The Affliction

"Once you believe in the reality of God

you may come more realistically to

recognize the limits of human love.

As great a thing as human love is, it

is not perfect. Like any other inherently

good thing - work, education, physical

beauty, good health - each and every

form of human love can become an

object of idolatry if it is pursued as

an ultimate thing. The danger of basing

your whole sense of self-worth on a

person (or one wealth or career or

reputation, or the cultivation of a

particular talent) is that all people,

and all worldly things, are flawed and

transient. Inevitably, you will feel let

down, disappointed, disillusioned-

perhaps utterly crushed. This happened

to me at around the age of 40, and it is

an affliction which I continue to fight

against. Only God is ultimate and

perfect."

-from Roy Williams, God Actually.

It's a hard lesson to learn. It is something I have been struggling with for a long time though I have been more conscious of it for the past few years. It has led me through bouts of depression and withdrawal, and quite possibly my current persona full of cynicism and a sarcastic view of life and people.

It is not easy to wake up one day and find out you are your own worst enemy. It is not easy to depend on things you cannot see when all around you is a failing experiment. I cannot love things because I am not perfect. I cannot love things because they are not perfect. I cannot love because I am not just filled with love but a whole lot of other junk I'd rather not speak of.

If I have to come to terms with my own limitations, I would have to accept the possibility, or some would even say the certainty, that tomorrow I would make more mistakes. Tomorrow I would be in need of forgiveness I might not want to ask or that anyone might care to give me (take note that I speak of only a worldly scope). This bothers me a great deal. Knowing that nothing worldly can satisfy me bothers me a great deal. Knowing I am still a worldly person bothers me a great deal. What bothers me the most is if I can never be anything more than worldly -finite, flawed and perpetually unsatisfied.

I feel guilty having thoughts of such despair, much more to talk about them though to most they may seem so abstract. But they are there, they are strong, and more importantly they are true. I do not like this feeling of weakness and even more the awareness of it. In that respect, I might consider the beasts of the land luckier than we are.

We have invented our comedies and dramas, our technologies for amusement and adventure, and indulged in our social constructs, habits and private addictions, all to pass the time and make sense of it. The great tragedy of humanity is that we know too much, and what we know most of all is that we can't do a thing about it.

....

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."

-Peter Ustinov