When giving alms, Jesus exhorts us to not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. However, he is not thereby encouraging that lack of self-awareness that perpetuates deficits in self-knowledge and keeps us out of touch with our often hidden motivations and intentions. Indeed, to truly obey Jesus’ instruction, our hearts need to be completely purified and every dark corner explored, before we can safely act without the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing. This is another way of describing the divinizing process of becoming love. Love and do what you will is the way Saint Augustine described this blessed state in which the purified heart (transformed into love) can act without self-reflection because it is now spontaneously and totally motivated by love, and will do no harm. But, until we reach that happy state, our left hands probably need to remain somewhat vigilant as to what the right hand is doing!
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