TOWARDS SELF-GIVING LOVE
A Biblical Model of Seven-Stage Development of Inter-Personal Dynamics
Keywords:
Self, LoveAbstract
Man was thought of primarily as an individual existing as a separate and distinct entity with rights of his own, “an island in a sea of islands.” However, there is a growing awareness that man is not only an individual with his inalienability and essential separateness, but he is also a person. capable of participating in the consciousness of the other and thus entering into relations with the other. It is our ‘body dimension’ that pins us down to our own individuality, whereas it is our ‘spirit-dimension’ that makes us interpersonal. It is by the power of the spirit that we are able to transcend the limitations of our individuality. Each one has to accept his own identity, but at the same time each should be able to transcend his limitations by his openness to the other. Man is a social being. His existence is essentially an existence with, and for, the other. He cannot live without relating himself with the other. According to Johann Adam Möhler, one of the great German Catholic theologians of the 19th century, “the most vital core of a man does not consist in the solitary affirmation of his individual autonomy, but in availability, welcome, receptivity.” What distinguishes man from other created beings is his ability to know himself and enter into relationship with other persons. “Man’s humanity essentially consists in this ability to open out to people and welcome them into his life… What makes a man a person is his entering into relationships with other persons.” The Trinity is a model for human relationships. Trinity is a community of Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, eternally existing in a dialogue of love, and communicating to humanity. The Christian God is not a monistic God. Christian monotheism implies a communion, a community in Godhead. That is to say, the inner life of triune God is a communion, relation, and movement. The whole creation is fundamentally a ‘communication’ – the outpouring of the Trinitarian communion. God is a mystery of personal communication; open, not shut; inviting, not repelling, including, not excluding; giving, not taking; in a word, loving without any limit.
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