Josef Pieper, Love, it is good that I exist.

alex73

I am wanted; I have a task in history; I am accepted, I am loved. Josef Pieper, in his book on love, has shown that man can only accept himself if he is accepted by another. He needs the other’s presence, saying to him, with more than words: it is good that you exist. Only from the You can the I come into itself. Only if it is accepted, can it accept itself. Those who are unloved cannot even love themselves. This sense of being accepted comes in the first instance from other human beings. But all human acceptance is fragile. Ultimately we need a sense of being accepted unconditionally. Only if God accepts me, and I become convinced of this, do I know definitively: it is good that I exist.

The other day taking to a guy who had attempted suicide and was being treated for depression. He talked a little about his life, I won't go into it here. but what came home the most was his deep sense of emptiness, that if he were gone nobody would know, care, give a damn. He had no faith in anything. A friend of mine showed me the above quote from a speech made by PB XVI to a group over Christmas.

It is good to be a human being. If ever man’s sense of being accepted and loved by God is lost, then there is no longer any answer to the question whether to be a human being is good at all. Doubt concerning human existence becomes more and more insurmountable. Where doubt over God becomes prevalent, then doubt over humanity follows inevitably. We see today how widely this doubt is spreading. We see it in the joylessness, in the inner sadness, that can be read on so many human faces today. Only faith gives me the conviction: it is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being, even in hard times.

"I have a task in History"..

. We are here for a reason. I didn't go into a religious debate with the Guy who as in treatment, He didn't volunteer himself to here my views and I wasn't sure if I should push a religious solution to his problems, well not in the state he was in, I think you need a clearer mind. But Personally and I think all your Christian followers who post here, we all see the need to feel our task in History to know we are loved and that our life is more that the hard empirical grey winter days that we are in now.

I have always kept my religious views apart from my work. But my personal convictions of faith have always given me great inner peace and strength and Joy. Seems in the Ireland of today I would be viewed as a Religous nut job if people were to really know my convictions... But then again when I look under the skin of what other people believe I find emptiness desperation and a lack of will to live. When a life is built on Money/Success/Job you take that away and the house of cards falls apart then they see they have nothing.

ISAW

alex73 wrote: »

When a life is built on Money/Success/Job you take that away and the house of cards falls apart then they see they have nothing.

Well said the rest of you post. Ill just take up this point at the end.
I suggest you also look into Erich Fromm or Francis of Assisi. When a life is built on Money/Success/Job and you don'tyou take that away a then they still they have nothing but they just can't see that difference between defining oneself as "having" something and "being" a person.

bonniebede

alex73 wrote: »

. We are here for a reason. , we all see the need to feel our task in History to know we are loved and that our life is more that the hard empirical grey winter days that we are in now.

I have always kept my religious views apart from my work. But my personal convictions of faith have always given me great inner peace and strength and Joy. Seems in the Ireland of today I would be viewed as a Religous nut job if people were to really know my convictions... But then again when I look under the skin of what other people believe I find emptiness desperation and a lack of will to live. When a life is built on Money/Success/Job you take that away and the house of cards falls apart then they see they have nothing.

Loved the quotes you put in, very thought provoking.

But I would suggest that our task includes being loved and loving. It is my place to let others know they atreloved too, otherwise how will they know? I live the truth of being loved by thisl loving of others, because it is the nature of love to be abundant and overflow in relationships of love.

Being viewed as a religious nut job may be unavoidable, but then Jesus already warned us about that.:)

The Quadratic Equation

Good time for old Chinese Proverb :

Happiness is someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.

I also heard it often said during the troubles in NI, if people in bleak jobless areas have nothing to live for, some of them will find a cause to die for.