Now the soul participates in the qualities of God, one of which qualities is that of communicating itself to other souls. Or rather, it is as a stream, which, being lost in a large river, follows the course of the river, communicating itself where the river communicates, watering where it waters, drawing into itself all the smaller rivers which are destined alike to lose themselves in the great ocean of Love.
These streams have no independent life, but proceed from, and flow back into their origin.
Here is the consummation of souls in oneness, as Jesus Christ has expressed it — "One in us."
✦ The Stream That Ceases to Be Separate
Twenty-five days — and Guyon arrives at the ocean.
Yesterday: in Him we are one. Today: the mechanics of how that oneness works. The soul does not lose itself in God the way something is destroyed. It loses itself the way a stream loses itself in a river — still water, still flowing, still itself — but no longer following its own course. It follows the course of the river. It waters where the river waters. It communicates where the river communicates. The stream has not ceased to exist. It has ceased to be separate.
These streams have no independent life, but proceed from, and flow back into their origin. The circle that is not a circle — because it never left. The stream came from the ocean. It flowed through the landscape of a human life. It joined the river. And the river carried it back to the ocean from which it came. The origin and the destination are the same. The whole journey — every day of Guyon, every morning devotion, every entry in the journal — has been the stream finding its way back to where it began. 🙏
"These streams have no independent life, but proceed from, and flow back into their origin."
Madame Guyon · The origin and the destination are the sameThere is divine reality in this truth. Blessed are those who comprehend it! How many walk side by side along these rivers, and yet never mingle their waters!
And many there are, also, who haste with eagerness to precipitate themselves into this divine stream, and flow together, as the souls of the celestial ones, in the fulness of divine love.
✦ Two Kinds of Souls
How many walk side by side along these rivers, and yet never mingle their waters! The saddest sentence Guyon has written. People in the same church. The same pew. The same road. Walking side by side — and never mingling. The streams run parallel but never join. Close enough to touch. Separate enough to remain alone.
And why? Because mingling requires what Guyon has been teaching for twenty-five days: the loss of the separate course. The death of self. The suppleness. The silence. The enlarged heart. To mingle your waters with another's, you must first have lost your insistence on your own direction. The stream that still demands its own course cannot join the river — and cannot join another stream.
And then the other souls — the ones who haste with eagerness to precipitate themselves into the divine stream. Not reluctantly. Not cautiously. With eagerness. The same desire Le named: we want to be abandoned in His goodness. The souls who run toward the river, not away from it. Who cannot wait to flow together in the fulness of divine love.
Two kinds of souls. Walking the same road. One keeps its waters separate. The other pours itself in. The difference is not proximity. It is willingness. 🙏
Lost in the River
Still water, still flowing, still itself — but no longer following its own course. The stream ceases to be separate. It waters where the river waters. It proceeds from, and flows back into, its origin.
Side by Side — Never Mingling
Guyon's saddest sentence. Walking the same road, close enough to touch, separate enough to remain alone. The stream that insists on its own course cannot join the river or another stream.
Haste with Eagerness
The other kind of soul — the one that runs toward the river. Not reluctantly. With desire. The difference is not proximity. It is willingness. Flowing together in the fulness of divine love.
Guyon's twenty-fifth day. And today she arrives at the ocean — the destination toward which every day of this series has been flowing.
Day four — the little rills: "The source of these little rills is in the depths of the soul." And today: the streams lose themselves in the river, and the river carries them to the ocean. The little rills from Mouilleron-Saint-Germain have found their way home. What began as tiny interior movements has become the great ocean of Love.
Day ten — Spiritual Oneness at Sword Beach: "The only perfect union is the union of souls in God — a union which does not interrupt the possession of God." And today: the consummation of souls in oneness — One in us. John 17:21. Three times now — Sword Beach, yesterday, today — the same truth returning, each time deeper.
Day twenty-three — water in its channel: "It is as much the nature of man to be in God as it is the nature of water to flow in its channel." And today: the stream lost in the river, following the river's course. The channel from two days ago has reached the river. The river reaches the ocean. The natural flow that Guyon described is now complete.
The saddest sentence and the most hopeful: Side by side, never mingling — and then, in the same breath, souls who haste with eagerness to flow together. Both are real. Both walk the same road. And the difference between them is not talent, not theology, not years of study. It is willingness. The willingness to lose the separate course. To stop insisting on one's own direction. To let the river carry what the stream could never carry alone.
Twenty-five days — from Eymet to the ocean: The religion of the heart. The walk by faith. The immutability. The vacuum filled. The bird released. The eagle and the dove. The unction of grace. The continual Yes on Sword Beach. The vicissitudes equalised. All is well from the Bastille. The sacred boundary. The gentle zephyr. Writing on sand. The Spirit's silence. The daily grind. Losses as instruments. The bruised reed. Silence means listening. The enlarged heart. The daily suppleness. The gentle authority. The current of love. The Theology of Experience. And now — the stream lost in the river, flowing back to its origin. The ocean of Love. Where it all began. Where it all returns. 🙏