Thought from Service Class

Basically, the points I made yesterday about "Modernity" are this:

Descartes comes long in the 1600's and says THE DEEPEST CORE OF "SELF," of "I" is my reason, my mind.

Then comes Nietzche in the 1700's saying God is dead and religion is foolish because THE DEEPEST CORE OF "I" is this need for self-assertion, what he called the "will to power."

Then Freud enters the picture, saying, "no no, its not our mind nor our will, but rather THE DEEPEST CORE OF "SELF" is the libido, sexual drive."

So then, where does that leave us? Well, it has left "Modernity" (1600's - present) being skeptical of the ancient claim of Christian theology, which says this in response:

"INDEED, THE MIND WANTING TO 'FIGURE LIFE OUT' IS DEEP WITHIN US; INDEED THE NEED FOR SELF-ASSERTION AND POWER SEEM SO MUCH PART OF "I"; AND NO DOUBT OUR SEXUAL APPETITE IS CENTRAL TO THE SELF; YET NO MATTER HOW DEEPLY IMBEDDED THESE DESCRIPTIONS OF "SELF" ARE, THE "I" GOES EVEN DEEPER. There is an "I" that seeks to love for the sake of loving, an "I" that is not controlled by thought (Descartes), power (Nietzche_ or even sex (Freud). This "I" can only be moved by God.

This claim was articulated most clearly by St. Augustine in the 400's: "God is more inner to me than I am to myself," and because of this "our hearts are restless until they rest in God."

How do we find this "I"? Well, the Christian tradition offers 2 practices, 2 "training programs".....

SILENCE AND SERVICE. Both of these, best done together, can get us (to put it crudely), "out of our head," "out of our egos" and "out of, well, you figure this one out."