Evil does not exist by nature, nor is any person naturally evil because God made nothing that was not good. When in the desire of his heart someone conceives and gives form to what in reality has no existence, then what he desires begins to exist. We should therefore turn our attention away from the inclination to evil and concentrate it on the remembrance of God; for good, which exists by nature, is more powerful than our inclination to evil. The one has existence while the other has not, except when we give it existence through our actions. (Diadochus of Photike, 5th century)
Every true seeker, every meditator, is led along this razor-edge path of discernment between good and evil, between the real and the unreal. The path illumines the truth of what Diadochus transmits in these diamond-like words. Each life that follows this path in poverty becomes a transcendent force of good in the world collaborating with the faithful love of the ever-present Origin. We are powerless but we also participate in the glorious beauty and goodness of creation streaming from the horizonless expanse of the Creator.
