[October 2001 journal entry]
Pre-modern ‘religious’ thought assumes/proposes that the inclination of the human heart is toward evil. Modern (Renaissance/Enlightenment) thought assumes/proposes (as did the Socratic tradition in antiquity) that the inclination of the human heart is toward good. My variation on a ‘non-religious’ approach to spirituality and ethics assumes/proposes (along the line of Pascal and existentialists) that the human heart is torn by a tension/paradox, with amazing potential both to care and to take/harm.