21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview
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T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S
22. Be the Means of Grace
‘If you want to get across an idea, wrap it up in a person.’
Ralph J. Bunche
I have used the terms ‘nonduality’ and ‘mystery’ to refer to the place from which the manifest world has sprung. Mystery is formlessness, but from formlessness form has emerged. These terms carry no implication of intentionality — no ultimate purpose is presumed. The word ‘grace’ takes things a little further. The word carries an implication of benevolence. Grace is a reality, not because it is somehow given to us from outside the world but because we are grace. We are beauty, awe, gratitude, celebration, pleasure, joy, compassion, equality, freedom, justice, love, humility. Likewise, if the universe is ‘Lila’ — that is, God’s joy — then value is inherent in the universe. All of nature, including our own human nature, is sacred. Values are innate. Beauty is the ultimate value and the source of all others. Reality is somehow not neutral and yet the reason why this might be so is forever beyond our comprehension.
Philosophies and faiths that regard the universe
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