St. John of the Cross once wrote, to one of his many correspondents, who were constantly asking him for spiritual advice: “God deliver from ourselves.” Truer words were never put down on paper by a Saint who was so earnestly trying to address the human condition. For, although we often focus on how others cause us to react badly, or how the world has dragged everyone down into the lowest existence of muck, or how the devil peers around every corner, still, most-of-the time: our deepest and most dreaded ideas emerge from our very own minds. The healing, the discipline, and the eventual renewal of the earth – must start with us.