Experience of God

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Teresa of Avila

As experience of God experiences are referred to as the action of a deity and in the state of being perceived a divine reality. The respective interpretation of the exact expression also depends on knowledge of religious studies and religious convictions, for example transfiguration , illumination , inspiration and adoration can be named. Frequent expressive components are external or other physical experience, the presence of a transcendental one Entity and reality, intense perception of peace and happiness as well as the impossibility to adequately express this experience in later words.

Concept history

People have always been concerned with the experience of God in the sense of part of the Latin mysterium ('secret'), the term only appeared in theological literature from 1965 onwards.

Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita

In the so-called mystical theology it is above all Dionysius Areopagita , who lived around 500, who deals with the experience of God. After him, the human soul longs for God. This longing can only be satisfied through mystical union with God. The knowledge of God can be achieved through the three steps of purity (katharsis), enlightenment (photismos) and unification (teleiosis).

Because through this ecstasy, (...) after you have removed everything and have been detached from everything, you are brought to the superreal ray of the divine shadow. The divine darkness is the inaccessible light in which (...) God dwells. (...) In it are all who have become worthy to know and see God. It is necessary (...) to go into darkness, where he who is beyond everything, as the Scriptures say, really is. It is (...) necessary, I believe, to praise the negative negatives.

The knowledge of God (to live in God) is then the highest happiness. The way to God can be described with the terms darkness (non-becoming) and light (happiness). First a person has to cleanse himself internally from all worldly attachments, then he has to go into the darkness of ego dissolution (non-becoming) and then awaken in divine light. A beginner on the spiritual path can be guided by positive descriptions of God (peace, love, truth, power, abundance), the advanced mystic arrives at a life in God (enlightenment, holiness, transcendence) through negative descriptions (God is neither this nor that).

Master Eckhart

Meister Eckhart (also Eckhart von Hochheim ), * around 1260; † before April 30, 1328 in Avignon, was an important late medieval theologian and philosopher. He is an important link between Western philosophy and Eastern religions because he has an impersonal image of God and teaches a meditative path to enlightenment. God can be found in stillness, in being, in serenity and in inner isolation from worldly fellow men. Whoever lets go of all worldly attachments can live out of the love of God. Man should not be satisfied with an imaginary God. (...) He who has God in his being (...) shines in all things; for all things taste like God to him, and God's image becomes visible to him from all things. (...) This includes zeal and devotion and careful attention to the inner being. (...) He has to learn an inner loneliness, wherever and with whomever he is. He must learn to break through things and grasp his God in them. (...) Indeed, if he is to master the art, he must practice this activity a lot and often.

Teresa of Avila

Teresa of Ávila (born March 28, 1515 in Ávila, Spain, † October 4, 1582) should be mentioned finally. The theology of the Middle Ages was shaped by Christian mysticism; this includes Teresa of Avila as an important representative. As the main technique she practiced the four levels of immersion (the inner prayer): prayer of concentration (reflection, thinking the Lord's Prayer), prayer of calm (contemplation, meditation), prayer of beginning unification (happiness in God) and prayer of unity ( Unio mystica ). “What is the soul in this state! She wants nothing but tongues to praise the Lord. "

literature

See also

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. William J. Hoye: Experience of God? Clarification of a basic concept of contemporary theology. Benziger, Zurich 1993, p. 16.
  2. ↑ Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita: On mystical theology (PDF; 84 kB), I.1.
  3. ^ Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita: Letter V
  4. ^ Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita: On mystical theology , I.3.
  5. ^ Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita: On Mystical Theology , II.
  6. ^ Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita: On Mystical Theology , II.
  7. ↑ Josef Quint (Ed.): Meister Eckehart. German sermons and tracts. Munich 1979, p. 60 f.
  8. ↑ Erika Lorenz (Ed.): Call of the Shepherd. Teresa of Avila tells her life. Kösel Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-466-20444-5 , page 112 ff.
  9. ↑ Erika Lorenz (Ed.): Call of the Shepherd. Teresa of Avila tells her life. Kösel Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-466-20444-5 , page 126.