Morality and Moral Judgments*
Bill Bauman
8/7/20245 min read
Five-plus decades ago, as a freshly ordained Catholic priest,
I wrote a feisty ‘letter to the editor’
to a prominent Catholic publication.
This monthly magazine had been publishing numerous articles
morally condemning both abortion and those women
whom they decried as horrible “sinners” for seeking them.
In my letter, I strongly reminded the editors of the single theme
that calls all Christians and Catholics: Pure love!
I told them that their righteous moral condemnations,
both of abortion itself and especially of these so-called sinners
were one-sidedly righteous, judgmentally un-loving
and clearly un-Christian.
I passionately begged them to dig deep into their ‘conscience’
and take a less-judgmental and decidedly love-filled approach
to these women, who certainly deserved their loving embrace.
Of course, in so doing, I unwittingly introduced myself
to the predictable consequence: even more moral judgment,
this time of ‘little ole me’—from my bishop, fellow priests
and, of course, the official Church organization.
Sigh! What’s a naïve, love-filled whistle-blower to do!
My above story expresses a powerful phenomenon:
Our earth is populated by a human family
that is filled with morality-filled, morality-powered and
morality-driven evaluations and judgments.
Yes, everywhere we turn, we’re confronted with moral judgments—
socially, politically, racially, culturally, religiously, etc.
We humans seems to be all about looking at life
in terms of what’s good or bad (evil), right or wrong, fair or unfair,
innocent or guilty, safe or dangerous, smart or stupid, and the like.
That observation leads us to the next question:
What about you?
(You knew that question was coming, didn’t you?).
Obviously, those moral judgments aren’t just ‘out there.’
Sure enough, because you appear to live in real-deal human skin,
I’m guessing that they’re alive and well within you as well.
(Please forgive my judgmental accusation; I’m deeply ashamed!).
In this regard, let’s try on some soul-searching questions,
such as:
What moral evaluations do you hold, especially the ones
that live continuously and/or unchallenged in your mind?
What are your very favorite moral judgments:
those, perhaps, that you love and are sure are correct?
What role do those evaluations play in your mind and life,
perhaps even supporting even more judgments about other things?
If you’ve read my Emptiness Dreaming book,
you’re aware of how being strongly morally oriented in life
can keep us in pain, hold us in a narrow frame of mind
and act as a straight-jacket in our relationship to, well, everything.
So, just as I asked the publishers in my opening story
to stop using morality as an excuse to judge and condemn,
I’m suggesting that you stop using our human story of morality
(and, yes, it’s actually just a story, even if it’s ubiquitous!)
as a basis for evaluating and judging yourself, others and life.
In my opinion, such morality-filled approaches don’t become you!
You’re much bigger, better and more deserving than that!
And while I’m at it, allow me to use my same impassioned tone:
(Insert drum roll and heightened emotion here!)
Please, please, please!
Let’s all move beyond this judgmental approach to life
and look for some healthy alternatives!
Hmmm. Maybe that’s the more important question here:
What are some alternatives to our morality-based evaluating?
For your personal consideration, I present to you these four:
1. The Heart Approach:
Similar to my suggestion to those Catholic publishers,
I now invite you to consider love.
Make that: pure love! Radical love!
Completely non-judgmental love!
Amazing things happen, as you know,
when we stop being in opposition.
How about putting your love-filled heart
in charge of whatever you’re judging?
For example, internally embrace the person or situation.
Visually, pull it into your heart, give it a welcoming home there.
Hold and love it there, unconditionally,
like a love-filled mother might hold and love her newborn child.
Allow your heart to be a source of nurturing and healing
for this person or circumstance—
until you notice that your mind has gotten the message,
that you’ve let go of your earlier moral judgment
and that you’re now at peace.
2. The Soul Approach:
Our internal soul is our personal embodiment
of pure, radiant light; it’s our mighty spirit.
In truth, it’s the purest version of our human ‘self’ that we have.
As such, it holds our deepest personal truth
and inspires us to apply that truth as we live our human lives.
And, as you might guess, our precious soul has never once
held a morally judgmental thought.
How about spending special, sacred time with your soul!
Ask your all-knowing, truth-filled soul for its input and advice.
Tell it all about what you’re judging,
then ask it to give you its view of that person or situation.
Chances are that your wise soul will do just that:
perhaps showing you the deeper truth
about whom or what you’ve been judging.
Then, it might even suggest that you wrap it in pure light
and witness how that powerful light:
(a) sweetly brings you to a quiet state of inner peace, and
(b) maybe even leads you to experience a ‘oneness’
with what or whom you had been morally judging.
3. The Being Approach:
A state of being is a wondrous thing!
When we’re sitting in its embrace,
we see everything and everyone
without any sense of separation, morality or judgment.
Perhaps, if you find yourself morally evaluating someone or something,
you might find a welcome reprieve
by opening to your own state of being,
or by even just sitting in its non-dual, ‘being’ lap.
While there, feel free to repeat its favorite mantra:
What you’re judging is “neither good nor bad!” “It just is!”
or “It simply is what it is …” and “… nothing more!”
Repeating this mantra and even meditating on its fuller meaning
just might redirect your mind to its ‘higher’ truth,
allowing you to find personal peace in its utter simplicity.
In fact, you might decide to reside more frequently
in this simplicity-filled state of being.
4. The Quantum Approach:
Now, get ready for a completely “other” approach:
that of the quantum void—
where emptiness and non-existence reign supreme.
What happens when you take your judgments
into this mysterious dimension?
The simple answer: Those judgments dissolve; they disappear.
Yes, when we’re peering at our judgments through quantum lenses,
we realize a profound, essential, quantum truth:
What we think we’re perceiving and interpreting isn’t even there!
It’s not happening. It’s only a phantasm that’s being imagined,
dreamed or projected onto your human mind
so that it will seem real.
As you sit in this quantum perspective for awhile,
you realize that the very story of morality is but a human myth,
one that you’ve only been imagining and/or believing,
but one that has no reality beyond our illusory human sphere.
So, what do you do now that you’re seeing this quantum truth?
In short, you feel inspired to give up the story …
to leave moral interpretations behind forever …
and to embrace the more meaningful views of:
your loving heart,
your light-filled soul,
your ‘Being’ nature, and/or
your quantum emptiness.
With these realms of consciousness tucked into your personal tool chest,
you‘re equipped to live in our morality-oriented world
while playing by your own larger-than-life rules,
without being bogged down by morality’s judgments
or limited by its narrow perspectives.
In short, you’re free to be the bigger versions of who you are.
Welcome to a morality-less and judgment-free “you!”