My favorite authoress(upon things philosophical), Mrs. Madeleine L'Engle gives me great advice to follow in everyday practice. One of the most astounding and hard to follow thus far being her warning not to take yourself too seriously. On the battleground of apologetics, and in everyday life encounters, her warnings spur in me a now automatic response to check myself, to make certain that I have not fallen into that haughty holier-/better- than thou art attitude.
Eclipsing this perhaps,as concerns genuine importance, is G.K. Chesterton's words concerning the man who only needs to believe in himself.
He likens the man who believes in himself to such historical figures as Nero, who allegedly, and if true unsurprisingly, fiddled whilst flames engulfed and burned the great city of Rome down.
On complete self confidence he says,
"Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self confidence is a weakness. Believing utterly in one's self is a hysterical and superstitious belief"
Chesterton says such men reside in lunatic asylums, at the very least figuratively, as he writes,
"He is in the clean and well lit prison of one idea: he is sharpened to one painful point."
The point, per usual, calls for a happy medium(not like the ironic one portrayed in Mrs. L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, for that matter).
To achieve a happy medium, I think we are constantly required to actively practice such virtues as faith, hope, and charity, as well as temperance, fortitude, and prudence.
And so dear reader, (I know you must be out there somewhere...maybe), I charge thee to think upon this, and make sure in your daily life encounters you're not taking yourself too seriously.
Eclipsing this perhaps,as concerns genuine importance, is G.K. Chesterton's words concerning the man who only needs to believe in himself.
He likens the man who believes in himself to such historical figures as Nero, who allegedly, and if true unsurprisingly, fiddled whilst flames engulfed and burned the great city of Rome down.
On complete self confidence he says,
"Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self confidence is a weakness. Believing utterly in one's self is a hysterical and superstitious belief"
Chesterton says such men reside in lunatic asylums, at the very least figuratively, as he writes,
"He is in the clean and well lit prison of one idea: he is sharpened to one painful point."
The point, per usual, calls for a happy medium(not like the ironic one portrayed in Mrs. L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, for that matter).
To achieve a happy medium, I think we are constantly required to actively practice such virtues as faith, hope, and charity, as well as temperance, fortitude, and prudence.
And so dear reader, (I know you must be out there somewhere...maybe), I charge thee to think upon this, and make sure in your daily life encounters you're not taking yourself too seriously.
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