Fanaticism isn’t about the strength of belief, but about its content. Someone who ardently believes that God forbids murder will not kill the innocent; someone who is deeply confident that He does not desire an unwilling obedience will not use a gun to convert.
Some people hang onto bitterness because of malice toward others, toward God, or toward themselves. Others hang on long after the original impetus is spent because there is a morose pleasure in sucking at dregs.
Some things must be placed beyond argument; disputation can never make progress unless there are some things that we no longer need to dispute. In logic, for example, denying the law of non-contradiction is beyond the pale, or ought to be; in ethics, denying the Holocaust or defending the bayonetting of infants; in Christian theology, rejecting the Resurrection.
MCCCLIX. We tend to fall in love with people we spend time with. Therefore, decide whether she might be a suitable person to fall in love with before deciding to spend time with her, not after.
MCCCLX. She is suitable to fall in love with if she is good person to marry and raise a family with.
The other day I happened to reflect on what a good man a certain friend is.
Such a delight it is, such a refreshment of spirit to think of such persons. Virtue is in decline, yet the world is full of saints.
The conversation took place years ago, but it made quite a dent in my memory.
A: “I love think her theology. I think it’s so neat.” B: “Do you mean you think it’s true?” A: “Who cares? I’m just saying it’s neat.”
A lot of things in human souls are disordered. Up to this point in the story, it doesn’t matter why this is so -- whether because of original sin or because we are still half-ape. Either way, we are pretty badly messed up. The most conspicuous symptom is that we desire all sorts of things that aren’t good for us to desire.
You have probably heard popular mottoes like “Feelings are neither right nor wrong, they just are” and “I can’t help how I feel.”