Nonjudgemental:
Often heard in the circles of Humanistic Psychology is the safe environment created by a non-judgemental attitude. Having said that, a description is illusive. the word rolls off the tongue so, so easily. In my opinion, the skill area is worthy of many years to culture. (It is not easily attained.) How long? A conservative estimate might be that, in a disciplined inquiry, results could be seen in as little as five years and the state of the art in twenty.
So, what is it? An accepted and common form of listening is to judge everything one hears according to a pre-set schema.
That, in turn, may be based in past context, expectations, observation and experience. The here and now, then, vanishes in favor of the past in the mind's eye. Then, the typical western thinking person applies analysis (involving reduction to components). Then, the person is thinking what they are going to say next! By the time all of that occurs, the gist of what was heard initially is lost. It is, at least partly, due to an abuse of judgementalism.
Thereby the nonjudgemental is a suspension of pre-set schema and analysis for long enough to hear thoroughly what is being said. It's rare.
Lindblom
Why not judge?
Bugental:
(1) Human beings cannot be reduced to components,
2) Human beings have in them a uniquely human context,
(3) Human consciousness includes an awareness of oneself in the context of other people,
(4) Human beings have choices and responsibilities, and
(5) Human beings are intentional, they seek meaning value and creativity (Bugental, 1964).
Bugental, J.F.T (1964) The Third Force in Psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 19-25
http://www.ozarkguidance.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8142&cn=91
Sites in the Lorena La Grande Series:
nondirective
http://nondirective.bravehost.com
nondefensive
http://nondefensive.bravehost.com
nonjudgemental
http://nonjudgemental.bravehost.com
receptive
http://receptive.bravehost.com
openness
+
bravenet.com