mashatupitsyn:

“To encounter oneself is to encounter the other: and this is love. If I know that my soul trembles, I know that yours does, too: and, if I can respect this, both of us can live. Neither of us, truly, can live without the other: a statement which would not sound so banal if one were not endlessly compelled to repeat it, and, further, believe it, and act on that belief. My friend was quite right when he said, ‘So, we must be careful—lest we lose our faith—and become possessed…[The devil] is that moment when no other human being is real for you, nor are you real for yourself. This devil has no need of any dogma—though he can use them all–nor does he need any historical justification, history being so largely his invention. He does not levitate beds, or fool around with little girls: we do.“

-James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work
On The Exorcist, love, and the crisis of faith