Inner Reproof and Wise Alignment

Neville's Inner Vision

All counsel in Proverbs 9:7-8 is aimed at your inner state, not merely other people. The scorner and the wicked are but facets of consciousness you have not chosen to reidentify. When you 'rebuke' a scorner, you are attempting to force a change in a state you still fear; you gain shame because you resist your own being. When you rebuke a wicked man, you attract a blot—a reminder of separation from your true self. The true remedy is to shift your attention to the wise within, the state of awareness that loves correction and loves growth. If you address the wise with tenderness, the wise respond with love, confirming your inner alignment. Therefore, the chapter invites you to practice discernment: observe which inner attitude you are rejecting, and revise to a state that accepts truth. Your power lies in the assumption that you are already the wiser self, and that all your outward rebukes are but reflections of an inner adjustment waiting to happen. After this shift, the outer world will follow in kind.