Greco-Christian stream·The Imitation of Christ·Book III — On Inward Consolation·Chapter IX. That All Things Are To Be Referred To God, As The Final End
IX. All things to be referred to God as the final end
Whatever the soul attains, it must refer back to God as to its final end. The proximate goods are not the end; God Himself is. Even the gifts of grace must not be loved for themselves but for the Giver.
Source context
- Theme
- referral of all created things to God as ultimate final end
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Aristotelian teleologyAristotle's doctrine of the unmoved mover as the final cause toward which all things are ordered provides a structural parallel to the chapter's insistence that God alone is the proper terminus of every act and intention.
- Vedantic non-duality (Advaita)The Advaitic principle that all names and forms subsist in and return to Brahman as their sole ultimate ground exhibits cross-tradition congruence with the chapter's claim that no finite end is legitimate except as referred to the infinite source.
- Neoplatonic epistrophePlotinus's schema of procession and return (epistrophe) — by which all emanated being is drawn back toward the One — maps structurally onto the chapter's moral-spiritual counsel to orient every act toward God as the final end.
Chapter IX. That All Things Are To Be Referred To God, As The Final End
THAT ALL THINGS ARE TO BE REFERRED TO GOD, AS THE FINAL END
"My Son, I must be thy Supreme and final end, if thou desirest to be truly happy. Out of such purpose thy affection shall be purified, which too often is sinfully bent upon itself and upon created things. For if thou seekest thyself in any matter, straightway thou wilt fail within thyself and grow barren. Therefore refer everything to Me first of all, for it is I who gave thee all. So look upon each blessing as flowing from the Supreme Good, and thus all things are to be attributed to Me as their source.
2"From Me the humble and great, the poor and the rich, draw water as from a living fountain, and those who serve Me with a free and faithful spirit shall receive grace for grace. But he who will glory apart from Me, or will be delighted with any good which lieth in himself, shall not be established in true joy, nor shall be enlarged in heart, but shall be greatly hindered and thrown into tribulation. Therefore thou must not ascribe any good to thyself, nor look upon virtue as belonging to any man, but ascribe it all unto God, without whom man hath nothing. I gave all, I will receive all again, and with great strictness require I the giving of thanks.
3"This is the Truth, and by it the vanity of boasting is put to flight. And if heavenly grace and true charity shall enter into thee, there shall be no envy, nor straitening of the heart, nor shall any self-love take possession of thee. For divine charity conquereth all things, and enlargeth all the powers of the soul. If thou art truly wise, thou wilt rejoice in Me alone, thou wilt hope in Me alone; for there is none good but one, that is God,(1) Who is to be praised above all things, and in all things to receive blessing."
(1) Luke xviii. 19.