Devotion

 Every so often, a work of art or piece of music will show me some example of human devotion, and the interplay between "you" and "me" that spins endlessly without beginning. 

    Devotion is paradoxical, precisely insomuch as it can never be paid back. There is no actual reciprocal and symmetrical relationship with devotion, for if this were the case, it would not longer have an unconditional ring to it. For example, if I give to someone knowing that they owe me or need to carry their weight, this is not really a devotional form. Similarly, with the notion of Buddhist devotion, the aim is not to gain merits or have special favors from others; more so, it's to realize emptiness and let go of attachment to self.

   Perhaps it's also possible to say that the devotion of the other, and the care they give to the receiving person, is not immediately recognized or rewarded. Precisely insofar as the receiver might be blind to human devotion that its discovery becomes all the more dramatic and transformative. It gives the receiver of devotional acts the opportunity to see past their feelings of dissatisfaction, and reach a real feeling of gratitude. This, to me, is also a Christian message: it's precisely insofar that humans are lost without God that the unconditional devotion and sacrifice of Christ is all the ore miraculous. It's precisely because of this sinfulness that the devotion stands out as transformative and filling one's heart with a sense of gratitude.