I am a newcomer to your blog, as well as new to the Orthodox faith after years of study of theology. I’m also a student of psychoanalysis and so I find your reflections about neuroses and ego etc interesting.

I am wondering, if there is a ‘true self’, then even when someone is living an ego-driven, neurotic (split), false self or ‘character disorder’ existence, then it seems to me that there is going to be suffering in this person’s life due to the discrepancy between how they are created and how they are living. Could a way to ‘evangelization’ be the work of uncovering this suffering, addressing it, and thus beginning to show what true life looks and feels (and lives) like….thus slowly removing the need for the ‘false self’ constructs? I always fall back to the letter of John ‘We love because first we were loved’. I know it is hard to love ego/false self in another, but surely the true self is showing through somewhere, even in the form of a symptom(s)?

I am just thinking out loud and glad at a place to read and learn more.

blessings,
Sophia

A possible candidate for a book is Vigen Guroian’s The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox Key

He is always a good read, and very reflective. I suspect your friend doesn’t need arguments, but simply to see some of the beauty that comes with the inner life of an Orthodox Christian.

I would greatly appreciate your opinion, Father. (PLease forgive my English)

You Too Must Weep

Let me not live a life that’s free
From the things that draw me close to Thee—
For how can I ever hope to heal
The wounds of others I do not feel—
If my eyes are dry and I never weep,
How do I know when the hurt is deep—
If my heart is cold and it never bleeds,
How can I tell what my brother needs—
When ears are deaf to the beggar’s plea
And we close our eyes and refuse to see,
And we steel our hearts and harden our mind,
And we count it a weakness whenever we’re kind,
We are no longer following The Father’s Way
Or seeking His guidance from day to day…
For, without “crosses to carry” and “burdens to bear,”
We dance through a life that is frothy and fair,
And “chasing the rainbow” we have no desire
For “roads that are rough” and “realms that are higher”—
So spare me no heartache or sorrow, dear Lord,
For the heart that is hurt reaps the richest reward,
And God enters the heart that is broken with sorrow
As he opens the door to a Brighter Tomorrow,
For only through tears can we recognize
The suffering that lies in another’s eyes.

- Author Unknown

Martin, I can’t really add to what Mark Basil said, but I can confirm it. This is something I still struggle to do as a convert in an Evangelical family. The key, it seems to me, is to focus on finding the place of the heart (and healing) for your own wounds–prayer of the heart. Then you won’t be so easily bothered by what others think and say because you will feel that sense of being held secure in the love of Christ. From that place of peace and security in Christ, you can reach out to love your brothers and sisters who may be doing and saying some unlovely things, and hopefully begin to see them as Mark Basil describes.