Or wilt thy say to thy brother ‘Let me pull out the mote of thine eye’ and behold a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite.  First cast out the beam of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother’s eye.

Wikipedia states that the Mote and the Beam is a proverbial saying of Jesus given in the Sermon on the Mount.  The discourse is fairly brief and begins by warning his followers of the dangers of judging others, stating that they too would be judged by the same standard.  I am not sure that I entirely agree with this interpretation although it may seem arrogant to contrast my thoughts with those of Christ.  However, the issue of judging others does seem one to which it is worth paying close attention.

The point is to try to manage criticism.  It’s very important that we should be aware of our own shortcomings before criticising others.  It is not necessarily the case that our criticism is inaccurate or unfair, it’s more that all of us have faults and so it seems right to recognise one’s own as a starter.  There are the brief words of the Delphic Oracle which are so relevant to all of us.  As translated into English ‘Know thyself’.

Do you think it is easy to do that?  Maybe we won’t like what we see.  Maybe that would be a good thing because maybe we might change.  It’s never too late to change even if the process may be extremely painful.  Anyway, look out for your own beam.  It’s there and probably not alone.