As I type this, I am receiving air.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t feel bad about that.<\/p>\n
Since air is something I simply cannot do without, I don\u2019t give too much thought about receiving it, and receiving it doesn\u2019t trouble me. Similarly, were a starving castaway to suddenly be found and offered water, bread, and some tuna by a few explorers who happened upon his deserted island, he wouldn\u2019t feel that this is something he ought to not be taking from them since he needs<\/em> it for his survival.<\/p>\n However, the more the thing I am receiving is something I ought to not need<\/em> to receive, the more I feel uncomfortable receiving it. For example, in the affluent society in which we are blessed to live, where it is expected that I have a job, make money, and am capable of sustaining myself, I may start feeling uneasy if I show up at my friend\u2019s house and scarf down a meal \u2013 even if I\u2019m participating in this meal as an invited guest. Since the fact of the matter is that I can feed myself, I become uneasy about receiving<\/em> a meal from another.<\/p>\n As we explained in previous articles, the more similar the two participants in any relationship are, the greater the relationship is going to be. In the spiritual sense, this principle is endlessly increased.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s try to understand this on a conceptual level.<\/p>\n Imagine Joe is acting cruelly. At that moment, what is Joe\u2019s association with the greater concept of \u201cNice\u201d?<\/p>\n Nothing.<\/p>\n What would you advise Joe to do if he would like to have an association with Nice?<\/p>\n Of course you would tell Joe to act nice and to be nice.<\/p>\n This is because, to the extent an individual is nice, he embodies, personifies, and shares a certain oneness-of-identity with the greater concept of Nice; and, to the extent an individual is not nice, he and Nice are separate, having nothing to do with each other.<\/p>\n Similarly, if I want to have a close relationship with the Infinite (i.e., the Ultimate Giver), I am going to want to transform myself into as great a giver as I can be.<\/p>\n Here lies the problem.<\/p>\n If I\u2019m created with a nature to receive, and therefore I must receive and I should receive, how can I still be connected to God with the part of myself that is receiving? And don\u2019t tell me to be half-connected to God and half-disconnected from God. I don\u2019t want to be connected to God with only 50% of myself. I want to be 100% connected to God!<\/p>\n For this, we will come on to another resolution that goes deeper next week. Stay tuned\u2026<\/p>\nIdentity Fusion<\/h1>\n
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