Discernment vs Judgement

Discernment is seeing what is happening. Judgement is turning what is seen into a story about worth or identity.

Discernment focuses on direct experience: 'There's heaviness in the chest,' 'That action arose from ego'. It names what is present without adding meaning to it. Judgement moves from what is happening into what something means: 'they are selfish,' 'I am too sensitive,' 'I am not nice for noticing this.'

For example, discernment might notice: 'there is tension in the body during this exchange.' Judgement may add: 'I am being treated badly' or 'I am overreacting.' Awareness might notice: 'they often interrupt.' Judgement might think: 'they don't respect me,' 'I don't like them.'

For those with a 'vulnerable' ego - where there is already a sense of being wrong or bad - there is often confusion between discernment and judgement, and the clear seeing of a situation gets interpreted by the mind as being judgemental.

Discernment remains with what is present experientially, without turning it into a verdict about a person or about the self.