As long as being-in-the-world in its whole is imbued with the idea of power, manifested both in the consummate sovereignty with which one takes care of one’s own existence, and the fatalism with which one embraces his/her own finitude, being-beyond-the-world, necessarily stands beyond all power and powerlessness. The crucial moment of being-beyond-the- world is not the individual determination to take over the burden of one’s own existence or the effort to shun it, but a gift that renders individual existence richer and more complete than it could ever become on its own. This gift is not given by our loving counterpart either, as it is given to both of us. The act of giving, occurring in love, happens as a revelation, as self-manifestation of the infinite and eternal intimacy. Those to whom the gift is given are not required to do anything but to remain gratefully in the openness that is revealed in the loving encounter.

P. 42

¶ 10:17 AM