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Proverbs 23:31 · World English Bible

Proverbs 23:31 Meaning Don’t Look at the Wine When It

Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

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What does Proverbs 23:31 mean?

Temptation is most convincing at the moment it looks most alive. The ego's offering sparkles, catches the light, seems to move with a will of its own, and a mind can be caught simply by gazing at how good the illusion looks.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 23:31 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

Temptation is most convincing at the moment it looks most alive. The ego's offering sparkles, catches the light, seems to move with a will of its own, and a mind can be caught simply by gazing at how good the illusion looks. The warning is about where attention goes, for perception is a choice, and to dwell on the shining surface is already to be half persuaded by it.

A mind is free the moment it declines to keep looking, not by force but by preferring peace to the glitter. What seems to move on its own has no life the mind does not lend it by its gaze.

Wine: the ego's temptation dressed in beauty, the illusion that looks most vivid just as it is about to deceive Cup: the vessel of appearances the mind gazes into, holding whatever the ego offers to the eye

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 23:31 today

  1. When something on a screen catches you and you can feel yourself leaning in, close the tab before you argue with yourself about it. The deciding gets harder the longer you look.
  2. If a conversation starts to turn into gossip that feels good to be part of, let the thread drop rather than adding the line you have ready.
  3. When you are tired and something easy and shiny offers itself, wait sixty seconds. Almost everything looks different on the far side of a minute.

What loses its grip on me as soon as I stop staring at it?

The same truth in other traditions

Buddhism · Satipatthana

Seeing a thing arise and not following it is the whole of freedom. The pull loses its power once it is watched instead of obeyed.

Tao Te Ching 12

The eye hunts after color until it can no longer see. What dazzles us slowly blinds us.

Stoicism · Epictetus

When something attractive appears, do not let the picture carry you. Wait a moment, and you will see it for what it is.

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