|
Having no mind, without desires,
Self-quieted, self-existing,
It is like a wave of water.
Luminosity is veiled only by the rising of desire.
(Tilopa, N. India, ca. 989-1069, First in Mahamudra Lineage)
Luminosity, the uncreate clarity, is the natural state of the heart-mind, the state of pure faith. This faith has no content, no subject, and no object. For the Christian, here ceases self as subject and God as object. Here, for the Christian, ceases God as subject and self as object. “God” and “self,” “subject” and “object” are seen to be mental constructs at least a step from Reality. Here, in the contemplative state of union, spirit and Spirit realize oneness as one.
This union is like meeting an old friend and realizing you never parted company. You realize you only forgot each other. So, contemplative union is awakening to union, not achieving union.
Prior to this union, we speak of having faith in God: faith has a direction. In union one no longer has faith in God, not as a direction, for faith is one felt and realized aspect of the Whole, of God. Faith as faith in someone or something drops, for faith has lead to this union. Pure faith within this union is the culmination of faith as directed toward God.
Here one is not trusting God, as a direction of certainty or hope or will, for this is dissolved in a perfect coinhering of such bliss and truth that certainty and clarity without content exists in the embrace of One All-Including Life.
This faith is a state of union in love. Therefore, as Tilopa speaks from the Buddhist tradition, the natural union is without desire, for in perfect fulfillment there can be no desire. In this state of perfect union, desire cannot be, for desire, both what we call “good” or “bad” desire, has consummated in what the contemplative had always most desired to enjoy: God.
So, let yourself move beyond faith as faith in and desire as longing for God, by being taken by Grace to the culmination of both faith and desire, for God wants you to know God beyond all perceived as outside God: even your faith in and desire for God. For why would you use the paddle when the boat has been rowed to shore.
Then, enjoy quiet and enjoy existence in undifferentiated oneness, in which no longer does "God" or "you" relate with each other, as separation is known to be a veil now dissolved in love. Rather, you relate in each other, as each other, yet, as a difference that still inheres in this mystical marriage with Christ, the Word of God.
This sacred marriage is such faith-less and desire-free bliss that St. Teresa of Avila could write, "Oh, Jesus! If only we could find the countless jewels hidden in sacred scriptures to guide us to this deep soul-peace!" (The Interior Castle, trans. Mirabai Starr) Here, as with faith and desire, one enjoys self-subsistent peace arising from and in the self-subsistence of the soul and its Beloved One, with all the qualities of luminous divinity in one natural state of spontaneous joy. However, this joy is beyond the mere emotion of joy, which we often associate with joy. This is a deep knowing of contentment, certainty, and peace.
Spiritual Exercise
Breathe deeply in, breathe deeply out. Relax. Now, breathe naturally. Rest, sink into this Ocean of Love, God. When the mind wanders, center yourself again through the breath. Let yourself enter the knowingness wherein you no longer are thinking of God, rather you are experiencing God in perfect union with you.
Poem
Being in all action, action arises out of being,
becoming, every word, thought, movement,
from being that is becoming, that is one,
that is.
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spirtual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net . Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union, can be ordered through major bookdealers.
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
The People of the
United Methodist Church
|
