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The Daily Dharma – September 20, 2021

Step by Step Photo by Raphael Renter

Almost all spiritual teachers say something to this effect: “Do not judge.” There is Jesus in Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:36 – 38; there is the Buddha in the Dhammapada, 4:7. Do not judge. This may seem like a naïve, impossible, and even dangerous command. At conferences people will often say to me, “But we have to make judgments! We can’t just walk around all day saying, ‘It’s all good.’ Sometimes you have to draw the line.” Of course, they are right. But the great teachers aren’t asking us to turn off our common sense and our rational minds; they are pointing to something deeper. So we need to discover what the heart of this teaching is.

Richard Rohr
from The Naked Now; Learning to See as the Mystics See
Chapter: But We Have to Make Judgements, Don’t We?

To be continued . . .