Blame & Praise

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Blame is safer than praise.”

What did he mean?

Perhaps it’s true that blame (criticism) and praise, have the potential to effect us in both negative and positive ways.

If blame and praise lead us to more love, service & progress – in our walk with the infinite – then they have served us and helped us to become more useful haven’t they?

And on the flip side – if they lead us to stumble from that walk – it’s as if we’ve consumed those words to the point of intoxication and begun to stumble in our walk with God.

Maybe it’s true that praise has the tendency to lead to a faster form of intoxication because it so rapidly inflates the ego – whereas blame tends to humble which could be more conducive to soberness for the divine walk.

Perhaps that’s what the sage of concord was talking about.

In other case – I think the goal is to utilize all forms of feedback – to lead us to a more harmonious walk with the divine in love, service and progress.

What do you think?