"Happiness is not real unless shared."
Agreeing with this statement, my opinion is that happiness only exists when a second party is involved. In my life my happiness comes from being with my friends and family. They are what make me happy in my everyday life. Since Gods greatest mission is serving someone else must be involved to be truly happy. Although this is all true I do think there are some people who can be happy alone and like their own form of happiness. Introverts may also find happiness by bettering themselves and their own thoughts about life. Overall, relationships are made to better improve and strengthen the happiness in each of our lives.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Excuses: Guarded Lies
"An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie. For an excuse is a lie guarded." -Pope Benedict XVI
I find this line quoted from Pope Benedict XVI to be very interesting yet very true at the same time. I often find myself formulating excuses for the wrongs that I do, but who ever said that excuses were any better than lies. Once I truly thought about it, I came to an agreement with the former Pope. When someone lies, they know that they did something wrong and have to tell a fib in order to cover it up and avoid the truth. Whereas, when one tells an excuse, it is something that they convince themselves to be true so that they do not have to consider what they did to be wrong. These excuses guard the fact that what they did was wrong. And because they think that what they did was wrong was actually not wrong at all, they are lying to themselves. The sad thing is that they are usually unaware of these lies. For if they were aware, it would no longer be referred to as an excuse.
I find this line quoted from Pope Benedict XVI to be very interesting yet very true at the same time. I often find myself formulating excuses for the wrongs that I do, but who ever said that excuses were any better than lies. Once I truly thought about it, I came to an agreement with the former Pope. When someone lies, they know that they did something wrong and have to tell a fib in order to cover it up and avoid the truth. Whereas, when one tells an excuse, it is something that they convince themselves to be true so that they do not have to consider what they did to be wrong. These excuses guard the fact that what they did was wrong. And because they think that what they did was wrong was actually not wrong at all, they are lying to themselves. The sad thing is that they are usually unaware of these lies. For if they were aware, it would no longer be referred to as an excuse.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and not tried." -G.K. Chesterton
All that comes out of Christianity is rewarding. Nothing is regretted. This is how I am interpreting the statement above and I agree one hundred percent. One of my strongest beliefs is that those who reject Christianity have either never been educated about it or never fully opened their hearts to its concepts and beliefs. This statement says that those who try out Christianity are never let down, and those who find Christianity to be a difficult religion are those who have never completely tried it out. You can't judge a person before walking a mile in their shoes and you can't do the same thing with religion. I have been fortunate to be born into a Christian family and attend a Catholic school my entire life. I know that this religion guides me to live my life in the correct way, and because of my confidence in Christianity, I wouldn't choose or try out anything else.
Freedom for Eternity
"Freedom consists not in doing what we like but in having the right to do what we aught." -Pope John Paul II
Free will. Free choice. Freedom to do whatever you like. That last one might be an exaggeration, but these are the things that many think of when freedom is mentioned. Maybe people do believe that this is what freedom implies. Or maybe people have a skewed understanding of freedom. As a human race we connect freedom to the things that we want to do. According to Pope John Paul II, we should directly relate freedom instead to the things that we aught to do. This may include our vocation, our duty as a Christian, and whatever we must do to achieve the ultimate goal. In this way, by doing what we aught, we may get to heaven in a much easier manner. Instead of using freedom as an excuse for our sins, we can credit freedom for the reason we spend eternity with Christ.
Free will. Free choice. Freedom to do whatever you like. That last one might be an exaggeration, but these are the things that many think of when freedom is mentioned. Maybe people do believe that this is what freedom implies. Or maybe people have a skewed understanding of freedom. As a human race we connect freedom to the things that we want to do. According to Pope John Paul II, we should directly relate freedom instead to the things that we aught to do. This may include our vocation, our duty as a Christian, and whatever we must do to achieve the ultimate goal. In this way, by doing what we aught, we may get to heaven in a much easier manner. Instead of using freedom as an excuse for our sins, we can credit freedom for the reason we spend eternity with Christ.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Reflection of A Personal Story
Reflection of A Personal Story
"A Personal Story" is about a man sharing his struggle of being a sexaholic. It started off as just sucking his thumb and transformed into constant masturbation. This caused his inability to relate to women. Because of his addiction, once he became married to a woman unaware of his problem his lust proved to be stronger than his love. Just as he desired change in the pictures which he masturbated to, he desired change in his partner. He began by taking off his wedding ring so other women would not know he was married. This later turned into committing adultery. His marriage with three children was now soiled.
Feeling like everything was crashing down and realizing his problem, he finally decided to search for healing. He attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to use the support group to help get himself out of a hole he has dug for the last couple decades of his life. He then used the 12 steps to recovery of Sexaholics Anonymous. Although it was still a struggle, he finds healing in his addiction through the recognition of his wrong doings and the support of others. The strive to escape this addiction drives him towards success each day.
