Luminosity, the uncreate clarity, is the natural state of the heart-mind, the state of pure faith, of pure, formless spirit - entering God by God-through-participation. This faith has no content, no subject, no object. Here, in the contemplative state of God-through-participation, the individualized soul and Pure Spirit realize oneness as one in God, together.

This re-union is like meeting an old friend and realizing you never parted company. You know you only forgot. Loving oneness is awakening to union, not achieving union.

Prior to this re-union, you speak of having faith in God: faith has direction. In union you no longer have faith in God as God apart from you, and faith is in-God without direction. You and God equally share in this faith. Faith as faith in someone or something drops. Pure faith, within luminosity, is a culmination of faith as directed toward God. This is spiritual conjugality.

In God-through-participation, certainty and clarity, without a content extraneous to the union, exists in an embrace of all-inclusive Life and Truth. Otherness is parented by Simplicity, is prior to it as a parent is prior to the child, as the Word is first to all words.

This faith is a state of oneness in Love. As Tilopa speaks from the Buddhist tradition, union is without desire, for in full fulfillment desire ceases as separate from the object of desire. Desire is, still, held within the Oneness of God, for from that Simplicity arises all creatures.

In union desire is complete within God. Union is the summation and consummation, God is Completion. This is even as in the Trinity: each "Person" is complete within the Other and in the Whole.

Let yourself move beyond faith as faithing in and desire as longing for. Let Grace take you to the culmination of both faith and its desire. Accept quiet and existence in loving intercourse, wherein no longer does "God" or "you" relate with each other, but in each other. You relate in each other, as each other, yet, as a difference that still inheres in this mystical conjugality. The Other of God and the other of you make possible the conjugality.

In contemplation the communion that once marked relationship with God moves into an embrace of sharing one self-subsistent being in Love beyond desire. This is such faith-less and desire-free joy that St. Teresa of Avila could write, in her The Interior Castle, "Oh, Jesus! If only we could find the countless jewels hidden in sacred scriptures to guide us to this deep soul-peace!"

Here, as with faith and desire, you enjoy peace arising from and in the self-subsisting of soul and its Beloved, with all the qualities of luminous Truth in one natural state.

Can we "ascend" to a state of Love so pure that we neither love to get heaven or avoid hell? Can Love become our sole motive, as with the Sufi Rabia, loving Love for Love, with no intent for personal gain, only to know True Love - beyond "gain" and "loss"?

*Quote from John of the Cross is from The Dark Night. In The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross. Trans. K. Kavanaugh and O. Rodriguez. The Interior Castle is translated by M. Starr. The source of the quote of Tilopa is unknown.

*Charitable contributions would be appreciated to assist Brian in continuing his ministry. For contributions, contact Brian at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .

*Brian's book of spiritual love poetry, An Ache for Union: Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major booksellers or the Cokesbury on-line store, cokesbury.com .

*Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist Pastor, lives in Southwest Florida. He is a vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and seeks to inspire others to enjoy a more intimate relationship with Christ. Brian advocates for a spiritually-focused, experiential Christianity and renewal of the Church through addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons.