One hates to see others whose centre is self. Their whole life looks so mean and low. Life over, the Ego alone left; and what a poor, wretched, snivelling creature after all--this what we pampered, this what we thrust forward for others to admire and flatter! If we were not in much the same case, we might be able to view it in others with somewhat different eyes. And yet do you know that, as a matter of fact, our Ego is dead--self is not--and the devil's greatest lie is to make us believe in this self? For do not you and I belong to One stronger than {93} self--One whose own self may live in us--does live in us--whether we recognise the fact or not? We died years ago to self when He claimed us for Himself, and we rose again to a selfless life in Him: _zo de ouketi ego, ze de en emoi Christos_. [Transcriber's note: The above Greek phrase was transliterated as follows: _zo_--zeta, omega; _de_--delta, epsilon; _ouketi_--omicron, upsilon, kappa, epsilon, tau, iota; _ego_--epsilon, gamma, omega; _ze_--zeta, eta; _de_--delta, epsilon; _en_--epsilon, nu; _emoi_--epsilon, mu, omicron, iota; _Christos_--Chi, rho, iota, sigma, tau, omicron, final sigma] We act a lie whenever we make our Ego instead of His Ego the centre. If He is our centre and our goal, then be sure our Ego will begin to live, because it is 'grounded' and rooted in His. Any trouble and anxiety that leads you out of self to the Infinite Ego, that makes you feel helpless and lonely and in need of a Human Helper and a Human Comforter, thank God for it. He is teaching you to cast yourself upon One who is perfectly human because perfectly divine. He is teaching you that you are not your own; that long, long ago yourself died: _ei oun sunegerthete to Christo, ta ano zeteite_. [Transcriber's note: The above Greek phrase was transliterated as follows: _ei_--epsilon, iota; _oun_--omicron, upsilon, nu; _sunegerthete_--sigma, upsilon, nu, eta, gamma, epsilon, rho, theta, eta, tau, epsilon; _to_--tau, omega; _Christo_--chi, rho, iota, sigma, tau, omega; _ta_--tau, alpha; _ano_--alpha, nu, omega; _zeteite_--zeta, eta, tau, epsilon, iota, tau, epsilon] Thus we are led to understand something of the meaning of our Christian names--to see that they are living pledges to us, whatever we do, wherever we go--that Christ's name is called upon us--that when tiny little children we were brought home to the Great Ego in whom alone our Ego can ever find satisfaction--to feel that we are His and He is ours. _To J. L. D._ Christ's College, Cambridge: October 9, 1893.