Anger

The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred;

the next, to keep the thoughts silent when the soul is stirred;

the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.

- St. John Climacus

A Small Thought on Truth and Uniqueness

The most creative and interesting people I've ever spoken to or read have been those consumed with knowing truth and reality. Anyone with any other concern, such as happiness, romance, success, or what have you, have been rather mediocre and ultimately the same and un-unique. The latter have also entertained a personal fable of their uniqueness whereas the former see the common fabric of human nature and the deep relation between all people.

Perhaps that is because the Truth is infinitely vast, there is always more to know or see, but self-delusion must draw itself from pieces of reality and thus, if one has a small portion of knowledge of reality, the delusions all tend toward sameness. Truth, the reality, is the only material we have to work with. Any dream depends on this real and authentic experience. Trying to create your own reality will just result in always constructing things of old and outdated material, and wasting energy that could be spent in discovering new depths of truth, an endeavor that will always be a service to mankind.

It is something like that with Christ and us. The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of 'little Christs,' all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. ... It is no good trying to 'be myself' without Him. - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity