Imagine For A Moment...

...that people actually believe that their lives are better off if they assert their own desires and ambitions and appetites in an effort to appropriate some share of the world's goods. Consider briefly that people might consider that when it comes to acquisition, being an individual is more important and more interesting for them than in being united with others in promoting a common goal that would benefit all. I know, it is hard to believe that a creature could be so callous, divisive, argumentative, self-asserting, ravenous, disconnected, compassionless, reactive, hateful, toxic, imposing, dysfunctional, angry, polarizing, and violent. And now try for just one more moment to force your mind to picture how dangerous this might be should this become disguised on either the personal or social level, or both, to make it look like humility. And then go just one step further and consider that this attitude and its ensuing behaviour be applied to one's religious life, eating away the last foundation of sanctity. It's ghastly. What kind of monsters would do such a thing as individuals, much less as institutions where people supposedly have oversight and influence over others. I know, it's a stretch to make our minds think that humans might actually do such a thing. Right?

...cf...

In order to become myself I must cease to be what I always thought I wanted to be, and in order to find myself I must go out of myself, and in order to live I have to die.

- Thomas Merton