Francis Schaeffer on Being

"The truth is not just an abstract truth, there is a truth of what I am. Now we could think of two basic areas in considering the question of man. The first is Being or the question of his existence. This is the dilemma of all men, regardless of what their philosophy is. It is the basic thing which no man can escape, that he does exist. Endless problems are thrown up to the non-Christian man as to the question of his existence, of his Being. No matter who he is, no matter what his philosophy is, he exists and there he is. He cannot ever escape this dilemma even by considering suicide, because if he commits suicide he may think that he can cease to be, but even in his own thought forms, it does not erase the fact that he has been. So we can think first of all of the problem of Being.

The second area relates to what man is in the circle of his existence. In other words, I am, but what am I in comparison with what God is? I exist, God exists: what is the difference between the circle of my existence and the circle of his existence? And on the other side what is the difference between my existence and the existence of the animals, plants, and unconscious materials, because they also exist. So now we have bare existence, and then differentiations of myself from God on one side and the animals, plants, and machines on the other side.

In the area of bare existence there is no rational answer without the personal Creator ... when as a Christian I bow before this God who is there, then I can move out of the only logical position which the non-Christian can hold, and that is he must dwell consciously but silently in the cocoon of his being, without knowing anything outside himself. It is a hopeless situation: if he can only dwell in a silent cocoon; he may know he is there but he cannot make the first move out of it."

~ True Spirituality, "Substantial Healing of Psychological Problems," pages 123-124