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Sample ESSAY TEXT


                  %DEVIL'S ORIGINAL SIN TEMPTATIONS 810101

     Temptations  pertain  to an internal conflict  within
selves.    On the one hand there are instincts,   desires,
needs,   etc.  which originate within the self apart  from
rational,  logical,  intellectual,  etc.   considerations.
People  who  experience  temptations  presume  that   such
internal  motivations are fundamentally  faulty,   flawed,
untrustworthy,   misleading,  dangerous,  etc.;  and  that
people  at a fundamental level need external guidance  and
motivation  in  order  to behave wisely in  spite  of  the
internal motivations.  They presume that wisdom originates
externally,  not in a profound way internally.  Temptation
pertains  to  the heightening of the consciousness of  the
conflict   between  external  and  internal   motivations.
Yielding  to  temptation pertains  to  following  internal
motivations.  Resisting temptation pertains to obeying the
external  guidance an motivations.   The analysis  is  not
dedicated  to  achieving  a balance  between  respect  for
internal and external guidance and motivations, but rather
to  deciding whether to be exclusively dedicated to either
external or internal guidance and motivations.

     People who experience temptations admit that it  does
not  make  sense  to accept as a  fundamental  reality  an
internal conflict within each person.   Thus the  conflict
is  represented as existing between two external realities
which  use the self as their battle ground.    Temptations
are  conflicts  between  the forces of good and  of  evil,
between  God and the Devil,  between law and crime,   etc.
There  is a tendency to regard the battlefield as  flawed,
due  to  original sin.   In this way  inherent  wisdom  is
dismissed, and the focus shifted to external realities and
their  battle within the self.    Instincts,   intuitions,
desires,  feelings, emotions, etc.  are not to be trusted.
Only external authorities are to be trusted.  The stage is
set for conflicts between external authorities seeking  to
dominate  the  self  that  has  no  self  respect  and  no
confidence in inherent wisdom.

     The  transcendence of temptation does not have to  do
with  deciding what is good and what is bad,  but with the
recognition  that the respect of the notion of  temptation
is evil---promotes alienation, including the alienation of
self  from self.   Love works to help people become  whole
beings who transcend temptation.

                         (c) 1997 by Paul A. Smith in
                      "Search for Integrity and Honesty"
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)

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