Personal growth is a path to alienation from the world.
When I was younger, I assumed that things such as spiritual growth and personal development would allow me to fit in with those around me better. I thought that as I learned to love others and learned to experience God more fully, it would be easier to live in human society.
I’ve realized lately that the truth is just the opposite. It’s easy to fit into the culture around us without emotional or spiritual growth. All it requires is molding ourselves into whatever those around us want.
But finding transcendental meaning and discovering your true self require you to give up what your culture and your friends and your family want you to be — because human culture is ultimately in conflict with what God created us to be.
I’ve realized lately that Jesus told us this 2,000 years ago, but we’ve simply missed the point. Finding the truth — and finding our true self — requires us to be something entirely different from what our culture demands.
Dying Phelps’ anti-gay cult is vile and wrong, but I don’t hate him
Trust and spontaneous order don’t require heavy hand of the state
Some of us don’t seem ‘wired up’ to stay sane working for others
Thirst for love and understanding drives all of us until it’s quenched
500 years after Luther’s 95 theses, there’s still not much to celebrate
Media bias: ‘They can state the facts while telling a lie’
What’s so important to you that you’d like to take it to your grave?
Sounds of old music awakened repressed feelings from my past
You must walk away from past before you open door to future