The human being is an instrument in the orchestra of eternity

Grace is passed from heart to heart. Photo: UOJ

The symbol of infinity is an inverted eight. We live in the seventh day of creation. But the coming day, which will have no end, the Church calls the eighth. Can we already touch this mystery? The wise say yes. The wise say yes – for infinity permeates all that is finite, just as eternity is present within time.

To see the eternal in the temporal – this is the essence of spiritual experience.

With every action we take, which has a beginning and an end, we weave a knot of our eternal joy or eternal sorrow. Living in time, we unknowingly draw the patterns of our eternity.

Mind and heart: two ways of knowing

The temporal and finite live in our brain, while the eternal and infinite – in our heart. As long as a person lives by the mind, he is like a blind man who gropes his way along an unknown road. But as soon as he senses his connection with God within his heart, he sees nothing but Him. In everything that happens, the wise see not random circumstances, but two hands of God. One gives him good and sweet, the other – bitter and evil. Thus, the Great Potter works on His creation. Therefore, the wise person does not resist providence but humbles himself, fully relying on the One who knows what needs to be done.

All our pain and all our falls are connected with our will, which resists the will of God.

The sad fact is that even today we try to understand God and His commandments with the mind, not the heart.

From childhood, the secular education system addressed only our mind: we learned, memorized, retold.

But all the patristic experience says that grace is transmitted from heart to heart, beyond all words. Wisdom cannot be learned; it can only be perceived by the spirit. The problem of our spiritual education is that we try to penetrate the essence of Orthodoxy not through the door, but through the wall, gnawing at the granite of science with the teeth of the mind.

We need a "heart fast"

Soon there will be a strict, though short, Dormition Fast. It would be good if during this time we paid attention not only to the chemical composition of food but also to the spiritual state of our heart. It's a pity that we don't have a special «heart fast».

Let's try in these two weeks to turn our hearing and sight inward, detaching them from the external world. Let's close all the external «openings» of our heart and find ourselves alone with ourselves.

Spiritual experience says that there is no other path to eternity than through the confinement of the mind in the heart. Only in this way can we see everything as it truly is, not as it seems to us.

The parable of the music of eternity

An ancient parable tells how a man searched for Truth for many years. Finally, he came to a miraculous well that answered all questions. «Go to the nearest village, – came a voice from the depths, – and at the crossroads of two roads you will find the answer». But at the crossroads, the traveller saw only merchants selling disjointed pieces of wood, metal, and wire. Disappointed, he left.

Years passed. One night he heard beautiful music. A stranger was playing the sitar in such a way that every sound penetrated the depths of the soul. And the heart felt: in this music is the answer. Looking closely at the instrument, the seeker saw that it was made from the very pieces of wood, metal, and wire he had once seen at the market...

Our fate consists of fragmented and seemingly random events. But when we connect them into a whole, we get a road to infinity.

Our life is a melody, the notes of which are written by a brilliant Composer.

For each person, it is unique. But the time will come when all these melodies will merge into a single universal orchestra, where everyone will have their part. And for now, we are only learning to sound in such a way as not to spoil the great harmony of the infinite music of eternity.

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