Inspirational Quotes & Stories: Judgment
& Criticism
My friend, if God does not judge His creations, why would you ever want
to judge them? God loves His creations, and if you do anything but love
His creations, you will have a feeling of separation. The opposite of
love is fear and fear is manifested through judgment. Judgment is the
basis for separation, which is the ego's goal. If you judge a brother or
sister, be it in thought or action, you will create a sense of
separation, which then results in feelings of guilt. Inwardly, you feel
guilty because you judge what God loves and sees as perfect. If you
judge what God loves, then, by definition, you have judged yourself. If
you judge yourself without knowing that you are doing so, then you will
create confusion. Once you experience enough confusion you will create a
chaotic state.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 3
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inspirational quote comes from.
Once you awaken from the illusion, you will have no interest in judging
those who sleep. And if they curse or kick you while they sleep, you
will simply understand that, in truth, all they are doing is dreaming.
Every sin, error, accusation, and judgment, regardless of form, is
forgiven. They are forgiven because you know that they are asleep. That
is why once you are healed, once you awaken, everyone you meet is
healed. Your healing and awakening is everything that is required for
the world to be healed. Forgive the world, and you will be set free from
it.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 18
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inspirational quote comes from.
Like a drug dealer, you continue dispersing your judgment with no regard
to how your behavior affects those with whom you interact, or how it
will affect those with whom they interact. Imagine being a pebble
falling into a pond. The pebble might see and experience the ripples it
created by its interaction with the pond. Even as the pebble slowly
sinks to the bottom of the pond, it might look back and see the ripples
expanding beyond the point of interaction. But soon, as it continues its
journey into the pond, it loses contact with the point of interaction.
Yet, even though it has lost its view of the surface, the ripples
continue to expand, changing the surface and edges of the pond in a way
the pebble might never see. Just as the pebble falls into a pond, your
judgment of others will be dispersed and shared, and will touch an
innumerable number of people you will never see. Don't believe for a
second that what you say or do affects only the person with whom you
physically interact. Your judgment or acceptance will be carried from
one to many, and they in turn will carry it to many more.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 20
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inspirational quote comes from.
The ego blames because it wants you to believe that you don't have the
power to control your life. By blaming everything outside of yourself,
it is training you to believe that everything outside of you has power
over you, and over how you feel every moment of your life.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 32
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inspirational quote comes from.
You have chosen to judge the past, and blame yourself and many others
for where you are today. That is fine. Do that if you choose to, but at
least for sanity's sake, ask yourself what this behavior has and is
truly offering you? Where has this behavior taken you? At the very
least, ask yourself if you are at peace with how you feel about this way
of thinking. My friend, you cannot carry the past with you without
feeling weighed down by it. You might not understand that what you are
currently feeling is being weighed down. You might define it as being
tired, stressed, depressed, but in the end, it is your choice to carry
the judgments of the past with you that have made you feel this way. It
is your belief that some pieces of your past were never meant to fit,
and will never fit into your puzzle, which frustrates you. You do not
yet understand that these pieces will fit, and that with their
contribution you come closer to the puzzle's completion. Yet again, I
mention that you do not need to wait for the puzzle's completion in
order to be at peace and to be grateful for every one of its pieces now.
You will one day find peace and gratitude in the puzzle's completion.
You will one day acknowledge all the pieces for their contribution to
the whole. And you will one day give thanks to each of the pieces for
their participation. You will look back at those pieces you judged and
criticized, and apologize for your interpretation of their value. You
will look back, forgive and set free all the pieces you once convicted
as guilty. You will kneel down in front of those you punished and
sentenced to life without you, and you will ask for their forgiveness.
They will in turn kneel in front of you, and ask for yours, and with one
embrace all will be forgiven.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 57
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inspirational quote comes from.
First, if you are asked for advice, by all means offer it, but do not
attach yourself to any specific outcome or to your brother or sister
following your advice. My friend, you will save yourself and others
years of stress, anger, disappointment and resentment if you allow your
brothers and sisters to follow their own hearts. If your brothers and
sisters know that they can come to you for advice without criticism and
judgment attached to it, you will forever be their sounding board, and
they in turn will forever respect and most importantly, listen to what
you have to say. If you are attached to your brother or sister following
your advice, you will end up judging and criticizing their efforts and
decisions, and they in turn will put up walls every time you question or
try to advise them.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 91-92
Read the section of the book that this
inspirational quote comes from.
