Be still and know that I am God - Psalm 46:10
Contemplative prayer = being in God's presence without words
darkness = the absence of knowledge
The way to God is through love not knowledge .............. "It is a darkness of unknowing that lies between you and your God.... He who no one can grasp by knowledge can be embraced by love" (author unknown)
Learn to be at home in this darkness. Paul stated in 1 Cor 13:12 - We see through a glass, darkly....
In our society we worship knowledge - the false god that no one dares attack. It is the greatest obstacle to experiencing the Reality that is beyond our intellect. Until we get a taste of the contemplative wisdom that permeates that Reality, our mind and our ego are the only gods we know.
Adam and Eve chose to turn their backs on God to pursue knowledge. They chose to worship the false god of knowledge instead of responding to the true God of love. We face the same choice.
No one can fully comprehend the uncreated God with his knowledge. God created us in his image and likeness to love and worship him, the goal of our desire, and that it is He alone who fully satisfies the hunger and longing of our spirit. Our loving God makes Himself available to us through love.
We are drawn by grace to the contemplative work. In other words we are drawn or called by God to the prayer of love, to silent prayer - the prayer of unknowing. We do not choose ourselves; we are chosen. Our part is always to respond. This means that the simple, the ordinary and the uneducated - in other words, most of the world's population - can have a relationship with this marvelous God for whom love is ALL. No one is left out; everyone can approach God, for we all come clothed, not in knowledge but in love.
There is a stream of love that flows continuously between God the Father and Jesus the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit ................... step into it.
(excerpts from Quiet in His Presence by Jan Harris)
