What Is Wrong?

August 13, 2021

If we are to find a total explanation of what is wrong with man, it must be sought within man himself. When we see a monkey acting crazily in a zoo, we do not say, “Oh, do not act like a nut.” But when we see a man acting foolishly we say, “Don’t act like a monkey.” You see, a monkey cannot stoop lower than itself, but man can. Because man is spirit as well as matter, he can descend to the level of beasts, though never so completely as to destroy the image of God that is in his soul. It is this possibility that allows the peculiar tragedy of man. Man would never be frustrated, he would never have an anxiety complex, if he were an animal and if he were made just for this world. Because of that summit, that peak, that desire for perfect happiness which he does not attain, he can become the seat of conflict.