Saint Paisios gives guidance on seeing the full picture

Elder St Paisios on Judgement...

We rush to judgment when we act based on logic. Only our brain is working, and this is the result. It would be good for those who have great minds if God took a screwdriver and turned the screws of these good minds a bit. The less logic works, the more Grace comes and fills our minds. When I say “mind”, I mean human judgment, egoism and self-confidence. From the moment we acknowledge that we may not have the right judgment and say, “I risk making mistakes because my judgment is simply logical and lacks divine enlightenment; I should not use it anymore,” God will enlighten us. We will be able to discriminate and truly discern right from wrong. The devil makes bright people useless when they judge according to appearance.

When we have only the human element in our nature, we judge based only on human standards and have therefore, committed a crime. Only when this human element disappears will our judgment become divine. A judgment based only on secular criteria is a wrong judgment. There is so much injustice in this world! People are tempted and scandalized all the time! This is why, if you want to ensure a good state for your soul, your thoughts must always be good. Human beings are a mystery! It is so difficult to know the inner self of the other person, to know what is on his mind!

- Excerpt from With Pain and Love