We have already discussed the Last Judgement in some though insufficient
detail. After the Last Judgement there will be no more. This is symbolic
only in the sense that everyone is much better off WITHOUT judgement.
When the Bible says “Judge not that ye be not judged” it merely means
that if you judge the reality of others at all, you will be unable to
avoid judging your own. The choice to judge rather than to know was the
cause of the loss of peace. Judgement is the process on which
perception, but NOT cognition, rests. We have discussed this before in
terms of the selectivity of perception, pointing out that evaluation is
its obvious prerequisite.

Judgement ALWAYS involves rejection. It is NOT an ability which
emphasizes only the positive aspects of what is judged, whether it be in
or out of the self. However, what has been perceived and rejected, – or
judged and found wanting, – remains in the unconscious because it HAS
been perceived. One of the illusions from which man suffers is the
belief that what he judged against has
no effect. This cannot be true unless he also believes that what he
judged against does not exist. He evidently does NOT believe this, or he
would not have judged against it. It does not matter, in the end,
whether you judge right or wrong. Either way, you are placing your
belief in the unreal. This cannot be avoided in any type of judgement,
because it implies the belief that reality is yours to choose FROM.

You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes
from meeting yourselves and your brothers totally without judgement.
When you recognize what you and your brothers ARE, you will realize that
judging them in ANY way is without meaning. In fact, their meaning is
lost to you precisely BECAUSE you are judging them. All uncertainty
comes from a totally fallacious belief that you are under the coercion
of judgement. You do not need judgement to organize your life, and you
certainly do not need it to organize yourselves. In the presence of
knowledge ALL judgement is automatically suspended, and this is the
process which enables recognition to REPLACE perception.

Man is very fearful of everything he has perceived but has refused to
accept. He believes that, because he has refused to accept it, he has
lost control over it. This is why he sees it in nightmares, or in
pleasant disguises in what seem to be his happier dreams. Nothing that
you have refused to accept can be brought into awareness. It does NOT
follow that it is dangerous, but it DOES follow that you have MADE it
dangerous.

When you feel tired, it is merely because you have judged yourself as
capable of being tired. When you laugh at someone, it is because you
have judged him as debased. When you laugh at yourself you are singularly
likely to laugh at others, if only because you cannot tolerate the idea
of being more debased than they are. All of this does make you feel
tired because it is essentially disheartening. You are not REALLY
capable of being tired, but you are VERY capable of wearying yourselves.
The strain of constant judgement is virtually intolerable. It is a
curious thing that any ability which is so debilitating should be so
deeply cherished.

Yet, if you wish to be the author of reality, which is totally
impossible anyway, you WILL insist on holding on to judgement. You
will also use the term with considerable fear, believing that judgement
will someday be used against YOU. To whatever extent it IS used against
you, it is due only to your belief in its efficacy as a weapon of
defense for your own authority. The issue of authority is really a
question of authorship. When an individual has an “authority problem,” it
is ALWAYS because he believes he is the author of himself, projects his
delusion onto others, and then perceives the situation as one in which
people are literally fighting him for his authorship. This is the
fundamental error of all those who believe they have usurped the power
of God.

The belief is very frightening to THEM, but hardly troubles God. He is,
however, eager to undo it, NOT to punish His children, but ONLY because
He knows that it makes them unhappy. Souls were GIVEN their true
Authorship, but men preferred to be anonymous when they chose to
separate themselves from their Author. The word “authority” has been one
of their most fearful symbols ever since. Authority has been used for
great cruelty because, being uncertain of their true Authorship, men
believe that their creation was anonymous. This has left them in a
position where it SOUNDS meaningful to consider the possibility that
they must have created themselves.

The dispute over authorship has left such uncertainty in the minds of
men that some have even doubted whether they really exist at all.
Despite the apparent contradiction in this position, it is in one sense
more tenable than the view that they created themselves. At least it
acknowledges the fact that SOME true authorship is necessary for
existence.

Only those who give over all desire to reject can KNOW that their own
rejection is impossible. You have NOT usurped the power of God, but you
HAVE lost it. Fortunately, when you lose something, it does not mean
that the “something” has gone. It merely means that you do not know
where it is. Existence does not depend on your ability to identify it,
nor even to place it. It is perfectly possible to look on reality
without judgement, and merely KNOW that it is there.

Peace is a natural heritage of the Soul. Everyone is free to refuse to
ACCEPT his inheritance, but he is NOT free to establish what his
inheritance IS. The problem which everyone must decide is the
fundamental question of authorship. All fear comes ultimately and
sometimes by way of very devious routes, from the denial of
Authorship. The offense is never to God, but only to those who deny Him.
To deny His Authorship is to deny themselves the reason for their own
peace, so that they see themselves only in pieces. This strange
perception IS the authority problem.

There is no man who does not feel that he is imprisoned in some way. If
this is the result of his own free will, he must regard his will as if
it were NOT free, or the obviously circular reasoning involved in his
position would be quite apparent. Free will MUST lead to freedom.
Judgement ALWAYS imprisons, because it separates segments of reality
according to the highly unstable scales of desire. Wishes are not facts
by definition. To wish is to imply that willing is not sufficient. Yet
no-one believes that what is wished is as real as what is willed.
Instead of “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven” say, “WILL ye first the
Kingdom of Heaven,” and you have said, “I know what I am, and I will to
accept my own inheritance.”