Love does not consist in gazing at each other,
but in looking outward together in the same direction.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
When we awaken, we begin to see and live life from the point of abundance. We look at and live life with and through God in us. This is the Mystery of Participation. After his conversion, Paul used the phrase “in Christ” over a hundred times to describe this union and participation in Christ. “I live no longer, not I; but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
This is a totally different experience of life. We are being used, we are being chosen, we are being led. After transformation, what matters is no longer about being correct; it’s about being connected. This is true righteousness – being connected, being in union with God.
In this unitive experience, we are liberated from the burden of self-consciousness; we are living in, through, and with another. This is exactly the same as the experience of truly being in love. It is, in fact, living in love.
True union does not eliminate distinction, it actually intensifies it. The more we give our self in creative union with another, the more we become our true self. As with the Trinity: perfect giving and perfect receiving between three who are all still completely themselves.
There is great freedom after transformation; the kind of freedom and great happiness we see in converted people.
Philippians 3:7-8 “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.”
