Proverbs 14:20 · World English Bible
Proverbs 14:20 Meaning The Poor Person Is Shunned Even
The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends.
What does Proverbs 14:20 mean?
The ego measures worth by having, and so it turns from what looks poor and crowds around what looks full. But this is the ego's arithmetic, not the truth, and it describes only how a frightened mind sorts its brothers into the worthy and the worthless, loving them for what they seem to carry rather than for what they are.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 14:20 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
The ego measures worth by having, and so it turns from what looks poor and crowds around what looks full. But this is the ego's arithmetic, not the truth, and it describes only how a frightened mind sorts its brothers into the worthy and the worthless, loving them for what they seem to carry rather than for what they are.
Seen through love, no one is poor and no one buys friendship, because worth was never a possession to be lost or won. The mind that still counts this way is not wicked; it has simply forgotten that every brother is already whole, and forgiveness is only the memory returning.
Poor: the brother the ego judges as having little and therefore withdraws its love from Rich: the brother the ego crowds around for what he seems to possess, mistaking having for worth
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Live Proverbs 14:20 today
- Scroll your feed today and catch the moment you measure yourself against someone's house, job or trip. Name the comparison out loud and let it go.
- Give your full attention to someone the day would normally let you overlook, the delivery driver, the new hire, the quiet relative at dinner. No agenda, just real attention.
- In a work setting where status is doing the talking, try listening to the person with the least room in the conversation, and take what they say seriously.
Who did I quietly value less today because of what they seemed to have?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 46
There is no greater poverty than wanting more, and no greater wealth than having enough. What we chase as riches is usually just our own restlessness.
Stoicism · Epictetus
It is not what someone owns that makes them worth your respect, since none of that is truly theirs. Look instead at how they carry themselves.
Hinduism · Upanishads
The same self dwells in everyone, so to see another as less is to misread the one life. What looks like difference is only the outer form.
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