The whole life of the Kingdom is built on a system of relationships: those that bind people to one another, unite them with God and with Christ, and, finally, the relationships of Christ Himself with His Heavenly Father. These relationships themselves make up the spiritual foundation of the Kingdom and give it form; that is why they turn out to be something absolutely important and valuable in themselves. But how, under what conditions, is a true, deep relationship possible? A relationship is an intention, an act of will, and the force of an act of will is determined by a person's inner state, the quality of that person's life - not by what he does, but by how he exists. At creation God gives each person that power of life which, like a stream, flows through him, and in which he, in turn, also moves as in a stream. And He also gives each person His breath - the breath of life, the Presence that determines the quality of the stream of life in which we abide and which abides in us. The will is only the manifestation of this very breath of life. It is born where Presence meets nature. The measure of the fullness of Presence determines the quality of nature, the quality of life - and therefore the intensity of the act of will, its depth and strength. And with that, the depth of relationship, the very thing on which the Kingdom is founded. Everything else, all a person's outward activity, is only the outward manifestation of that stream of life which abides in us and in which we abide. And miracles... well, miracles are possible. Healings too. And the casting out of demons. But for the person himself this often changes nothing, because both miracles and healings are performed by the action of God's breath, and demons flee from that same breath. But whether this breath will change the person himself, whether it will give a different quality to his existence, depends only on the person himself. Of course, this will not happen automatically. And if a person relied on works - even miraculous and supernatural ones - and not on living relationships with Christ, at the end of the path he can find himself with nothing. After all, all the miracles and healings essentially took place only around him, without changing his own life, that depth of it which in the Kingdom becomes the surface. And then an answer sounds that is unexpected for the person and frightening in its unexpectedness - quite natural, alas. |
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