via negativa

After reading the comments on the previous post, a word of explanation seems to be required. "Looking into the dark and listening to silence" is not a metaphor for depression, it's just another way of talking about the via negativa, the spiritual path that has appealed to countless mystics over the ages, as well as folks like Dave and me. From the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, to St. John of the Cross, to Thomas Merton, as well as many Buddhist scholars, the via negativa has been a fruitful way of seeking and speaking about spiritual truths.

For people unfamiliar with this term, the via negativa means looking for answers about God and existence in "what is not" rather than saying “God is this, and God is this”, or declaring “here are the answers”, or “sign this pledge, join this organization, say these words and find salvation.” Words like "dark" and "silence" are metaphors for the obscurity one faces when pursuing this path. One throws out previous conceptions, and approaches "God" in what can NOT be seen, felt, heard, touched, rather than trying to define and describe the Holy in normal terms related to everyday life. This does not mean that we don’t see God as being “light” or “Love”, and it certainly doesn’t mean that a person drawn to this path is miserable and unable to laugh or sing – quite the opposite. It means more that God, approached in this way, is increasingly undefinable, unknowable, exceeding our human concepts, impossible to quantify. That does not mean, however, that one feels small and insignificant by comparison; in fact, this “dark” path tends to illuminate the ways in which God is everywhere, interpenetrating all of existence, filling ourselves and others and the spaces between beings. It is akin to much of Buddhist thought and yet, in the Christian form, we do find something we call “God” in that emptiness.

Another characteristic of the via negativa is that it is just about impossible to talk about. This is the realm of paradox ("one must lose one's life in order to find it") and metaphor ("for the moon there is the cloud"), of experience rather than words, of uncodified truths rather than dogma and doctrine. Normal verbal prayer becomes redundant when one realizes that everything is already known, including our thoughts; the seeker who empties herself in silence becomes a vessel to be filled as well as an overflowing cup, linked to the inexhaustible source of all that is. Rather than finding easy answers that one day may prove to be insufficient or false, one realizes that this is a path that never ends; that on it one may continue and grow in wisdom throughout an entire lifetime, while realizing, paradoxically, that one actually knows less and less! It is not, however, easy; one has to be content with questions rather than answers, with obscurity and things half-seen, with a “sense” of things rather than proof; and it is also solitary, though one tends to find companions along the way. The via negativa does not negate beauty, life, light, and love; in fact it is a way to begin to see and embody them as they really are, existing side-by-side with their opposites, no longer denied but accepted and held, gently, in the other hand.

Comments

[Jean]

That's beautiful, as well as awesomely lucid. Thank you.

[mary]

Thank you for this Beth. Very clear, very helpful and beautifully written. And it reminds me that I had promised myself to start reading Thomas Merton.

[Dave]

Very well put! Now if I can just find a way to direct all the poor folks searching Google for info on the via negativa toward this post rather than to my less than lucid blog...

[zhoen]

I heard Joseph Campbell (yes, I know) describe god as the word we use to point toward that which is transcendent. It's my awkward touchstone. But it's like finding π. It's there, obviously, but it will not be pinned down.

The Way that can be described to death, is not the way to life.

Yes. Thank you.

[Marja-Leena]

Thanks Beth, I did not know the meaning of via negativa! This sounds really lovely and accepting of that something that is greater, ephemeral, intangible and without words.

[Soen Joon]

"The via negativa does not negate beauty, life, light, and love; in fact it is a way to begin to see and embody them as they really are, existing side-by-side with their opposites, no longer denied but accepted and held, gently, in the other hand."

Amen, and sadhu.

[MB]

Beth, this is simply very well expressed. I've read it several times. Thank you.

[Theo M.]

..which is not to say that a lot of us depressives
are not strongly attracted to the via negativa

[dale]

I'm late to the party, Beth, but this is wonderful.

Theo, I think you're right. Partly because depression obstructs the other vias pretty efficiently -- we're left with the Via Negativa by default. But also because depression works by exposing the emptiness of my assertions of meaning: if I'm not making any such assertions, then it's out of a job.

[Natalie]

Wonderfully clear, sensitive, and yes, *positive* expression of the Via Negativa, beth.
I would like to say a few words in defense of the Via Positiva, a term which I claim to have just invented. First I will start negatively by saying what it is not: it is not Positive Thinking. Not how to Win Friends and Influence People. Not Seven Steps to Success. Not Cheer Up for Goodness Sake. None of that jazz. Nor does it claim to have all the answers.

"....the via negativa means looking for answers about God and existence in "what is not" rather than saying “God is this, and God is this”, or declaring “here are the answers.....”

Instead of looking into "what is not", my VP looks into "what if?"
So, the dark silence is there and not denied or feared, but it becomes a backdrop, a blank screen on which images and sounds are projected. These are all questions in the form of potential answers and they are "positives" in the same way that a photo can be a positive. What I define as the VP is the active involvement in "What Ifness".
There. My speech is ended.

[ginkgo]

So wonderfully captured, Beth. And then held loosely. Perfect.

[julie]

i read your post after going through a long chain of links to get to it, and it was like a breath of fresh air to me. i have felt this way about God/religion/faith/being for a long time, but didn't have the words for it. thank you for your clarity!