Yet the emptiness and meaninglessness of divine love should not lead us to despair. Rather, it should recall us to finitude as the condition for any sense of responsibility and love. Only someone who is finite—only someone who understands what loss means—can care for the beloved. Only someone who is finite can allow the world to matter and only som

that must be achieved. On the other hand, freedom is always interesting. When I was without what I should do and might do and could do, I just did what was obvious and was given to me. I experienced that as one of the shapes of love.

The causes can vary, but any form of spiritual life has a spiritual cause. The question of who we are and what we do—as well as the question of whether we are succeeding or failing in our efforts—is inseparable from the spiritual causes for the sake of which we act. These are spiritual causes—as distinct from natural causes—since their efficacy is