Trying to be who you are not is hard. Negative and judgmental thoughts,
emotions and reactions, simply aren't who you are. Because you're acting
as someone you are not, this will drain you of energy. Spending time
protecting and defending valuelessness, what you are not, is draining.
Release these emotions, and you will be set free. Release these
emotions, and you will have more energy than you ever thought you could.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 107-108
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inspirational quote comes from.
The ego has the world judge and criticize you for not being like it, and
the ego has you judge and criticize the world for judging you. Decide
not to play the ego's game. Do not judge the world for judging you. You
release the world by forgiving it of its judgment of you. As a small
child would judge you for taking a knife out of his hands, so will the
world judge you for thinking unlike itself. Put the knife in a safe
place where the child will not be able to reach it. The young child will
not be able to reach the knife, and neither will the world be able to
reach you with its judgment, for you are now in a higher place where you
realize that what the world judges in you does not exist. Now, when the
world attempts to judge and criticize you for your non-conformity, you
smile, but not from a sense of superiority or importance, but from the
relief and freedom you receive by not having to play the ego's game.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 109
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inspirational quote comes from.
"It is not the
critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man
stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The
credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and
comes short again and again because there is no effort without error or
shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a
worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the high achievement of
triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his
place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither
victory nor defeat."
1
- President
Theodore Roosevelt
Cited in You Have Chosen to Remember, p. 109
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The more you choose to judge an individual or situation, the more an
individual or situation will consume you. The more you judge a brother,
sister or situation, the less joy you will experience in your life. This
happens regardless of whether you believe yourself to be "in the right"
or not. Judgment consumes joy. Again, in any moment, you have a choice,
and it is between judgment and joy. The one you value more, in any
situation, is the one you will end up experiencing.
Let's take a personal example and work through it. Several years ago, I
began judging a situation that involved my uncle who I had perceived as
not using his power to offer me a better position in his company. In my
perception, I had all the credentials necessary to reach the next step
on the ladder and he could, because of his position, give it to me. This
did not happen as I envisioned it would and I became quite upset. As I
thought about the situation late one night, I understood that the
emotions I was feeling were childish, so I quieted my thoughts, prayed
and asked for clarity and peace in regard to this issue.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 129-130
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inspirational quote comes from.
"An old man and
his son worked a small farm, with only one horse to pull the plow. One
day, the horse ran away.
"How terrible,"
sympathized the neighbors. " What bad luck."
"Who knows whether
it is bad luck or good luck," the farmer replied.
A week later, the
horse returned from the mountains, leading five wild mares into the
barn.
"What wonderful
luck!" said the neighbors.
"Good luck? Bad
luck? Who knows?" answered the old man.
The next day, the
son, trying to tame one of the horses, fell and broke his leg.
"How terrible. What
bad luck!"
"Bad luck? Good
Luck?"
The army came to
all the farms to take the young men for war, but the farmer's son was of
no use to them, so he was spared.
"Good? Bad?"
13
-
Dan Millman,
Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Cited in You Have Chosen to Remember, p.134-135
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What do you have to lose? Offer God a moment of your time, and look upon
the brother you once judged, with absolute love. Forgive all your
brother's past illusions of himself, and see him as God does. Offer this
one moment to yourself, and you will be set free forever. Ask God to
assist you into looking through your brother's actions and into his
soul. Truly offer yourself this moment, and it will change your life.
It will change your life, because it will allow you to see and
acknowledge that regardless of what you think a brother has done to you,
there is another way of looking at him. It will change your life because
you will encounter a moment that extends forever. In this moment you
have the ultimate power to see life and your brother and sister as you
wish. Your brother and sister are God's perfect expression and not what
you perceive they did to you. The ego has taught you to take an action
that you thought a brother or sister did to you and to judge him or her
for it. The ego has you replace your brother and sister's truth with an
action and judgment. Your brother and sister no longer truly exist, but
your judgment of their action now lives in their place.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 159
Read the section of the book that this
inspirational quote comes from.
The world is governed by rules enacted by the ego for the ego. One of
the rules that this world tries to constantly reinforce in you is that
there are times when judgment is a proper response. But would you judge
a tourist from a foreign land for being lost? And isn't this all your
brother really is, a tourist in a foreign land? Aren't we all just
tourists in a foreign land? Every time your brother walks up to you, he
is asking for directions, and it is up to you to react with judgment and
send him to hell, or to react with love and remind him of heaven. Every
time you communicate with a brother, you are giving him directions to
where you secretly live.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 170
Read the section of the book that this
inspirational quote comes from.
