illusion Archives - Saint Sophia

The Guilt of the Modern Era

02/21/2024

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 2, 2021 Metropolitan Nikolaos (Hatzinikolaou) of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki To our unnatural and ‘illogical’ logic, it appears that each person does not bear full responsibility individually. The main weight lies with the all-powerful nature of the prevailing, impersonal social outlook and the uncontrollably frenzied times in which we live. These times have many characteristics and certainly their achievements are impressive. Our era has, on its own, identified incredible boundaries which it has

Second Tuesday after Pascha. Death and Resurrection: The Illusion of Separation

04/28/2020

Hopefully we begin life as “holy innocents” in the Garden, with a conscious connection to Being. The gaze of loving, caring parents can mirror us as the beloved and gives us a primal experience of life as union. But sooner or later we all have to leave the Garden. We can’t stay there. We begin the process of individuation, which includes at least four major splits, ways of forgetting our inherent oneness and creating an

Sin: Symptom of Separation. Hidden with Christ in God.

09/30/2019

The Judeo-Christian creation story says that we were created in the very “image and likeness” of God: “Let us create humanity in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves” (Genesis 1:26). The true human identity must build on this foundational goodness, a true identity “hidden in the love and mercy of God,” as Thomas Merton once put it. [1] “Image” is our objective identity as children of God and “likeness” is our degree of

True Self and False Self: The Illusion of Our False Self

08/19/2019

Guest writer and CAC faculty member James Finley continues exploring insights on the true self and false self that he gleaned from Thomas Merton. In the following text, Merton makes clear that the self-proclaimed autonomy of the false self is but an illusion: Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything

Inner Polarities

08/21/2014

In a society that gives much value to development, progress and achievement, the spiritual life becomes quite easily subject to concerns expressed in questions such as, “How far advanced am I?” “Have I matured since I started on the spiritual path?” On what level am I and how do I move to the next one?”—”When will I reach the moment of union with God and the experience of illumination or enlightenment?” Although none of these

Analyzing Our Thoughts and Feelings (III)

08/12/2014

Evagrius describes the second vice of lust as follows: “The demon of unchastity is concerned with greed for the body. Those who lead a life of abstinence find themselves more exposed to his assaults than others. For the demon would have them stop practicing this virtue. Anyway, so he would have them believe, it yields no profit. It is typical of this demon to play out before them impure actions, to dirty them, and finally

Lenten Discipline (Part II)

04/02/2012

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1-13

I think of [Lent] as an Outward Bound for the soul. No one has to sign up for it, but if you do then you give up the illusion that you are in control of your life.

Archive

Second Tuesday after Pascha. Death and Resurrection: The Illusion of Separation

Sin: Symptom of Separation. Hidden with Christ in God.

True Self and False Self: The Illusion of Our False Self

Inner Polarities

Analyzing Our Thoughts and Feelings (III)

Lenten Discipline (Part II)

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