Everyone has some unconscious biases, but the key is to become aware of them and then figure out how to manage them. This could mean avoiding them, reducing them, or even getting rid of them.

The word “voir” in “voir dire” doesn’t mean “to see,” even though it looks like it does in modern French.

In this legal context, “voir” comes from Old French, where it meant “true” or “truthful.”

So, in its older meaning:

voir = True.

dire = to Speak.

Putting it all together, “voir dire” basically means “to speak the truth.”

That’s why the process is all about figuring out if a potential juror is honest enough to be fair and unbiased.

In the American judicial system, “voir dire” is how we pick a jury that’s fair and impartial.

During “voir dire,” lawyers from both sides - and sometimes the judge - ask potential jurors questions to see if they have any biases, past experiences, or beliefs that might make it hard for them to judge the case fairly.

Here are some important things to keep in mind:

• Asking potential jurors to find out if they might have any unfair feelings or conflicts of interest.

• Challenging a juror for cause, which means they get excused because they can’t be impartial.

• Using peremptory challenges, where lawyers can dismiss a certain number of jurors without explaining why (but not for discriminatory reasons.)

• Putting together the final jury, which is made up of people who seem like they can hear the case without letting anything they know or their biases get in the way.

The goal of “voir dire” isn’t to find jurors who know nothing, but those who can put aside what they know - and their biases and assumptions - so they can look at the evidence fairly according to the law.

Guided Meditation:

Inner Voir Dire

Find a comfortable position where your body can settle without too much effort. Allow your spine to rise naturally, your shoulders to soften, and your breath to widen in its own time.

Take a slow inhale, then let a longer exhale follow.

Feel the mind begin to open, like your breath already has; like a quiet room where truth can enter.

As you continue breathing, imagine that within you sits a kind and discerning panel, a circle of inner witnesses who have gathered for one purpose: to understand what is present in you with clarity, patience, & compassion.

This is your internal voir dire. It is a process of examining the voices, memories, tensions, and insights that arise. Not to judge them, but to determine which ones are fit to serve your present moment, and which ones may need to step aside with gratitude.

Begin by inviting your thoughts to approach one at a time. Each thought, like a potential juror, steps forward and takes a seat. Swear each thought in - a promise of utter truthfulness. A covenant of directness.

Look at each thought gently. Notice its tone, its emotional charge, its origin.

With an abiding curiosity, ask:

Are you speaking from fear, or from truth?

Are you here to protect me, or to limit me?

Are you grounded in the present, or shaped by some older story?

Are you calm enough, steady enough, and clear enough to serve this moment well?

There is no hurry.

Slowly, let each thought answer in the way thoughts do, through sensation, tension, images, or silence. If a thought feels turbulent or unreliable, thank it for appearing. Then, imagine gently dismissing it from this inner room. It may return another day, but it does not need to serve today.

Next, invite your emotions to come forward, one by one. Each emotion, like a potential juror, steps forward and takes a seat. Swear each emotion in - a promise of utter truthfulness. A covenant of directness.

What emotion arises first? Perhaps a tightness, or warmth, or a quick pulse of uncertainty. Let it step into the warm and shadowless light of your awareness.

With an abiding and gentle curiosity, ask:

What truth do you carry?

Are you here because of something real, or because of a memory that has not yet been released?

Can you help me, or do you cloud my vision?

If an emotion feels overwhelming, acknowledge it without resistance. You are not required to argue with it. You are only here to see it clearly. If it is not fit to guide you right now, thank it, and let it return to its place in the background.

Now, bring in the deeper qualities within you: patience, wisdom, curiosity, and the quiet capacity to witness without reacting. These qualities are the ones most often qualified to serve. Notice how they feel in your body. Notice their steadiness, their spaciousness, their lack of urgency.

Let these qualities take their seats at the heart of your awareness. Swear each quality in - a promise of utter truthfulness. A covenant of directness.

These qualities are your jurors for this moment. The ones capable of discernment without imbalance.

Take a few breaths to feel the inner room growing calmer, clearer, and more honest.

Now, with your selected inner jury assembled, ask the central question for this moment of your life:

What is truly needed right now?

Do not reach for an answer. Let it rise. Let it take shape in its own time. Trust that the part of you capable of fairness, openness, and wisdom is listening.

When the answer comes, whether as a word, a feeling, or a simple sense of direction, bow to it gently.

Let the answer settle - comfortably - into the center of your awareness, the core of your being.

Take three slow breaths.

With each inhalation, feel the answer there in your very center.

With each exhalation, imagine closing the doors of the inner courtroom, not in finality, but in peaceful completion.

When you are ready, return to your physical environment.

Feel your body.

Feel the ground beneath you.

(Of course, you can return to this process whenever clarity is needed. Whenever you seek an unbiased assessment of your inner condition.)

Open your eyes softly, confident in the calm discernment of your inner voir dire.

Thank you.

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