S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 5 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 9 1 1 Jana Trajtelová [11] Eckhart Tolle makes an important experiential distinction between emotions of negativity and desires that arise out of the egoic state of consciousness (mind) and “love, joy, and peace”, which are “deep states of Being, or rather three aspects of the state of inner connectedness with Being. As such, they have to opposite. This is because they arise from beyond the mind. Emotions, on the other hand, being part of the dualistic mind, are subject to the law of opposites. This means that you cannot have good without bad” (Tolle, 2005, 29). Julian’s lesson intuitively demonstrates this distinction, which is mirrors the fundamental difference between the self-absorbed (untransformed) and contemplative (transformed) human consciousness. [12] The story I have in mind is even humorous. At the one moment the mystic experiences the highest mystical bliss, at the next moment the deepest pains and sorrows, and “now the one, and now the other, various times – I suppose about twenty times” (Julian of Norwich 2011, 40). She concludes that “it is not God’s will that we submit to the feeling of pains, in sorrow and mourning because of them, but quickly pass over them and keep ourselves in the endless delight with is God” (Julian of Norwich 2011, 41). [13] Thomas Merton speaks about contemplative consciousness, which goes beyond the “social and cultural self”– hence beyond all the programmings of mind, and which is the “ground of openness” (Merton 1968, 25). “Zen is consciousness unstructured by particular form or particular system, a trans-cultural, trans-religious, trans-formed consciousness. It is therefore in a sense ‘void’. But it can shine through this or that system, religious or irreligious, just as light can shine through glass that is blue, or green, or red, or yellow.” (Merton 1968, 4). For Sufis, for example, “fana” demands also such “extinction of social and cultural self, which would be determined by the structural form of religious customs” (Merton 1968, 5). [14] See for example Introduction of Husserl’s Crisis. [15] An example of a popularization of this kind of research is the work of the famous neurologist David Eagleman (Eagleman 2015). [16] The notion of the extended incarnation we can find elaborated in a poetic way in author’s mystical-intuitive writing The Hymn of the Universe (1961). Teilhard de Chardin, in a form of a prayer, expresses that his vocation is to announce the profound unity of the cosmos and God, which is incarnation (Chardin 1961, 36). [17] See my article entitledDesire and Its Paradoxes (Trajtelová 2018). References Brewer, Judson A., Patrick D. Worhunsky, Jeremy R. Gray, Yi-Yuan Tang, Jochen Weber, and Hedy Kober. 2011. “Meditation Experience is Associated with Differences in Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity.” PNAS 108 (50): 20254-20259. De Chardin, Pierre Teilhard. 1961. The Hymn of the Universe. New York: Harper Torchbooks. Eagleman, David. 2015. The Brain. New York: Pantheon Books. Frykholm, Amy. 2010. Julian of Norwich: A Contemplative Biography. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press. John-Julian, Fr. OJN. 2011. “Introduction.” InRevelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press. Julian of Norwich. 2011. Revelations of Divine Love. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press. May, Gerald G. 1977. The Open Way. New York: Paulist Press. Meninger, William. 2010. Julian of Norwich: A Mystic for Today. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books. Merton, Thomas. 1968. Zen and The Birds of Appetite. New York: A New Directions Book. Nhat Hanh, Thich. 2008. The Miracle of Mindfulness. London: Rider. Tolle, Eckhart. 2005. The Power of Now. Sydney: Hodder. Trajtelová, Jana. 2018. “Desire and Its Paradoxes: A Phenomenological Study Based on Christian Mysticism.“ Teologický časopis 16 (1): 31–40. Trajtelová, Jana. 2013. “Distance and Nearness in the Mysticism of Saint John of the Cross: A Phenomenological Study.” Studia Philosophiae Christianae 49 (1): 117–134. Trajtelová, Jana. 2018. “O Božom optimizme: Príspevok k skúmaniu fenomenológie hriechu na základe mystickej náuky Juliany z Norwich.” In Studia Capuccinorum Boziniensia IV. Bratislava: Minor. Trajtelová, Jana. 2018. “On Vocation and Identity in Western Mysticism”. In The Problem of Religious Experience, edited by Olga Louchakova-Schwartz. Springer (in press).
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