10 Oct Judgment vs. Observation: Don’t Rush Now…
I recently wrote an article discussing Love versus Judgment that proposed the idea that Love and Judgment are opposite of each other and raised the question of which one leads us to truth? There are many varied opinions that can be offered on this discussion of Love and Judgment, but it is doubtful that there is one truth on this front, just as in many things in life.
The discussion of judgment has come up many times in my work with people, because I personally see that judgment can be very damaging. Judgment is often based in incomplete information and is prone to bias and influence by emotion. While judgment can be influenced by emotion, it is still a thought form and can be difficult to change. Observation, on the other hand is open to change and evolution, and decisions that may be made on the basis of observation may change from day to day, month to month, year to year… So, why the discussion regarding judgment and observation???
When we make judgments in life, it usually means that we have formed an opinion, and typically when people form opinions, they become enduring aspects of their belief systems. Once people make up their mind, it is difficult to change people’s mind, because they don’t want to feel that they have been wrong about things. Judgment, then, does not leave a lot of room for change or growth. I believe that people form judgments to try to make sense out of life, and it is supposed to make life easier, because once we have made a judgment, we can take that data and file it away. We can then call on it when we need access to it. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
Observations, on the other hand, are points of data that we collect. From those observations, we may notice trends and make decisions based on trends of behavior. We may notice that our observations remain consistent or that they change over time. Observation allows for change in our opinions and allows for growth in ourselves and the events and people that we may observe. However, just like judgment, observations are prone to bias and emotion. The advantage of observation is that is more likely to change over time than judgment, and therefore, observation is more likely to result in a more accurate appraisal of a situation.
In our discussion about judgment vs. observation, consider the visual of a graph. This graph has many points on it and after a collecting data, the graph takes on a shape. The point (no pun intended) is that if someone was to make a judgment on the first few, last few or random points of observations and then draw a line through those points and out into the future, they want to believe that they should be able to predict the outcome of all future events. That is judgment. How accurate is that outcome? Sometimes it may be dead on, but possibly more times it is not. Even if I am making observations over time at what point can I make a sound decision based on previous observations?
Let’s take a look at the example of the graph of the Dow Jones over the past 100+ years. What you see is a graph that is steadily rising over time, with some hiccups in it. We could say that if we draw a line through the first and last point we should be in good shape if we are looking for a good investment. But when making a judgment, how many points should we take into account? If you were to take one observation into account, where do you draw that line? Horizontally? Vertically? Diagonally?
The point is that no one would make a judgment on an investment using only one or two points of data, but we do this everyday with people, relationships, attitudes, beliefs… and then we forecast those judgments into a future drawing lines of prediction into whatever direction we wish. We also often miss the big picture. Very rarely do we look at the history of observations, and even sometimes this can be dangerous if we don’t consider trends. The Dow Jones is a perfect example.
We don’t want to feel wrong in our culture, because people often judge the credibility of a person based on their most recent decisions, right or wrong. Furthermore, the higher status that we have, the more risk we feel of “falling from grace” if people judge us as “being” wrong. Because of this risk, there is a great deal of fear that surrounds judgment, and often we judge people to protect ourselves, not to find truth. In this world of talk radio, blogs, and the fact that we often want correct information now, judgment has become a virus that has stricken us all. This war of words often escalates out of control and results in more and more fear and mistrust. With that in mind, judgment could be the illness that brings us all to our knees. Is Judgment a part of the human experience? Probably, but as I commented in my article on Love and Judgment, I believe that we have the ability to aspire to a further potential where we are all responsible for ourselves.
Respectfully,
Dr. E…