Human life has two halves: the first half is devoted to building our sense of identity, importance, and security – the ego self. In our life’s second half, the ego still functions, but now yielded to our True Self, our soul, our inner, inherent, and true identity. Our ego is the container that holds us all together and its strength has become an advantage. Those who can see their ego this way are what we call “grounded” people.
In our life’s second half, we discover that it is no longer enough to be successful or healthy. We need a deeper source of purpose. In the second half of life, problems are solved by authentic spiritual experiences. A vital spiritual experience is the foundational healing of inner-worldly attachments. It is much more than mere recovery. Recovery of itself is a purgation, but not yet true illumination or divine union.
Illumination is the spiritual, supernatural experience of attraction, longing, and intimacy within us – the inner God-image breaking through. No idea of God is God of itself, but the experience of God’s action in us is what grounds us and breaks us wide open at the same time.
God is more intimate to me than I am to myself. —Augustine
Between God and the soul there is no distance. —Meister Eckhart
My deepest me is God. —Catherine of Genoa
We would have touched our soul, the unshakable reality of our True Self, where “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
The second half of life is about discovering how to understand, honor, and love this indwelling Presence, which feels like our own voice. By then, all love has become one.
Psalm 16:11 “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.”
