## The Way of Silence There are times in our life when we feel like God is absent. We feel pain, isolation, and perhaps even terror. Many times we react to these experiences as if they are alien forces intruding on our life.  While it is true we should do everything in our power to rid the world of suffering and isolation, we must realize that solitude, silence, and trust in the unseen are the counterparts of all that we fear and dread. This is shadow and darkness in everything. This is the Via Negativa: the Way of Silence. ## Dwarfed by Everything It is easy to feel small, insignificant.  When we contemplate the sheer enormity of the cosmos and realize that we are only 1 out of about 7,046,000,000 people on one of the billions of planet circling round billions of stars in the billions of galaxies in the universe, it is easy to feel dwarfed by it all.  It is easy to forget that the universe is not an accident.  Every effect has a cause.  Something had to start time.  Something had to cause the big bang.  Something had to start life, since life cannot come from unlife.  There is an Intelligence behind the cosmos, as distant as the darkness and as close as our breath. In these moments, it is helpful to rest in the Ground and Abyss of Being and Becoming, saying with Job: > "I know that you can do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from you.  Who is he that hides counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.  Hear, I beseech you, and I will speak: I will demand of you, and you declare unto me.  I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye sees you.  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:2-6)." ## Not This The easiest journey through the Via Negativa is through voluntarily emptying ourselves of our concepts of separate self.  Realizing the depths of No self (Anatta (Pāli) or Anātman Sanskrit) and Emptiness (Shunyata), is difficult for the grasping mind, but natural to the serene. Ponder the question: What am I? I am my body, this material form.  No, not really.  This body is in a constant state of flux.  Cells are constantly dying and being born.  Your body is never the same body from moment to moment.  What is different when the body dies?  Something that had been there is gone.  The life has gone out of the body.  So the life must be separate from the body if it can leave it. I am my sensations, my feeling: touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing.  No, not really.  You could loose any number of these senses and still exist.  Your quality of life may changed, but life itself is still there.  So separation from sensation does not end life. I am my perception, my cognition, my elemental concepts.  No, not really.  If a person suffers from brain damage making them no longer able to perceive, life does not depart. I am my volition, my intellect, my opinions, and compulsions.  No, not really.   In totalitarian states, Alzheimer's disease, or any other condition where making complex mental formations is not possible, life does not depart. I am my consciousness, knowledge, self awareness.  No, not really.  When we sleep, life does not end only to return when we awake. What am I?  I am Anatta (No Self).  I am Buddha-dhatu, Buddha nature.  What I am is something that no word can touch.    I am no self, drawn from the sea of  Emptiness (Shunyata) and Ayin of God.  Why is it called emptiness?  To prevent the mind from conceptualizing it.  It is transcendent of all concepts. One traditional form of Meditation on this is: I behold and know my body, I am not my body.
I behold and know my sensations, I am not my sensations
I behold and know my perceptions, I am not my perceptions.
I behold and know my compulsions, I am not my compulsions.
I behold and know my consciousness, I am not my consciousness.
I am the knower.
I am the witness
There is no knower.
There is no witness. This is what Jesus meant when "he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?  For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God (Luke 9:23-27)." ## Solace In silence and meditation, we experience the depth of God, and come closest to the ineffable Maker of all things. Our Jewish brothers and sisters call meditation, "hitbodedut," which means self seclusion. If we do not accept Silence, we will not hear God. If we do not accept our pain, we will suffer rather than grow. The Prophet Elijah weighted for the silence to hear the voice of God. St Bernadette and St Julian of Norwich endured their pain , and brought blessings to us all. I am not encouraging isolation. I am encouraging people to ignore their pain or the pain of others. Until we accept silence, emptiness, and even pain as a valid part of our spiritual journey, we cannot do anything about them. "When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he comes up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.  Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:  Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments (Hab 3:16-19)." In that silence, we find the peace that passes all understanding.  In silence, where no judgments can grow, we find rest in Providence. ## Crucified with Christ Where can God be found? "In the Via Negativa. In darkness and nothingness, in the silence and emptying, in the letting go and letting be, and in the pain and suffering that constitute an equally real part of our spiritual journey. This is Path Two (Fox, Creation Spirituality, 18)." I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain (Gal 2:20-21)." ## The Wisdom of Equity In Proverbs 1:2-7, we are taught the four pillars of wisdom.  In the Via Negativa, we build up the pillar of Equity (Meyshar).  Meyshar means "evenness, uprightness, straightness, equity; evenness, level, smoothness (The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon)."  Equity is "fairness or justice in the way people are treated (Merriam-Webster)," because we know we have no separate self and are inclined to unity and harmony. ## In the Ministry The Via Negativa is the Way of the Prophet.  A Prophet is an interpreter of the oracles and hidden things of the Fullness of the Godhead (Eph 4:11-13) ## Symbolism During his life, Father Abraham built 4 altars.  Each one represented a phase of his life.  