Proverbs 13:1 · World English Bible
Proverbs 13:1 Meaning A Wise Son Listens to His Father’s
A wise son listens to his father’s instruction, but a scoffer doesn’t listen to rebuke.
What does Proverbs 13:1 mean?
Within a single mind there are two ways of receiving correction. The part that is willing to be taught takes gentle guidance as a gift and grows quiet under it, while the part hardened by pride hears every word of love as insult and shuts its ears.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 13:1 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
Within a single mind there are two ways of receiving correction. The part that is willing to be taught takes gentle guidance as a gift and grows quiet under it, while the part hardened by pride hears every word of love as insult and shuts its ears. Nothing is being withheld from the scorner; the same help is offered to both. Only one is listening.
What separates them is not merit but readiness. A mind becomes wise the moment it stops defending itself long enough to hear.
Son: the part of the mind still open to learning, willing to be shaped by love rather than to argue. Father: the steady inner voice of love, offering correction that heals rather than punishes. Scorner: the proud part of the mind that treats every gentle word as attack and refuses the help it most needs.
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Live Proverbs 13:1 today
- Reread a message or review that stung, once, slowly, without writing any reply. Ask what part of it is simply true.
- When someone close to you says something hard today, let them finish and then say, tell me more. You can respond later. You cannot hear and argue at the same time.
- In the meeting where your work gets picked apart, drop the sentence you were building in your head. Take one note instead and let your face stay soft.
Where am I spending energy defending myself that I could spend listening?
The same truth in other traditions
Analects (Confucius)
The person who hears a fair criticism and is glad of it keeps growing. The one who bristles at every word stays exactly where they are.
Zen
A cup already full can take nothing in. Teaching is wasted on a mind busy defending what it already holds.
Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius
If someone shows you that you are wrong, change gladly. You were looking for the truth, not for the pleasure of being right.
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