Saturday, March 29, 2008
"Know Thyself"
This marks the first of hopefully many productive and thought provoking posts here. I have chosen 'Thoughts from the Porch" as the title of this blog, for a few reasons. Not the least being the unavailability of most names. First I hope it inspires a sense of what this blog should be about; a place to share thoughts as we do in casual conversation. This should be a productive extension of those moments, as it allows for the conversation to escape normal spatial bounds. It should invite participation by those who fall out of our immediate group of friends or are separated from us.
The benefits of this space should be many. It provides our thoughts larger exposure. First, for those writing, allowing them to get greater feedback from more than the same few people, hopefully leading to better refinement and validity of thoughts. Second it allows for those outside our peer group, better insight on the current thoughts, concerns and issues we deal with.
For me this is the most salient point. I that this may provide another step towards closing the gaps be they, generational, social, or mental. The more we lay on the table and make available the easier it will be to work together on common ground.
One more point before I get off my soap box, this should be a spot that helps in some small measure to facilitate self knowledge, which conveniently provides a perfect lead in to my first post.
The idea of self knowledge has been a very pertinent issue for me as of late, and led to much idle thought on the subject. Or more correctly the importance of self-knowledge on an authentic and virtuous life has been a point that has hit home over and over again. I think the importance of the words inscribed at Delphi cannot be understated; they are in fact the 'key' to good living. So to begin spewing my thoughts on it, we might as well start with self knowledge and its role in the Christian life.
The foundation of the Christian life, as Joe Harmon is want to constantly remind me, is love. All that we stand for and do as Christians must be judged under the lens of love, it must stem from it. God is love, and all creation exists because of that love. It is God's unconditional love for us that forgives us though we fall, and it is that love that brought Christ here to die for our sins. If we are to follow Christ, we must love. Hell God is love.
Take the two greatest commandments, as the bible tells us "Love the Lord your God with all our heart, soul, and mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Let us break this down by taking the second first. The second commandment is both a call to love others and the method for doing so. We must love our neighbors, in the same way we love ourselves. So proper love of self, must precede, proper love of others. It is impossible to love others if one does not love one's self.
What is proper love of self? Now we go back to the first commandment, Love God. The call to love God is an absolute one. It demands all that we are: our entire self, body, soul, and mind. The absolute nature of the command seemingly does not leave room for the second. The second is wrapped up in the first; in order to love God we must love others, and in order to Love others we must love God—one giant supernatural catch 22. Though, I think it isn’t really all that complicated since only one thing is needed to facilitate loving, God or Man.
Self knowledge is the key here. I can’t love myself unless I know myself that should be pretty clear, But also I cannot love God unless I know myself. Pride is what stands between God and us; it inhibits love and chokes it out. It is because in the relationship between God and Man a lack of love is not from a lack on God’s part, but our own. Pride blocks our ability to love since we cannot see where we are in relation to God; we think more of ourselves and who we are. Humility, being the virtue opposed to pride, sits us in our place, and we may see where we are and God in relation to us. The difference between Pride and Humility is self knowledge; pride denies who we are while humility recognizes it. So it is self knowledge that also facilitates our loving of God. To grow in it allows for both persuasions of love (God and Man). It is key for our ability to love, the water in which that allows us to swim (to borrow a Jain metaphor).
So here are some brief thoughts on the matter feel free to add to my rough and tumble little essay here. Let discussion reign…
The benefits of this space should be many. It provides our thoughts larger exposure. First, for those writing, allowing them to get greater feedback from more than the same few people, hopefully leading to better refinement and validity of thoughts. Second it allows for those outside our peer group, better insight on the current thoughts, concerns and issues we deal with.
For me this is the most salient point. I that this may provide another step towards closing the gaps be they, generational, social, or mental. The more we lay on the table and make available the easier it will be to work together on common ground.
One more point before I get off my soap box, this should be a spot that helps in some small measure to facilitate self knowledge, which conveniently provides a perfect lead in to my first post.
The idea of self knowledge has been a very pertinent issue for me as of late, and led to much idle thought on the subject. Or more correctly the importance of self-knowledge on an authentic and virtuous life has been a point that has hit home over and over again. I think the importance of the words inscribed at Delphi cannot be understated; they are in fact the 'key' to good living. So to begin spewing my thoughts on it, we might as well start with self knowledge and its role in the Christian life.
The foundation of the Christian life, as Joe Harmon is want to constantly remind me, is love. All that we stand for and do as Christians must be judged under the lens of love, it must stem from it. God is love, and all creation exists because of that love. It is God's unconditional love for us that forgives us though we fall, and it is that love that brought Christ here to die for our sins. If we are to follow Christ, we must love. Hell God is love.
Take the two greatest commandments, as the bible tells us "Love the Lord your God with all our heart, soul, and mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Let us break this down by taking the second first. The second commandment is both a call to love others and the method for doing so. We must love our neighbors, in the same way we love ourselves. So proper love of self, must precede, proper love of others. It is impossible to love others if one does not love one's self.
What is proper love of self? Now we go back to the first commandment, Love God. The call to love God is an absolute one. It demands all that we are: our entire self, body, soul, and mind. The absolute nature of the command seemingly does not leave room for the second. The second is wrapped up in the first; in order to love God we must love others, and in order to Love others we must love God—one giant supernatural catch 22. Though, I think it isn’t really all that complicated since only one thing is needed to facilitate loving, God or Man.
Self knowledge is the key here. I can’t love myself unless I know myself that should be pretty clear, But also I cannot love God unless I know myself. Pride is what stands between God and us; it inhibits love and chokes it out. It is because in the relationship between God and Man a lack of love is not from a lack on God’s part, but our own. Pride blocks our ability to love since we cannot see where we are in relation to God; we think more of ourselves and who we are. Humility, being the virtue opposed to pride, sits us in our place, and we may see where we are and God in relation to us. The difference between Pride and Humility is self knowledge; pride denies who we are while humility recognizes it. So it is self knowledge that also facilitates our loving of God. To grow in it allows for both persuasions of love (God and Man). It is key for our ability to love, the water in which that allows us to swim (to borrow a Jain metaphor).
So here are some brief thoughts on the matter feel free to add to my rough and tumble little essay here. Let discussion reign…
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