“The highest form of intelligence 

is to observe without evaluating,"

 - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Field: Somatic Psychology, Coaching Psychology, Shadow Work, Internal Family Systems

Keywords: judgment, projection, discernment, somatic download, shadow work, Internal Family Systems, coaching, trauma, self-awareness

Abstract

This article investigates the psychological and somatic foundations of judgment and projection, reconceptualising them as adaptive, conditioned defense mechanisms rather than ethical shortcomings. Synthesising psychoanalytic theory (Freud, 1920), depth psychology (Jung, 1963), somatic trauma research (Levine, 2010), and Internal Family Systems (Schwartz, 2001). With a focus on advancing discernment - mediated by prefrontal engagement and autonomic regulation - as the primary countermeasure to unconscious reactivity. Through neurobiological analysis, cultural critique, and applied coaching frameworks, the work delineates a developmental trajectory from evaluative distortion to embodied witnessing, culminating in shadow integration. A glossary and APA 7 references support scholarly and clinical application.

Introduction: The Invisible Water of Judgment

Judgment functions as the default operating system of the conditioned mind, executing so silently and automatically that its presence remains undetected until explicitly named. This paper maps a transition from reactivity to presence, projection to discernment, and evaluation to observation. It addresses coaches, therapists, and those on the path of self inquiry who have experienced the reflexive sting of judgment and seek an alternative perceptual mode. The pivot point is not cognitive insight alone but a somatic download - a visceral, embodied integration of truth that irrevocably alters perceptual scaffolding. From this rupture emerges the practice of The Witness.

Judgment and Projections: Every Judgment Is a Confession

The Mechanism of Projection

Projection constitutes a core psychological defense mechanism, formally delineated by Freud (1920), in which disowned or threatening intrapsychic content is unconsciously displaced onto an external object. This maneuver yields transient psychic equilibrium while simultaneously distorting both interpersonal and intrapersonal reality.

As encapsulated in the aphorism “We see things not as they are, but as we are” (often attributed to Anaïs Nin), the process operates as follows:

Unconscious material is displaced onto an external target and we experience temporary relief Cost: perceptual distortion, relational rupture, reinforcement of internal exile.

Jung (1963) transformed projection into a developmental imperative: “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves” (p. 329). 

Clinical inquiry thus becomes - when I label another “too emotional,” where have I internalised shame for my own affect? When I resent another’s ambition, where have I disowned my own drive?

Every Judgment is a Confession

In the cultural nervous system of a profoundly sick society, projections do not arise in sociocultural isolation. They are amplified by inherited systemic bias. In her landmark 2014 Noble Call speech at the Abbey Theatre, Panti Bliss declared (paraphrased):

We all come from a profoundly sick society… It’s not whether these tendencies live within us - it’s a question of how willing we are to uncover in what ways, to what degrees, and what we would like to do about it” (Bliss, 2014).

Racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, and fatphobia function not merely as institutional structures but as internalised micro judgments enacted daily due to our programming.

The Core Reframe

I’m not who you think I am. You are who you think I am.

This is not metaphysical abstraction but relational neurobiology: judgment severs contact with the other, substituting dialogue with one’s own disowned material.

The Neurobiology of Interference: From Amygdala to Prefrontal Cortex

Judgment is rapid and subcortical. Within approximately 90 milliseconds of perceived threat - social, emotional, or existential - the amygdala initiates a sympathetic cascade, releasing cortisol and adrenaline (LeDoux, 1996). Prefrontal executive functions, including moral reasoning and contextual integration, are transiently inhibited. The resultant output is binary and affect-laden: good / bad, safe / dangerous, self / other.

Discernment is cortically mediated and temporally extended. It requires sustained prefrontal engagement, permitting pattern recognition, contextual nuance, and long-term relational calculus. 

Key questions include:

• What is being triggered in me which I see reflected back?

• What contextual layers are present?

• Which elements are mine to metabolize, and which belong elsewhere?

Somatic psychology corroborates this bifurcation. Judgment manifests somatically as constriction-shallow respiration, cutaneous flushing, mandibular tension (Levine, 2010). Discernment correlates with parasympathetic dominance: diaphragmatic breathing, peripheral vasodilation, and grounded proprioception. The body thus serves as an epistemic instrument rather than a reactive prison.

Observation and Discernment: The Practice of The Witness

The Witness is not a performative role but a regulated nervous system state. Within Internal Family Systems (Schwartz, 2001), The Witness corresponds to Selfsenergy - capable of perceiving internal parts (exiles, managers, protectors) without fusion, labeling without condemnation, and containment without intervention.

This capacity is forged through somatic rupture. A somatic download - the moment the body metabolizes a latent truth - manifests as autonomic dysregulation: tachycardia, thoracic constriction, and perceptual narrowing. Yet, paradoxically, perceptual bandwidth expands. Reality clarifies. From this crucible emerges the oceanic container of a coach: The depth of my own experience informs my ability to hold space like the deepest ocean. No issue is too dark. No dream is too big.

From Reaction to Integration: Shadow Work in Action

Discernment is cultivated iteratively.

• Detect the impulse - the reflexive urge to label, repair, or categorise.

• Pause and attune somatically - locate the autonomic signature.

• Inquire with curiosity - What unmet need or exiled part is activated?

• Witness without fusion - maintain Self-presence amid affective arousal.

• Integrate with compassion - reclaim and rehome the disowned material.

This sequence constitutes shadow integration - the transmutation of reactivity into presence.

Conclusion: The Highest Form of Intelligence

To observe without evaluating is not emotional detachment; it is radical epistemic intimacy - with self, other, and reality unfiltered by bias or affective charge. It terminates the cycle of unconscious confession via judgment. It inaugurates the practice of The Witness.

In Krishnamurti’s (1954) formulation, this is the highest form of intelligence.

Glossary of Core Concepts

• Discernment: Prefrontal-mediated, regulated observation of reality absent emotional reactivity.

• Judgment: Amygdala-driven, affectively charged evaluation rooted in bias and survival schema.

• Projection: Unconscious displacement of disowned intrapsychic content onto an external locus.

• Somatic Download: Visceral, autonomic integration of latent psychological truth-painful yet clarifying.

• The Witness: The Self-state of non-interfering, compassionate observation.

References

Bliss, P. (2014). Noble Call [Speech]. Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland.

Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. International Psycho-Analytical Press.

Jung, C. G. (1963). Memories, dreams, reflections. Pantheon Books.

Krishnamurti, J. (1954). The first and last freedom. Harper & Brothers.

LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. Simon & Schuster.

Levine, P. A. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. North Atlantic Books.

Schwartz, R. C. (2001). Introduction to the Internal Family Systems model. Trailheads Publications.

Wallace, D. F. (2005). This is water: Some thoughts, delivered on a significant occasion, about living a compassionate life. Little, Brown and Company.