Daniel 10:17 · World English Bible
Daniel 10:17 Meaning For How Can the Servant of This
For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? For as for me, immediately there remained no strength in me. There was no breath left in me.
What does Daniel 10:17 mean?
When the vastness of Being draws near, the small self feels itself emptied of strength. This is not weakness but recognition.
From the Ego v. Being reading below.
Daniel 10:17 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Ego v. Being
EGO & BEING
Ego v. Being
When the vastness of Being draws near, the small self feels itself emptied of strength. This is not weakness but recognition. The person you take yourself to be, the bundle of thoughts and striving that calls itself 'I', simply cannot stand in the presence of something so much greater than itself.
There is nothing to fear in this. The strength that drains away is only the strength of the ego, its endless doing and defending. What remains when it falls silent is presence, awareness needing to prove nothing. You lose your grip on the small self so that something deeper in you can finally be felt.
Ego v. Being lensGo deeper in the app
Ego v. Being lens
Live Daniel 10:17 today
- Next time you feel small reading something that outclasses you, sit with the drop in your chest for ten seconds before reaching for your phone. Let the feeling be information, not an emergency.
- In a conversation where someone clearly knows more than you, say so out loud and stop defending the ground you were holding. Watch how much easier the rest of the talk gets.
- When a deadline or a hard email takes the strength out of your legs, put both feet flat on the floor and feel them there for a breath before you answer. The part of you that panicked is not the whole of you.
What would be left of you if you stopped holding yourself up?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching
The sage empties himself and is filled. What looks like losing your footing is the moment you stop standing on something that was never solid.
Zen
A student asked for teaching and the master told him to first empty his cup. Nothing greater can enter a self that is already full of itself.
Sufism · Rumi
The candle is not weakened by the sun, it is simply revealed for what it is. What drains out of you in that light was only ever borrowed.
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