Active receptivity unites receptivity with the activity of remembrance of God, reflecting the divine-human mysteries of Christ, who is receptively active in his active receptivity. Taught by the Spirit, peace is conveyed on earth as in heaven, uniting active with receptive remembrance. Deep beneath the troubled surfaces of worldly concerns, active receptivity endures in the cave of the heart, uniting uncreated… Read more »
The Spirit comforts those who mourn: the Paraclete blesses the poor in spirit with the Kingdom of heaven. The lamentation of heart-rending mourning opens heavenly realms, rendering grace on earth in exchange for unmitigated suffering. The Spirit of truth comforts all who mourn, reaching down through suffering to the ultimate ground of blessed joy. Joy does not stifle heart-rending mourning, but opens… Read more »
The Beloved Disciple communicates love, having first been loved, which is why love became the overarching theme of the Fourth Gospel, the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. Forty-two Odes of love were the Church’s first Hymn Book from the circle of the Beloved Disciple, lost for many centuries but found again by the Quaker scholar, James… Read more »
Faith trusts in God, seeing as God sees, knowing as God knows, recollecting God through God, recognising God in God, remembering God as God remembers God in Holy Trinity. Sometimes, faith is called ‘blind faith’ because faith does not see as we see, visually perceiving something, or know as we know, empirically experiencing something knowable, but this way of speaking does… Read more »
Unknowing openness humbly releases the self-centred desire to know, to be in control, to be self-centred rather than God-centred. Openness is childlike trust, faith in God which transcends proud beliefs, transcends self-righteous egoism, humbles right-thinking which usurps faith. Unknowing knows God beyond self-righteous knowledge, trusting God as God trusts God, as the Spirit trusts God in Holy Trinity, with trusting openness…. Read more »
Today, March 12th, is the Feast Day of the Prophet of Prayer, Saint Symeon the New Theologian, whose prophetic writings have inspired pure prayer since his death in 1022. His ‘Hymns of Love’ declare that love is the uncreated light that illumines seers, love the ineffable glory that deifies saints. For the Prophet of Prayer, the New Covenant is a Covenant… Read more »
Mystical Theology, for Hesychast Wisdom, is theological theophany, opening deification, called the angelic estate, to integral wisdom. The sciences of the soul find their fulfilment in theophany as do the sciences of humanity, because the fulfilment of humankind is cosmic as well as divine-human. Cosmotheandric theophany is truly integral in its insight into cosmic dimensions of divine-human love, agape, unselfish love that,… Read more »
O Thou That Art, revealing ‘I AM’ through ‘I AM,’ be Thou my delight, Mother Wisdom, through the grace of Thy Glory! Thou art my life, light of my heart, love of my life! Open my heart to Thee, my Bride, my Beloved! May nothing separate me from thee, here in God’s Holy Presence, here in His vision of Thee, Mother… Read more »
Glorification lives from self-emptying love, but when self-realisation is weak, self-emptying may descend into psychotic disintegration. Casualties of psychotic dislocation may occur in souls who by-pass psychological integration with unintegrated self-emptying, in which case spiritual integration must include psychological with spiritual realisation. Elders normally stand back when Christ awakens in the heart, but there is no avoiding withdrawal of psychological projections in healthy spiritual… Read more »
Wisdom’s yoke of love stands over the beloved who loves as she is loved, hallows as she is hallowed, remembers as she is remembered. Satan’s ‘no’ has no hold over the yoke of love, which is God’s ‘Yes’, always ‘Yes,’ not ‘no,’ always ‘Amen,’ always ‘Glory to God.’ (2 Cor 1:20). The yoke of love embraces those who embrace the… Read more »