Do you value authenticity? You see ethnic restaurants that claim to serve authentic food, but most people prefer their food with a foreign theme adapted to the tastes of their culture. Do Americans eat more cheese on their ‘Mexican’ and ‘Italian’ food than Mexicans and Italians do? But this is just a matter of taste. Authenticity is a more important concept when it comes to people. The concept is the same in being true to the original. Do you live and express your true self; your unique spirituality identity, rather than maintaining an image? This is not just a matter of taste.

You are familiar with the idea of applying for a job. You are happy if you get one you want. Not everyone is able to find the job they want, but I give gifts to everyone. But finding the gift I give you is not the same as applying for a job. You can train to fill the position you desire, but gifts from me are discerned, recognized, and called forth. There are many jobs you could do successfully, but my gifts are more unique and inherent. They are a part of your identity. What do you feel driven to do, that you would do without payment or recognition?

Do you understand that you should not be envious of others? This is being resentful of their blessings and wishing that you could have them for yourself. Is there a virtue that corresponds to envy? You could express vicarious joy at the blessings that others receive without being resentful that they are not yours. This requires you to take a perspective larger than your own self-interest, but doing so provides you with so many benefits in life.

I describe love as hoping, bearing, and believing all things. Does this mean that love is naïve? If you applied the same terms to a person would you say that they are loving or gullible? You say that love is blind, but true love is not unaware. How do you look through loving eyes? Can you look at love not as naïve, but rather as a powerful influence that can bring into being that which is not yet visible? Love doesn’t see less than what is visible; it sees more. It sees potential and trusts in the ultimate and transcendent forces to realize it, and so brings it about.