“Nothing short of our own errors should offend us.”
~ Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 224.
I love this quote because it reminds me to stay humble, to silence pride, ego and self-righteousness, and focus on keeping my thought right with God, rather than pointing fingers, getting upset, and carrying on about my neighbor’s shortcomings.
If everyone in the world ceased wasting energy on taking offense with their neighbor, and concentrated on making themselves better, the world would be a much better place—fast!
I have had a problem feeling offended by the way someone has treated /ignored me for years (and I am not easily offended either!) but this message today is very good..stop looking at them…change our own thought because we aren’t responsible for the actions of others only ourselves…what do we choose for ourselves? Happiness or resentment?
When we are offended by someone, the idea is often suggested to forgive them..(and there is ANOTHER big subject), however, tonight I read someone’s response to “How do I forgive” which is so simple! He said, In order to forgive someone you have to first “criminalise” them, so refuse to do that in the first place…simply accept another person the way they are. If they knew better, they would do it. They are just doing their best as you are!” So when we see that there is nothing TO forgive we don’t even need to!
We have the choice to see a person who has done wrong or to see GOD’S creation…and don’t even “go there” to the place where we say “but she did this to me” or “she said this to me !”
WOW. Thanks so much for your comment! I’ve been working hard on seeing some people who treated me very badly as God’s perfect children, seeing through the mortal picture, and this helps with that challenging task. It’s too late to not have gone there, but hopefully this idea will help in my quest to get off the unproductive thought train.
Absolutely! I Am grateful for this understanding. My Truth is that I Am concentrating on realizing my True state as that of purely moral conscious being guided only by divinity. I Am That, Now. This morning, I had to confront mortal error. Afterwards, the temptation to feel “hurt’ by the reaction of a person involved was immediately replaced by understanding. I saw that it is error that threatens to offend me,not others. I saw it clearly. I Am free of those burdens, both, the thing I had to confront and the after effects which are NOTHING.
Nice reply Diane W – a good thought
Thank you Evan! This is just what I needed . Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man Loving out neighbors and keeping our thoughts pure.
Thank you Evan, It is as if this is directed to me.
How easy it is to forget the Truth.
Exactly what I need this morning. Last night a fellow church member did something which felt deeply and personally offensive to me, yet, I know she is a very spiritually minded woman, and surely was following her “highest sense of right.”
This is a valuable lesson to take away: quit judging! As my son taught me when he was a little boy, every time we point a finger at another, three are pointing back!
Thank you, as always, and love to all SpiritViewers.
I find it has been helpful for me to realize that the “ offensive person” is just as much suffering from a wrong concept of me as I am of him. Then try to see that Both of us are truly innocent of seeing something untrue about the other. As Mrs. Eddy states in her hymn “ if Thou the bending reed would’st break by thought or word unkind, pray that his spirit you partake you loved and healed mankind” and in another hymn,” love more for every hate.” It takes a lot of humility to want to change our own thinking and actually love someone more who has offended us. With effort I have done this by first mentally listing good qualities about the person and then acknowledging To myself that they too are God’s child and I can love them. Then I’ve asked myself how I can love this person more?I have sometimes gotten very tangible answers. One time I actually brought flowers for a co- worker who I felt had offended me. That relationship completely changed. We can all love more.
Ty as always, Evan. I like “the unproductive thought train” that Ellen gave us. Appreciate all in participating in Evan’s vlog site.
What a wonderful Spiritview – so true! Perception is really everything.
I will share an example. An acquaintance of mine was really hurt because he saw pictures of a climb he was not included in on Facebook. He said something directly to the climb leader and the climb leader replied “It goes both ways” meaning he should have asked if there was something he wanted to do (because this guy is really nice and would have put together a climb for him). However, he took it wrong and said something not so nice instead of realizing the truth in what this man said to him. Sometimes, if people feel THEY are unlovable, they will be so convinced of this fact that IT (those thoughts) will cut out the opportunities that are seen. It isn’t that the opportunities do not exist. There is no lack, there is believing the lie of lack which draws false conclusions and also makes one think life is not harmonious.
And, this can be applied in a lot of different ways when viewing a neighbor. It can be easy to put unfair labels on people because of what was SEEN or what they SAID. But, what they SAW and what was SAID is through the perspective of a person observing and the bias (inharmony) may show up because of the bias in the person observing, not because that observation was true about that person. The lie is dispelled when one sees all Life made by Love/one Mind. But, that being said, in the case of sin, when someone is truly breaking a commandment, they may need to be aware they are breaking a commandment (generally this is because they are believing a lie themselves).
I love Mary Baker Eddy’s “Taking Offense” article in Miscellaneous Writings Pgs 223-224.
Great ideas here! Always love reading your posts Evan! 🙂
Thank you for the Spirit View today and all the very helpful comments! My husband once shared with me that people are either expressing love or requesting love. ❤️ If someone is unkind, all it is, is a request for love. When you respond to THAT request, the situation can change very quickly to a very harmonious one. It’s helped me immensely through the years. Thanks again Evan.
Thankyou Tanya that’s a great comment!
Oh my goodness, I thank all of you for your meaningful thoughts. I sincerely am so grateful. Going through a very difficult time in my life right now. Leaning on the sustaining infinite is proving to be effective but I felt I needed more help today. I continue to be in a recovery mode where I have to rely on others and it’s very difficult at times. Being a very mindful person, I expect that from others; especially when my safety is the most important thing to me right now. I’ve been getting so offended by family members who aren’t mindful of this.
Thank you all❣️❣️❣️
A huge thank you to Evan and all SpiritViewers this AM. Each comment had something in it that helped me climb up and out of resentment for something I did not do or say, but the accusation is there. Irritation immediately surfaced and retaliatory comments arose IN MY THOUGHT. . Then, I grabbed for Spiritview and look at ALL the answers I found! Everything I needed was there. Every loving individual above had something to say that immediately pulled me up and out of revengeful thinking and I swam with “Viewing Spirit” or “Seeing God” reflected in the individual. Peaceful thinking has returned, revengeful thoughts are all eradicated, Loving thoughts of the individual have replaced all counterattack thinking. I am totally at peace to see the person as God sees the individual–as His image and likeness. Easy now— thanks to all the good thoughts above.
I am initially shocked when people behave badly because it is not something I do.
But the big thing I am seeing lately is a little more mortal mind around me. when someone
behaves badly I think they think they are missing something- safety, a sense of worth, anxiety, fear the ,etc.
that is mortal mind and the duality of two separate minds battling, not who we truly are. I try to quiet a reaction in me and get out of their way and pray. That is not the truth of either of our being.
Thank you very much Evan.
And thanks to all who shared insights, prayers, and comments of love.
It is important to see people, ourselves and others, the way God sees us, the way Jesus beheld man. I also think we cannot allow ourselves to be someone’s punching bag, or cast our pearls before the swinish element in human thought. “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”