[Jewish] [Mindful Torah] Psalm for Tuesday: Psalm 82, Verse 2

[Rabbi Steven Nathan]

How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?
Selah
In many ways avoiding judgment is THE central principal of
mindfulness. "Moment by moment non-judgmental awareness" is how Jon
Kabat-Zinn once defined mindfulness. Yet, we all judge. We judge our
selves. We judge others. We judge thoughts, actions, ideas, foods,
colors, clothing.....the list could go on ad infinitum.
Judging of any kind can bring suffering into the world and eclipse
compassion and mercy. But another problem with judging is that it is
often based on faulty observations, past experience and biases. How
often have we judged only to later realize that our judgment was based
on faulty information?
This verse can remind us that there really is no way to judge justly
(I'm not talking about the world of jurisprudence). Judging is unjust,
or shall we say counterproductive, to being mindful and compassionate.
In passing judgment we can also run the risk of supporting someone who
has acted wickedly (and yes, there are some acts that I believe we can
label as wicked or evil. Not everything is value neutral! That's not
the lesson of being non-judgmental) or dismissing someone who has
actually made a choice that brought goodness and compassion into the
world.
In the end, what makes judging dangerous is that it's root is in the
human ego and not in the "higher realms," where we find the source of
compassion, mercy and kindness. Judging is all about our minds
comparing people, actions, beliefs, etc. It is never productive nor is
it about equanimity. And so we must do our best to avoid it.
When we find ourselves judging, we simply need to stop, notice that we
are judging and do our best to stop. Perhaps that is the meaning of the
illusive final word "Selah." No one seems to know what it means, but
the assumption is that it was a musical notation for the Levites when
they sang the psalms and that it was probably some type of pause. And
so when judging, pause, let go of ego and judgment and then continue.

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Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to Mindful Torah at 4/27/2010 01:59:00 PM
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