A Mirror

"For the world is as a crazed and spotted mirror, reflecting the perfect country of eternity."

A verse from the chapter "The Three Loves"

Khear or kear is the crack in the mirror, that flaw in all things short of the Divine, that keeps things from being Perfect. Everything and everyone is touched by it. The beginning of the chapter this verse comes from speaks of the khear that mars the world, that mars each of our souls. It's part of the package deal that comes with being mortal and living in the physical world. But khear is also something we can fall into, widening the crack, as it were, between us and the Divine, with our personal choices while here on this earth.

 

Filianism does not demand that we give up this world, or separate ourselves from it as a fallen place or worthless cause, as this verse itself illustrates. There are genuinely Good things in this world (though at times it may seem hard to find them!). This chapter speaks of seeing beyond the cracks and imperfections to the beauty that still lies in the world and each other, knowing the Divine is the Source, while reminding us to be wary lest we fall into the cracks themselves.

 

The Three Loves, verses 2-10:

"...the false self loves all that is not whole and all the falsehoods of this world. It is the false self that seeks advantage and that is bound by all desires of earth. The true self knows but one desire, and that is the desire of the Spirit and of oneness with the Divine, for that is the only true desire.

"Yet the true self also loves this earth; but loves it for that it is an image of the Divine. For the world is as a crazed and spotted mirror, reflecting the perfect country of eternity. The false self loves the kears and imperfections, taking pleasure in their pattern, and seeing not the image within the glass. But the true self sees beyond the kears, and into the depth of the reflection.

"Yet the false self does not know its true desire; for every love of kear is in truth a love of the abyss. And every turning from the One Light to a lesser light is in truth a step toward the darkness."

 

 

There is the tiniest alignment error that I didn't notice until I was ready to post it, and it is so frustrating to look at -- though, if there isn't a better picture to have mess up right at the end with, I don't know what is.