Kingdom Consciousness Principle:  Fundamental Attribution Error, Projection and Finding Fault in Others

(Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye….when all the time there is a plank in your eye?  Matthew 7: 3-4)

Become aware of when you “judge”, blame, fault-find, or think “less” of others.

• Wake up!==Awareness training +meta-cognition (learn from metaphysical errors)
• Several  psycho-social research findings serve as validating correlates of this teaching of Christ:  When you find yourself negatively judging or thinking about what is wrong with another person, consciously becoming aware of blaming/faulting  behaviors, can become a cue for YOU to ponder your own failures/weaknesses and to investigate potential blind spots in your life which may serve as a barriers to servant leadership.
• Fault-finding in others can be a CUE to humbly work on your spiritual growth.

Christ Consciousness: Human eyes versus Christ eyes

Christ eyes

• Resist the temptation to focus on OTHERS shortcomings
• Bring your focus back to your opportunity to grow and how your own blinders (lack of awareness) may prevent you from being Christ centered.
• Focusing on the faults* of others is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

*Obviously, we have a civic duty to report crime—when others hurt self or others.

Human eyes

• We see things not as they are, but as WE are!
  • (See the research on the self-fulfilling prophecy, Pygmalion effect, and expectancy hypothesis:  we get what we expect from others because of our OWN behavior)
• We see our greatest weaknesses in others
  • (see the research on the ego defense mechanism of projection)
• We see “us” as quite different from “them”  (I-Thou effect)

(See the research on in-group bias or how “they” are perceived as being similar, but “we” are perceived as being much more variable.)

What/Where is your focus? /Why?—AWARENESS training

• When you catch yourself focusing on the errors and omissions of others, ask “why are you looking at THEIR weak spots?”
  • What is my motive for pointing that out that flaw in them?
  • What is it I NEED TO LEARN about ME at this moment?

This “do-not-judge” teaching of Christ, Social Psychology calls the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

The FAE is the well documented tendency of humans to “assess” OTHERS differently than we “assess” ourselves regarding the same behaviors.  Specifically, it addresses to what do we attribute the “cause” of their behavior as opposed to the “cause” of my own behavior.

• The Master said, Look at how we magnify the specks in others—we blame others for their “specks”:  we attribute others “faults” to permanent, internal causes.
  • Motives, personality traits, preferences or choices
  • (you (THE OTHER) were late because you are lazy or inconsiderate—CLEARLY YOUR FAULT!)

--versus--

• The Master further said, Look how we minimize or disregard those PLANKS in our eye.  How do we react to the same (or bigger) faults in ourselves?  We minimize the role we play and maximize the role of “exceptional circumstance.”  Thus, we attribute our behavior to externalcauses
  • Unusual circumstances or external situations
  • (I was late because of the power failure or weather—NOT MY FAULT)
• SPIRITUAL GROWTH OPPORTUNITY:  When you see ERROR/FAULT in others, YOU MAY NOW CHOOSE TO become aware of the ERROR in your consciousness BY THINKING ABOUT YOUR THINKING.
  • For example, when you engage in these verbal behaviors:
    • Put-downs (of others)
    • Name-calling (of others)
    • Fault-finding (in others)
    • Seeing “error” (in others )
  • Use that AWARENESS serve as a CUE to think, “what can I learn about ME and about servant leadership from an AWARENESS of my thinking regarding my focus on that speck?”
  • If my eye sees” fault”, which of my faults may be operating?
  • If my eye sees “short coming”, which of my short comings may be operating?
  • If I “blame”, what is it about myself that I may need to correct?

Applied Meta-cognition (thinking about your thinking)

Yet, there is “accurate discrimination”!

Accurate discrimination is being aware of the pluses and minuses of others without judging one’s self (or them) as superior or inferior.

• The Master was an accurate discriminator
• He consistently confronted the speck-pickers with the “error” of their ways.
• He clearly stated that habitual condemnation of others is merely a way of preventing you from seeing your planks (faults).
• Our desire to feel superior in the eyes of others around us
• Our desire to divert attention from our weaknesses
• Our desire to ignore our short comings in the past
• The NEGATIVES  that we often see in others, may be the very weaknesses we need to correct in ourselves.
• The greater the intensity of our emotional reaction to the faults of others, the greater the likelihood of HIDDEN “faults” regarding our self!

Finding fault in others may be due to

Life Lesson:  Use our inclination to notice the weaknesses in others as a means of SELF-AWARENESS and potential growth.

Let’s get personal

1. Are you interested in detecting your own weaknesses?
2. What might be your potential blind spots?
3. What do you learn about yourself when you notice the failures of others?
4. How might your irritation about others weak points serve as a diversion from working on yourself?
5. What are three things that you want to improve?  How can the awareness of these keep you humble and gracious when dealing with others?
6. Who could you approach to get honest feedback about your blind spots?

Let’s get going?

Other psycho-social research correlates of the teachings of Christ:

1. Matthew 6: 25-28--Anxiety/Fear reduction through increased awareness of God’s love.
2. Matthew 7: 9-12--Trust as a key factor in relationship building.
3. Mark 8: 4-5--Worth/Esteem Issues—Understanding God as our Infinite Source and Supply.
4. Matthew 16:26—Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (the meaning beyond materialism).
5. Matthew 17:17—Loving and forgiving but not becoming a Mercy Zombie.
6. Luke 18: 1-8—Behavioral persistence and maintaining hope.
7. Luke 18:19—Increasing humility (reducing egoism) and increasing God awareness.
8. Matthew 20:20-22—Freedom is not a free ride; freedom is the choice to commit to serve.
9. Luke 18:  35-41—Clearly communicate your needs to improve relationships
10. Matthew 21:28-31—Character is what you do and not just lip service.
11. Matthew 26:10—Caring and giving service to the needy and powerless as personal growth.
12. Matthew 8:26—Finding the courage beyond your fears.
13. Luke 6: 39-40—The power of role models in behavior acquisition and change.
14. Luke 7; 41-42—Developing graciousness, kindness, and humility to be an effective leader.
15. Luke 8: 42-45—Seeing what others fail to see and increasing your servant leadership skills.