The fundamental goodness of human nature, 

 like the mystery of the Trinity, Grace, and the Incarnation, 
 

is an essential element 

of Christian faith. 

This basic core of goodness is capable of unlimited development; indeed, of becoming transformed into Christ and deified.

 









 















Our basic core of goodness is our true Self. 

Its center of gravity is God.

The acceptance of our basic goodness is a quantum leap in the spiritual journey.







God and our true Self are not separate. 

  

  Though we are not God,

God and our true Self are the same thing.





 

 


The term original sin is a way of describing the human condition, which is the universal experience of coming to full reflective self-consciousness without the certitude of union with God. This gives rise to our intimate sense of incompletion, dividedness, isolation, and guilt. 







 


Original sin is not the result of personal wrongdoing on our part. Still, it causes a pervasive feeling of alienation from God, from other people and from the true Self. 


 

 


 

 

The cultural consequences of these alienations are instilled in us from earliest childhood and passed on from one generation to the next. 













 



The urgent need to escape from the profound insecurity of this situation gives rise, when unchecked, to insatiable desires for pleasure, possession, and power. 


 

 

 

 


On the social level, it gives rise to violence, war, and institutional injustice. 



 

 









The consequences of original sin include all the self-serving habits that have been woven into our personality from the time we were conceived;

 

 

 

the emotional damage that has come from our early environment and upbringing

 


 

all the harm that other people have done to us knowingly or unknowingly at an age when we could not defend ourselves; 

 
 

 

 




 and the methods we acquired – many of them now unconscious – to ward off the pain of unbearable situations. 

 

 

 

  

 




This constellation of prerational reactions is the foundation of the false self. 

The false self develops in opposition to the true Self. Its center of gravity is itself.



Grace is the presence and action of Christ at every moment of our lives. The sacraments are ritual actions in which Christ is present is a special manner, confirming and sustaining the major commitments of our Christian life.

 

 

 

 



In Baptism, the false self is ritually put to death, the new self is born, and the victory over sin won by Jesus through his death and resurrection is placed at our disposal. Not our uniqueness as persons, but our sense of separation from God and from others is destroyed in the death-dealing and life-giving waters of Baptism.

 

 



The Eucharist is the celebration of life: the coming together of all the material elements of the cosmos, their emergence to consciousness in human persons, and the transformation of human consciousness into divine consciousness. It is the manifestation of the Divine in and through the Christian community. We receive the Eucharist in order to become the Eucharist.

 

In addition to being present in the sacraments, Christ is present in a special manner in every crisis and important event of our lives.











 Personal sin is the refusal to respond to Christ’s self-communication (grace). It is the deliberate neglect of our own genuine needs and those of others. It reinforces the false self.




 



Our basic core of goodness is dynamic and tends to grow of itself. This growth is hindered by the illusions and emotional hang-ups of the false self, by the negative influences coming from our cultural conditioning, and by personal sin. 




 

 





Listening to God’s word in scripture and the liturgy, waiting upon God in prayer, and responsiveness to his inspirations help to distinguish how the two selves are operating in particular circumstances.