Thrown into Contradiction

January 14

Thrown into Contradiction

God reveals Himself in the middle of conflict and contradition--and we want to find Him ousdie all contradiction.

Importance of contradiction: the contradiction essential to my existence is the expression of the world's first present: it is my contribution to the whole. My contradiciton and my conflict are my part in the whole. They are my "place." It is in my insight and acceptance of contradiction that the world creates itself anew in and through my liberty--I permit God to act in and through me, making His world (in which all are judged and redeemed). I am thrown into contradiction: to realize it is mercy, to accept it is love, and to help others do the same is compassion. All this seems like nothing, but it is creation. The contradiction is precisely that we cannot "be creative" in some other way we would prefer (in which there is no contradiction).

January 20, 1966, VI. 354-55