On occasion I write down things that cross my mind.  Some of this comes from what I am currently reading or studying.  At other ties these thoughts arise from my sitting meditation practice.  Or I think of things as Rufus and I take one of our walks down by Lake Winnebago.

When we think of the story of creation, our minds go to the creation story as told in the Old Testament book  “Bereshit” (more commonly known as the book of Genesis).  It tells us that on the  7th day, we rest, as if we are done with creation.  Bereshit is translated as “In the beginning” and signifies the beginning of Jewish thought, the transition from the Void to the world or from “nothing” to “something”.  Was there ever nothing?

As I think about this, I believe that this is a misunderstanding of creation. It may be the beginning of the Abrahamic story of creation. But to answer my own question, was there ever nothing?  Is the void nothing?  I do not see it this way.  In my mind, there is no “nothing”, nor can there ever be nothing.  If nothing is something, then there is no beginning; and consequently, there is no end.  All things are always in the process of becoming.

I believe that our individual lives are sparks or seeds of creation,  as are all individual lives. Creation is present in weather patterns floating across the earth, in pearls forming in oysters, and on and on.

I sense we make the error of seeing creation as finite, as we often see our lives as finite.  However, for me, it is not; it goes on and on, ad infinitum.  All of us and all things are a whole. There is no truly individual anything.  All things in life, from a microscopic single-celled organism to the great expanse of the universe, are interconnected and are part of one another. 

Thich Nhat Hanh discusses the concept of interbeing.  I believe I am beginning to understand this concept, beyond just the notion that we are connected.  I should specify and restate this as I think I am beginning to understand this idea, but that comprehension may be elusive; it, too, is creation emerging from consciousness and therefore a part of creation.

What does this imply? I do not know, or perhaps I do not need to know, or maybe knowing does not really matter.  But my understanding of this tells me that each moment is an emerging part of creation and part of a story bigger than me.  I am therefore both of consequence, for I am a part of something larger than my perception of myself, and of no consequence because I am impermanent, and will over time be transformed into something else or many things over many eons and beyond.

 Perhaps one day I will be a beam of light emerging from the sun, or a nutrient in the ground, or a plant growing in the garden.  I will never cease to be; I will be transformed, so I have no beginning and no end, nor does the universe. 

Feb. 25, 2026

When  I teach, I often begin class with a question.  I like questions; a well-asked question can set the tone for discussion.  It requires that the student think. 

“Who in class sees themselves as non-judgmental?”

I understand that the students in the class are smart and can sense trick questions from a distance. Even though I am on Zoom, I can still recognize their thinking.

Students start to raise their hands or send chats, showing they see themselves as non-judgmental. This is what I expect, and I also know they are genuine. They see themselves as non-judgmental; it seems like a requirement they work to fulfill.

This allows me to begin a conversation and discussion focusing on how being judgmental is built into our evolutionary makeup and how responding to people in a nonjudgmental manner requires us to become aware that we are, by nature, judgmental.

I want to emphasize that when we hear the phrase "judgmental," we often see it in a negative light.  To make a judgment is to conclude something negative about the object of the judgment.  I say this because I believe this is how we interpret judgment.   I wish to reframe this idea, and for the reader to see judgment not as something either good or bad, but as present.   We make judgments all the time; it is how we are "built".  It serves a functional purpose and allows us to understand and function in the world.  I would posit that you cannot be non-judgmental; it is not how our brain and our cognitive processing work.  So again, we should go back and see that being judgmental, or better yet, making judgments, is just what we do.

In my way of thinking, judgment is in and of itself neither good nor bad, but just "is".

However, I would go further and say that when we make many of our judgments, we are not aware that we are making judgments.  We make automatic judgments; we don’t think about this, we just do it.  If you were to do a Google search on automatic judgments, you would see a great deal of information come up on the subject, and you might be surprised at how often we do this.  

We can think of ourselves as "Pavlov's Dog".  Pavlov paired the bell with feeding, and eventually the dog salivated when the bell rang, and did so automatically.  There is no conscious thought process going on here; bell equals food, so the dog salivates.  Fortunately for us, we have exponentially more cognitive ability than dogs (at least I believe so).  By virtue of our cognitive ability, we can, with practice, gain awareness of our automatic responses. This does not come easily and is not in our default nature.  We must work on developing this skill.

The work we must do focuses on teaching ourselves to bring these automatic judgments to awareness.  Will this make us non-judgmental?  I would say no, it will not, we cannot learn to do the impossible, but we can learn to be in control of how those judgments impact us.

When we make an automatic judgment and are not aware of it, every succeeding response or thought, or feeling about the object of judgment, is based upon the previous automatic judgment.  It is what I refer to as latching on or grasping.  The initial thought (the judgment) impacts the next thought, which is predicated on the judgment we have made.  In this case, we are projecting our own subjective reality on the object of the judgment, and this can blur our vision and prevent us from seeing the actual reality of the situation.

Here is a thought experiment.  You drive up to the Dunkin' Donuts window, and the person at the window is disheveled and is talking to someone else and not paying attention to you.  You automatically form an opinion of the person and situation (a judgment).  This is perfectly normal and how our cognitive functioning works. It allows us to make sense of the world and gain an understanding of what is happening quickly.  Likely, you are not aware that you are making an automatic judgment; you just do it and respond accordingly to that judgment.  You hold onto your judgment (grasping), and your response is based upon the judgment.

• Stimulus - disheveled person

• Judgment - Oy Vey, they have no idea what they are doing

• Response - you are dismissive of them, think they are incompetent, wish you had gone somewhere else for coffee

This happens often.

What options do we have then?

We cannot stop being "judgmental", but we do not have to be blind to our judgments.  We can bring them to awareness.  To an extent, this is what we mean when we say we ought to be mindful.  We recognize that we can function in a way that allows us to make these judgments, but by being aware of them and not grasping, we can alter our response to be open to the person and re-evaluate the object of our judgments in a very different way.  Dare I say in a non-judgmental way?

These are very nuanced ideas and notions, but also very important to those working in the human service profession. 

Being aware of our own thinking and bringing our thoughts or feelings to awareness, by being “mindful”, allows us to see the situation with a fresh set of eyes.  When we see a situation in a mindful manner, we can be open to the situation, the person, and we can hear their perspective, and increase our empathy and our connection.  Helping is about creating connections and relationships.  This relies on our ability to be empathetic.  Empathy is about seeing the viewpoint of the person.  Being aware of our judgments allows us to see things more clearly, allowing us to be more empathetic and to be a better helper.

Being mindful also presents us with an opportunity.  Rather than see a situation on top of all the other situations we have worked with, and then “lumping” it on top of those situations, we see it with our beginner's mind.  We can learn not to impose our own prejudices and stereotypes (our own Karmic seeds) as we interact with those we are working to connect with. 

Awareness and learning to be mindful can support us in multiple ways.  It allows us to see deeper into our own thoughts, feelings, and senses.  It provides us with tools that sustain us and protect us from acting impulsively and against our own interests. Being aware and mindful supports our work as helpers, both in helping ourselves and others.

Nov. 19, 2025