 |
"Satan Cast Down From Heaven"
by Gustav Dore, 1866 |
A vivid picture of sin has been given to us by St. Augustine:
homo incurvatus in se, "man turned in upon himself." The image that conjures up in my mind is rather like a dog chasing his tail . . . or myself, in some of my less glorious moments. The point is, we direct ourselves inward, away from God, away from other people, hoping to find within ourselves what can only come from beyond. The world in which we are living today is becoming more and more a world not so much turned in upon itself, because that would imply that we're doing it together, but a world in which each and every one of us is turned in upon ourselves, eight billion dogs simultaneously chasing their own tails.
Such intense self-absorption is bad for us, of course, because we were made for love by the God Who is Love (1 John 4:8), and love is willing the good of another. And therein lies a problem, because one effect of sin turning us inside out is that it turns love inside out as well, so that we find ourselves actually willing evil for others.
A few years back I ran across a story that perfectly captures the essence of a world full of people curved in upon themselves. Please click below to find my exploration of the wonderful world of Vasectomy Showers:
[click HERE to continue reading this post on Spes in Domino]
No comments:
Post a Comment