It is imprudent to have a cult of personality on social media, because it is ipso facto a near occasion of sin; it is not an accident, this is how social media is deliberately designed.
How shall I know whether I have a cult of personality: a simple test case: If people start paying attention to things that I say because of who said them,…
It is imprudent to have a cult of personality on social media, because it is ipso facto a near occasion of sin; it is not an accident, this is how social media is deliberately designed.
How shall I know whether I have a cult of personality: a simple test case: If people start paying attention to things that I say because of who said them, rather than objectively on the merits of the things themselves. This is a danger to me because of vanity (I do not think it is necessary to go into depth on that) and because of the next-door temptation to activism (see The Soul of the Apostolate, etc; anything that has a visible impact is an excellent way for the enemy to draw me away from a life of faith and prayer which is frequently apparently completely fruitless), and it is a danger to them because what if I am wrong? Perhaps they have come to trust me because I know a lot about theology and they slide into assuming that I also know a lot about which is the most reliable brand of used minivan to buy, or, vice versa (it will usually be two subjects that seem more closely aligned, but I can easily give instances in which it is not.) Perhaps I am wrong sometimes even in the area where I seem to know a lot; or, perhaps I am just good at sounding very sure of myself; or, perhaps I have very solid pragmatic experiential observations that are well grounded in reality, and so they also trust my theories (which happen to be wrong because of one wrong assumption; I think the clearest example is Zen Buddhists who rule out the existence of God and therefore cannot solve the mystery of who is *doing* the spring cleaning (perhaps not even seeing it as a whodunnit?) even though they have very reliably observed that spring cleaning *happens*); or, perhaps I am well versed in theoretical knowledge but give terrible pragmatic advice. In short, you, my readers, are fools to have read this far, but I am a greater fool to post comments at all.
Please continue to comment. I am one of the least practical people around, but with lots of theoretical knowledge and experiences. You are practical, and your way of looking at the world really helps me see things better.
It is imprudent to have a cult of personality on social media, because it is ipso facto a near occasion of sin; it is not an accident, this is how social media is deliberately designed.
How shall I know whether I have a cult of personality: a simple test case: If people start paying attention to things that I say because of who said them, rather than objectively on the merits of the things themselves. This is a danger to me because of vanity (I do not think it is necessary to go into depth on that) and because of the next-door temptation to activism (see The Soul of the Apostolate, etc; anything that has a visible impact is an excellent way for the enemy to draw me away from a life of faith and prayer which is frequently apparently completely fruitless), and it is a danger to them because what if I am wrong? Perhaps they have come to trust me because I know a lot about theology and they slide into assuming that I also know a lot about which is the most reliable brand of used minivan to buy, or, vice versa (it will usually be two subjects that seem more closely aligned, but I can easily give instances in which it is not.) Perhaps I am wrong sometimes even in the area where I seem to know a lot; or, perhaps I am just good at sounding very sure of myself; or, perhaps I have very solid pragmatic experiential observations that are well grounded in reality, and so they also trust my theories (which happen to be wrong because of one wrong assumption; I think the clearest example is Zen Buddhists who rule out the existence of God and therefore cannot solve the mystery of who is *doing* the spring cleaning (perhaps not even seeing it as a whodunnit?) even though they have very reliably observed that spring cleaning *happens*); or, perhaps I am well versed in theoretical knowledge but give terrible pragmatic advice. In short, you, my readers, are fools to have read this far, but I am a greater fool to post comments at all.
I always enjoy your comments, they are well written and remind me to dig deeper into the interior life
Absolutely. I hope to hit pithy when I comment. Bridget is always worth the minute to read.
Please continue to comment. I am one of the least practical people around, but with lots of theoretical knowledge and experiences. You are practical, and your way of looking at the world really helps me see things better.
Love this. I'm going to pray the litany of humility after the Rosary this evening.