Ontological Perspectives

Law school, I'm sure no one will be surprised to hear, is full of arguing. Yesterday, we were assigned a practice problem in my Contract class, and all morning, the lounge was abuzz with people debating their answers. I won't bore you with that they thought they were, suffice to say:

optioncontractunderrestatement25or45butwhatwastheconsiderationdoyouneedconsiderationforanoptioncontractyesnomaybedoesshehavelegalactionyesnomaybewasthiscommonlaworucc etc.

And while it may seem appropriate for law students to debate and natural for people to want to argue and try to persuade one another in one direction or the other, But consider this, arguing with the assumption that you are right and your brother is wrong is a judgement. You are judging him.

Romans 14 reminds us, "who are you to pass judgement on someone..," and goes on to discuss difference of opinion. Not about religion or the Lord, but about the importance of the days of the week and eating a variety of foods or just vegetables. "Let everyone be fully persuaded in his own mind." Which I took to mean, respect one another's opinion.

The US seems to be at each other's throats lately with the arrival presidential candidates debates and the surplus of candidates we have this year for the primaries. And while I try to avoid politics, I thought we could springboard this into an issue of respecting another man's opinion, because you are not his judge in the first place.

One of the most important lessons I learned during my undergrad (in a women's studies class), was the idea of life experience and how it alters perceptions. Which seems painfully obvious, but when
you are reading books from all over the world by authors with all kinds of life experience that you cannot possibly relate to without experiencing it, it helps to remember what and where they are coming from. Their opinion, your opinion, my opinion has been shaped by their own unique life experiences-their personal ontological process.

Which means the art of persuasion, to persuade someone to think or act a certain way... Don't do it. Let everyone think their own thoughts. God will pass judgement for them when the time comes, but it isn't your problem to deal with. It isn't your place to persuade someone. You can have conversations, lively debates, offer your experiences, but when it is all said and done, their ontology allows them the opportunity to form their own opinions- regardless of or in light of what you have said and done around them.

Tota tua,

LeAnn

Judgin'

Don't even bother denying; you're judging.  

Right now, you are judging whether or not you want to take the time out of your busy day to actually read what follows these sentences.  Whether or not this cute little blog is worth your time.  You've probably already judged the setup of the site, the background and various other details.  We all do it.  

So whatever happened to "thou shalt not judge lest ye be judged"?  

Throughout the summer, I have some pretty odd jobs; I give swimming lessons, I umpire, I babysit, and I make funnel cakes.  The last one is probably the most random of all my summer jobs.  I work for my grandma in a funnel cake stand; we go to a couple of different shows (monster truck rallies, tractor pulls, 4th of July festivals) and sell funnel cakes.

Normally, I'm the window person.  I smile at you from inside the hot, greasy trailer, and inform you that a lemonade and funnel cake will cost you nine dollars, and could you please step over to the pick up window for your funnel cake.  All the while I'm doing this, I'm judging you.  

I am assuming since you are a monster truck rally, you have no life or could be considered "redneck".  I'm guessing that because you threw such a fit over the line that you are impatient.  I believe that you are a bad mother because your children's clothes fit poorly or are stained.  I decide that you are uneducated because you couldn't take the time to read the prices clearly marked on the window to my left.  

What's funny is, they are probably judging me.  The girl working in a funnel cake stand; her eye makeup a little smudged, hair frizzed, and nose pierced.  I must be a high school dropout, or a young mother.  If I fumbled in counting out their change, they may think I'm uneducated. They see me joking with my brother and assume he's my boyfriend.  Because I am wearing a bandanna in my hair, and multiple bracelets on my wrist, I must be a "hipster". 

It's a vicious cycle; we all have eyes and ears, we see and hear things that make us think, we cannot turn a blind eye to the world.  So how then, do we stop this whole judging thing?  By making the effort not to.  

One woman who came through my line had pink hair.  She had at least five piercings in her face alone, and had four visible tattoos.  She also had two clean, well-mannered kids with her.  She was polite, thanked me, and then recognized me right after I had finally placed her; she is the woman who had done my body piercings.  Which goes to show; we can't judge a book by it's cover or where you even found it. 

So judging?  We all do it, and can't help it.  The trick with judging people is to not let our judges and assumptions rule our lives.  When in doubt, refer back to one simple rule:

Love thy neighbor as thyself.  

Keep it simple, keep it classy, instead of judging them, love them.

Totus tuus,

LeAnn