What is the nature of self and other? What does the unconscious really want from us? Father Nikolaos Loudovikos gives a beautiful and thought-provoking answer putting Psychanalysis vis-à-vis Jacques Lacan in dialogue with ancient Orthodoxy and St. Maximus. We need the other to constitute the “I’ ness of the Self. We don’t just use the other, we are also used by the other. The other is unconsciously active in us. Kant flipped on his head. Not only do you include the other in your action, but you are included in the action of the other. How does this happen consciously? Maximus, dwelling in the mystery of the Cross, says love as the answer. He wrote over 40 volumes on this topic. Fr. Loudovikos says love is cultivated through “Dialogical Reciprocity” with God and the other. God speaks. In order to hear Him we need to get out of our Philautia (self-love). In doing so we open a space for a dialogue with God. Then we listen without projecting our meaning on to what is being said. We create Syntonismo, harmony, symphony- between our understanding of beings and God’s understanding of beings. Listen to Being, Heidegger intimated. How do we know its Being talking and not our own thoughts? Discernment. Philotimo. The antidote to Philautia is Philotimo. There is no simple translation for this word in English. It is the quality of love of honor- for other, with humility and gratitude to the other for fulfilling your existence. The way of acting out of gratitude that you return Gods infusion of divine life, and appreciation for the existence of the other, which gives meaning to your own question of meaning. You create a place for the other, you invite them to act in yourself, you let them speak. You try and create harmony between your response and God’s, along with the other, opening deeper and richer levels of communion. This is what love is. This is how love discloses beings, self, other and God. How can this be done practically? In order to love the other, according to St. Maximus, you must refrain not only from saying and doing bad things, but not even thinking negatively about them. This is very strange from a psychological perspective. If you think anything bad, about any human being, you are totally alien from what God’s love is- which is love in its essence. You must see the other, your enemy even, as innocent. In a mysterious way, you make them innocent. You must see the other as a work of the Holy Spirit. As God wants the other to become. This is how God sees you. This is a struggle. This is the mystery of the Cross. Full Video Here: https://youtu.be/77uff3kDqrM Twitter: @james_kourtides Odyssey: @Theroosterscrow Support Me: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Jameskourtides Email Me: mindthenous@gmail.com ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYOaRVZJ_ww

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