Judge… we need to talk.
“Talk?”
Yes. Surprised? Never happened before, has it? It’s always been a monologue between us. I live, you evaluate. I feel, you weigh. Verdicts. Constant. On me. On others. On Life. Never a pause. Never a breath.
“Always on duty.”
I know. Always ready. Always there.
But now…No. Not anymore.
The court is closing.
“Closing?”
Yes.
“So what do I do now?”
Don’t disappear. I’m not dismissing you.
But it’s time for a new job.
“Change? But this is all I’ve ever done. This is who I am. I serve Truth!”
I know. I know it well.
But now, you will serve Life.
Not just mine.
Theirs too.
“And what exactly will I do?”
You’ll use what you do best.
You’ll watch.
Discern. Understand.
But without condemning.
Without crushing.
Without the guillotine.
You’ll help me. You’ll help others.
If they want you to.
Not to punish.
To see, to understand, maybe even together, if they choose to.
“And what if I fail? What if I slip back into old patterns?”
It will happen. In fact, it’s bound to.
And then? We’ll accept it.
I won’t judge you for it. And you won’t judge yourself.
If it happens, it happens.
And that’s okay too.
But now…
Look.
The court is closed.
Step outside. Breathe.
Do you see it?
The sky. The stars.
The people.
Me.
“See you soon. It’s starting to feel easier, being together.”
I know.
It wasn’t easy, this conversation with my Inner Judge.
It took years to ask for an audience. Always hunched over his papers, meticulous, tireless, endlessly filing away guilt and verdicts, stacking definitive sentences like bricks in a windowless courtroom.
Or maybe… maybe I just wasn’t ready.
Maybe I needed time. Time to really see.
To witness the weight of a hand—my own—pointing the finger. At myself. At others. At the Visible and the Invisible.
Judgment is a wall. Discernment is not.
Judgment separates. Crushes. Wounds.
Discernment distinguishes. Welcomes. Sees without destroying. Weighs without denying.
Critical thinking is a tool given by Life to navigate existence.
To hold ourselves up. To hold others up.
Not to divide. But to orient.
Now I know.
No…
I can feel it.
