The Human Being and How He Can Be Against Himself?
🔎 The Main Idea
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about an important spiritual truth: that a person may be the main cause of his troubles and downfall, not external circumstances, nor people, nor even demons. A person often harms himself through his way of thinking, his emotions, his pride, and his behavior.
He quotes Saint John Chrysostom:
“No one can harm a human being unless that person harms himself.”
🧠 First: The Way of Thinking
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III focuses on how thoughts can be against a person.
The obsessive or pessimistic person, or the one who stores within himself wrong images and thoughts, is the one who creates his own suffering. The problem is not the external event, but the internal reaction and emotional response.
He also refers to the saying of Solomon in Proverbs:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
This means that a person may think he is right while he is leading himself to destruction through stubbornness and clinging to his own opinion.
🔥 Second: Emotions and Nerves
It is not the event that destroys a person, but his way of receiving it.
One problem may pass peacefully for one person, while it crushes another because of excessive emotion or surrender to sorrow and anxiety.
A person who is quick to ignite and easily provoked is like a flammable material.
But the calm and balanced person is not affected by external fires.
👑 Third: Pride and Temperament
Pride is among the most dangerous things that make a person against himself.
The proud person loses people and ruins himself because of excessive sensitivity and exaggerated self-esteem.
The Scripture says: “Before destruction is pride, and before a fall is a haughty spirit.”
Likewise, harshness, gloominess, nervousness, impulsiveness, and an uncontrolled tongue—all are internal traits that bring upon a person problems that could have been avoided through humility and wisdom.
🗣️ Fourth: The Tongue and Behavior
A person’s tongue may be the cause of his ruin.
An uncalculated word or a harsh expression may create enmity and destroy relationships.
According to the Epistle of James, the tongue is a small member but kindles a great fire.
✝️ The Spiritual Dimension
The deep spiritual message is a call to inner repentance.
Instead of blaming circumstances or people, a person should blame himself and examine his heart, mind, and emotions.
The problem is often not outside, but inside.
The saints, like Job, faced great calamities, yet they did not allow their emotions to destroy them.
Victory begins from within, from changing the heart and the mind, not from changing circumstances.
🌿 Conclusion
A person can be like a mountain unmoved by winds, or like flammable material that burns from the smallest spark.
Let every person search within himself, lest he himself be the cause of his troubles and against his own salvation.
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