In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the act of judgment as a state of mind is not inherently negative. Our minds all have a framework for judgment that is so vital for survival, it is an ingrained part of us, not something learned or trained. For an evolutionary example, think to when our ancestors were arboreal. They had to be able to discern the stable branch from the bough about to break; when a fruit was ripe enough to eat; if the boss-monkey was going to help them eat said fruit, or toss them from the tree to keep all the fruit to himself.
As we evolved, this framework for judgment evolved with us. As our brains became more complex and our sense of self-awareness grew into a bonafide ego, our capacity for judgment grew to cover a much broader range of topics. Where we once merely possessed self-awareness, judging ourselves as separate from the environment, now we had the capacity for self-judgment and thereby self-loathing. So too, we went from being able to judge the current attitudes of our fellow creatures to judging them as good or bad people in a permanent sense. Thus was born the capacity for castigation, it flowed naturally from survival cognition.
Ancient Chinese philosophy is based upon observance of Nature. This is not just plants and animals, but the patterns in the Heavens above, upon the Earth below, and in the mind, body, and spirit of the people in between. Yin-yang theory and five phase theory are relative categorical abstractions based on universal observation. Traditional Chinese Medicine grew out of the matrix of ancient Chinese philosophy, and though it has evolved continually over the millenia, it is still at its heart yin-yang theory and five phase theory as they are applied to health and wellness.
In TCM, judgment is understood as a function of Reverting Yin (jueyin). According to the yin-yang symbol, Reverting Yin is the little black circle inside the white whorl. Yin is receptive, it takes things in, while yang is assertive, it sends things out. Judgment requires taking in sensation (yin), then issuing an opinion in response (yang).
When we are judging ourselves harshly, this is not an alien behavior, it is merely our normal judgmental frame of mind functioning out of balance; judgment in a pathological state. The reasons for this can be due to yin being deficient, which means our focus is too narrow. This could possibly present as fixating on the negative traits and beliefs our judgment has declared, at the expense of seeing the positive. The same can happen with regards to other people.
Another possibility for judgment out of balance could be yang stagnation, where yang is the issuing of opinions and yin is reflection on the data. If the issued opinions happen reflexively, instantly, without pausing to consider the ideas presented, the yang aspect of judgment has become stagnant; it is stuck in issuing-opinions mode.
According to five phase theory of traditional Chinese philosophy, judgment is of the Wood stage, which is nourished by the Water phase. If the Water phase is deficient or stagnant, then the Wood phase is insufficiently nourished, which creates a state of pathological imbalance for judgment. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Water stage corresponds to our will.i When our willpower is weak, we are in a state of fear. We come to conclusions too quickly, in a state of abject surrender or one of mindless retreat. We cannot pause to consider, nor have a broad view of the situation because our minds are overcome by fright.
Social structures take advantage of our ingrained judgmental state of mind by promoting codes of conduct against which to judge ourselves. They do not cause us to judge ourselves, that is something we are readily doing all of the time. Society just needs to give us the criteria, and then whenever our judgment goes out of balance, we will judge ourselves and others too harshly. This perpetuates the state of imbalance within the Lesser Yin-Wood aspect of our minds, which can then result in the states of depression and anger. Depression and anger are also manifestation of the Lesser Yin-Wood aspect out of balance. They can therefore easily imbalance judgment, which creates a vicious cycle (something that happens a lot within TCM).
This is not to say that we (and others) are incapable of being wrathful, vain, slothful, gluttonous, etc. Sometimes when we come to the conclusion that we (and others) are bad people, we do so because our judgment was out of balance. Other times, our judgment of negativity is balanced and accurate. TCM posits that it is not wrong to have a negative judgment of oneself or others, only that when coming to a negative conclusion, be diligent about your state of mind. Is your judgment balanced, or was it obscured by fear, depression, or anger?
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iIn yin-yang philosophy the will is part of the Lesser Yin (xiaoyin), which is the narrowing aspect of the black whorl on the yin-yang symbol.
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