DIDYMUS DICTA

DAILY MEDITATIONS ON THE PSALMS

My Photo
Name:

Each morning I spend 30 minutes, more or less, researching and writing on a passage of scripture. This is principally a form of spiritual self-discipline. But comments and questions are welcome.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27: 13-14)

Given the awesome mystery of God, the mystical has a place in our relationship with God. As with other aspects of discipline and worship the mystical can open our minds and hearts to a fuller encounter with the divine. It can help us step outside ourselves and toward God.

But the God of Moses, the prophets, and Jesus is as earthy as a garden, as ordinary as a mountain-side picnic, and as practical as water in a desert. Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Our God intends for us to find and claim a full and happy life.

In the psalms goodness is often the English translation of chesed. This is the unconditional love of God that is, for me, a mystical pathway.

But above the Hebrew is towb. Here the Lord's goodness consists of property, tasty food, beautiful things, a discerning appreciation for beauty, enjoying "foaming wine, well mixed" (Psalm 75), the contentment of family, prosperity, pleasure, and delight.

We are both body and soul, of this life and beyond this life, we are finite creatures and children of the Creator. We need not - should not - choose one extreme and reject the other. We are called to wholeness.

2 Comments:

Blogger jO-Oist said...

can you explain on what you mean as mystical?

6:08 AM  
Blogger Didymus said...

To be a mystic once meant to be one initiated into "secret knowledge." Within Christian tradition this might encompass the Gnostics, or St. John of the Cross, or Teresa of Avila, and others of similar inclination. Some would identify kabbalah as a form of Jewish mysticism. Some see Pentacostalism as a form of mysticism. What many of these forms of worship involve is an open attitude toward experiences that cannot be fully explained using rational or, at least, empirical tools. There are times that I feel embraced by the love of God. It comes suddenly. It transforms my perspective. It alters my rational understanding of context. It draws me out of myself and transports me to a very different place. I experience what I cannot fully explain. For me this is a kind of mystical experience. I am not sure that a direct encounter with God can ever be reduced to mental models and human language. So we might say the direct experience of God is innately mystical.

8:21 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home