The Heart
Something to ponder: St. John Climacus once asked in his teachings how a man can give sacrificially to the poor and still be a son of hell. The answer is that just because a deed is good does not mean the one who performs it is pure in heart.
Perhaps it is difficult for us to grasp in our modern way of viewing ourselves and others, the idea that your inherent value and the truth of your existence is not solely based on exterior action, that exterior action alone is not that which makes one virtuous, that is not the greater thing to value.
Maybe this is why Christ says, "take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness (Luke 11:35)." Of course, this darkness parading as light could be many things; I think of it as the delusion of doing good, thinking that it is the same as being good.
As one of my favorite songs says
We bear your name,
and you let us say
you are something that you're not.
As if you were made after we saw our own faces,
and knew we were gods enough.
This is the lie of self-existent goodness, the idea that we are enough of what is needed. We should be on guard to not give in to such delusion, if for no other reason, that we may not hand over the acquisition of our peace in place for bitter and cynical arrogance. It is better to be a fool at peace than an arrogant scholar with a heart of malice.
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