Mind Your Own Business - Take Two

I mentioned during service this past Sunday my appreciation for the teaching of Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth. He remains one of my “go to” sources of wisdom and source material. As I was looking through some previous posts to decide what to share this week, this one grabbed my attention, possibly because of the provocative title. It is one that I originally posted over seven years ago. It is a good reminder for me as I hope it will be for you.

I have been studying Discover the Power Within You by Unity minister, Eric Butterworth, in preparation for facilitating a class on it. While reading from this book, the title for my lesson this coming Sunday came to me in a flash – “Mind Your Own Business.”

With the aid of Eric Butterworth’s profound metaphysical exploration of the verses from the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 7: 1-6, I came to the conclusion that Jesus was, in a kind and compassionate manner, telling us to “mind our own business.” I invite you to consider that suggestion as you read below.

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.”

Jesus is instructing us to cease judging others, stop paying attention to what others are doing, or not doing, and discontinue trying to convince others to accept our spiritual understanding and insight.

Unity’s third basic principle states that we experience life as the effect of our consciousness. Judgment of another first occurs in our consciousness, thus we suffer the effects of it. The one upon whom judgment is levied is affected by it only if:  1) they are aware of the judgment, and 2) they choose to accept it, and then 3) finally they incorporate it into their consciousness.

Jesus is telling us to pay attention to what is happening in our consciousness. We are to focus on what we are projecting and experiencing in the world. In other words, we are to mind our own business. If we notice we are in judgment, it is our opportunity to become aware of our beliefs, release those that are not in alignment with our Truth, affirm what is True, and transform our own consciousness. In doing so, we change not only our perspective of others and ourselves, but also how we experience life in general.

As Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good, and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2 NRSV). The “will of God” according to Butterworth is “The ceaseless longing of the Spirit in you to completely fulfill in the outer the potential within you.” With the aid of Butterworth’s definition, we see that what Paul is saying is that the demonstration in the outer is a reflection of our consciousness which must be transformed in order that we may manifest the highest and best good for ourselves and humanity. We renew our minds by getting still and consciously connecting with our Truth; as the psalmist says, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). In the stillness, we know our unity in the God. We know the Truth, and the Truth sets us free (John 8:32). Our consciousness is transformed and we are in conscious communion with the will of God, the “ceaseless longing of Spirit.” We are then free to fulfill in the outer all that we know. We demonstrate the potential within us by first discovering, claiming and embodying it in consciousness, and then thinking, speaking and acting in alignment with it.

Likewise, others’ actions are the outer demonstrations of their consciousness. We cannot control another’s consciousness, only our own. It is often easy for us to observe the lives or our family and friends and diagnose and prescribe solutions to their problems. And, while often well intentioned, our solutions are usually tinged with judgment and evaluation of what they are doing “wrong.” Butterworth says that our job is not to “set things right, but to see them rightly” and we can only do that by removing the “log in our own eye.” In other words, we are to remove from our consciousness the thoughts that are not in alignment with the “Power Within” – theirs or ours. These thoughts block our vision of the Truth and prevent us from seeing clearly the Divine Potential expressing and fulfilling in and through the lives of all.

In Matthew 7:6 quoted above, Jesus was not encouraging us to use derogatory terminology to refer to those who don’t agree with us when he said “do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not cast your pearls before swine.” Instead, he was using the metaphors to demonstrate clearly the potential for rejection and even humiliation when we attempt to convince others to adopt our spiritual understanding and perspective. Everyone has their own spiritual path and those who are open will receive their own revelation of Truth. It is not ours to make that determination for anyone other than ourselves.

Our business is our consciousness. In this portion of the Sermon on the Mount we are focusing on, the master teacher Jesus is reminding us that we perceive others and ourselves according to our consciousness; we create our experience of the world as a reflection of our consciousness; and we experience revelation of Truth through our consciousness. As we focus on the content of our consciousness and less on the action, inaction and beliefs of others, we will discover that the power is within us and that focusing on others blocks our awareness of it and frustrates the flow. The ultimate message from Jesus and Butterworth is “Mind Your Own Business.”