Harden not your hearts

[Lark]

Could this be the greatest insight ever?

I think so.

 

[BerberElla]

Yes, hard to remember it at times where it feels bruised and in need of protection, but best in the long run. I think so.

 

[rhinosaur]

Yes, this is one of my ideals.

 

[Helios]

Could this be the greatest insight ever?

It could be, but isn't.

 

[Totenkindly]

It could be, but isn't.

...That.

So why do you think it is the greatest, Lark?
(As opposed to second-greatest?)

 

[TopherRed]

That seemed like an over-vague statement to start a very long, very fluffy thread; please clarify. And for the posts afterward, you two are soooo INTPs.

 

[matmos]

The original phrase, comes from Hebrews (3:7-19 - and various other references). There may be some confusion with the translation from the Greek (hardened=seared). The original meaning was a warning not to reject God, as the Israelites in the wilderness did. Other references include Nabal being mean with his tributes to David; Solomon suggesting "hardeneth not thy neck" (an interesting one) or suffer the divine smiting you deserve.

In other words, the aphorism has mutated into something other than it's original Biblical meaning. The common interpretation seems to urge people to be less mean-spirited, but this is not backed up in the original text (whose translations from the Greek may themselves be questionable).

The logic of having a permanantly "soft" heart is that you'll be taken for a chump quite a lot, hoodwinked rather easily and give in to every doe-eyed scoundrel that scrounges the price of a coffee.

Better to have a hard heart now and again than pave your road to hell with good intentions.

 

[Totenkindly]

The original phrase, comes from Hebrews (3:7-19 - and various other references). There may be some confusion with the translation from the Greek (hardened=seared). The original meaning was not to reject God, as the Israelites in the wilderness did.

Yup. Used there + in connection with Pharaoh (who originally hardened his heart, then JHWH hardened it for him); and in the NT where Jesus mentioned that divorce was acceptable in ancient Israel as part of the Law because "men's hearts were hard" but not necessarily because God preferred divorce.

 

[Tiltyred]

Better to have a hard heart now and again than pave your road to hell with good intentions.

I like this for greatest insight evah.

 

[Unkindloving]

No, says the ENFJ.
The fact that it is vague makes me contemplate what it implies. If you are not hardening your heart then it is likely you are hardening something else. Mind, perhaps? That tends to be the best "vs. heart" opposition.

Neither is good to let harden, yet neither is good to leave completely permeable.
On the other hand, when the implications are viewed in a positive light then it can be a great insight.

 

[Tycho]

If we secretly want to overload someone with kisses, but we don't, we are hardening our hearts aswell.

A dutch writer once stated: if we would really follow our hearts we would cast ourselves on the floor to exclaim unhuman noises.

It is the ability to harden our hearts that makes us civilized; but sometimes, we're overdoing it.

 

[Lark]

...That.

So why do you think it is the greatest, Lark?
(As opposed to second-greatest?)

That?

Sorry I dont understand.

Its a warning against letting life make you cynical or bitter.

 

[WoodsWoman]

That?

Sorry I dont understand.

Its a warning against letting life make you cynical or bitter.

I think "love thy neighbor as thyself" says it better IMHO.

 

[Owl]

^

I think "As opposed to the second-greatest" is supposed to be a hint.

The greatest insight then would be: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

So I'd then ask: how do you relate your view of not hardening your heart as the greatest insight with the prescription above as the greatest commandment?

 

[Lark]

^

I think "As opposed to the second-greatest" is supposed to be a hint.

The greatest insight then would be: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

So I'd then ask: how do you relate your view of not hardening your heart as the greatest insight with the prescription above as the greatest commandment?

Hmm, I tend to think that hardening your heart is the opposite of the commandment to love, the "Golden Rule" and the "Golden Mean" are both other important insights but I still tend to think that the admonishment to be conscious and prevent your heart hardening is superior.

Its perhaps a personal thing but I tend to think that other insights follow or flow from that of not having a hardened heart and mind.

The "hard hearted" individual could perhaps carry on a facade or sembalence or good impression of loving their neighbour or living in moderation but their internal state will be entirely at odds with the projected image or phony persona.

 

[WoodsWoman]

^

I think "As opposed to the second-greatest" is supposed to be a hint.

The greatest insight then would be: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

So I'd then ask: how do you relate your view of not hardening your heart as the greatest insight with the prescription above as the greatest commandment?

Thank you for the complete verse. Further thoughts:

You have to matter to yourself before others can really matter to you - to be able to put another's needs above your own. This IMO is very difficult to do if one doesn't first have a great deal of respect for something perceived as bigger/stronger/more important than oneself i.e. God. Thus loving God in all those ways comes first, making the rest possible.

There is also an aspect of 'tough' love that the truly hardened heart cannot dish out - it may look like it, but it's the equivalent of reprimanding a child in anger versus caring enough to teach the child right from wrong - the child knows the difference.

 

[Katsuni]

"This, above all else: to thine own self be true" has always hit a chord with me, far moreso than the other =3

It took me many years to actually understand it, even though I knew it was important long before then.

But my point, is that if yeu can not even be true to yeurself, then a hardened heart is the least of yeur concerns, and will never be able to be corrected until yeu can be true to yeurself once more.

 

[Stanton Moore]

The original phrase, comes from Hebrews (3:7-19 - and various other references). There may be some confusion with the translation from the Greek (hardened=seared). The original meaning was a warning not to reject God, as the Israelites in the wilderness did. Other references include Nabal being mean with his tributes to David; Solomon suggesting "hardeneth not thy neck" (an interesting one) or suffer the divine smiting you deserve.

In other words, the aphorism has mutated into something other than it's original Biblical meaning. The common interpretation seems to urge people to be less mean-spirited, but this is not backed up in the original text (whose translations from the Greek may themselves be questionable).

The logic of having a permanantly "soft" heart is that you'll be taken for a chump quite a lot, hoodwinked rather easily and give in to every doe-eyed scoundrel that scrounges the price of a coffee.

Better to have a hard heart now and again than pave your road to hell with good intentions.

Are you a classicist?

 

[Totenkindly]

Hmm, I tend to think that hardening your heart is the opposite of the commandment to love, the "Golden Rule" and the "Golden Mean" are both other important insights but I still tend to think that the admonishment to be conscious and prevent your heart hardening is superior.

Its perhaps a personal thing but I tend to think that other insights follow or flow from that of not having a hardened heart and mind.

That's interesting.

I do not see it an "active positive." All it does is prepare the heart; there is no content yet determined for the heart, though. It's like an open bucket waiting to be filled... or not. It seems incomplete to me.

 

[Katsuni]

Better to have a hard heart now and again than pave your road to hell with good intentions.

>.> <.<