Ponderables

What does it benefit me to not like another human being?

One of the elders used to say: In the beginning when we got together we used to talk about something that was good for our souls, and we went up and up, and ascended even to heaven. But now we get together and spend our time in criticizing everything, and we drag one another down into the abyss. 

— A Desert Father in The Wisdom of the Desert translated by Thomas Merton