Competition: Another Form of Judgment

Many of us are working to overcome our judgment of ourselves and each other. We know that the Christ explains to us in the Standing in the Light® classes that Judgment is THE block to knowing ourselves as God. However, we may not have taken the time to look at our beliefs around “competition” to see that competition is another form of judgment.

Many people would look at the concept of competition as “good” but from the perspective of the Spiritual Hierarchy and the idea of Oneness, competition is divisive.

There is some truth in wanting to be the best version of yourself you can be, but we normally measure it at the expense of someone or something else. When we are in competition, rarely are we focused on being the best version of ourselves.

I am reminded of a scene from the movie Caddyshack, where Ted Knight’s character, Judge Smails, who is always trying to feel more superior to everyone, is asking Chevy Chase’s character, Ty Webb, who is a rich entrepreneur with a lot of time on his hands, what his golf score is. Ty, although an excellent golfer, doesn’t feel the need to keep (or at least not to discuss) his score. Judge Smails asks, “How do you measure yourself against other golfers?” Ty’s reply is “by height.” It is a funny scene and of course, Ty’s wit is notable because he is taller than the Judge. The point is that even when we aren’t directly playing someone else we are keeping score. And if we aren’t keeping score on a game, we are on height, or we are on weight or looks or money in the bank. We are always in competition.

Many people run marathons to see if they have the drive and stamina within them to run 26.2 miles. But, even when they say, I just want to break the 4-hour mark, if they are honest with themselves, they also don’t want to be the last one to cross the finish line. And the one who is the last one to cross the finish line will probably console themselves with the idea that there were others that didn’t qualify at all, or who had to drop out due to injury or who were not fit enough to try in the first place.

As someone who has never run a marathon nor had the running of a marathon as a goal, I do admire those who have the drive and stamina to run one. However, I think we can all admit that very few are running without the judgment of competition.

So what is “wrong” with competition? First of all, there is nothing “wrong” with anything. It is simply a matter of looking at the intention instead of the action, alone. Let’s look at the saying from Kris Duffy. “It’s not the what, it is the why?”  

If a business is trying to make a better car that is more efficient and safer to drive and so they are looking for bright new ideas to help with that goal; great. But we know the multitude of stories where the rush to market or the need to be better than the other car company overshadows the goals of simply using less fuel and being able to brake on slick roads faster. Sometimes this leads to cutting corners on the quality of the product or mistreatment of employees. The need to have higher revenues or get to market sooner than other companies to undercut their share of the market is too prevalent to be ignored.

Competition is an All-American ideal that allows us to be divided into different camps / teams / parties instead of being united to pursue “the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” as our forbearers wrote in the Declaration of Independence.

When we are holding Divine Non-Judgment, our goal is the altruist goal of being the best we can be without making another feel less and without lauding our success or “score” over anyone else. We can be in the perfect balance point between arrogance and the belief of ourselves as unworthy. In Divine Non-Judgment, if we were to run the marathon it would be to feel alive, to know we can set a goal and achieve it, to better our own fitness level without being discouraged if we are the last one to cross the line or even if we don’t cross the finish line at all. We would see the journey and the experience as the goal, not the finish line. 

Sticking to athletics as our example, some like to look at the Olympics as a wonderful way to unite all the world’s nations through competition where cultural exchanges will bring the nations closer together. If that were truly the intention (“The Why”) then the daily medal count would instead be the “friends made” count or “better understanding of another’s point of view” count.

We may look at some of the events and say, “Wow, I just want to see Usain Bolt run fast. I don’t care that he isn’t from the same country as me.” Or “I don’t mind that there are no American teams left in the Pairs Skating finals, I just want to see some beautiful and talented performances.” And of course, all of that is probably true…as long as the daily medal count doesn’t reflect too badly on my particular country!

These same ideas can be applied to high school sports, little league teams, college, and professional teams. The joy of playing well in order to help with our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing and to lessen our stress level is not usually the goal in organized sports. It is about winning and for college and professional teams, about the money and sponsorship potential.

Ultimately, the competition keeps us in separation from each other. It also keeps us looking at the illusion and believing what we see in the illusion is what is valuable and real. Instead of looking at the illusion to see what we still need to heal in order to continue to evolve.

We can set our intention for 2016 to eliminate the judgment of competition and come into the Oneness of knowing we are all worthy and we are all Source.