Breaking Through Our Fear of Judgment

Several days ago, in a private meeting, I met with Josephine and Elizabeth who are members of our group. Josephine was going through an intense struggle; she was resistant to talk about it because she was afraid of the judgment she believed we would have of her. Finally she told us something she had done which was the cause of her intense emotion.

Neither Elizabeth no I judged her. We studied what she had done and encouraged her to think more deeply about it. Actually Josephine’s action required some courage. Her fear of telling us about it was not fear of our judgment but her fear of really thinking about what she had done, for then she would have to face the confining thoughts she had about herself and break through to larger ideas.

When we are young, before our intelligence can develop, we construct premises based on fear in order to protect ourselves. Our fear premises are pickets which become picket fences as a means self-protection. But as we mature, these fences become our prisons.

Josephine found her picket fence too confining. She intuited the need to break through it, but was afraid to think about it consciously. Her fear of our judging her was the fear within herself of having to face her imprisoning premises. But there was another part of her that wanted to break through. As we studied her situation, she succeeded in making some steps in the direction of inner freedom.