Judgment is a fear-based activity that is not holy. It is not our job to judge and most of us have an invalid justification for our judgment. We judge bad behavior because we do not want to be like that. We judge bad things because we are afraid of the affect they may have on us.
Judgment is a decision regarding “right or wrong” or “good or bad”. Once again, this is not our job. What is perhaps our highest duty is to exercise discernment, so that we can be wise choosers. Discernment is choosing whether something is in our best interest to do or not do, or do this way versus that way, or to eat it or walk away, or any of another the myriad of choices for our selves. We could not be wise choosers without exercising discretion.
Let us say there is a vial in front of me with a skull and crossbones on it. My discernment says that it appears to be a poisonous substance and I do not choose to put it in my mouth. Judgment would say it is bad, if I judge it as bad. I may never learn that putting 4 drops of this “poison” in a 50 gallon vat of water, mixing it up, then putting 4 drops of the final mixture under the tongue turns out to be the cure for cancer or aids. If I had remained fixed in my judgment that the substance was ‘bad’, I might never have found its ‘good’ purpose. Poison, like everything else, is part of a perfect universe.
There are herbs whose purpose we are ignorant of. Judgment and ignorance calls them weeds. Hmmm, you wear your hat on your head, you wear your shoes on your feet. Shoes don’t make a very good hat but that does not mean they are useless or bad. They just are what they are.
~ baba muktananda