For many years I tried to be uncritical. The critical person is generally thought of as one who indulges in mere faultfinding and censure. There seemed to be far too much of that in the world already, without adding more. Besides, I felt, the one who metes out criticism is most apt to become the target for criticism.
But until I gained a better understanding of criticism it proved virtually impossible to keep from destructively criticizing others. Even if the impulse to voice criticism could be restrained and critical thoughts dismissed, such impulses and thoughts continued to present themselves.
Gradually it became apparent that to be completely uncritical would require one to be entirely lacking in discrimination. One would scarcely wish to be unable to discriminate between right and wrong or to not discern the relative merits of performance and quality in one's own experience or another's. The conclusion, I decided, must be that there is a constructive criticism, valid and useful, and which must be cultivated because it encourages and heals.
Helpful criticism is prompted by pure motives. Envy, resentment, pride, and the like often impel criticism, but such criticism seldom accomplishes much that is constructive. Two good reasons for right-minded criticism are expressed by Mrs. Eddy who writes, "It requires the spirit of our blessed Master to tell a man his faults, and so risk human displeasure for the sake of doing right and benefiting our race." Science and Health, p.571;
Certainly no one has done rightly and benefited our race more than Christ Jesus. His teaching included no passive acceptance of evil, but was a constant rebuke to it. His criticisms, however, were the expression of love for mankind—although they were not always so construed—and vast good arose from them.
Good motives and right attitudes are not enough, though. The true critic must be well acquainted with excellence in his field. Christ Jesus, representing the highest type of manhood, was best qualified to point out the errors of others, which he did with the object of aiding and healing them. Knowing God, the Father, as the only source of genuine manhood, he was readily able to recognize evil as a lie, having its origin in what he called the devil. This recognition was the basis of his forcible utterance to his opponents: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."John 8:44;
Having no existence, because it is a lie, the belief that man is a sinning mortal has no claim on the man of God's creating, who exists as the very expression of God, even His image. Right where a mortal seems to be, there is the perfect man. If the Master had not known this perfect man, he would have been unable to perceive the illegitimacy and unreality of so-called mortal man. He said: "I judge no man. And yet, if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."vv. 15, 16;The real, ideal man can only be judged as absolutely perfect. What appears as sinful, sick, and dying man is not man at all, but a claim that needs to be judged as completely untrue.
Before an error can be destroyed, it must be seen as error. Mrs. Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, "A knowledge of error and of its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which destroys error, until the entire mortal, material error finally disappears, and the eternal verity, man created by and of Spirit, is understood and recognized as the true likeness of his Maker."Science and Health, p.252; If we do not recognize that what we see as evil is a lie, the lie is apt to turn on us. One does not necessarily have to physically engage in evil activity to partake of it, for if he merely admits the existence of evil, he is supporting it to some degree.
To view sin as real and substantial in others is only a step away from indulging it ourselves. Evidence of this is seen in the frustrations of some would-be reformers who, not knowing evil's unreality, fall into the trap of embracing the very sins they so abhor in others. The Christlike way of criticism uncovers evil, and, showing its falsity, separates evil from person, thereby healing the individual and destroying error. That is no doubt why sinners were attracted to Christ Jesus. His rebuke separated the wrong from wrongdoers and revealed the higher type of manhood they could express.
The useful critic has learned that his first object of criticism is himself. Primarily, one must criticize one's own view of things. Jesus said, "First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."Matt. 7:5; Mrs. Eddy puts it this way: "Whoever challenges the errors of others and cherishes his own, can neither help himself nor others." And she concludes, "The darkness in one's self must first be cast out, in order rightly to discern darkness or to reflect light."Miscellaneous Writings, p.131.
It often seems easier to pass over the mistakes of others as well as our own, but no one can indefinitely avoid the office of right criticism. It is allied to the office of the Christ, in that it prepares the way for the destruction of error just as John the Baptist's denunciations of evil prepared the way for Christ Jesus' destruction of evil.
When we want to offer criticism, we might ask ourselves these questions: Does this criticism aim to do right and benefit mankind, or is it merely a selfish demand that others conform to my standards and methods? Is it given from the standpoint of spiritual clarity, humility, and love, or is it an unwitting rehearsal of the error hidden within my own consciousness? Is it wise, timely, and pertinent, or is it unwise, impulsive, and petty? Is it constructive, just, and to the point, or is it destructive, unfair, and excessive?
Our criticism is healing criticism when we are motivated by love for God and man. Through spiritual understanding we can criticize helpfully and healingly until we reach that heavenly standpoint from which Love sees only its own loveliness and there is nothing left to criticize.
