How do you know when God is talking? There are some people who claim to hear the voice of God constantly – in every impulse they have, every chance event or random encounter. And others who have never had an inkling of divine communication. The classical tradition says that neither of these pictures is accurate. It...
Tag: what is christian spirituality
Loving God 401, Part 6: Finding Your Inner Mystic (a Look at the Apophatic-Affective Dimension of Spirituality)
Is it possible to have an unmediated experience of God? A direct encounter with the divine that transcends any use of the senses or even the intellect? The classical answer is – yes! And its pursuit is the goal of the mystic tradition (an element of the spiritual life that is accessible to us all,...
Loving God 401, Part 5: A Silent Retreat with a Good Book – or – Top 10 Signs You Might Be a Benedictine (i.e., Apophatic-Speculatives)
In this episode, we turn to the next of our spiritual “personality types” (i.e., attraits) – the apophatic-speculatives. What defines an apophatic is a basic desire to escape distraction. They are the ones who love the very idea of a silent retreat or the spiritual practice of “simplicity.” They are not anti-creation. Nor are they anti-social or...