Path 2: Befriending Darkness, letting go and letting be: The Via Negativa.
p. 130 - When one has sufferened deep pain and allowed the pain to be pain, one can visit the Grand Canyon and learn that it has nothing on the human person who is even deeper and more powerfully carved over millions of years by the flowing tides of pain.
I can understand how pain carves deep wounds; however, the wounds are as beautiful as the grandiosity of the Grand Canyon. Jesus had the deepest wounds as He carried the sins and woundedness of all humanity - and his hands and feet will eternally stand as a beautiful tribute to healed pain.
p. 130 - One could have predicted the loss of the Via Negativa in the West because of the fact that the Via Positiva and a spirituality of pleasure and hospitality were so profoundly silenced for so long. There is no Via Negativa without a Via Positiva. How can one let go of what one has not fallen in love with? The depth of nothingness is directly related to the experience of everythingness.
I can understand this because I was not taught the Via Negativa or Via Positiva; yet, I find both beautiful and an important part of my Christianity as I study them and talk about them with others in my parish. The letting go goes along with what I learned in 12-step, which was a journey that brought me closer to God.
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