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“Nothing comes from nothing. There is something. Therefore there never was nothing. This something could not bring itself into existence or else it would have had to exist before it existed, which is an impossibility. Therefore, something else had to bring it into existence. This is God.”
How do you open the eyes to heaven? That is, your spiritual eyes? Via love. You approach God through the heart not simply reason alone. That is, mystically.
Apophatically, through “the Cloud of Unknowing.” Kataphatically, via discursive prayer. Prayer is love of God. It is like a ladder that reaches to heaven.
A perfect circle is an empty circle. St. Teresa of Avila said an empty circle signifies purity of heart. This is where one encounters God.
Emptying yourself of the false self so that God can fill you up increases your true self. What is the false self? The distance between you and God. Sin increases this gap, this separation. Separation from God is hell…
Fr. Thomas Keating got into the psycho-spirituality of the true self and false self.
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Quote: (He) described the False Self as a coping mechanism shaped by emotional trauma in early childhood, structured around three energy centers—or core needs—that become exaggerated and dysfunctional over time. These are:
- Security/Survival
- Esteem/Affection
- Power/Control
Though these are natural human needs, Keating emphasized that problems arise when they’re distorted into compulsive “emotional programs for happiness” built to protect us from unmet childhood vulnerabilities rather than to connect us with deeper, God‑centered fulfillment.
Here’s how Keating elaborates:
- We’re born with basic instinctual needs—security, power, affection—but without direct awareness of God, we build a “homemade” self (false self -Mike) around whatever we could grasp to meet those needs.
- The False Self then drives our actions, directing us toward whatever symbols or situations seem to promise security, esteem, or control, even when they ultimately fail to satisfy.
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The only thing that can ultimately satisfy us is not material things. These are false substitutes. It is God. God is spirit. God is eternal. God is life…
Hell is anti-God, anti-spirit, anti-life. In a word, anti-Logos…
Choose life!