The Weight of Substance

When we say that something has no substance, we are saying that it isn't worth anything real.  It has no weight or meaning.  Substance means you can hold it in your hand; you can have it and it's yours; it's something that lasts.  Something that has no substance cannot be redeemed because it's only purpose is to be stripped away.

Athanasius, one of the early Church fathers, wrote that mankind is constantly worshipping the "pleasures of the moment," which are merely an illusion.  An illusion is something that one believes to be real yet is not.  There are plenty of times in my life when I chase something down, only to find that it had no substance at all; that it was merely an illusion.

I've found that it's easy to believe in the substance of illusions.  Believing in something that isn't there is easy because things without substance aren't heavy.  Sometimes, even when I know the illusion isn't real, it's easier to just go on believing it.  But when that illusion is stripped away, you're left with nothing.

What if instead we chose to chase down weighty things?  What if we believed in difficulty and opposition?  Lifting weights only works because you're lifting weight.  Tricking yourself into getting in shape has never worked for anyone.  When you're holding something of substance, you can have it and it's yours.  Maybe it's not yet completed; maybe it's not even good yet, but at least it's real.

Illusions don't make you, weight does.