Judgment is a process that determines where we stand on a matter or belief. It is the realm of conviction, decision-making and execution of those decisions. And because of this, when the body actively makes or executes a judgment, it becomes rigid and defensive of those convictions. There is at once a sense that the person is standing behind their words, as though they have become the physical embodiment or guardian of those ideas. When a person is using judgment in real-time, this manifests in the body being stiffer and the movements of the hands and head being more straight and linear; directional and sharp with well-defined halts. The muscles become tense, primarily around the head and neck, but this may extend to the entire body. The fingers may become taut, whether stretched out entirely or locked in a claw-like posture. The head in particular remains rigid, and when it moves it does so vertically or horizontally with quick, deliberate motions. Were we to personify, for comparison’s sake, an individual wholly judgmental, such a person would never move except out of deliberation, their muscles would remain forever tightened and each of their movements would be like a sharp swing of a sword. Their every phrase would be a statement, spoken with a simultaneous rattling of the head up-to-down and left-to-right. And while surely no human is so unilaterally judgmental, the disposition of judgment generates this tendency to varying degrees in all persons. No individual is continually emitting these signals, but at the very moments in which they do, their psychic disposition will certainly be one of conviction and closure. If we compare the words that accompany their expression, we will see traces of that same finality reflected. The correlation between judgment and bodily tension is so consistent that we need only to turn our attention, ever so slightly, to seeing its presence for it to become an unavoidable observation.
This snippet has been imported from the 2016 Cognitive Type book, with the author’s permission. We hope you enjoy!
.
.
.