{"id":19794,"date":"2021-02-05T09:45:15","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T14:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19794"},"modified":"2021-02-05T10:21:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:21:26","slug":"the-way-of-unknowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19794","title":{"rendered":"The Way of Unknowing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oMfjDKAqARs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Descriptions of the \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d from the Spanish mystic John of the Cross (1542\u20131591) have become the marker by which many Christians measure their own experience of unknowing. He fits an entire life spent exploring God\u2019s mystery into memorable poetry, and even dares to call unknowing \u201can ecstasy\u201d! Here are several stanzas from his poem \u201cStanzas Concerning an Ecstasy Experienced in High Contemplation\u201d:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. I entered into unknowing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet when I saw myself there<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without knowing where I was<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I understood great things;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I shall not say what I felt<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For I remained in unknowing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Transcending all knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>4. He who truly arrives there<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cuts free from himself;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;All that he knew before<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now seems worthless,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And his knowledge so soars<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That he is left in unknowing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Transcending all knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>6. The knowledge in unknowing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is so overwhelming<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That wise men disputing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can never overthrow it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For their knowledge does not reach<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To the understanding of not-<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>understanding,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Transcending all knowledge. [1] &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>John\u2019s poetry is exquisite in its\nhumility\u2014knowing that he does not know, can never know, and doesn\u2019t even need\nto know! He goes so far as to call this dark night <\/em>\u201ca work of His mercy, \/ To leave one without\nunderstanding.\u201d [2]<em> John\u2019s\nteaching contains paradoxes that are difficult to absorb, but modern readers\nhave the good fortune of many good translations, including that of Mirabai\nStarr. Like the other friends whose work I have shared this week, Mirabai knows\nthe<\/em> via negativa,<em>\nthe way of unknowing, personally and intimately, and describes what happens\nbetween the soul and God in the \u201cdark night:\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The soul in the dark night cannot, by\ndefinition, understand what is happening to her. Accustomed to feeling and\nconceiving of the Beloved in her own way, she does not realize that the\ndarkness is a blessing. She perceives God\u2019s gentle touch as an unbearable\nburden. She feels miserable and unworthy, convinced that God has abandoned her,\nafraid she may herself be turning against him. In her despair, the soul does\nnot recognize<em> <\/em>that\nGod is teaching her in a secret way now, a way with which the faculties of\nsense and reason cannot interfere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time that the soul in the night of spirit becomes paralyzed in spiritual practice, her love-longing for God begins to intensify. In the stillness left behind by its broken-open senses and intellect, a quality of abundance starts to grow inside the emptied soul. It turns out that the Beloved is longing for union with the lover as fervently as she has been yearning for him. . . . God will whisper to the soul in the depth of darkness and guide it through the wilderness of the Unknown until it is annihilated in the flames of perfect love. [3]<em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>__________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus Calling&#8230;.SEEK MY FACE, and you will find not only My Presence but also My Peace. To receive My Peace, you must change your grasping, controlling stance to one of openness and trust. The only thing you can grasp without damaging your soul is My hand. Ask My Spirit within you to order your day and control your thoughts, for the mind controlled by the Spirit is Life and Peace. You can have as much of Me and My Peace as you want, through thousands of correct choices each day. The most persistent choice you face is whether to trust Me or to worry. You will never run out of things to worry about, but you can choose to trust Me no matter what. I am an ever-present help in trouble. Trust Me, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. <br><strong>Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.<\/strong> <br><strong>PSALM 46:1\u2013  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.<\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans+8%3A6&amp;version=KJV\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Numbers 6: 26 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"260\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/image-1-500x260.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19800\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/image-1-500x260.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/image-1-300x156.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/image-1-768x400.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Descriptions of the \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d from the Spanish mystic John of the Cross (1542\u20131591) have become the marker by which many Christians measure their own experience of unknowing. He fits an entire life spent exploring God\u2019s mystery into memorable poetry, and even dares to call unknowing \u201can ecstasy\u201d! Here are several stanzas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19794"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19794"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19801,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19794\/revisions\/19801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}