← 04 · LoveDay 22 of 40

As yourself

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is like this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.Mark 12:30–31

Three weeks of turning inward, and now the turn outward, which is not a different direction. Asked for the greatest commandment, Jesus gave two and called them one. Love of God and love of neighbor are a single motion seen from two sides, and the attempt to do one without the other is the source of most religious cruelty. The hinge is "as yourself." The contemplative reading: the neighbor is not other than yourself; the same life looks out of their eyes. The wall between you and the person in front of you is thinner than you think.

Today's practice

With the next stranger you pass, silently say: "the same life." Do not force a feeling. Just say it, and see what your face does.

The fast

Daily fast, Daniel table. Eat one meal with someone today, and pay attention to them the way you have been paying attention to the word.

Kept on this device only.