HI Billy, Wonderful article, thanks. Ties in with many issues I'm wrestling with in economics and spirituality. I particularly appreciated:
On Oct 10, 2013, at 8:31 AM, [email protected] wrote: > In Surprised by Joy, Lewis compares this process to removing armor or like a > snowman beginning to melt.7 We all have layers of selfishness, pride, and > greed that take more than self-examination and moral reform to address. We, > like Eustace, need a deeper cure. Lewis, in these and other passages, showed > a profound understanding of selfishness and greed. But he also strongly > maintained that there was a proper place for self-interest in our lives. > Self-interest was not necessary selfishness. > And this is in fact my favorite passage on this issue: > One way to resolve the tension between disinterestedness (doing it for > nothing) and reward is to realize that self-interest is not the same thing as > selfishness. Some maintain that Mark 8:35-36 is Lewis’ most quoted passage in > Scripture. Jesus appeals to self-interest as a motive for self-denial, > saying, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses > his life for me and for the gospel shall save it. What good is it for a man > to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” We are being encouraged to > truly “save” our lives and not “lose” our lives or “forfeit” our soul. The > appeal is to our own self-interest. > > The way I currently resolve that paradox is by embracing the idea that "We Have The Wrong Self": Evangel, Part IV: The Bad News The "true self" is the one that God knows and loves -- the story *He* is telling about us. Anything done in the interest of that self will necessarily honor God and serve other people. Anything done to satisfy the "false self" of base desires -- the story *we* like to tell about ourselves -- is pure evil. -- Ernie P. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
