Giving Without Loss

The quiet axiom under all of it: the source is not lessened by what proceeds from it. The sun is not spent by shining; a candle lighting a candle keeps its own flame; a teacher who teaches does not know less afterward. Neoplatonism needs this to keep the One perfect while the world exists; the Kabbalah needs it to keep Ein Sof infinite while the worlds unfold — and then complicates it beautifully, because if the light must also be withdrawn to make room, then giving involves a real restraint and not only an overflow. The most generous idea in Greek philosophy, met by a tradition that asked what generosity costs.