Tuesday, July 8, 2008

What Is A Value Judgment?


All human suffering is an experience based on value judgements of what is good and bad. A judgment is labeling some thing, person, or event as good or bad, based on your belief system. Lets take a look at the concepts of good and bad.

Does anything carry with it a value of good or bad, independent of human evaluation? Are good and bad inherent qualities or human assessments? Is any event, person, thing, circumstance inherently (exists as a permanent condition) good or bad? Or are they labels we use to define what we want and don’t want?

What about "GOOD?"

We define good as being something we want. And look at the words used to define good. Are they not what we desire? We want our lives to be easy, to be around people who are pleasant and kind. We want what we do to be worthwhile, efficient, and hopefully, profitable. We want to feel safe, etc.

What about "BAD?"

We simply define what we don’t want as "bad"? We don’t want items that are defective. We don’t want a corrupt government. We don’t want to be “poor”. ....on and on...you get the idea. Good = Want. Bad = Don't Want

If good and bad were inherent qualities true regardless of our assessments, then they would remain the same throughout time. History has shown this to not be true. Through out lineage, what we’ve called good and bad has changed.

So if "good and bad" are assessments, then you are free to re-evaluate those assessments. When you look at situations and yourself in terms of desires, and not as value judgments, you remove the negative connotations associated with "good and bad". The examination of the situation becomes less volatile and hostile. You can simply make an observation, notice what you want or don't want, and respond according to those desires.

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