This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold,
a beam is in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite,
first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
— KJV, Matt 7:3-5
Making the unconscious conscious…
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What’s This About?
This passage is often presented as moral instruction.
We are exhorted to avoid hypocrisy and self-righteousness with instructions of a general nature e.g. that we should apply the same standards to ourselves as we do to others; that we are focused on weaknesses in others while being blind to our own faults, etc.
But the Word is Truth (ref. “What Is Truth?“), so we should seek more in It than moral instruction. We should aim to understand reality.
Ethics and morality are a by-product of knowledge gained from The Word, not the knowledge itself. Just like the instruction “Don’t leap off tall buildings” is a by-product of our awareness of gravity, and not the understanding of gravity itself (ref. “The Nature of God’s Laws“).
The Lens of Truth
Unless we adopt a Truth-oriented perspective, we will understand only the peripherals while thinking that we understand The Word (ref. “We Don’t Understand The Word“).
The Greek word translated as “mote” (κάρφος karphos) meant “any small dry body”, while that for “beam” ( δοκός dokos) could be read as “a large, dry body”.
It might occur to us that these are of the same type but of different magnitudes.
It means that human nature is such that those faults that we find most irritating are those that are present in us to a particularly high degree..!
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This insight is usually met with disbelief, so let us investigate further.
A Closer Reading of The Word
Thou hypocrite!
It is only in this interpretation that Christ’s use of the word “hypocrite” is perfectly apt. It is the very thing that we are criticising in the other that we are guilty of.
...first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Only the person who has already successfully overcome sin “A” has the capacity to help another who is battling it. And because he is experienced in the matter, he will be skillful and not critical in his approach.
Of course, that does not qualify him to help with sin “B”, or mean that he is free of sin “C”.
The Word is talking about like for like, apples for apples.
Findings From Psychology
It is noteworthy that many “findings” in the field appear to point in this direction, e.g.:
- Projection – The idea that we attribute unacceptable feelings, motives, or traits in ourselves to others;
- Shadow self – The idea that we tend to see parts of our psyche that are repressed or denied in others;
- Reactivity – Therapists assume that disproportionate anger, irritation, or contempt is less about the other person and more about unresolved personal themes;
Experience: The Best Teacher
The most convincing argument is observing this dynamic in someone we know well e.g. a friend.
Having identified something that our friend is easily irritated by – a “pet peeve” – we can begin to observe him closely.
It will not be long before we discover that this same fault is clearly marked in him, even if it expresses itself differently.
Having observed this, we will have to be humble enough to accept that the same applies to us – our own irritants are primarily indicators of our faults.
This is a huge step on the road towards self-awareness and becoming born anew (ref. “The Free Will To Be Born Anew“).
Christ gave fundamental insights in virtually every word He uttered. Had we spent the 2,000 years since His Ministry seeking for these truths in His Word, we would be far more advanced in our understanding of everything, including ourselves1.
Today’s Resolution:
- We shall seek to understand this teaching by observing others, only so that we can begin to face up to our own faults and weaknesses.
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- For a deeper treatment of this and related topics, see Abdrushin, In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message (Stuttgart: Stiftung Gralsbotschaft, 1993) ↩︎
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