In my opinion, masturbation and pornography almost always creates a bad marriage. As proved in this story, many bad things can come of these two things, and an unstable marriage can occur. Nothing good can come of masturbation or pornography, therefore, it is unnecessary.
"A Personal Story" is about a man sharing his struggle of being a sexaholic. It started off as just sucking his thumb and transformed into constant masturbation. This caused his inability to relate to women. Because of his addiction, once he became married to a woman unaware of his problem his lust proved to be stronger than his love. Just as he desired change in the pictures which he masturbated to, he desired change in his partner. He began by taking off his wedding ring so other women would not know he was married. This later turned into committing adultery. His marriage with three children was now soiled.
Feeling like everything was crashing down and realizing his problem, he finally decided to search for healing. He attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to use the support group to help get himself out of a hole he has dug for the last couple decades of his life. He then used the 12 steps to recovery of Sexaholics Anonymous. Although it was still a struggle, he finds healing in his addiction through the recognition of his wrong doings and the support of others. The strive to escape this addiction drives him towards success each day.
In my opinion, masturbation and pornography almost always creates a bad marriage. As proved in this story, many bad things can come of these two things, and an unstable marriage can occur. Nothing good can come of masturbation or pornography, therefore, it is unnecessary.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Giving God the Benefit of the Doubt
Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on it's truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain it all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then, without hesitation, that God exists
-Blaise paschal
For all those who do not trust that God exists this is the perfect quote. If it is not proven to be completely wrong, you might as well believe in it. It is like giving God the benefit of the doubt. If you believe in God you have nothing to lose. As I sit and reflect on this quote I think back and try and decide if I give God the benefit of the doubt in certain situations. When I am unable with the results of certain situations I become obsessed with God, when I should instead realize that adversity teaches lessons and is beneficial to me instead. All in all, I know that I have 100 percent belief in God and I will gain it all once I reach heaven.
-Blaise paschal
For all those who do not trust that God exists this is the perfect quote. If it is not proven to be completely wrong, you might as well believe in it. It is like giving God the benefit of the doubt. If you believe in God you have nothing to lose. As I sit and reflect on this quote I think back and try and decide if I give God the benefit of the doubt in certain situations. When I am unable with the results of certain situations I become obsessed with God, when I should instead realize that adversity teaches lessons and is beneficial to me instead. All in all, I know that I have 100 percent belief in God and I will gain it all once I reach heaven.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Corruption of Love and Desire
"In the end one loves one's desire and not what is desired."
At first looking at this quote I sat in my reflection as confused as ever. Although I am usually good at figuring these things out and understanding them, I could not get this one at the start. After a few minutes it came to me and struck me significantly. To me this makes me think of when people get too obsessed with what they desire and that feeling of desire becomes their obsession. They begin to no longer love the actual thing that they desire, they only love the desiring feeling. When this begins to occur, the desire deserving of love is ignored and one's priorities get knocked off track. After some time of only desiring the desire, one loses the desire able feeling because they no longer love what is desired. To prevent this corruption of love and desire, I can reevaluate the things that I desire and make certain that I truly share love for those things. By doing this, I will also benefit the things and people that I love. Nothing can go wrong.
At first looking at this quote I sat in my reflection as confused as ever. Although I am usually good at figuring these things out and understanding them, I could not get this one at the start. After a few minutes it came to me and struck me significantly. To me this makes me think of when people get too obsessed with what they desire and that feeling of desire becomes their obsession. They begin to no longer love the actual thing that they desire, they only love the desiring feeling. When this begins to occur, the desire deserving of love is ignored and one's priorities get knocked off track. After some time of only desiring the desire, one loses the desire able feeling because they no longer love what is desired. To prevent this corruption of love and desire, I can reevaluate the things that I desire and make certain that I truly share love for those things. By doing this, I will also benefit the things and people that I love. Nothing can go wrong.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Adverse Adversities
"For truly in adverse fortune, the worst sting is to have been happy."
Whenever I am sad or having even the slightest struggle in my life, I think back and envy the times in my life what I have been happy. The times when I don't even have to try to smile because everything is just that great. The most pain that comes from being sad is the fact that I lost the happiness that I had once had. Being happy is always my ultimate goal, and as I reflect over this quote, I realize that the hardest thing about not being happy is that fact that I could be. When someone knows how it feels to have no worries in the world and be completely content with one's life, it's the worst feeling in the world when everything is transformed and that happiness is lost. It's like an adversity on top of an adversity.
Whenever I am sad or having even the slightest struggle in my life, I think back and envy the times in my life what I have been happy. The times when I don't even have to try to smile because everything is just that great. The most pain that comes from being sad is the fact that I lost the happiness that I had once had. Being happy is always my ultimate goal, and as I reflect over this quote, I realize that the hardest thing about not being happy is that fact that I could be. When someone knows how it feels to have no worries in the world and be completely content with one's life, it's the worst feeling in the world when everything is transformed and that happiness is lost. It's like an adversity on top of an adversity.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)