The true source of spiritual strength

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The ego is not a source of strength. It is weakness in disguise. Inside there is invincible strength. Remove the cloud of the mind’s ego, and the inner power will shine through.
-Chabad.org
 
That sounds really eastern-mysticism-ish, even if you didn’t mean it that way.
 
Robert_Sock said:
The ego is not a source of strength. It is weakness in disguise.
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Archbishop Fluton J. Sheen spoke and wrote much with terms, “ego” being one of many. To my recollection, the ego is the driving force to pursue worldly goods to satisfy our depraved passions. Within reason we should deny this pursuit because to give in is to stop fighting the battle of spirituality giving due to our weakness. By spirituality, I speak of the term that generally pertains to the growth of contemplative prayer.

S. John of the Cross calls the void that exists due to our denial of our depraved passions
a dark night. (cf. Ascent of Mount Carmel, 1, 2, 1) These nights of which he speaks is what we should all struggle for in order to come to union with God in our prayer.

Although, the struggle will call the need of doctrine and to give more of ourselves to God and neighbour in generosity. Nevertheless, there are many appoaches that share the same principles, all in which the Catholic faith embraces, in a certain sense, as Christ being the head and Mary being the neck of the Body of Christ. On the other hand, we are not a finger or a toe, ect. we all share in the riches of the whole body but there is an element of preeminence given from Christ the head. Mary is queen and dispenses to the whole body thereby she is called the neck in words of the great Cardinal, S. Robert Bellarmine.
 
sdegutis said:
Also, why did you link to a jewish website?
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I quoted a Jewish website because they go into depth why certain behavior is sinful. I could just as easily quoted the Seven Deadly Sins, in particular, that of pride.
 
Robert_Sock said:
The ego is not a source of strength. It is weakness in disguise. Inside there is invincible strength. Remove the cloud of the mind’s ego, and the inner power will shine through.
-Chabad.org
Click to expand...
Judaism does NOT deny the self, so I’m sure that the Chabad-Lubavitch website from which you are quoting is using the word ego in the common sense of the pretend and prideful self rather than the true self.
 
meltzerboy said:
Judaism does NOT deny the self, so I’m sure that the Chabad-Lubavitch website from which you are quoting is using the word ego in the common sense of the pretend and prideful self rather than the true self.
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There is a form of Jewish spirituality involved with contemplation, who follow paths similar to Christian contemplatives. Is it Kabalah ? Not sure, but I read about a group near my town, a few years ago.

Of course, they are not Christ Centered, but understand the presence of God in all human beings.

Jim
 
animalis said:
Archbishop Fluton J. Sheen spoke and wrote much with terms, “ego” being one of many. To my recollection, the ego is the driving force to pursue worldly goods to satisfy our depraved passions. Within reason we should deny this pursuit because to give in is to stop fighting the battle of spirituality giving due to our weakness. By spirituality, I speak of the term that generally pertains to the growth of contemplative prayer.

S. John of the Cross calls the void that exists due to our denial of our depraved passions
a dark night. (cf. Ascent of Mount Carmel, 1, 2, 1) These nights of which he speaks is what we should all struggle for in order to come to union with God in our prayer.

Although, the struggle will call the need of doctrine and to give more of ourselves to God and neighbour in generosity. Nevertheless, there are many appoaches that share the same principles, all in which the Catholic faith embraces, in a certain sense, as Christ being the head and Mary being the neck of the Body of Christ. On the other hand, we are not a finger or a toe, ect. we all share in the riches of the whole body but there is an element of preeminence given from Christ the head. Mary is queen and dispenses to the whole body thereby she is called the neck in words of the great Cardinal, S. Robert Bellarmine.
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True, I was think the same thing myself, when I read the OP.

Thanks for saving me the typing effort. 🙂

Jim
 
meltzerboy said:
Judaism does NOT deny the self, so I’m sure that the Chabad-Lubavitch website from which you are quoting is using the word ego in the common sense of the pretend and prideful self rather than the true self.
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The self is very real but it needs to be ‘crushed’ according to Chabad-Lubavitch.
 
