Quote of the Day
This is certainly true for me:
There are so many people who feel, on a deep and gut level, that they are bad. These generally are not the people who are ‘bad’ in the sense of lacking empathy for others, or deriving benefit from harming others. Instead, most people whose thoughts are tied up in ‘feeling like a bad person’ are acutely tuned in to other people’s feelings, feel terrible when others suffer, and do not behave in ways that are any worse than the average human. In fact, when they describe their core sense of badness, it’s not about actually doing bad things (although bad behaviors do make them feel worse). They talk about how this sense of badness just is. It is their most basic and familiar experience of themselves. Perhaps this is also true for you.
Tags: Christian Life, Mental Health
August 10th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
A sense of “original sin”?
But don’t lose sight of the “original innocence” which is also within us.
August 10th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
“Original Innocence” What a lovely thought!
August 10th, 2012 at 8:24 pm
There’s an old native american story about a man describing two dogs, one good and one bad, fighting in him all the time. Which one wins? The one I feed the most.
This describes my view of myself well, and I identify with Paul’s description of battling against the flesh. Not battling because of guilt or fear, but because I really like treating people well and living in love.
For many other people in my life, this doesn’t resonate at all, and so their spritual journey is very, very different from mine. The things they look for in a life of faith, if they look for faith at all, is different, and our conversations sound like two people from different planets describing different experiences and desires.
Of course, I’m not sure if this is at all relevant to the context of this post, but there you have it.
August 10th, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Statements such as: “because I really like treating people well and living in love.” I think are going to be relevant to any blog post frankly, as you encasulate the heart of Christian living in my opinion.
August 11th, 2012 at 11:47 am
“There’s an old native american story about a man describing two dogs, one good and one bad, fighting in him all the time. Which one wins? The one I feed the most.”
Difficult to put this into words but there is a recognition of that two dog battle but not from within but from being a third party that is sucked into the abyss of that good/bad battle of the others self.
This two dog war is apparent not only in personal or individual interactions but also social and on the political level. Which one wins? Both dogs as they feast of the collateral damage of the witness.
August 11th, 2012 at 8:29 pm
I’ve never followed this idea far enough before, but there are some kinds of struggles that are clearly wasteful and destructive, like war. You could argue that in a free market, competition is inherently wasteful of resources, even though it might be an effective way to find the best idea or practice.
But then I think of times when sparring or wrestling with a friend or child, when the struggle is clearly a refining and strengthening exercise. When I have a theological or political discussion with a friend, we build each other up and refine our ideas, and occasionally persuade on one point or another.
Maybe there is a continuum of productive/destructive struggle. Where on this line is my two dogs struggling? I want to say it is productive, but that’s because I don’t really want my flesh to lose. I want it to be kept in check, but I will certainly mourn and have to be pried loose from the flesh when the time comes to move on.
I’m going to have to chew on that idea for a while. Thanks.