Judge Not . . .

To love means, it seems, more to share and commiserate with another's predicament than to pass judgment on it. Since we all look at the world through our own perspectives, don't we need to share perspectives in order to see the truth that is common to each? That is what Gadamer thinks. (Truth and Method).

Since judgment involves (so often) imposing my own perspective on another's without considering hers, it is oppositional and doesn't often get us closer to the truth. Getting to truth involves sharing. (You can't force your opinion on another in any event, since people are free.)

Hence, the rule to follow: commiserate and listen, then share your own perspective, perhaps as modified by the other's. Refrain from passing judgment. Let the other person make up his or her mind. "Judge not lest you be judged."

To transcend one's perspective is actually at the heart of religious faith. As Robert Spaemann says, "To believe that God exists means to believe that he is not our idea, but that we are his idea. It implies precisely what Jesus demanded from us: a transformation of perspective. Conversion." "Rationality and Faith in God," at p. 629 (Communio 32 [Winter 2005]).

Watch a video about philosopher Anthony Flew's Conversion from Atheism to Theism.

Watch a video about the (at least current) limits in physical science's ability to explain the world.