# Preference > Preference selects resonance without judgment, unlike judgment which invalidates what you do not choose - Canonical: https://sassani.app/topic/preference # Preference In Bashar's vocabulary, preference is the recognition of the idea you are willing to be — distinct from judgment, which invalidates what you are not. Preference does not say "this other thing is wrong"; it simply says "this is what resonates with who I choose to be." Because everything in reality is equal to everything else, conscious preference (not judgment) is what lets you align with the version of reality you wish to experience. ## Preference is not judgment The distinction is the whole teaching. A judgment is the invalidation of what you don't prefer; a preference is simply recognizing what is true for you and acting on it. You can choose to prefer something without invalidating the equality of what you don't choose. In one exchange, Bashar presses a questioner who claimed to have "no preferences" about what to do, only to discover he was an active runner and was only immobilized because he was refusing to admit he had preferences at all. The response: it is all right for you to be more excited about one thing than something else. Excitement is simply the recognition of your preference, of the path you chose to be, at any given moment. Burying preferences does not make you more spiritual — it immobilizes you, because then you are not acting on anything specific that represents the path you chose to be. The reframing of "being spiritual" follows directly. Being spiritual is not sitting around going "oh, well, if that happens, that's all right." It is the equalizing of everything in the knowing that it is all right, while still admitting that you, as a differentiated being, have your preferences. They are not judgments; they are the recognition of what is true for you and acting on it. ## All things being equal lets you prefer freely The reason preference and judgment can be separated is that everything is, at base, equal. Bashar's own description of himself is that he only does what excites him, while at the same time there are things that are not in his preference — but that has nothing to do with whether he likes them or not, because all things are equal. He can recognize what he doesn't prefer without placing any kind of value judgment on what he doesn't prefer. That is the model of a free creator: preference without condemnation, recognition without rejection. From this it follows that you never backslide even when you create negatively; you are simply exercising preference unconsciously. Once everything is genuinely equal in your eyes, you become a free creator who can prefer the positive without needing to condemn the negative — the positive becomes attractive on its own merits rather than through contrast with a demonized alternative. ## Desire is preference in motion The session explicitly extends preference into desire. Desire is emotion, energy motion — the same energy as excitement. Desire does not have to be expressed in a negative way; the only caution is not to limit it by imposing on it a particular way in which it has to manifest, and not to make demands of it. Desire can be the cognition of your own excitement and vibratory preference; it is the giving in to your ecstasy, which is your birthright. Coveting is something else entirely; desire itself is not coveting, and confusing the two is what makes preference look dangerous. ## Practical implications Allow preferences to be preferences. Refusing to admit you have them does not make you neutral; it immobilizes you. The path you chose to be is specific, and acting on what excites you is how that specificity gets lived. Drop the equation "preference = judgment." You can prefer one option without invalidating another. The invalidation is what makes preference into judgment; without it, preference is neutral recognition. Release the demand that desire must manifest a particular way. Preference and desire are not attachment; attachment comes from rigidizing desire with expectation and insisting on a specific outcome. Use what you do not prefer as clarification, not condemnation. Imbalance, in the same sense, can teach people what they prefer by clarifying what they do not; what matters is whether you use that experience as a teaching tool or perpetuate it through not understanding how reality works. These are framing tools for the learner. They do not instruct the learner to force preference onto circumstances or to use "preference" as a cover for invalidating others; the explicit teaching is the opposite — preference is what you can do once you no longer need to invalidate what you don't prefer. ## Representative passages A preference is simply recognizing what is true for you and acting on it. A judgment is the invalidation of what you don't prefer. But you can choose to prefer something without invalidating the equality of what you don't choose.— Bashar, Accepting Yourself (accepting-yourself#qa-11) It is all right for you to be more excited about one thing than something else. Excitement is simply the recognition of your preference, of the path you chose to be, at any given moment.— Bashar, Accepting Yourself (accepting-yourself#qa-10) There are things that are not in my preference, but that has nothing to do with whether I like it or not, because all things are equal. I can recognize what I don't prefer without placing any kind of a value judgment on what I don't prefer.— Bashar, Exploring With Other Civilizations Balancing And Reflecting Energy (exploring-with-other-civilizations-balancing-and-reflecting-energy#qa-2) ## Related - [Non-Judgment](https://sassani.app/topic/non-judgment) - [Excitement](https://sassani.app/topic/excitement) - [Empowerment](https://sassani.app/topic/empowerment) - [Definitions & Beliefs](https://sassani.app/topic/definitions-and-beliefs) Markdown twin of https://sassani.app/topic/preference. The HTML page is the source of truth.