One sign that asceticism has led a monk to God is the refusal to pass judgment. However severely monks fast and however hard they work, all of that is useless if they nonetheless go on judging others. Asceticism has merely gotten them to the point where they can exalt themselves over others. It has served to satisfy their pride, to heighten their feeling of self-worth. Those who have encountered themselves in their asceticism, those who have persevered in remaining in their kellion when repressed thoughts and desires raise their head, will lose all appetite for judging others. That is why many sayings of the fathers admonish the monks to stay by themselves, to confront their own truth, and not to judge others.
Father Poimen asked Father Joseph: “Tell me how I become a monk.” He answered: “If you wish to find peace, say whenever you do anything: ‘I—who am I?’ and judge no one!”
Theodore of Pherme says: “Anyone who has come to know the sweetness of the kellion flees from his neighbor, but without despising him.” And: “A father was once asked by a brother: ‘Why is it that I pass judgment on my brothers so frequently?’ And he answered him: ‘Because you don’t yet know yourself. Whoever knows himself doesn’t see the brothers’ mistakes.’ “
Passing judgment on others is always a sign that one has not yet encountered oneself. Hence pious individuals who become incensed over others have not yet encountered their own truth. Their piety has not yet confronted them with themselves and their own sin. For as Father Moses says: “If anyone is bearing his sins, he does not look on those of his neighbors.”
But for the monks refusing to pass judgment is not only a criterion for genuine asceticism; it’s also a help in finding one’s inner peace. When we stop condemning others, that does us good.
“Poimen was asked by a brother: ‘What should I do, Father, for I am becoming cast down by sadness.’ The old man answered him: ‘Do not look upon anyone for any reason; condemn no one, calumniate no one, and the Lord will give you rest.’ “
Judging gives us no rest. For even while we are condemning the other, we unconsciously sense that we too are not perfect. Thus, renouncing judgment and condemnation is a way to inner peace with ourselves. We let others be as we are, and in this way we can also be ourselves.
With their experience the monks are carrying out what Jesus demands in the Sermon on the Mount: “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt. 7:1). Not-judging comes out of the encounter with the self. Those who have encountered themselves know all about their own errors. They know their shadow side. They know that they bear within themselves what they condemn in others. When the others sin, they do not get indignant; they are reminded of their own sins. Psychologists tell us that when we pour abuse on others we are revealing what is in ourselves.
We project our own shadow side, our repressed wishes and needs, onto others; and so we revile them instead of looking our own truth in the eye. The monks demand that we give up projection and be silent instead. Silence for them is an aid in giving up projection and viewing others’ behavior as a mirror for ourselves. We can see this in a number of sayings by the fathers.
~Anselm Gruen, Heaven Begins Within You: Wisdom from the Desert Fathers
