Turning Our Gaze Within: A Higher Purpose for Our Capacity to Judge

Turning Our Gaze Within: A Higher Purpose for Our Capacity to Judge
Detail of “Woman Holding a Balance,” circa 1664, by Johannes Vermeer. Oil on canvas; 15 5/8 inches by 14 inches. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Public Domain
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As human beings, our capacity for making judgments seems to be innate. We judge what we like, what we don’t like, what’s good, what’s bad, what’s ugly, and what’s beautiful. Arguably, our judgments determine how our lives unfold, for we won’t adopt the beliefs that guide our lives without first judging them to be true.
But why are we so prone to judge? Is it really a tendency innate to human life? Is it just the way that our brains work? Or maybe it’s a cultural thing? 
Eric Bess
Eric Bess
Author
Eric Bess, Ph.D., is a fine artist, a writer on art-related topics, and an assistant professor at Fei Tian College in Middletown, New York.
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