While the Schleiermacher reading was much longer than I had anticipated, it had some great stuff in it. Personally the part I thought the most interesting was the discussion of two opposing natures; that of the soul and of sinful desire ("insatiable sensuality"). "Swinging eternally between desire and enjoyment, such persons never get beyond consciousness of the individual,.." This line really sums up, for me, the sickness indwelling in all of us. We spend so much time trying to fix the problems of the world when in all reality the problem is our self-absorption, these global problems are just effects of a greater cause. What we seem to be afraid of is the realization that, "I am the problem." Such a simple realization but with so many implications.

p.s. commented on Susan Berner's post