Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Friday, April 26, 2002 Thought from a Sunny Day (from my book Contentions) 92 The mystic path is often described as having three distinct movements: 1) purgative, 2) illuminative, and 3) unitive. The fact is, though, that these movements do not operate sequentially as often stated. They operate concurrently. They seem consequent because conversion brings about changes that appear subsequent. But the purgative process seems preliminary because there is so much to be purged of ego and selfishness that everything else shrinks in comparison. The truth is that we have always been one with God. He is in our souls always, but faith makes it possible to make reality apparent to us. Worship is meant to help us realize what we already have in us - God - and bring it out, open our consciousness, our being. The illuminative process of developing virtue and drawing insights into the necessity of goodness, love, and patience is always present to us also. The Holy Spirit teaches us every step of the way. Awareness of sin (purgation) and selfishness goes hand in hand with developing humility and appreciation for acquiring sympathy and interest in wisdom. But the initial Dark Night, as St. John describes its agonies, tends to overshadow the Bright Days of insight, trust, hope, and peace. It is a disservice to think the three aspects of conversion are sequential. Bernadette Roberts (author of The Experience of No-Self) talks of a life beyond these three processes but I'm beginning to have my doubts. I agree that in the unitive process, God becomes unknown and impersonal to the mystic because there is no Self to create a dualism or dichotomy between Creator and creature; yet, I am not willing to say the unitive process is thus complete. The unitive process does lead to moments of no-Self and a continual sense of prayer (contemplation), but it does not make one perfect, innocent, or absolutely holy. Bad thoughts or false desires still erupt and require further purgation as the onion seems to have endless layers. The illumination of deeper consciousness of Jesus and being continues, also, but with greater subtlety and less frequency (thus seemingly at an end). posted by Mark Butterworth | 1:31 AM | |
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