Logistics

I’ve been reading The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation by Saint Theophan the Recluse. If one is able to ignore the fact that the St Herman of Alaska edition is very poorly translated, there are a number of gems to be found. Just this...

First Things First

How, you ask, are we to go about seeing God in all things? My answer would be by “looking along” them. As you know, this is my recurrent formula—borrowed, of course, from C. S. Lewis (“Meditation in a Toolshed” in God in the...

Mapping the Advaitic Self

In attempting to answer your question about dogmas, I would begin by pointing out the obvious: namely, that every religious system, whether of the East or the West, is—as Schuon said—”an error compared to the Truth”. The religions are finally no more than...

Intellective Negations

The practical steps you have taken in an effort to master yourself make good sense. It is inevitable, however, that the new resolve and determination with which you are attempting to deal with your sins—and which, let me emphasize, I unreservedly applaud and...

Cataphatic Apophaticism

You mention the distinction in the writings of St Gregory Palamas—and other Fathers—between God’s essence, His person (hypostasis), and His energies, and you propose that the essence should be treated apophatically since it is imparticipable while...