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Proverbs 29:12 · World English Bible

Proverbs 29:12 Meaning If a Ruler Listens to Lies

If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.

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What does Proverbs 29:12 mean?

The deciding mind sets the tone for everything that serves it, so when the ruler listens to the ego's lies, every thought beneath it takes on the color of attack. This is not a punishment but a simple consequence, for the thoughts a mind entertains all obey the teacher it has chosen, and a mind that has agreed to believe in threat will find its whole inner staff arming for defense.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 29:12 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

The deciding mind sets the tone for everything that serves it, so when the ruler listens to the ego's lies, every thought beneath it takes on the color of attack. This is not a punishment but a simple consequence, for the thoughts a mind entertains all obey the teacher it has chosen, and a mind that has agreed to believe in threat will find its whole inner staff arming for defense. The wickedness is not in the servants but in the lie the ruler agreed to hear.

The correction is at the top, in the one who decides. A mind that turns from the ego's counsel and listens instead to love finds its every thought grow gentle, because the servants were only ever echoing what the ruler chose to believe.

Ruler: the deciding part of the mind whose chosen teacher sets the tone for everything beneath it Servants: the mind's thoughts, which take on attack or gentleness according to the counsel the ruler agrees to hear

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 29:12 today

  1. Look at what you fed yourself in the first ten minutes of today, the feed, the headlines, the inbox, and ask whether that is the voice you want setting your mood until lunch.
  2. When someone passes you a piece of gossip, decide right there not to take it in as fact. You can stay warm with them and still leave the story at the door.
  3. In the middle of a hard afternoon, catch the sentence running underneath your thoughts, something like "everyone here is against me," and ask if you actually believe it or just inherited it from a bad morning.

Which voice have I been letting run the day without ever checking who it is?

The same truth in other traditions

Dhammapada

Everything begins with the mind. What you keep thinking is what you keep becoming, and the whole of your life follows the thought you agree with.

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius

Your life becomes what your attention is made of. Guard the inner voice you listen to, since everything you do takes its colour from it.

Hinduism · Upanishads

The one who watches inside is not the same as the noise it watches. Knowing which one you are listening to is the whole work.

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