Wolfish, I read through the relevant gemara (Shabbos 33b) and meforshim and your reading is the more correct one. I stand corrected.
Rav shimon Bar Yochai was on the madreiga that nochrim would do the work for him. When he saw people engaging in work, he saw what to him looked like bittul torah. After his 1-year punishment in the cave, he came out with the understanding that not everyone was on his level to a learn all day and avoid work.But he heard a balabos explain why he got myrtle branches to honor shabbos, and he understood that as long as everyone tries to keep the Torah on their own level, it is what Hashem wants.Therefore, he can accept others as they are.
this didn’t mean that he started working in the fields. On his level, it would have been the aveirah he viewed everyone as committing earlier. This is why one needs a rav and a rebbe- to know where one is holding and what is the correct mehalech.