Page 141 - Prayer Book

Ι Heard You…
141
tain and secure its existence, let alone its “personal” exist-
ence. Man is, by nature, mortal! Saint Athanasius even goes
as far as to say that human nature itself is nothingness,
“non-being”! Only in communion with God does man
have the hope of personal immortality. But with the fall,
man annulled this communion with God. Man, both as a
person and in his nature, dies! With man’s fall, mortality
became a reality—mortality became death.
The reality of death, now a necessary condition of hu-
man existence after the fall, results in a destructive mode
of human existence! Because of the fact of death, we find
ourselves in constant opposition to one another!
Due to his now-realized mortality, man is existentially
entirely selfish! And through his selfishness, he negates the
“other,” denying them the opportunity to exist as a "per-
son," as an “other.” We are born as mortal individuals, and
whether symbolically, verbally, or in action, the principle
“your death is my life” reigns supreme! This competitive
mode of human existence reduces personal fulfillment to
individual success, which is achieved through the negation
of another’s fulfillment. When we come first in any area of
life, we automatically “condemn” others to be second,
third, fourth ... last! In short, we succeed by forcing—
sometimes even unwittingly—others to fail. We exist by
pushing others aside.
If a person does not negate the other by rejecting them,
they may negate the other by loving them. Human love,
being individualistic, is possessive. When a person loves
another in a possessive way, they do not allow that person
to exist as a “person,” as an “other.” Instead, they absorb