Know Yourself

For John, BLUF:  This is all about the Comment in the linked Blog from Paddy O, about Theologian Jurgen Moltmann.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Activated women hitting new peaks of ineffectuality.

From Althouse, by Professor Ann Althouse, 23 April 2021.

Here is the lede plus four:

Here's what he had to say on ineffective activism in his book on the Holy Spirit:

If we compare the two ways of knowing, it is easy to see that modern men and women need at least a balance between the vita activa and the vita contemplative, the active and the contemplative life, if they are not to atrophy spiritually.  The pragmatic way of grasping things has very obvious limits, and beyond these limits the destruction of life begins.  This does not apply only to our dealings with other people.  It is true of our dealings with the natural environment too.

But the meditative way of understanding seems to be even more important when it is applied to our dealings with our own selves.  People take flight into relationships, into social action and into political praxis, because they cannot endure what they themselves are.

They have ‘fallen out’ with themselves.  So they cannot stand being alone.  To be alone is torture.  Silence is unendurable.  Solitude is felt to be ‘social death’.  Every disappointment becomes a torment which has to be avoided at all costs.

But the people who throw themselves into practical life because they cannot come to terms with themselves simply become a burden for other people.  Social praxis and political involvement are not a remedy for the weakness of our own personalities.

As you can see, one has to know oneself in order to do good.

The excerpt ends:

Only the person who has found his own self can give himself.  What else can he give?  It is only the person who knows that he is accepted who can accept others without dominating them.  The person who has become free in himself can liberate others and share their suffering.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff