By Robert Holden Michelangelo’s masterpiece, The Last Judgment, which sits on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, caused quite a stir when unveiled. Artists in the 16th century were the authors of the day. Everyone was keen to “read” Michelangelo’s latest picture. His work was met with mixed reviews. People had a lot of judgments about The Last Judgment. For instance, the genitalia in the fresco was judged “sinful,” and was painted over after Michelangelo’s death. Our nakedness, depicted so beautifully, was judged to be wrong. The Last Judgment refers to a time when the world will witness the Second Coming of Christ. At this time, we will experience the last judgment. Although the idea of the Last Judgment strikes fear into many people, I feel a great sense of freedom and liberation. After all, this is the last judgment ever! There are no more judgments after this one. Imagine, a world with no judgment. Imagine, no more condemnation and no more attack. Imagine, feeling naked and innocent. On my Loveability 3-day program, we do a meditation called The Last Judgment. I ask people to get into pairs and to take turns to do a ten-minute monologue in which they explore this question: “What is it like to be you when you are not judging yourself?” On the last program, I did this meditation with Amanda. Her first response was, “I’m not sure if I have ever experienced myself without judgment.” I encouraged her to relax and to settle in to the meditation. Eventually, Amanda found her flow. At the end of the ten minutes, Amanda was “in heaven” as she put it. In her feedback to the group, Amanda said, “This has been the best ten minutes of my life. I had no idea it could feel this good to be me.” Most people love The Last Judgment meditation. For some, though, it strikes fear, and they raise their objections. One objection is, “I’m afraid that without self-judgment I’ll fall apart and my life won’t work.” When I ask if they have any evidence for this theory, they can’t find any. We are so habituated to self-judgment that it feels “wrong” not to judge ourselves. And, yet, I believe the best thing we can do is to stop judging ourselves. (Tweet-worthy!) Some people think that self-judgment is necessary for success and a life well lived. If that’s true, why is that people who judge themselves the most often feel stuck, are on medication, and feel unfulfilled. Think about it. What real benefits has your habit of self-judging brought to your life and to the world as a whole? Some people say that self-judgment is necessary for morality, but I say that love is moral and that self-love is the key to finding your goodness and your innocence. One day, maybe even today, we will stop judging ourselves, and the world will be a better place. So, my invitation to you today is simply to take ten minutes to explore the question, “What is it like to be me when I am not judging myself?” And then, for an added bonus, complete the following sentence five times: “One good thing that could happen to me if I judged myself less is…” thedailylove/the-last-judgment/
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 21:38:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015