It Isn’t a Lack of Intelligence (It Is Judgment)

Many good people believe the earth is flat, and no amount of evidence, however compelling, will alter their belief. This uncommon belief offers insight into a pattern of behavior that is surprisingly common. This tendency to adhere to a conviction that seems to defy overwhelming evidence is often attributed to a lack of intelligence. Yet, my own understanding of this pattern of behavior leads me to believe that it is not a question of intelligence, but that something else is going on. If we truly understand what this tendency is, we may be able to minimize that behavior in ourselves, work more wisely with those who are exhibiting it, and perhaps even use that awareness to experience greater harmony.

What is the difference between the thought, “It’s a beautiful day,” and the declaration, “The earth is flat and anyone who disagrees with me is evil”? What is the pathway that transforms a passing thought of the mind into a tyrant that tolerates no dissention?

The Living Light Philosophy teaches that whatever we give thought to, we give power to. The more energy and the more attention that is directed to any thought, the stronger and the more solidified that thought becomes in our consciousness. When a thought is completely solidified in our consciousness, it is known as a judgment. Since our emotions can quickly direct a great deal of energy, any thought that has a great emotional impact upon us is quickly solidified into a judgment.

The philosophy also teaches that what we place our attention on we have a tendency to become. As we direct more attention to any judgment, we have a tendency to quite literally become that judgment; that is, we over-identify with our judgments and often believe, on many levels of consciousness, that we are those judgments. As yet more energy is directed to a judgment, we so believe we are that judgment that any threat to the judgement is regarded as a threat to our very survival. And so, when our cherished judgments are challenged or even questioned, we often erupt with anger and fear.

This can occur with any thought. It is a process of our mental universe. The more energy that we direct to any thought, the more it tends to govern our lives.

Defending our judgments has a tendency to rob us of the joy of living. When we feel our judgments are threatened and we believe we are fighting for our survival, which is really just the survival of our judgment, although it is very thrilling to the senses, it is not harmonious. And the more judgments that we form and over-identify with, the more judgments that we feel compelled to defend, the less joy we express. In many ways, our judgments obstruct the flow of goodness in our lives.

Freeing ourselves from our judgments is often not easy. The amount of energy that was directed to a judgment must be redirected to the counterbalancing thought pattern in order to bring about a balance. One of the first steps in this process of dethroning our judgments is to become more aware of where we are in consciousness. For the more aware we are, the more we can wisely choose which thoughts we wish to entertain and which we wish to put to sleep.

Often, as we make the effort to redirect our attention to more harmonious thoughts, we become aware of how strong we have permitted our judgments to become. Fortunately, since we had the power to create them, we also have the power to neutralize them. Because a judgment was built thought by thought, so, too, must it be incrementally disassembled. In this process, repetition of affirmations and redirection of our attention are our allies.

And what inspires us to make the effort to change? With each step along the path of life, our judgments become an increasing burden. And when that great weight becomes so unbearable that life is no longer worth living, we begin to awaken to our strength and our courage, which we have so long denied in service to the defense of our judgments, and we make the effort to redirect our attention to something greater.

We have the right to be the captains of our ship of consciousness and choose thoughts that serve us well and bring into our lives the goodness that we truly are. But if we are to remain the captains, and not, in error, surrender that authority to a judgment, we must make the effort to be awake, aware, and alert to where we are in consciousness, for a life filled with joy is worth that effort.

For more on the Living Light Philosophy, visit the Serenity Association.