The Complexity of Our HumannessYet as creatures go we are different. We are made for higher things. Our aspirations hint of such truth. The age-old distinction between the body – the physique – and the person – the soul, spirit, mind – is rooted in the contrast between the unconscious physical facts of our lives, which sometimes shock or shame us, and our "conscious" life, our experiences, interests, meanings, thoughts, intents, and values. And it is the nature of our conscious life that separates us from other creatures, putting an odd distance between our innermost being and the dust heap we also truly are. When God made us, he made creatures capable of astonishing presumption. We humans can almost forget that we are dust. Perhaps we must in some measure forget it in order to carry on. Yet, as we breathe and eat and sleep, we also think and aspire – and that is amazing. In that paradox, that puzzle in which the pieces do not truly fit together, we can either applaud ourselves for such a rare and amazing accomplishment or we can begin to understand that we are touched by powers beyond ourselves. We are creatures given such diverse possibilities that they can actually lead us to heaven or hell. From The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. Copyright © 1988 by Dallas Willard. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. |
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