Friday, January 09, 2009

Do Not Resent...


... Do Not React

... Keep Inner Stillness

This remarkable reflection on the disciplined spiritual life according to the Great Tradition of the Orthodox Christian Church is a must-read. It comes from His Beatitude, Metropolitan JONAH, who served as abbot of the Monastery of Saint John in Manton, California and who has recently been elected as Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America.

Here's an excerpt:

When we look at all the inner clutter that is in our lives, hearts and souls, what do we find? We find resentments. We find remembrance of wrongs. We find self-justifications.

We find these in ourselves because of pride. It is pride that makes us hold on to our justifications for our continued anger against other people. And it is hurt pride, or vainglory, which feeds our envy and jealousy. Envy and jealousy lead to resentment.

Resentfulness leads to a host of problems. The more resentful we are of other people, the more depressed we become. And the more we are consumed with the desire to have wha they have, which is avarice. Often we’ll then engage in the addictive use of the substance of the material world – whether it’s food or alcohol or drugs or sex or some other thing – to medicate ourselves into forgetfulness and to distract ourselves from our resentments.

Read it all here.