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But those who possess not only the faculties of sensation and intellection, but have also obtained spiritual and supernatural grace, do not gain knowledge only through created beings, but also know spiritually, in a manner beyond sense and intelligence, that God is spirit, for they have become entirely God, and know God in God.
--St. Gregory Palamas, Discourses (b. 1296)
Sharon Olds (b. 1942), poet laureate 1998-2000, in “The Knowing,” tells of lovemaking beyond lovemaking.
When I wake again, he is still looking at me,
As if he is eternal. For an hour
We wake and doze, and slowly I know
That though we are sated, though we are hardly
Touching, this is the coming the other
Coming brought us to the edge of—we are entering,
Deeper and deeper, gaze by gaze,
This place beyond the other places,
Beyond the body itself, we are making
Love.
Prayer leads us to the edge of this Unknowing. Prayer, lovemaking with the Trinue Other in the now leads us beyond the now. We are in the now; indeed, we are both in and outside the now. The now has become another word for its opposite, even as eternity has become another word for now.
This is a fulfillment of the first coming of prayer, the prayer that opens the veil that has led us to believe there is only this world now for us. Jesus, intent to lead us beyond the first comings of religion to the other coming, says, “"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets (i.e., the Hebrew Scriptures); I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5.17, ESV).
This “place beyond the other places” is an intensely inner journey. Says St. Dmitri of Rostov (18th Century, Orthodox):
To kindle in his heart such a divine love, to unite with God in an inseparable union of love, it is necessary for a man to pray often, raising the mind to Him. Far as a flame increases when it is constantly fed, so prayer, made often, with the mind dwelling ever more deeply in God, arouses divine love in the heart. And the heart, set on fire, will warm all the inner man, will enlighten and teach him, revealing to him all its unknown and hidden wisdom, and making him like a flaming seraph, always standing before God within his spirit, always looking at Him within his mind, and drawing from this vision the sweetness of spiritual joy.
The consummation of this inner conjugal union, Spirit in spirit, spirit in Spirit, is “sweetness of spiritual joy.” Sated by the body of religion, one is led to and beyond the edge, to an inner glow that manifests in a brightness of face and flesh. The body is being, now, transformed by Grace, as the Light arises from the inner spirit and permeates the flesh. So, the journey is from flesh to spirit, then, from spirit to flesh.
For the mature contemplative, trained years in this inward Grace, he or she lives in the lovemaking day and night. And mind does not have to participate knowingly--and usually does not--, for mind participates by being drawn into the heart.
Yes, sate yourself on religion. Sate yourself to opening to the inner Light, the Light of Christ. Then, you stand in the Divine, you rest nowhere, for you are one with One everywhere: you no longer make or share love, for you are Love. You enter fulfillment of making love to externals of faith and belief: you die to all that--now you enjoy religion by the consequence of death to it, so you do not abandon the body of faith and Grace--, for it no longer is in the mingling with the Light, and you resurrect a spiritual person.
The Light is Christ, source of Grace, the very Light hidden and, yet, manifested in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth. This Christ is Grace. As the Church Fathers have taught us, you become god by participating in God. Indeed, you become the shining flesh of Christ, a tabernacle of Love moving about in the desert of this world, witnessing to the inner Life beyond religion, the true Promised Land.
*Quote from St. Gregory Palamas, "The Classics of Western Spirituality"; poem of Sharon Olds, Roger Housden, ten poems to open your heart; citation of St. Dmitri of Rostov, Benedict J. Groeschel, with Kevin Perrotta, The Journey Toward God.
**OneLife writings are offered by Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist pastor serving in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He writes in the spirit of John Wesley's focus on the priority of inner experience of the Triune God; scriptural holiness; ongoing sanctification; the goal of Christian perfection (or, wholeness). Brian seeks to integrate the best of the contemplative teachings of Christianity East and West, from the patristic Church to the present. Brian lives a vowed contemplative life with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, in North Florida. OneLife writings are for anyone seeking to live and share love, joy, and peace in the world and in devotion to God as she or he best understands God.
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