selflessness
The great paradox of human existence is that we do not exist. That is, we have
no existence of our own because we have no being of our own. There’s nothing
in us to exist, except what is from the Lord with us. (Human evil is nothing
in itself, but only a distortion of good – although its effects are real enough.)
“I AM,” the Lord said to Moses at the burning bush. (Exodus 3:20) It’s
the meaning of “Jehovah.” That name contains within it the profound truth
that everything that exists comes from God: all life, all being, all substance, all
humanity. “We are because God is.” (Divine Providence 46e)
The angels have an even greater sense of possessing life in themselves
than we do, and yet, at the same time, the greatest perception that they do
not, that they live every moment from the Lord. They know that the cosmic
rule repeated several times in the Writings – that “subsistence is perpetual
creation” – applies to them. Which is why they are always young, and their
world is always new. “Behold, I make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)
The mystic idea is that our own personality and sense of selfhood must
be annihilated if we are to merge with the Divine. And it’s true that our
natural self, our imaginary self, must die. But the truth is that the closer we
are conjoined with the Lord, the greater will be our feeling of having life in
ourselves. Our unique personality will not be d