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Eye on the world: Loving, not meddling with, our neighbor
In “How digital voyeurism is destroying privacy” The Christian Science Monitor remarks on the growing trend of “online voyeurism,” in which people “[fail] to look away when someone’s personal life is spilled online” —as in the recent Ashley Madison hack, after which many “tacitly tried to maintain or cultivate a sense of their own moral superiority by pouring scorn on those who got outed.”
Ideas on this subject:
From the Bible:
“Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.” (I Peter 4:15 )
From the writings of Mary Baker Eddy:
“Great mischief comes from attempts to steady other people’s altars, venturing on valor without discretion, which is virtually meddlesomeness. Even your sincere and courageous convictions regarding what is best for others may be mistaken; you must be demonstratively right yourself, and work out the greatest good to the greatest number, before you are sure of being a fit counsellor.” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 287–288 )
“Cherish humility, ‘watch,’ and ‘pray without ceasing,’ or you will miss the way of Truth and Love. Humility is no busybody: it has no moments for trafficking in other people’s business, no place for envy, no time for idle words, vain amusements, and all the et cetera of the ways and means of personal sense.” (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 356–357 )
Related articles from the Christian Science Sentinel:
In “The precious privilege of minding our own business”: “We need never be duped by mortal mind into imagining that we are expressing brotherly love when we are merely meddling, simply trafficking in the affairs of others. We are Christ-empowered to forbid such mockery of our natural magnanimity and lovingkindness. There is profound need for genuine love, for deep charity. There is need for healing. Any debasing tendency in us to criticize or meddle we can pray to see exposed and destroyed. Curiosity is a clever little culprit, but we need not be fooled. God, Mind, is not curious; Mind knows, and Mind knows man as good. Because we are in truth the reflection of God, we should get on with the business of proving this by loving and healing.”
In “Are you ever a busybody?”: “If we sincerely consecrate all our energies to understanding God, we won’t have time to mull over what other people are doing; over actions, attitudes, points of view, that are none of our business. This is not to suggest that we become indifferent … or that we fail to speak up on matters that rightfully concern us. It is only to caution against setting ourselves up as oracles of rightness, as though God were singling us out for divine guidance and forgetting everyone else.” And “All our fellow beings, seen spiritually, are just as truly God’s ideas as we are.”
The articles above and others dealing with this subject can be found on JSH-Online.com or on CSMonitor.com.