The Parable of the Mote and the Beam and Its Relevance for the Spiritual Seeker

The spiritual seeker often finds that he can see weaknesses and faults in others. If he fails to recognise that his reaction may be due to harboring those faults and weaknesses within himself, he can take an attitude of hostility toward the other person who is exhibiting those things. He may try to control in someone else what he does not control within himself. He may give way to anger and a self-righteous attitude that can lead to much negativity.

Such an attitude leads to brutality and attempts at domination which are clearly drawing the individual away from the positive focus he needs to hold in order to develop spiritually. Instead of the understanding of oneness, which brings feelings of empathy and compassion when others are clearly caught up in various circumstances or weaknesses, such an individual may become highly judgmental and, if he has a certain amount of exte
al power, he can ostracize, imprison, torture or kill, all in the name of upholding his spiritual values, while he moves ever farther away from spiritual realisation. We have seen this time and again and it is one of the reasons that religion seems to have caused more wars and suffering than any other activity in human existence. It is the attitude that led to things such as the scarlet letter, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the pogroms, the witch-trials in Salem, Massachusetts and other events of human failure through a focus on correcting others of faults while one does not see one’s own. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addressed this issue clearly: “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?“

Once again, we are left with the solution that one should focus one’s energy and attention on the positive spiritual growth and practice within oneself and not be involved in judging, condemning and sanctioning others for failure to abide by one’s own sense of ‘right and wrong’, which in many cases is used to hide from oneself the similar issues one has. We can see oftentimes that those who are most vehement on a particular issue seem to have a resonance to that issue that they cannot face or overcome, so they exte
alize it and try to show their adherence and purity by suppressing it in others.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “Do not dwell much on the defects of others. It is not helpful. Keep always quiet and peace in the attitude.”

“Only those who can sympathise can help — surely also one should be able to see the faults of others without hatred. Hatred injures both parties; it helps none.”

“There is no harm in seeing and observing if it is done with sympathy and impartiality — it is the tendency unnecessarily to criticise, find fault, condemn others (often quite wrongly) which creates a bad atmosphere both for oneself and others. And why this harshness and cocksure condemnation? Has not each man his own faults — why should he be so eager to find fault with others and condemn them? Sometimes one has to judge but it should not be done hastily or in a censorious spirit.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 2, Looking at Oneself and Others, pp. 41-42