Theos-Talk Archives (August 1997 Message tl00589)

My interpretation of "Judge not that ye be not judged" is a little different
than Tom's or Jerry's.

Jerry says:

> As you correctly point out, judging right and wrong is perfectly acceptable
> when we are oriented towards matter (on the Arc of Descent) --but we
> are supposed to be currently on the Arc of Ascent and such silly things
> as right and wrong no longer apply.

Tom says:

> All decisions are based on the evaluation of alternatives.  It is impossible
> to disapprove of the making of comparisons without making one.

[snip]

> Behavior must be judged, in order to choose the better over the worse.
> When Jesus said not to judge, he was disapproving of the holding of
> grudges, not of the evaluation of behavior, which he did often,
> according to the Bible.

I would say that judgment is necessary for behavior, but should not be about a
person's soul. For example, if someone kills a child, the behavior is wrong
but the person is ignorant (and makes me very angry).

> Christians have a long history of judging others, and look at the
> pain this has caused the world. I would hope that theosophists have
> already learned this lesson.

The brand of judgment you are talking about included judging a person's basic
quality as a human being and also inflicting harsh punishment. The other
extreme is also popular today and carried to ridiculous proportions. "That
bank robber's decision was right for him."