I think what we learn through meditation is to heal the wounds of those extremes through the power of the Spirit. And as the spirit is released, as the spiritual dimension is opened up, we learn the dynamic of loving ourselves. We learn to live with the law of that dynamic, and it is the dynamic, first of all, of accepting ourselves as we are, without judgment, without partiality. We learn to accept ourselves as we are, with our faults, with weaknesses, with all our tendencies. And then to know ourselves, to come to understand the meaning of what it is we are accepting. It isn’t enough just to accept ourselves. To accept ourselves means we have to come to know ourselves and then only, as we know ourselves, can we see beyond ourselves, can we see that we are not limited to this particular egocentric person that we think we are, but that we are greater than that, That our true centre is not in ourselves, but in God. Self-acceptance, self-knowledge and self-transcendence.
(Aspects of Love 2 by Laurence Freeman OSB )
