self-centeredness

Failure to recognize one's own absolute significance is equivalent to a denial of human worth; this is a basic error and the origin of all unbelief. If one is so faint-hearted that he is powerless even to believe in himself, how can he believe in anything else? The basic falsehood and evil of egoism lie not in this absolute self-consciousness and self-evaluation of the subject, but in the fact that, ascribing to himself in all justice an absolute significance, he unjustly refuses to others this same significance. Recognizing himself as a centre of life (which as a matter of fact he is), he relegates others to the circumference of his own being and leaves them only an external and relative value.

Seeing myself or my church or my denomination as "the blessing"____ike so many mission trips to help "those less fortunate than ourselves"____an easily descend into a blend of __enevolence and paternalism. We can start to see the "poor" as supporting characters in a big story about how noble, selfless, and helpful we are.

The most capricious modern entitlement is not just Social Security but to self-esteem.

The only person that deserves a special place in your life is someone that never made you feel like you were an option in theirs.

Cultivate the understanding that the self is not really an independently existing entity, and begin to view self instead in terms of it's dependent relation to others. Although it is difficult to say that merely reflecting on this will produce a profound spiritual realization, it will at least have some effect. Your mind will be more open. Something will begin to change within you. Therefore, even in the immediate term there is definitely a positive and beneficial effect in reversing these two attitudes and moving from self-centeredness to other-centeredness, from belief in self existence to belief in dependent origination.

I think myself so terribly __lever_ that the need for God is blatantly irrelevant. And all the while, in the rapidly growing mess that I__ __leverly_ creating, I rather quickly begin to realize that the only thing that is relevant is His relevance.

If it__ about me, I can be assured that there will be a bunch of empty chairs in the auditorium of my life; save the one I__ sitting in.

I am most thankful for what I don__ have, for had my life__ wish list been filled in the manner I had chosen I would be steeped in meaningless trinkets verses bathed in God__ treasures.

How can one ever do anything nobly Christian, living among people with such petty thoughts?

The Anatomy of Conflict:If there is no communication then there is no respect. If there is no respect then there is no caring. If there is no caring then there is no understanding. If there is no understanding then there is no compassion. If there is no compassion then there is no empathy. If there is no empathy then there is no forgiveness. If there is no forgiveness then there is no kindness. If there is no kindness then there is no honesty. If there is no honesty then there is no love. If there is no love then God doesn't reside there. If God doesn't reside there then there is no peace. If there is no peace then there is no happiness. If there is no happiness ----then there IS CONFLICT BECAUSE THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION!

When we're constantly thinking about ourselves, our world shrinks.

False humility is quite like the worst of both worlds: both that of Meekness and that of Conceit.

Glory of the world makes life meaningless. Glory of God fulfills it.

The change from self-centeredness to human-centeredness is the key to peaceful existence.

A sense of messianic purpose makes the national interest almost indistinguishable from the political interests of the president.

If I see God as nothing more than a caricature of history or imagination I cannot do anything less than make myself my own __od_. And once I realize that in doing so my rendition of being a __od_ is embarrassingly inferior to the very caricature I am mimicking, I quickly come to realize that maybe the only thing that can be __od_ is a God. And if that is the case, I suddenly find myself hounded by the stunning reality that God is not a caricature.

If we glorify God (not self) in everything we do then everything on earth will glorify God.

Yesterday I was clever, so I took the glory for me. Today He makes me wise, so I give the glory to Thee