On many church calendars, the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus falls on August 6. The Gospel episode to which it refers — the earliest version is found in Mark 9:2-10 — can be described as a collective mystical experience which included four people: Peter,
James, John, and Jesus himself. They had prepared themselves for “something” to happen by walking together to a mountaintop. I
imagine that they walked up in silence, and maybe even fasted for a day or two.
At some point, the three disciples become aware that Jesus is emitting a bright light, and then they have a vision of the two major prophets of old, Moses and Elijah, engaging a conversation with him. They speak up, perhaps trying to enter the conversation, but their words are nonsensical. Finally, a mystical cloud embraces them, and they hear the divine voice within the cloud.
I see the Transfiguration as a via negativa experience, mostly because the conversation of Jesus with the departed Moses and Elijah focused on his imminent death. (Luke 9:31) In the Gospel narrative this episode is followed by Jesus coming to terms with his destiny, with the need to let go of his life. The disciples, for their part, are called to let go of their pretenses of knowledge about the
destiny of Jesus, but really — in a deeper sense — about life, truth, or anything whatsoever.
One anonymous English Medieval author chose the cloud of the Transfiguration to symbolize the mystical life and the need to let go in order to get… anywhere. The Cloud of Unknowing, a manual for silent meditation, is indeed a simple yet profound book which instructs the faithful who want to engage the contemplative life to let go of all thinking, even their loftier thoughts about Jesus and God, as a condition to begin on the path of contemplation.
August 6 is also the date of the bombing of Hiroshima. This year, the 80th anniversary. The first atomic bombing in human history also produced a huge cloud, the mushroom cloud of the greatest destruction and desolation that ever happened all at once. This also was a via negativa experience, but one of such magnitude that our ancestors — even though they were used to wars and famines and plagues — could not fathom it.
Although the moral conscience of the West was stunned when the bomb was dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki — the best people were too shocked to react immediately — it is precisely in such silence that we can hear again the divine voice. In the atomic cloud, God was crying: “No! Stop!” and God was weeping.
My question — as a theologian — is whether the very fine resources of our tradition with regard to the via negativa, such as the ones expressed in the Transfiguration story and the Cloud of Unknowing, can be of any help to our era, one in which we experience evil of a size hitherto unknown.
At first glance, these are quaint stories and methods which cannot resist the impact of our tragic times at all. Upon closer look, I realize that there is simply no other path for the West than recovering its mystical consciousness. Either we learn to let go of our pretenses to absolute truths, or we are condemned. Either we let the via negativa experiences mold us and be for us a springboard to the via creativa, or we are committing cultural suicide.
The fools who are governing today a good portion of the nations are not simply the culprits. They are the farcical expression of the tendency to domination through absolutes which has plagued the West and to which only mystical consciousness, weak as it may seem, can put a stop.
See Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations.
And Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake, The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science & Spirit Meet
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
See also Fox, Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life,
And Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing From Global Faiths.
Banner image: “Transfiguration of Christ.” Painting by Michael Angelo Immenraet. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Am I able to look at the present events from a larger perspective? What does the via negativa of suffering and letting go tell me today about my life and about the world?
Recommended Reading
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth.
The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science & Spirit Meet
By Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake
When was the last time a scientist and a theologian discussed angels together? What are angels? Many people believe in angels, but few can define these enigmatic spirits. Now visionary theologian Matthew Fox and acclaimed biologist Rupert Sheldrake—pioneers in modern religious thinking and scientific theory—launch a groundbreaking exploration into the ancient concept of the angel and restore dignity, meaning, and joy to our time-honored belief in these heavenly beings.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
In one of his foundational works, Fox engages with some of history’s greatest mystics, philosophers, and prophets in profound and hard-hitting essays on such varied topics as Eco-Spirituality, AIDS, homosexuality, spiritual feminism, environmental revolution, Native American spirituality, Christian mysticism, Art and Spirituality, Art as Meditation, Interfaith or Deep Ecumenism and more.
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
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