Emotional Community
Two factors, which are really one and the same thing, reveal the difference between spiritual and self-centered love. Emotional, self-centered love cannot tolerate the dissolution of a community that has become false, even for the sake of genuine community. And such self-centered love cannot love an enemy, that is to say, one who seriously and stubbornly resists it. Both spring from the same source: emotional love is by its very nature desire, desire for self-centered community. As long as it can possibly satisfy this desire, it will not give it up, even for the sake of truth, even for the sake of genuine love for others. But emotional, self-centered love is at an end when it can no longer expect its desire to be fulfilled, namely, in the face of an enemy. There it turns into hatred, contempt, and slander. (from Life Together p. 43)
Stay tuned for tomorrow's entry....it pulls these together...........
2 comments:
I read this yesterday:
"Out of a desire to bring true peace, Jesus disrupted the false peace all around him." (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, p. 33)
You could substitute the word "peace" with the word "love," and it would still be true.
Amen...excellent! Love that book!
Post a Comment