Who is the final judge?

 

Do you let your doctor decide, against your own judgment or without double-checking on any recommendation of import, on a course of action about your health? If you do, then you are deciding that your doctor knows better than you in this regard.

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It's not your teacher's life and you're in a better position to decide

 

Do you let your teacher decide, against your own judgment, some course of study? If you do, then you are deciding that your teacher knows better than you in this regard.

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It's not their life and you're in a better position to decide

 

Do you accept the recommendations, against your own judgment, of your friends and/or parents on how to live your life? If you do, then you are deciding that your friends and/or parents know better than you do about the best life for you.

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It's not your minister's or the people who wrote the Bible's life and you're in a better position to decide

 

Do you accept the words in the Bible or in the Koran, against your own judgment, as the absolute way to live your life? If you do, then you are deciding that the Bible or the Koran (or some other generally accepted religious authority) knows better than you do about how to live the best possible life for you.

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It's not your society's life and you're in a better position to decide

 

Do you accept the traditions and customs of your society, against your own judgment, as the best guide for your life? If you do, then you are deciding that the traditions and customs of society are better guides than your own judgment in providing the best life for you.

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Bad news/good new: the buck for deciding what's true or what fits stops with you

 

No matter what the decision, no matter what the choice, no matter what the judgment, there is no way you can avoid the fact that ultimately it is your decision, your choice, your judgment. To accept this fact and thereby embrace your own freedom is the ultimate existential act of courage.

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See also:

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100% responsible

Premise 4: your #1 job is to decide

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"Any person who recognizes this greatest power—the power to choose—begins to realize

that he is the one that is doing the choosing and that friends, although they mean well,

cannot do his choosing for him, nor can his relatives.

Consequently, he develops real self-confidence based upon his own ability,

upon his own action, and upon his own initiative."
—J. Martin Kohe (American publisher, author)

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