Love Always Precedes Knowledge
The traditional paths of prayer, encompassing the visual and verbal (kataphatic) and the silent and symbolic (apophatic), invite us to recognize that sometimes, true wisdom lies in admitting that we do not know.
The apophatic way, lost to Western Christianity during the Reformation, was a departure from the enlightenment rationalism that sought concrete knowledge. Instead, it beckons us to embrace a faith that doesn't demand certainty but thrives in the embrace of a Much Larger Frame. Faith becomes a knowing that transcends the limitations of our understanding, guided by the assurance that we are held within a Greater Perspective.
As we navigate the contours of faith, we learn to recognize that our current knowledge is dim, but there awaits a fuller knowing, a face-to-face revelation. Faith, in this sense, is a participation with the divine, a knowing that transcends the boundaries of observation and operates subject to subject.
Love must precede knowledge. The mind alone, steeped in the arrogance of Western religion, cannot lead us to the depths of understanding. Prayer, in its essence, has transformed into a naked unveiling of our true self, devoid of masks and religious veneer. It is a communion with the hidden wholeness beneath reality, where a contemplative mind finds its unique access point.
This contemplative knowing is not about proving right or wrong; it's an intuitive grasp of wholeness that transcends words. It is the union with a profound truth, a wisdom lost with consequences for history and religion.
May the dance of prayer guide us along the dual paths of knowing, inviting humility to admit when wisdom lies in acknowledging that we do not know.
May the embrace of faith, devoid of demand for certainty, lead us to a transcendent knowing within a Much Larger Frame, where love precedes knowledge, and hidden wholeness becomes our sacred communion.
In the dance of prayer, paths unfold, Kataphatic, visual and verbal, Apophatic, silent and symbolic, Inviting us to the wisdom profound. The apophatic way, a whisper lost, Amidst Reformation's rational storm, A departure from enlightenment's quest, For concrete knowledge, it chose a different norm. Embrace the faith, devoid of demand, A dance within a Much Larger Frame, Certainty yielding to a transcendent knowing, Held within a Greater Perspective, never the same. Journeying through faith's contours, Recognition dawns, knowledge dim, Yet, a fuller knowing awaits, A face-to-face revelation, not on a whim. Faith, a participation with the divine, Beyond boundaries of mere observation, Subject to subject, an intimate design, A knowing that transcends, a profound sensation. Let love precede the quest for knowledge, The mind, alone, in Western religion's sway, Cannot fathom the depths of understanding, In prayer, a naked unveiling, masks in disarray. Communion with hidden wholeness, unveiled, Beneath reality's façade, devoid of veneer, The contemplative mind finds its access, To a truth profound, words cannot adhere. Contemplative knowing, a dance untold, Not about proving right or wrong, An intuitive grasp of wholeness unfolds, Union with profound truth, lost for too long.