I believe that in intense conflict, far from becoming sharper, differences melt away.
Interpretation
Intense conflict can lead to the dissolution of differences between people.
This quote suggests that during moments of extreme conflict, people often find that their differentiating factors, like beliefs and opinions, can dissolve, leading to a greater understanding or unity. It highlights the idea that shared struggles can bring individuals together, transcending their individual differences.
In practice
In a team meeting when discussing challenging projects.
We don't even know what our desire is. We ask other people to tell us our desires. We would like our desires to come from our deepest selves, our personal depths - but if it did, it would not be desire. Desire is always for something we feel we lack.
The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed by the Crucifixion narratives as they reveal Jesus' innocence and, little by little, that of all analogous victims.
Instead of blaming victimization on the victims, the Gospels blame it on the victimizers. What the myths systematically hide, the Bible reveals.
What I call a mimetic crisis is a situation of conflict so intense that on both sides people act the same way and talk the same way even though, or because, they are more and more hostile to each other.
Salvation lies in imitating Christ, in other words, in imitating the 'withdrawal relationship' that links him with his Father... To listen to the Father's silence is to abandon oneself to his withdrawal, to conform to it.
It doesn't take much insight to realize that wars have been getting worse every time - worse from the point of view of the civilian, more and more destructive, more and more total.
Nothing in the world is permanent, and weβre foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely weβre still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.
I many no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather response to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.
There should be a balance between material and spiritual progress, a balance achieved through the principles based on love and compassion.
Destiny is a lie. Destiny is justification for atrocity. It is the means by which murderers armour themselves against reprimand. It is a word intended to stand in place of ethics, denying all moral context.
The mere suggestion that not speaking for a day can give you an appreciation of the social isolation that comes with the experience of disability, particularly those whose impairments prohibit them from communicating verbally, is insensitive at best.
If the universe is so bad...how on earth did human beings ever come to attribute it to the activity of a wise and good Creator?
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