One of the most poignant images from CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters for me is the chapter where Screwtape instructs Wormwood how to direct the man's love and scrutiny. In general, the point is to develop in the patient a charitable attitude towards complete strangers while driving home at annoying habits of people he loves and regularly sees. We often see that people who meet grow close and then find fault with one another, sometimes resultant in schisms of such magnitude you cannot tell they ever knew one another. For Wormwood's man, he develops compassion for the Nazis and gains greater annoyance at the antics of a relative. Thus, his compassion is rendered largely imaginary while his annoyance looms very real.
Many of my friends see great things in me. We have not seen one another, in some cases, for almost a decade. Ask people who spend a lot of time with me, and they will probably have something to say about my shortcomings. I know my weaknesses. After all, I'm the only person who spends 24/7 in my company, but some certain things can be made mountains where they are molehills depending on the nature of a relationship between two individuals.
Last week on Facebook, I posted a status about knowing who people really are. I happen to belong to that school of philosophy that believes that man is inherantly good. Sure, he does some blatantly wrong things, but that is learned behavior. I have never seen an evil baby. I believe that if you take away all that is good about man, rather than being left with a bad man, you are left with nothing at all. When I see men do stupid things, I am sad, because I know of what they are capable and what opportunities these behaviors cost them. You can be anything or anyone you choose to be. Even with limited options, every one of us lives in a choose your own adventure, and we are always able to choose our attitude, whatever our circumstances.
Men are wondrous creatures. I echo the bard who wrote "What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel..." In great men as in great works of art, it is often possible and easiest to see their flaws only when you look closely at them with the intent to find error. When you constantly face something or someone, the frailties of men loom ever larger and the beauty of the overall picture is lost in the brush strokes of choice and chance. For this reason, perhaps, it is easiest for us to find fault with those closest to us, whom we ostensibly love, and love those who are strangers to us because their faults are hard to see when they are far away from our eyes and further still from our minds. No matter how they receive it, make a concerted effort to find the good in those you love, with whom you are closest, for if you look for the good in mankind and expect to find it, you will.
Many of my friends see great things in me. We have not seen one another, in some cases, for almost a decade. Ask people who spend a lot of time with me, and they will probably have something to say about my shortcomings. I know my weaknesses. After all, I'm the only person who spends 24/7 in my company, but some certain things can be made mountains where they are molehills depending on the nature of a relationship between two individuals.
Last week on Facebook, I posted a status about knowing who people really are. I happen to belong to that school of philosophy that believes that man is inherantly good. Sure, he does some blatantly wrong things, but that is learned behavior. I have never seen an evil baby. I believe that if you take away all that is good about man, rather than being left with a bad man, you are left with nothing at all. When I see men do stupid things, I am sad, because I know of what they are capable and what opportunities these behaviors cost them. You can be anything or anyone you choose to be. Even with limited options, every one of us lives in a choose your own adventure, and we are always able to choose our attitude, whatever our circumstances.
Men are wondrous creatures. I echo the bard who wrote "What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel..." In great men as in great works of art, it is often possible and easiest to see their flaws only when you look closely at them with the intent to find error. When you constantly face something or someone, the frailties of men loom ever larger and the beauty of the overall picture is lost in the brush strokes of choice and chance. For this reason, perhaps, it is easiest for us to find fault with those closest to us, whom we ostensibly love, and love those who are strangers to us because their faults are hard to see when they are far away from our eyes and further still from our minds. No matter how they receive it, make a concerted effort to find the good in those you love, with whom you are closest, for if you look for the good in mankind and expect to find it, you will.
No comments:
Post a Comment