IT occurs constantly. We will call it a sordid act; there is though no person in existence who could say they have never been guilty of it. It is how we judge people. If we think about it, to make judgement is something that is inherently human, we will judge people at home on their behaviour, judge people at work for their performance. We will judge people behind their backs and often deny it when we are caught in the act. We even sometimes enjoy witnessing people judging each other, something the reality TV show industry prides itself on.
So just as much as we believe we should be kind to each other, we can be equally as cruel for such an act that comes so naturally to us. Philosophy sees judgement as an act of our free will, where through judgement we will praise and well penalize. Through Neuroscience, judgment canters our emotions, where the brains amygdala is activated to make judgements about what we should fear and when we are under threat.
Our act of judgement is also determined by guilt.
As when we judge, we impose the guilt that we feel within ourselves and inflict it upon others as its punishment. It’s never fun to be judged, yet it’s almost like we judge others to soothe the pain of being judged ourselves.
So, if we know the pain of what it feels like to be judged, how can we live with it?
Philosopher Alain De Botton of the School of Life sees judgement as limiting our ability to view things holistically. That we can comprehend our acts of judgement by understanding where it comes from; as being a sign of our suffering. We can overcome our need to judge by acting within our values, resisting the temptation to reciprocate for the sake of redemption.
To understand what is means to judge people is to also understand we are all vulnerable, so we can soothe our fears of being judged by offering humility to others that we so crave for ourselves.
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