Study Guide: The Cloud of Unknowing, Chapter 29

Although we are always "contending with thoughts of others and situations wedging themselves between us and God" (as Anonymous says in the previous chapter), our Teacher tells us in this chapter "that [we] must practice contemplative prayer patiently; persist[ing], endur[ing] it pain, and judg[ing] no one." Being in bondage to sin makes things terribly difficult which, of course, is why repentance, receiving forgiveness, and stepping out in a new direction is critical. While moving into new life, Anonymous urges us to be very careful not to judge others. In everything, let God be the judge of things and people.  After all, in the final tally,

[on the one hand,] many of the 'nobodies' of this world, now despised and neglected as lowlifes and hardened sinners, will claim their right to sit beside God's saints in God's sight. On the other hand,  some who  now seem so holy, and who are honored as if they were angels, and who perhaps never did commute a deadly sin, may find themselves sitting beside hell's devils in complete misery. (70-71).

So don't be judgmental. "Yes, you can scrutinize a person's actions, weigh them in your mind, and determine whether the deeds themselves are good or evil, but you cannot judge the person" (71). 

So here's a question for consideration: Where in our daily lives do we enter a practice, that is, a place, time, and activity when we enter non-judgmental living? And with such a practice, might it be that our practice of letting go of judgments can work its way into being more truly non-judgdmental in all of life without giving up an ability to make wise and critical judgments when necessary?