Selfless Respect For Reality

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”’” (Luke 18:9-13)

R. Judah said: “One must utter three praises every day: Praised (be the Lord) that He did not make me a heathen, for all the heathen are as nothing before Him (Isa. 40:17); praised be He, that He did not make me a woman, for woman is not under the obligation to fulfill the law; praised be He that He did not make…an uneducated man, for the uneducated man is not cautious to avoid sins.” Timothy A. Friedrichsen

It is easy to tell when the false self is in place, because it is always afraid of looking little and inadequate. It takes offense at slights and is horribly sensitive to being overlooked. The false self is turned in on itself. – Adele Calhoun

“Humility is the ‘selfless respect for reality.” – Iris Murdoch “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people— robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” ‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

“Humility, thus, places us where we belong; we are brought back to our naked condition. But this is no small feat: for along with the sense of our own self-importance, we also manage to get rid of that mix of self-deceiving habits and self-flattery, which usually keep us hidden from ourselves.” – Costica Bradatan “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’” (Gen. 3:8-10)

“At the very least their expectations of what ought to happen in the temple area are challenged, even shattered. The original hearers could not help but ask, “How could this be?” “If the [tax] collector is justified by a mercy as unpredictable and outrageous as this, then who could not be included?” Timothy A. Friedrichsen

“They are free to be who they are—no more and no less. A true Christ-in-me self is deeply at home in God and in its own skin. Such a self humbly receives its identity as a gift and feels no need to justify its existence. The mirror of public response doesn’t matter. He or she isn’t out to prove something or sell him- or herself.” – Adele Calhoun

“How useful and necessary a medicine is repentance! People who remember that they are only human will readily understand this.” Augustine