We’re often advised to see the good in others. Or to overlook the bad. To “notice the plank in our eye” before we see the speck of dust in theirs. All various attempts to overlook sin.
These are all fine pieces of guidance. But do they really work?
In general, they don’t. And the reason they don’t is because we’re starting with a faulty premise. Something “bad” happened or some other “non-loving” activity. And now following this incident, we try not to focus on that but rather to see all the good things about the person (or ourselves).
Which leads to one of two things. Either we pretend to overlook the “ugly” – overlook sin. But in our mind it’s still there – just beneath the surface. Or we repress it, thinking we’ve actually gotten rid of it. When, in reality, all we’ve done is ensure that we’ll now project it out in some other form, unconsciously aware we’re doing it.
How, then, can we go about “looking beyond” what we don’t like in ourselves or others?
The answer is by first understanding that everyone’s true nature is not these bodies. As bodies believing we are here, we’ve already bought into the ego thought system. And the ego is nothing more than the embodiment (literally) of sin, guilt, and fear.
So of course bodies are going to do ugly and see ugly. That’s how they were made. From the ego, there is no possible way to overlook sin.
But consider this line from A Course in Miracles:
You see the flesh or recognize the spirit.
Seeing the flesh means we see everyone as bodies. But recognizing spirit means we see beyond their body to the spirit of which we are all a part.
When we see spirit in everything – instead of the form we call “bodies” – then we are aligned with spirit ourselves. We are no longer in our ego mind. And from this place, love will naturally flow through us and take whatever form is most helpful for each situation.
And this is the only way we can truly overlook sin and experience the peace that naturally follows.
