So,
What really happens when you judge?
Every time you're judging,
You're basically saying,
Universe,
You can't be the way you are.
Universe?
No.
Universe,
You're not allowed.
And the universe is there for a much higher purpose.
It has a much higher purpose for being the way it is than our limited vision of it,
Than our limited judging mind.
The truth is that the universe can be however it wants,
And it has a much bigger perspective than you do.
In Buddhism,
This is called the compassionate universe.
And the universe is compassionate because everything that happens is there for your growth.
I have a master's in Buddhist theology from Harvard Divinity School,
And I want to introduce you to a core idea in Mahayana Buddhist tradition.
And this is the thing that I found most interesting during my studies of these ancient texts.
And it's the idea that everything that's happening,
It happens either so you enjoy more,
And so you fall in love with the universe more,
Or it's happening to challenge you.
It's happening so you can meet your inner strength more fully,
Or so you can practice being calm in the middle of a crisis,
Or so you can show gratitude in a place you maybe didn't before.
So everything is happening so that you grow spiritually,
Or so that you enjoy the world.
And every time you're judging,
You're excluding something.
Any ideas?
What are you excluding every time you judge?
Basically,
Every time you're judging,
You're excluding life.
You're saying no to life itself.
And life,
As we know,
It's chaotic,
It's unpredictable.
It always goes against our ideas.
And by judging,
You're making life your enemy.
My favorite professor of Buddhism,
Charles Halsey,
Has this great phrase,
Whatever you believe is what will get you in trouble.
Whatever you believe,
Anything from the limited mind will get you in trouble.
So when you judge life,
When your thought is a judgment,
You're making life your enemy.
And life kind of recoils from that.
Like think about it,
If you're around a very judgmental person,
You kind of close down,
You don't want to spend time with that person,
You don't want to do that person any favors.
It's the exact same thing between you and life itself.
When you're judgmental of any part of life,
You're judgmental of life itself.
And life doesn't quite go your way.
It doesn't want to collaborate with you.
It stops being on your side.
So every time you're judging,
You're battling against life.
When you're compassionate,
You're serving life.
And when you're criticizing,
You're serving suffering.
So let's unpack criticism.
What is criticism?
Criticism is really just a form of aggression.
It's a form of aggression that hasn't been expressed in any other way.
People used to express their aggression more like there were duels,
There were fights.
Now we don't express that aggression,
And it comes out as criticisms.
And criticism is also when you're not spacious enough for a certain situation,
When you're not spacious enough for reality in front of you.
So freedom from the inner critic is a spaciousness practice.
And criticism also takes a lot of energy.
It's a huge energy burner.
And you need that energy that you can spend judging,
Criticizing,
Being unhappy with life.
Spend that energy to be happy and to grow.
Don't spend that energy on criticism and judgment.
The more we can resolve our own inner critic,
The more we reduce our suffering,
The more we increase our energy,
The more we're authentic,
And the more we're safe in our own skin.
Because most of the judgments are against us.
And yet,
We're just a part of life.
Don't judge yourself because you are also a part of life.
Yes,
Grow.
Yes,
Improve.
Yes,
Meditate.
Learn something new each day.
Set intentions to become better.
But don't judge yourself.