Robert_Sock said:
I quoted a Jewish website because they go into depth why certain behavior is sinful. I could just as easily quoted the Seven Deadly Sins, in particular, that of pride.
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We know for sure that the approved documents of the Catholic Church will not mislead you in faith or morals. And we have a vast source of these materials to draw from. On the other hand, we don’t know that about any Jewish writings. In fact, it’s a good bet that they are misled in some matter or another, since they intentionally aren’t Catholic. So why draw information from questionable sources and put yourself and others in danger of being misled?
 
sdegutis said:
We know for sure that the approved documents of the Catholic Church will not mislead you in faith or morals. And we have a vast source of these materials to draw from. On the other hand, we don’t know that about any Jewish writings. In fact, it’s a good bet that they are misled in some matter or another, since they intentionally aren’t Catholic. So why draw information from questionable sources and put yourself and others in danger of being misled?
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What is the problem? Contrary to some opinions, our Lord and Savior lived and died a Jew, not a Christian.

Besides, why is it anytime sources of potential wisdom are tapped, and a brother/sister wants to discuss it, we have to start out by looking at the qualifications of the authority from which the potential wisdom is tapped – and then we end up fighting over why we should consider non-Catholic documentation. The OP was less than two lines long. I think we can discuss what it means on face value rather than going through a no-win qualification procedure designed to extinguish whatever light the OP was trying to share. Discussing two lines sourced from our Lord’s religion is not going to send us to hell. 😦 🤷

Also, when Jesus was teaching in the temple, was He not teaching Jewish law to Jews?

Alan
 
Robert_Sock said:
The ego is not a source of strength. It is weakness in disguise. Inside there is invincible strength. Remove the cloud of the mind’s ego, and the inner power will shine through.
-Chabad.org
Click to expand...
I see the ego as the “bushel basket” that covers our pure light – our true selves, the part made in the image of God. Helpless to sin, the ego conceals and manipulates us, which in turn has a ripple effect on everyone around us. Bushel baskets can be nearly transparent or nearly opaque, and have all sorts of colors and patterns in between.

And yes it sounds “mystic” to me, too … and that’s why I like it. If a non-Catholic said it, then I defer to scripture where Jesus says anyone who is not against us is for us. Regardless of its source, I consider this quote a healthy statement of fact, and is in line with Catholic mysticism.

Alan
 
JimR-OCDS said:
There is a form of Jewish spirituality involved with contemplation, who follow paths similar to Christian contemplatives. Is it Kabalah ? Not sure, but I read about a group near my town, a few years ago.

Of course, they are not Christ Centered, but understand the presence of God in all human beings.

Jim
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Many in the Hasidic branch of Judaism study the mystical writings of the Kabbalah. However, their primary obligation is the same as that of all Jews, namely the study and practice of Torah teaching. The Kabbalah is often used to more fully understand the Torah Law, as is the Talmud. However, unlike Buddhism, Hinduism, and, to a certain extent, Catholicism, I reiterate that Judaism does not believe in the denial of the self. Anyone who writes otherwise is not in conformity with the teachings of the religion.
 
meltzerboy said:
Many in the Hasidic branch of Judaism study the mystical writings of the Kabbalah. However, their primary obligation is the same as that of all Jews, namely the study and practice of Torah teaching. The Kabbalah is often used to more fully understand the Torah Law, as is the Talmud. However, unlike Buddhism, Hinduism, and, to a certain extent, Catholicism, I reiterate that Judaism does not believe in the denial of the self. Anyone who writes otherwise is not in conformity with the teachings of the religion.
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The denial of self isn’t taught by Catholic contemplatives nor Buddhist. It’s the denial of the
“False Self,” which was built by the ego to hide the true self, i.e. ID.

As Jesus said, we must be reborn and this means the death of the false self.

Jim
 
Robert_Sock said:
The ego is not a source of strength. It is weakness in disguise. Inside there is invincible strength. Remove the cloud of the mind’s ego, and the inner power will shine through.
-Chabad.org
Click to expand...
In Catholicism there is something similar to the ‘self’ in Chabad that needs to get transformed:

“We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.” –Romans 6:6
 
Robert_Sock said:
The ego is not a source of strength. It is weakness in disguise. Inside there is invincible strength. Remove the cloud of the mind’s ego, and the inner power will shine through.
-Chabad.org
Click to expand...
In all due respect to Mr. Freud, he isn’t the orginator of the word “self” or “ego”.

I have thought of it as something that is the asset of a person to distinguish that person from someone else. It makes each person unique.

What we do with that quality of being a unique person is developed by that person for the most part. It is something we can and should embellish over a lifetime with God’s grace
for without him we can do nothing.

Just a thought.
 
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