clive on self ness

cs lewis on self ness (aka: authenticity in his image)

via hpz share:

The ordinary idea which we all have before we become Christians is this. We take as starting point our ordinary self with its various desires and interests. We then admit that something else-call it “morality” or “decent behavior,” or “the good of society”-has claims on this self: claims which interfere with its own desires. What we mean by “being good” is giving in to those claims. Some of the things the ordinary self wanted to do turn out to be what we call “wrong”: well, we must give them up. Other things, which the self did not want to do, turn out to be what we call “right”: well, we shall have to do them. But we are hoping all the time that when all the demands have been met, the poor natural self will still have some chance, and some time, to get on with its own life and do what it likes. In fact, we are very like an honest man paying his taxes. He pays them all right, but he does hope that there will be enough left over for him to live on. Because we are still taking our natural self as the starting point.

to me.. this is about whales.. not about legit free people..

made in his image.. et al.. why would our ‘natural self’ not be in line with the dance.. his dance..

i think the issue is our natural self is not us.. and he’s waiting for us to be us again.. 2 peter 3:9 et al

to me.. we need global detox leap to get back/to that garden-enough ness.. that legit itch-in-the-soul ness.. back/to what he already wrote on each heart ness..

The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. *I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones You think wicked the whole outfit. **I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.” Both harder and easier than what we are all trying to do.

*again.. this is a perfect description of whales.. and to me.. not someone made in his image

**this is what we need.. ie: hari rat park law et al.. we need a whole new garden-enough

Christ Himself sometimes describes the Christian way as very hard, sometimes as very easy. He says, “Take up your Cross” —in other words, it is like going to be beaten to death in a concentration camp. Next minute he says, “My yoke is easy and my burden light.” He means both.

*The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self-all your wishes and precautions-to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call “ourselves,” to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be “good.” **We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way- centered on money or pleasure or ambition and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do.

*this is the thing we’ve not yet tried/seen: the unconditional part of left to own devices ness .. left legit listening to one’s own heart.. 1st thing.. everyday.. before sea world again takes over

**in sea world.. these are all cope\ing strategies.. we’re obsesses with survival ness et al.. and need to get back/to life over survival ness

hari present in society law et al

That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. *It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. **All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in ***listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind. ****We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through. When He said, “Be perfect,” He meant it. *****He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder-in fact, it is impossible.

*it could come from this.. if we detoxed from **this

***yes that.. but ie: imagine a turtle ness et al.. as well-trained/programmed whales.. we need a means to listen that deep.. ie: nonjudgmental expo labeling to undo hierarchical listening as global detox so we can org around legit needs

****perhaps until now.. now we have the means to leap.. for (blank)’s sake.. otherwise we keep perpetuating the whac-a-mole-ing ness of sea world

*****yes.. for (blank)’s sake

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