"The biblical understanding of sin gives us insights into the nature of human conflict. We make ourselves and our desires the centre of things. Trapped in such aspirations to deity, we see others as competitors to be suppressed, or as simply means to further our own ends, or as threats to our well-being. We have an innate bias towards defending and advancing our own interests. Consequently, we tend to speak of the wrongs we have suffered at the hands of others, but very rarely of the wrongs we have ourselves done to others. This estrangement often turns inwards, so that we even become strangers to ourselves, not understanding our motives and passions, let alone the true ends for which we exist."
-Vinoth Ramachandra, from his latest blog entry
(italics mine)
Though this was said in context of the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict, I couldn't help but see the applicability on a much more micro scale- my own life. As much as I like the idea of simply loving and serving others, I'm finding that it's quite challenging (if not straight up impossible) to do so when you're full of- well, yourself.
