The Mystery of the Living Water
Reflections on the Living Water of grace, drawn from the experience of contemporary practitioners of the spiritual life.
So much was done and interpreted by the Jewish elite in their efforts to understand the Law. So many words were spoken, so many prescriptions given. Yet Christ chose not them, but found His most profound interlocutors among those hostile to Orthodox Judaism. The incarnate God speaks of the mystical Living Water, flowing into eternal life, not with a rabbi, but with a Samaritan woman.
Have we not become like those very same Jews – stuck in tradition, confined to rubrics and the letter of the law, all the while forgetting the essence and meaning of spiritual life? Are we not sitting by a dry, empty well, discussing the taste and properties of Living Water, conducting endless theological debates about its “chemical formula”?
Yet external religion has nothing to do with salvation. It merely depicts salvation through outward acts which, lacking inner spirit, only imitate it with ornate vestments and solemn rites. One who has tasted the Living Water can easily distinguish between external “spirituality” and inward grace – and moves straight toward salvation, neither neglecting the outer nor forgetting the inner. True Christianity begins with the silence of the mind and the complete uprooting of egoism. Salvation never comes from the outside – it takes place within, in the human heart, through the Holy Spirit. There is no use telling each other what we’ve read; the only thing that truly matters is what one has experienced in communion with God. Why did the Holy Fathers write so much? So that one day your mind would fall silent – and you would hear the hidden words of sacred stillness.
Yet inner Christianity begins with outer religion, which, through its symbols, helps the beginner turn the mind inward – into the heart, where salvation takes place, where Christ dwells. Therefore,
for those who remain fixated on external religion, no spiritual development ever occurs.
Spiritual growth means the total destruction of egoism. This is the direct path of spiritual practice, without which salvation is impossible. A humble soul carries the fragrance of paradise, because it has decisively renounced illusion. Life in God is the only true existence. And this life is not reserved for a select few, but for all who resolve to be saved. All wars begin with pride; peace begins with humility. To be humble is to exchange one's egoism for a continual calm of the heart. When the tongue falls silent, peace enters. When the mind falls silent, salvation begins.
The more we worry, the tighter we fasten the noose around our own necks.
Love God, serve others, and think of nothing else. God will take care of the rest for you.
The Lord, who at first seems to us the God of this world and the entire universe, gradually reveals Himself – as we grow spiritually – as the God dwelling in our hearts, as our eternal “I am.” Christ and our spirit are one. When a person prays, they become light, because God is Light. This is His answer to our prayers. Through hardships we seek God. Through sorrow, we find salvation. Listening to sermons, we gather words; entering the silence of the heart, we gather grace. The closer to the summit, the stronger the wind. The closer to salvation, the more temptations arise.
The greatest happiness is to hold all people in your heart. The greatest beatitude is to contain the entire God within your spirit – and to remain in Him forever.
All our lives we strive to know the Truth, while the Truth has been waiting for us all along – within ourselves.
To worry about the state of the world is to feed one's egoism and attachments. Earthly words become dust in our ears; divine utterances become wisdom in our hearts. Remain in delusion, and you will die. Delusion is enjoying the world. Enjoyment breeds attachment. Attachment to the world is death. Judgment is the strongest fuel for egoism. Therefore, let us strive not to judge anything or anyone, laboring instead to uproot our egoism at its core.
To be a Christian means to radiate the joy of grace and to feel yourself saved in the love of Christ. All else is from the evil one. Renouncing egoism brings inner peace—and such peace cannot be renounced. A peaceful attitude toward all things leads to tranquility. “A crust of bread eaten in peace is better than a feast eaten in anxiety” (Aesop). In dispassion, the spirit becomes enlightened and perceives clearly that the spirit is consciousness not of this world. Then we directly and plainly comprehend: all things pass, but the spirit, transfigured by grace, remains eternal and unshakable. How can we know our spirit is ready for grace? When our actions are unmixed with passions. Let us cease to be occupied with ourselves – lest we have no time left to be occupied with God. In spiritual life, every deed must be seasoned with salt – and that salt is humility.
The freedom of the spirit lies within – not outside. Outside there are only attachments; within, there is only grace. When we live outwardly, we suffer. When we live inwardly, we become invincible.
If the light of Christ shines within us, we have no cause for worry – be it day or night, war or peace, whether we are alive or have already died.
Do not strive to improve your life – strive instead to be free from its illusions. It is not enough to briefly emerge from the dark abyss of despair to gasp the life-giving air of grace, only to dive back in. One must also, with that grace, reach the shore of the Kingdom of God.
That which clings to us always wants something. That which is our true essence, our true “I am,” abides in God – and wants nothing. God is the innermost core of our spirit and the foundation of our very being. In God, all things are here and now. Outside of God, there is nothing. Accept with gratitude whatever God gives, and let go without complaint whatever He takes. Attend carefully to what our spirit lives by. Enter into its stillness. All the rest will be done by God. Do not let the world distract you with its events. Do not let the mind amuse you with its thoughts. Acquire the Holy Spirit – that is all that needs to be done.
And what does this require? Only a meek heart and a silent mind. Then the rivers of Living Water will awaken in the depths of your spirit and flow forth abundantly, watering the soul parched by the heat of the passions with their life-giving grace.
