The Gospel gives human suffering deep, personal, and cosmic meaning, by connecting our pain to the pain of others and, finally, by connecting us to the very "pain of God".
To give, and not demand that others receive . . . that is the crossover point to maturity. . .
The important thing is the willingness to give back the gift that is you, not the perfection of the gift itself. Can you feel the difference?
God, give me a good humiliation every day. It's good for the soul and it's good for the ego.
The more one gives one's self in creative union with another, the more one becomes one's self.
If God continues to give me health and a sane mind and verbal ability, I want to teach.
I think most human beings are dualistic thinkers. It gets them through the day. It gives them a sense of superiority and security - that's what the ego wants.
You do need some successes as a young person. They don't inflate the ego necessarily, they just give you identity and ego structure. But, don't construct your life around creating those. Or you will become narcissistic and ego-centric. That won't get you anywhere.
When you do the first half of life well, you have a good sense of yourself. Most of our mainline Christian denominations, in my opinion, don't do the first or second halves very well. We don't really give people a good container, we give them a bunch of legalisms.
