"We are not "masters of ourselves" because neither do we control our existence i n total freedom, since we are 'thrown'

into existence, nor are we free in our co mmunications. All our acts of self-expression are embedded in history and leave traces we cannot alter. We are 'not original in being and spirit but copy, not o riginal word but answering word, not freely speaking but expressed meaning, and therefore completely under the demand of the beautiful which we ourselves cannot control' (Balthasar 1:21). In this sense human existence is in its entirety (bo dy and spirit) a 'mirror of God,' and art participates in the divine transcenden ce." (Jens Zimmerman)