Babies are thought to divide their experiences into two categories.  These are ‘things that they like’ and ‘things that they don’t like’.  Experiences they like and are experienced as pleasurable are differentiated from experiences they don’t like and are experienced as unpleasant or painful.  This behavior tends to continue in to childhood and can remain into adulthood.  This is also called black and white thinking.

For many people, however, a class in high school or college leads to the realization that life isn’t always so clear.  For instance, a student might be asked whether stealing is bad or good.  The student would be likely to answer that stealing is bad.  Then the question might be asked how they would judge a man who stole a loaf of bread for his starving children.  This might be the first time the student has been aware of the presence of grey in the world of black and white.  Most of life’s situations aren’t black and white even though we may wish they were.  

Labeling situations as bad or good doesn’t really move us any closer to a true understanding.  Simply judging something allows us a false sense of understanding that doesn’t really move us any closer to a deep understanding of the issue.