Would I Accuse Myself?

They should know better!

Who are “they”? Everyone who is not living up to our standards of excellence. Forget greatness; basic decency would suffice.

And yet how often people fail to meet even such minimal levels of civility. What are we to do with them?

So clamors our raving ego, ever on the hunt to find a wrong in our world of right.

Marcus Aurelius frequently reminded himself, “Waste no time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”

But what does it mean to be a good person?

We’re led to believe actions attest to veracity. But what of thoughts? Were we to extend a helping hand yet harbor unkind or selfish notions, are we still “good”?

And who decides?

A powerful paragraph in A Course in Miracles challenges us to contemplate such presumptions.

When you feel that you are tempted to accuse someone of sin in any form, do not allow your mind to dwell on what you think he did, for that is self-deception. Ask instead, "Would I accuse myself of doing this?" (W-pI.134.9)

Would I accuse myself?

Were we to be in the wrong, would we contemptuously point an accusing finger?

The “self-deception” of which the course speaks refers to the belief that our identity is this name and body self. This is what the course refers to as the ego. And the reason we are so adept at detecting errors in others is because it reinforces the concept of self. There’s a “me” who clearly knows best, and another who obviously is lacking.

I judge, therefore I am.

“Would I accuse myself?” gently leads to the consideration, “Am I willing to see the other and myself as one … as the same?”

To which the ego, our deeply-rooted sense of a separated self, loudly shrieks, “No, I would never behave like that person!”

But that’s not what this question is asking. “Would I accuse myself?” relates in no way to holding ourselves accountable to the same or even similar offenses. It’s a matter of whether we choose to see ourselves as “right” - which insists there’s a stark difference between us. Or to see the sameness in all, at which point judgment instantly ceases.

And what is left is the idyllic bliss of perfect peace.

Join me in Thursday’s class where we’ll further explore these concepts, and steps we can take to experience less pain and more joy. I look forward to seeing you then.