There are two things I've taken away from my experience with Ignatian spirituality: the concepts of indifference and the concept of disordered affections/attachments.
Indifference is quite similar to the classical pagan Stoic saying (Seneca?): I'd be equally happy on the rack. Ignatius says that one should be equally content to be rich or poor. Despite the alleged problem with the rich man (or woman) having difficulty with the needle's eye, I think it is better to have money. Now if I can only avoid pissing it away. If only I had made different choices with the money I have. Similar thoughts occur when you are balancing to the penny.
That leads to the next concept - disordered affections. I am unduly attached to, addicted to - not only to the substance but the thought of - the little pleasures that add up. Just one more snack: I could stand to lose a few. Actually, as I exercise my self-denial muscles, it does get easier, until I slip again. Perhaps it's a calculus (cute concept) of gradual debt-reduction.
I empathize with John Climachus (I am A, but then I am not A: oh what am I going to do with myself). St Paul said something similar. Maybe that's where grace comes in.
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