Some people say that God is love.
Some people say that God is mercy.
Some people say that God is truth.
All of these things are true, but it could also be said that each of these definitions is only a partial truth. Each of these things are also good, so if I were to try to describe God's attributes in a single word, I would say that God is good.
Now the reason that self-indulgence is NOT good, is that it is concerned solely with the interests of the self, rather than the interests of the greater good. The more we indulge our selfish desires, the more they grow and the more our being becomes shaped and defined by the pursuit of those desires. Indulgence of those desires becomes increasingly habitual to the point of becoming all-consuming. The result is that the more self-indulgent we become, the more self-centred we become and vice versa (pun intended).
In Sikhism, this kind of self-indulgence is called being "Manmukh" (literally self-centred) and this is contrasted with being "Gurmukh" (literally God-centred.) To be God-centred means being focussed towards the greatest good for the whole of creation - not just yourself. To be God centred is to be good-centred - the addition of a single letter "o" might make the concept that little bit more palatable for the atheistically inclined.
Pope John Paul II explains in his book "Memory & Identity - Personal Reflections" pp. 6-7 that the nature of the "original sin", as described by Saint Augustine is:
"amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei - self-love to the point of contempt for God. It was amor sui which drove our first parents towards that initial rebellion and then gave rise to the spread of sin throughout human history. The book of Genesis speaks of this: 'you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5), in other words, you yourselves will decide what is good and evil.
The only way to overcome this dimension of original sin is through a corresponding amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui - love for God to the point of contempt of self."
The Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, attempts to 'convince the world about sin'
"...and the purpose of this 'convincing' is not to condemn the world. If the Church, though the power of the Holy Spirit, can call evil by its name, it does so only in order to demonstrate that evil can be overcome if we open ourselves to amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui."
So the ultimate aim for us all is to become as fully good-centred as we can be, and to keep pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve - Mother Theresa talked of "giving until it hurts". Naturally, we all fall short of this ideal much of the time, but we should at the very least agree with the basic premise of seeking to become increasingly good-centred through right action and less self-centred through self-indulgent pleasure seeking. You may be surprised by how many people today will attack even that basic premise.
God bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment