Who Am I?

Four Hundred Texts on Love (Fourth Century) 29

Posted: April 5th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: St. Maximos the Confessor | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Four Hundred Texts on Love (Fourth Century) 29

62.  If a person’s will is not directed towards what is good, it is inevitably directed towards evil; for it cannot be stationary with regard to both. Because it implies obduracy with regard to virtue Scripture describes the soul’s sluggishness in pursuing what is good as ‘stones’; while it describes as ‘timber’ the soul’s readiness to commit evil (cf. Zech. 5:4). But sense perception allied with the activity of the intellect produces virtue with spiritual knowledge.

I would tend to say that we are always becoming the person we will be. The person we are will soon be the person we were. We cannot stop that process and so we cannot remain static. It’s also true that the longer we remain on one course, fixed in one direction, the more difficult it is for us to change to another. Where is my will directed? It’s not an idle question. Rather, it’s often the image of the person I will be.