Judgement vs Opinion

I have been exploring the aspect of “judgement” for awhile now.  In my opinion, as humans we are all judging at some level at some time. But, what does this really mean and how can I/we better understand at the individual and collective level.

I know that many of us who feel we are “enlightened” feel we have been judged by society? the church? our families? And so on…. But, as we feel this judgement placed on us, we in turn move into judgement as well.  We then judge society, the church, our families, etc in that we think all will treat us as one aspect has.  We also don’t give credit to the fact that change does occur and perhaps that area that we have felt judged has changed and no longer judges us as we have felt happen before.

Then, I began to explore what the difference between judgement and opinion might potentially be.

This happened through a personal experience.  I was spending time with Jane (name is changed to protect the innocent).  Jane mentioned that she had spent time downtown Denver and noticed all the people with signs needing money, food, etc for a variety of different reasons.  Jane proceeded, from the goodness of her heart, to purchase bottles of water to hand out to people on the street.

Jane told me a story of one woman who needed money for food as she and her children had no place to live or food to eat.  The woman on the street was smoking and Jane felt a need to mention that if the woman wasn’t spending money on cigarettes her situation might be different.

When Jane told me this story, I then felt the need to say, “That was judgmental.”
Jane took this as a personal affront and since then, Jane is just waiting for what is coming out of my mouth to claim it as judgmental.

One instance of this was when we were watching a football game and I said, “I think football is stupid.”  Jane proceeded to make the statement that me saying this was judgmental.

This propelled me to think further about the different between being judgmental and being in the place of opinion and where this fine line is and where it ends.

Definition
Judgmental
a) tending to form opinions too quickly, esp. when disapproving of someone or something

b) Having or displaying an overly critical point of view

Opinion

a) a belief, judgment, or way of thinking about something
b) what someone thinks about a particular thing

Interesting that the word “judgment” is included in the “opinion” definition.  So, are opinions judgments?
And where is the line between judgments and opinions?

Is judgement that which is disapproving or an overly critical point of view applicable when it is extended to a person or situation that involves people or something that can be damaged regarding the “judgmental statement”? Is it “opinion” when the expression is placed about something that that is generalized and not necessarily aimed or has the ability to be critical and/or to cause harm.

In the way I said to Jane, “That was judgmental” … I feel that because it did cause an emotional state that propelled Jane to react by looking for anything she could find that I said that might be construed as judgmental that this was “harmful” and does take a place as “judgment” as humans take judgment to being.

In stating, “I think football is stupid”, as this wasn’t aimed at any one person and because of this the focus of the statement was simply my opinion regarding football that this has no real way of causing “harm” to another that this more lies within the aspect of “opinion” as a particular way I personally feel about football.

As all aspects of life are “mirrors”, this was reflecting to me the deep feelings of judgments being placed on me throughout my life, it was/is a lesson that I too judge in a variety of ways.  And, even within the definition of opinion lies the word “judgment” that even personal opinions can be construed as judgment.  It is the beholder of the words being spoken (including the speaker and the listener) that perspective comes through. 

In this, we are all held to be accountable and responsible for every word we speak, every action we take and every energy expended.

In this, I speak to Jane’s higher self and offer my acceptance in the knowledge of the damage I caused and I take full accountability and responsibility for my part/my role in this exchange of energy that yes, was damaging.