4. Three Lies About Growth
Video Version
Audio Version
Time Stamps
3:00 - Lie #1 :
"I need to make myself feel bad to get better."
4:00 - Curiosity
8:00 - Wonder
9:40 - Lie #2:
"I just need to try harder."
11:00 - Healing Grace
15:20 - Lie #3:
"I don't have enough time."
19:00 - Attention & Energy
Show Notes
"On the first three episodes of Physically Spiritual, we talked about three foundational ideas. Really what these three ideas have done is calibrate our minds and hearts to a Catholic worldview. We've talked about the body and soul, faith and reason, and creation and evolution. Now, as we go onto other topics, I want you to hold on to these three ideas, and understand that everything we talk about has to be undergirded by this worldview."
Lie #1 = "I need to make myself feel bad to get better."
Essential #1 = Wonder - https://www.becominggift.com/post/wonder
"I believe that reality is the best teacher. We do not need to impose good feelings or bad feelings. We need to be present to things as they are and feel the emotions that are actually there."
Curiosity = a strong desire to know or learn something
CURIOSITY
Promotes non-judgmental self-awareness
Avoids self-condemnation
Remains open to new possibilities
Classically "curiosity" was a vice, an excess of the virtue of "studiousness." Studiousness becomes vicious when:
1. We have bad motivations
2. The study is immoderate or excessive
3. We focus too much on passing things, or God is not in the picture
4. We might try to move too quickly to advanced ideas leaving us vulnerable to error and leading others astray
"Wonder is an ordered and healthy self-curiosity."
Lie #2 = "I just need to try harder."
Essential #2 = Growth is Healing - https://www.becominggift.com/post/healing
"Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it." St. Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae. I, I, 8 ad. 2
"When understood at a sufficiently deep level, this [healing] expresses the entire content of redemption." Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, pp. 175-176
The two ways grace changes us:
Healing Grace (Gratia Sanans) - grace healing the effects of sin, perfecting nature, and promoting natural virtues
Elevating Grace (Gratia Elevans) - grace taking us beyond our natural capacity and giving us the theological virtues
At 11:20, I miscommunicated what Elevating Grace does. Working a miracle would not be grace directed at personal growth, but it is a grace given to bless someone else. This type of grace is gratuitously given (gratia gratis datae), not Elevating Grace, which is categorized as ingratiating grace (gratia gratum faciens). See https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06689x.htm
Lie #3 = "I don't have enough time."
Essential #3 = Return on Investment (ROI) - https://www.becominggift.com/post/_time
The Pareto Principle = 20% of the causes produce 80% of the results.
Ways to Focus:
Apply the Pareto Principle
Improve what you are already doing
Apply a minimum effective dose to new areas
Healing will cause an increase in energy and attention, so you will get more time to do the things you want to do as you heal.
