The first stage which is that of the infant, is characterized by the almost incessant use of the word "me" - "Give me", "Me no like", "My ball", "You took it away from me". Notice how often an infant has its little fist closed, as a kind of physical symbol of this identification of everything with its little me". Reasons begin to unfold and emotional infantilism is abandoned to some extent but not entirely. The pronoun "Me" is changed to "I"; the physical becomes mental or intellectual; possessiveness turns into pride. Out of it comes boastfulness, egoitsm, aggressiveness, jealousy and pride; "I did this" or "I did that"; "I won the popularity contest at college"; "I am elected the one most likely to succeed"; "I could beat him at bridge". The "I's" come very close together as they do in all intellectual narrowness.
This egotism can be very cleverly disguised, sometimes by boasting of self, sometimes by making oneself appear underrating oneself. "I flung off that book in two weeks," being interpreted this means: "Think of what it would have been if I had worked on it fifteen days." This egotism eventually reaches a point where it inflicts pain on others through its snobbery. Franz Werfel, in a remarkable autobiographical passage says: "I have experienced many varieties of arrogance, in myself and in others. But since I myself shared these varieties for a time in my youth, I must confess from personal experience that there is no more consuming, more insolent, more sneering, more diabolical arrogance, than that of the artistic advance guard and radical intellectuals who are bursting with a vain mania to be deep and dark and subtle and to inflict pain. Amid the amused and indignant laughter of hell of a few Philistines, we were the indignant strokers who preheated the hell in which mankind is now roasting".
The third stage which is growth into maturity and represents escape from egotism is attained when one mounts from the "me" and the "I" to the "Thou" or the love of neighbour. The "Thou" is understood as a person of inviolable worth, bearing within himself the Divine image, the bearer of those ineradicable rights which are the foundation of all democracy and endowed with aspirations which make him either a real or potential child of God. The neighbour is not necessarily the one close to me. Conceivably he could be next door and be an enemy, and yet he would still be a neighbour. What does "next door" mean anyhow? Horizontally or vertically? Horizontally, the neighbour could mean the man who throws his grass over my back fence after he mows his lawn. But vertically, it could mean the man in China, for if I go in a straight line through my land, I may turn up a Chinese or a Tibetan.
The neighbour is the mysterious undistinguishable person who happens to cross my path at any moment either in a friendly or unfriendly fashion. The neighbour is the one who steps on my toes in the subway or who grabs the dress out of your hands at a bargain counter when you want it or who asks to use your home projector and then inflicts homemade movies on you for an evening. The neighbour is not someone you like; he could just as well be someone you do not like and yet one you are under the commandment to love: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
Spiritual maturity is reached when we love each "thou" that we meet with something of the same love we bear ourselves; pardoning when they do wrong, praising when they do right, finding excuses in the same way we excuse ourselves. It is not of great moment to be constantly asking ourselves if we love our neighbour. What is important is to act out that love. We learn to walk by walking, to play by playing and to love by loving. If we do anybody whom we hate a good turn, we discover that we hate him more. Doing kind acts to people makes us find all people lovable. And if love is not there, we put it there and then everyone becomes lovable.
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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