We have a deep-rooted belief that if we let go of judgment, society will fall apart. But just what are we holding together?  Perhaps the fabric of society that our judgments hold together is the most toxic part of a society. What would happen if we loosened the grip of judgment in our lives? What might a society look like if over half the judgments we indulge in were scrapped away?

For starters, we’d be giving ourselves and each other a lot more freedom and a lot more space. We’d stop butting into everyone’s lives. We’d stop judging other people’s life styles, their affairs, their actions, their choices. We’d learn the difference between being interested in what others are doing, and judging what others are doing. We’d learn the difference between laws that are truly necessary in a society, and fear-based judgments disguised as laws, that in fact inhibit the evolution of a society and shackle parts of the human experience. Many of our fears masquerading as laws turn into a crime what we find discomforting–or else what we find profitable, such as the criminalization of  drugs.

The freedom and space we give to others to live their lives as they wish equates equally to the freedom and space we give to ourselves to live our lives as we choose. With less judgment and the peering eyes of those around us, we’d experience a human journey that contains more ease, more alignment with our evolutionary purpose, more authenticity, and we’d have greater energy available to focus and direct toward useful and satisfying life experiments.  We’d understand that the human journey is just that:  a journey, always in process and always an experiment, and for the most part, completely beyond human judgment.

Why is this so? Spirit guide Spotted Eagle points out that we are all ancient spiritual energies. This ancient energy that is you and I is individuated and differentiated. It has been personally “us” for a long time, and we each are unique according to the different dimensions we have chosen to experience with our spiritual energy. Since we know that energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is an understatement to say our journeys have been long. We have been journeying and experimenting and evolving our energy for billions of years and beyond. Our human lifetime is a small, quick flicker in the total scheme of who we are. We do not know what any soul or spiritual energy may be working on in this particular lifetime, so it is hubris for us to attempt to judge any human life. Instead of judging, it is more accurate to understand that everyone, without exception, is on a sacred  journey of evolution.

When we begin to understand that there is a much bigger picture at work, we can more easily extend to each human being who has chosen to experience this quite difficult earth plane, a large amount of respect and honor. We can give them a wide berth to journey as they are called, knowing that no matter what their circumstances, or how they appear, there is more going on than meets the human eye. When we look at others, we can know that they are incredibly powerful to choose and change and evolve their journey at every moment. (For an insightful blog on extending compassion to others instead of judgment or pity, visit channel Jennie Marlow’s blog on Compassion).

Judging is a peculiarly human thing to do–it does not exist in any other dimension. We will drop our judgments the minute we drop our physical body. But while we are here, we can learn from our judgments and keep them under supervision.  Judgment unsupervised entangles our spirit and leaves us living lives trapped by the conditioning of society. Examining our own judgments will give us clues as to what that conditioning is, how it works, and the assumptions upon which we and our society run. Which assumptions are we ready to change?  How do we wish to evolve ourselves and our society? When we drop our end of the judgment rope, we are learning to be responsible with our energy, and we free ourselves to move in creative and productive directions that truly enhance our lives and bring us joy.

Perhaps it is because there is so much to break from, to be free from, that I spend so much time in that mode. At this particular juncture on our evolutionary journey, there is a whole lot that we are breaking from–both on the inside and the outside, as individuals and as nations and as a global community. We are breaking from economic structures that have existed for centuries that no longer support us; from ways of surviving based on an outdated, tribal model of dominating or being subservient to a dominator; from trying to control the earth, control the resources, control the future, control each other; from deeply ingrained conditioned reactions that are used to hold the ‘tribe’ together, such as shame, blame, guilt, outrage, pity and self-pity; from beliefs that bind and blind us; from the obsession to judge and pass judgment. In fact, there is not too much that we are not breaking from or need to break free from during these times.

It is worth noting that the process of breaking free from anything can’t happen until you first realize that you are not free. It is a substantial spiritual step to realize you are really not free; that, in fact, you are living in a prison. It is an equally substantial step to see it is a prison of your own making existing inside your head, or that you have unconsciously agreed to living in a prison because everyone else is. And the next giant step is to do something about it.

These steps do not come easily. It is only when living in a box is no longer acceptable, or when some crisis forces you into awareness, or when the structures in our collective lives collapse under their own weight, or when the earth sends us continual, loud messages that we must change, that we have the marvelous opportunity to confront our prison and to break free. We can then begin our evolution in earnest. You break free because you must.

The change starts where the prison is:  inside your head, with your thinking. It starts with a change in perception. Your perceptions influence your behavior and the choices that you make. As you clean up your inside world so that you no longer are held captive to the thinking, beliefs and habits of the past, you begin to view the outside world through a different lens. You perceive the journey differently, you respond differently, and you make different choices.

You and I are part of civilization at a time of collapse.  We are both the wrecking crew and the clean-up crew, as well as the designers of the future. We span all these roles sometimes in the course of a single day. Standing in the midst of a huge rubble pile, we see that there is still more to come down.   If we are to become powerful, we must keep breaking free from old ways of thinking, perceiving and doing. Breaking free is the task we have given ourselves by being born duirng this time. The more we are able to free ourselves on the inside, the more change we are able to usher in on the outside.