"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel."
fool
This is the Hebrew word ewil which means fool, foolish. The actions of a fool are what Solomon is trying to warn us to avoid. It is the natural inclination to selfishness, impulsiveness, and rebellion that will change our destiny and destroy our future.
In this particular case, Solomon is pointing out that the foolish person uses the feel test to decide whether something should be done. Does it feel right to me? I hear this all the time. Why did you do what you did? It seemed like the right thing at the time. This kind of thinking happens all the time. A friendship or a romance is beginning and rather than check with family or friends about this person, you decide whether to go deeper based on how it feels to you. A business deal is presented and rather than consult with experts in that field or wise business men you know, you check with yourself to see how it feels to you. You are in the midst of a heated discussion with your spouse and you have some things you want to say to her/him and the only person you check with is yourself and you let fly with a lot of stuff that damages your marriage more. You get a new idea to try something at work and rather than run it past other people on the team, the more you think about it, the better it sounds, so you just implement it.
Solomon is pointing out that if any of us is not careful, we all fall into this way of living. Remember, foolishness is born into each one of us. Since sin entered into the world back in the Garden of Eden, all of mankind has been infected with a natural inclination to act like the fool that Solomon describes here. This is only counteracted by repentance, faith, discipline, diligence, and conscious decisions to choose wisdom.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz