- Principles – The Foundation of Consciousness.
- Cause & Effect
- Male-Female Energies
- The Principle of Freedom
- The Principle of Analogy or The Law of Correspondences.
- The Oneness Principle
- The Teacher-Student Relationship
- The Name of Christ
- The Ring Pass Not
- Good and Evil
- Principles 11 & 12
- Initiation
- Crystallization
- Relative Perfection
- The Principle of Correction
- Principle 18: Decision
- The Principle of the Journey
- Principles of Joy and Peace
- Judgment and/or Discernment
- The Two Paths
- Energy Follows Thought
- The Satellite Principle
- Principles 26 & 27
- Principle 28: The Observer
- Principle 29: Sin
- Principle 30: The Atonement
- Principle 31: Forgiveness
- Principle 32: Justice
- Principle 33: Doing Unto Others.
- Principle 34: You Find What You Are Looking For
- Principle 35
- Principle 36
- Principle 37
- Principle 38
- Principle 39
- Principle 40
- Principle 41
- Principle 42
- Principle 43
- Principle 44
- Principle 45
- Principle 46
- Principle 47
- Principle 48
- Principle 49, Part 1
- Principle 49, Part 2
- Principle 49, Part 3
- Principle 50
- Principle 51
- Principle 52
- Principle 53
- Principle 54
- Principle 55
- Principle 56
- Principle 57
- Principle 59
- Principle 60
- Principle 58
- Principle 61
- Principle 63
- Principle 64
- Principle 65
- Principle 66
- Principle 67
- Principle 68
- Principle 69
- Principle 70
- Principle 71
- Principle 72
- Principle 73
- Principle 74
- Principle 75
- Principle 76
- Principle 77
- Principle 78
- Principle 79
- Principle 80
- Principle 81
- Principle 82
- The Principle of Glory
- Principle 84
- 85 The Principle of Trust & Honesty
- Like Attracts Like
- The Pharaoh Principle
- The Zero Point
- Faith
- Corruption
- Goodwill
- Intensity
- Synthesis
- The Molecular Principle
- Principle 95 – The Sabbath
- Principle 96 – Trinity
- The Slingshot Principle
- Principle 98, Inclusion
- Principle 99 – Sacrifice
- Principle 100 – Service
- Principle 101 – Humor
Principle 22: Judgment and/or Discernment
Most religions want to keep things very simple. Identify the good guys and bad guys. Once concretely identified then we can slip back into laziness and cease using any power of discernment. The path becomes very simple. What the good guys say to do, we just do no matter what. Then, on the other hand, we automatically reject all that is taught by the bad guys.
If we judge good and evil merely because some authority proclaims it so, we will be lead astray time and time again. It is only when the seeker releases himself from blind trust and uses the key of judgment that he can choose correctly.
Black and white reasoning and decision-making always leads to detours on the path of spiritual evolution.
Here are some examples:
In the Bible, Satan, the ultimate bad guy, tempts Adam and Eve telling them that if they eat of the fruit they “shall be as gods.” Black and white reasoning says that since Satan said this, it must be wrong, evil and misleading. Even though a short time later God said the man is to “become one of us,” and then Jesus said “ye are gods,” fear causes them to put more weight on the negative than the positive, for if they are wrong they could burn in hell for eternity.
This labeling a person, place or thing as good or evil through association rather than using reason and heart to discern good and evil is perhaps the greatest cause of misery on this planet.
Muslim extremists seek to destroy Christians and Jews because they see them as being rejected by their god and associated with Satan. Christian extremists of the past burned heretics and witches at the stake, not because they were doing evil works, but because, in their minds, they were associated with the devil.
Many scientists and innovators were persecuted by the church, not because their works were evil, but because they were going against the established decrees of God.
Many today reject anything taught by the Masons because they believe Lucifer is behind it.
The same goes for Alice A. Bailey, H. P. Blavatsky, the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, and others.
Militant environmentalists believe that using the resources of the earth is evil and condemn anyone who cuts down a tree.
The disciple must override this knee jerk rejection because of association, look at any teaching for what it is and judge it as it measures up to true principles filtered through the soul.
If one hears a teaching and it is declared that the devil himself originated it, this will mean nothing to the true seeker. He will disregard whether it is said to come from God, man or Satan and measure it against his heart, his reasoning and the Spirit of God within. Then he will accept or reject not based on the outer, but the inner.
The bottom line is this. Every teacher, every book, every movement, every system, every constitution and every organization has truth and error within it. A black-and-white rejection or acceptance will cause the seeker to find some truth, but he will also digest the error as if it is truth. This will confuse his mind for lifetimes to come.
The seeker must assume the vantage point of the observer, examine the various teachings on their own, and make a judgment.
A person using such judgment will not be concerned over stories he cannot prove one way or another such as:
- Teachings that the serpent was really a good guy and Jehovah was really the devil.
- Judas was really a hero.
- Since George Washington was a Mason he was working for Lucifer.
- Colgate has a Satanic symbol on its toothpaste, therefore the Corporation is evil.
- Everything Bush does is evil because he was a member of Skull and Bones.
It is amazing how many fall into this trap of guilt by association. The funny thing is that most who are in this trap see themselves as open minded and reasonable.
The disciple must escape from this trap and have the courage to make decisions and accept or reject based on objective reason, even if he must stand alone.
All of us must stand alone a number of times before obtaining liberation. It is only after the disciple does indeed make an independent judgment that he begins to realize how alone he is and how few will stand with him during rough waters.
“To find yourself, think for yourself.”
— Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC), “The Apology”
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Copyright By J J Dewey
“For my soul delighteth in plainness…”