I have an idea heaven will be both absolutely happy and absolutely dark, to protect us from the blaze of God.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that heaven balances extreme joy with darkness to shield us from overwhelming divine presence.
Evelyn Underhill's quote reflects the philosophical idea that an ideal state, such as heaven, encompasses both ecstatic happiness and the serenity of darkness. This duality serves as a protective measure, allowing beings to experience bliss without being consumed by the intense brilliance of the divine, much like how light and shadow coexist to create a complete experience in life.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the nature of the afterlife.
Nothing in all nature is so lovely and so vigorous, so perfectly at home in its environment, as a fish in the sea. Its surroundings give to it a beauty, quality, and power which are not its own. We take it out, and at once a poor, limp dull thing, fit for nothing, is gasping away its life. So the soul, sunk in God, living the life of prayer, is supported, filled, transformed in beauty, by a vitality and a power which are not its own.
As the beautiful does not exist for the artist and poet alone—though these can find in it more poignant depths of meaning than other men—so the world of Reality exists for all; and all may participate in it, unite with it, according to their measure and to the strength and purity of their desire.
God is always coming to you in the Sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude in that sacrament.
Spiritual reading is a regular, essential part of the life of prayer, and particularly is it the support of adoring prayer.
As the genuine religious impulse becomes dominant, adoration more and more takes charge. 'I come to seek God because I need Him', may be an adequate formula for prayer. 'I come to adore His splendour, and fling myself and all that I have at His feet', is the only possible formula for worship.
Much is now being said about evangelism; but before we get effective evangelism, we have to get effective evangelists. Evangelism is useless unless it is the work of one devoted to God, willing and glad to suffer all things for God, penetrated by the attractiveness of God. New machinery, adaptations and adjustments, are not the first need... but more devoted, adoring, sacrificial souls.
If the universe is everything, and scientists say that the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
Cruelty hardens and degrades, kindness reforms and ennobles.
I don't feel any vulgar gratitude to you[for helping me]. I almost feel as if You ought to be grateful to ME, for giving you the opportunity of enjoying the luxury of generosity. . . I may have come into the world expressly for the purpose of increasing your stock of happiness. I may have been born to be a benefactor to you, by giving you an opportunity of assisting me.
When I cannot see words curling like rings of smoke round me I am in darkness—I am nothing.
With the same honest views, the most honest men often form different conclusions.
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