In order to live in the present moment, let go of past patterns that are
inconsistent with the truth within you. Offer God the judgment of your
brother or sister, the judgment that has brought you nothing but
sadness, pain and regret, and in turn He will offer you eternal peace of
mind and joy. Offer Him all your past perceptions and He will offer you
the eternal present moment. If you put aside the unfruitfulness of
judgment, you could easily lift the many veils you use to cover the
present moment. Beneath the veils, you would rediscover the simplicity
of faith-faith that the present moment is perfect. This rediscovery,
that you need not add nor subtract or judge the present moment, will
offer you total freedom and peace. And gratitude will become your only
sane response to the offering of total freedom and peace.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 186
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inspirational quote comes from.
The ego has taught you to call your brother or sister a stranger. The
ego has taught you that when you first look at a brother or sister you
must immediately judge something about him or her. The ego does not
explain why it has you react in such a manner; yet you are trained so
that your first reaction is not to question its motive, but to think
like it thinks and react the way it has taught you to react. The ego
wants you to acknowledge it as your one confidant, the only one you can
truly count on and trust. The ego will use words, it will use thoughts,
it will use actions and reactions, judgments and blame. Its tools are as
limitless as the illusions and the results they produce.
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 188
Read the section of the book that this
inspirational quote comes from.
Sit alone in your room for ten minutes with a clock in front of you. For
the first five minutes completely involve yourself in thinking the worst
possible thoughts about any one or two individuals in your life. Think
the worst possible thoughts about strangers you have met, or people on
television, or whomever. Curse them within your mind and be as critical
as possible. Bring to these five minutes everything wrong you think they
have done to you and judge, criticize and curse them for it. It is very
important to feel how what you are thinking is literally changing your
body, mind and spirit. For these five minutes dig everything out that
you've been holding within the dark crevices of your mind and heart. But
be aware of what your thoughts are doing to you physically and mentally.
Do this exercise honestly and truly once in your life and you will never
again question that your thoughts, even when they are directed at
someone else-even a total stranger-will completely affect and change
your mental, physical and spiritual state. Now consider how your
judgments of others and yourself throughout the day silently and
viciously affect your mental, physical and spiritual state. These
individual judgments might have a tenth of the venom of your thoughts
during the five-minute exercise, but remember that there are 24 hours in
the day. Imagine for a moment how all these "little judgments," when
accumulated throughout the day, end up affecting your mental, physical
and spiritual state. Now multiply that by 365 days, and then multiply
that by the number of years you have lived. Can you now begin to
understand the power of your own individual thoughts and judgments? This
is how the ego is advising you to live! Will you not, if only for a
moment, consider that the ego's advice is corrupted, destructive and
insane!
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 190-191
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inspirational quote comes from.
"Have you ever noticed...anyone going slower than you is an idiot, and
anyone going faster then you is a maniac?"
- George Carlin
Cited in You Have Chosen to Remember, p. 198
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inspirational quote comes from.
The reactions of my mother, which most people consider natural reactions
and the world defends as natural and correct responses, offer people a
certain level of comfort. For if it did not offer a certain level of
comfort, why would people continue to react that way? Attacking a
brother or sister only offers a certain level of comfort because we
believe that when we do so, we are released from the negative emotions
we ourselves offer. Yet, if we were to look within, we would see that
whatever we offer a brother or sister remains with us. If, in a car, we
offer anger, that anger, as much as we want to believe affects the other
driver, affects us more. We think we receive release and comfort by
attacking a brother or sister, but this is only a false release, a false
comfort.
My friend, look within. Does this so-called release truly bring comfort?
True comfort manifests itself as the state of peace. Does attacking a
brother or sister, regardless of how much you think you are right, offer
you true peace? Shouldn't comfort and peace of mind go hand in hand? Do
you think that those comfortable feelings come from actual comfort, or
from habits and illusions of comfort?
-
James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From
Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 199
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inspirational quote comes from.
Footnotes / Acknowledgments
Every effort has been made to provide accurate source attribution.
Should any attribution be found to be incorrect, the author welcomes
written documentation supporting correction for subsequent printings.
For material not in the public domain, selection was made according to
generally accepted fair-use standards and practices.
1.
President Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
>>
back to quote
13.
Dan Millman, Way of the
Peaceful Warrior, Copyright 2000 (H.J. Kramer).
>>
back to quote
-
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