Just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy.



Man's being in the world is, according to the Bible, preceded by man's being known to God. Human existence follows divine anticipation. 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you' (Jeremiah 1:5). We live in the universe of His knowing. What guides and sustains our thinking about afterlife is relatedness to God. Apart from such relatedness and trust, there is no ground for such a hope. The real issue is whether my existence here and now is exclusively being-in-the-world or whether it is also being-in-God's-knowledge, whether being in the world is not also living in the presence of God, transcended by His knowing, escorted by His radiance.



Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, 1907-1972.