It is where a person draws compassion to another. It is not done as stereotyping. It is done in the spirit of mercy.

According to the 365 days Bible reflections, “the stop judging here, is not an invitation to inaction. There are instances when a person must judge another – as in cases of fraternal correction or of the exercise of temporal powers as judge. But human judgment can fall short because he or she sees only the external”. It says that, “God alone can judge with fairness, God alone can comprehend the recesses of the human heart, God alone fully knows that ‘mercy triumphs over judgment’ (Jas 2:13)”.

For me, the Gospel message is an invitation and a challenge to be slow in judging and condemning people, that is, that I must be fast in forgiving and generous in giving.

Lastly, the Gospel reading today reminds me of the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them”.

So be it!