In the Via Negativa, we visit the Altar of Intimacy and Returning between the House of God and the Heap of Ruins from Genesis 12:8 and 13:3. The Winged Bull represents the Gospel of Luke, who focused on the Via Negativa through the sacrifice and Atonement of Jesus Christ. ## The Via Negativa is the Path of Emptying Havel havalim, havalim hakol, emptying upon emptying, everything is emptying. This is the truth we learn in the Via Negativa, everything is empty of separate self, and that we must learn to empty ourselves (kenosis) and learn to let go and let be. > In the Via Negativa. In darkness and nothingness, in the silence and emptying, in the letting go and letting be, and in the pain and suffering that constitute an equally real part of our spiritual journey. This is Path Two. > > -Matthew Fox, Creation Spirituality, 18 Unlike our nihilistic sisters and brothers, we know that embracing the emptiness of all things is only one quarter of our spiritual journey. > Man is at his best a breath, a phantom, whose lifetime is as nothing. > > David, Psalm 39:5-6 It is hard to admit this. These words rip our sure footing out from underneath us. If we are at best breath, a phantom, and our lifetime is as nothing, then truly, what is the point of anything? Learning this truth is liberating. It frees us from the chains of our past and the artificial hierarchies that seek to control and dominate us. > “Surely men of low degree are just a breath, And men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.” > > David, Psalm 62:9 When we see the emptiness of all things, we realize that when anyone places themselves in higher standing over others, they are lying. No one is greater than anyone else. No one has more value. Leaders are as weak and flawed as those they demand follow them. No race, ethnic group, religion, or person is greater than any other because we are all hevel, empty like breath. This truth gives us strength. This is the root of Satyagraha, “Holding firmly to Truth” or Soul Force, which is the Word of God on the Fourth Path (Via Transformativa, “The Way of Transformation”). We are all equal because there is nothing that can make anyone greater than another. Any claim to the contrary is a lie. > The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us. For the creation waits with eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. > > Paul, Romans 8:16-21 Here Paul says that creation is subject to Mataiotes, the Greek word for hevel, which means. “what is devoid of truth and appropriateness; perverseness, depravity; frailty, want of vigor.” In other words, Creation was subjected to hevel (emptiness) because God did this in hope. Emptiness is hope. How? The Holy Spirit, who dwells in the heart of the faithful, testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God, “'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' ... 'For we are also his offspring (Acts 17:28).’” All our suffering is joined with Christ. > This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts; who having become callous gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness. > > Paul, Ephesians 4:17-19 Here, Paul says that this futility (mataiotes) of mind is caused by alienation from the life of God, because of ignorance and hardness of heart, and that this callousness brings about desire. When we learn and remember that we live, move, and have our being in God through Christ, the hevel (emptiness) of our lives is filled with the life of God which is, was, and ever shall be. Answering the call of Christ, we lose our illusion of separate self and learn to live in the web of interdependence that is the life of God. Those who embrace hevel as the final state of all things, and who reject the natural interconnectedness of all things, the Nihilists, embrace the illusion of separate self and believe that the indulgence of that self is the only good possible in this world. They neglect the ties they have with others who only exist to be used as a means to an end, which is usually either the gratification of their own desires, or the nullification of their pain, aching, or longing. For the Nihilist, anything that brings the individual pleasure or the cessation of pain is good, regardless of how those actions affect others. This is why a corporation puts money above people. Our culture prizes sexual gratification over the personhood of others, so it allows and encourages the objectification of others so they are nothing more than a means to pleasure. They are a collection of pleasurable body parts, and not a person with their own feelings, wants, and desires, so lying to obtain sex is acceptable. It isn’t. Once we accept and embrace hevel, we don’t eschew sex or profit, but we do so understand how our actions affect others and ourselves. We see the basic interconnectedness of all things so while extracting element X from the ground will make a hefty profit, it will also poison the water and the environment. Our options now are either to find a way to extract that element without poisoning the water and the environment, or to leave it in the ground. Poisoning the water and land causes a greater harm than any amount of money could ever mollify. We learn to see the part within its place in the whole rather than separated by our wants and desires without regard for the effects it would have on others. > For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error; promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him. For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. > > Peter, 2 Peter 2:18-20 The Apostle says through the words of emptiness, people are enticed into error through promises of liberty while being bondservants of corruption. When we allow another to overcome us through their insistence on separateness or superiority, we have become their slave and are denying the true equality that is our natural state. When someone comes to us with their words of hevel that appeal to our lusts, desires, hopes, and fears, they reinforce the lie of separation and almost without fail tell us that their way brings liberty. Anything that separates us from others entangles us in lies, and subjugates us to the will of others. True liberty comes from seeing that everything is the effect of many causes and the cause of many effects. Once we see the intricate web of creation and begin to live in concord with it, we liberate not only ourselves, but those around us.