To Perceive Errors in Anyone is to Make Them Real to You

It is so easy to see the faults and limitations of others. The things they do wrong, the ways they are not kind, the deficiencies in their character, their lack of intelligence, absence of compassion, mistakes in judgement, and so on.

Their errors are crystal clear to us. And not only do we know what they’re doing wrong, we also know how they should be corrected.

But we couldn’t be more wrong. As these powerful statements from A Course in Miracles make poignantly clear:

“If you point out the errors of your brother’s ego you must be seeing through yours. When you react at all to errors, you are not listening to [the mind of love]. If you perceive his errors and accept them, then you are accepting yours. To perceive errors in anyone, and to react to them as if they were real, is to make them real to you.”

In fact, we are not only hurting others by perceiving their errors, but we are also limiting ourselves. The only way we can be at peace is to see peace in everyone.

How do we do that? This beautiful statement from the Course is quite helpful: “When a brother behaves insanely, you can heal him only by perceiving the sanity in him.”

So as we go about our days and find ourselves observing faults in others, let’s quickly recognize that we are seeing through the lens of our ego. And then look beyond our brother’s error and see the common bond that unites us all.

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