On selfishness. The more this stews in the back of my mind, the more it seems to me that a good definition of selfishness is not to take responsibility for oneself and, as the case may be, for one’s interaction with others. Sometimes we need to go AWAY from someone even to be WITH them — to love them as we are commanded. It’s not always about “doing” for people. That is not the definition of unselfishness. We get it in our heads that it’s all about “doing” for others and “instructing” them or witnessing or preaching to them or trying somehow to “save” them. WE CAN’T do that. The only thing we can do in our love for others and in striving to be genuinely non-selfish is to take care of what we CAN take care of, and that is ourselves, i.e. take responsibility for ourselves, full, genuine, authentic responsibility. We ought not to fling our sin and passion and heresy around on others in hopes that we can suck up their lives into our own to shore ourselves up. We think we’re “saving” them, but what we are really doing is grasping onto them to try to save ourselves — and all of us are sinking in the process, like two drowning men trying to cling onto each other, both flailing. No, somebody has to grab onto the ROCK. Then perhaps someone else can grab onto him, once he is stable. Like barnacles. :)