I have another blog about this online course Mary Magdalene: Apostle for our Times by noted contemplative scholar Cynthia Bourgeault. I am printing personal reflection questions about this week's lesson. This week's lesson is called Mary Magdalene and the Sacrament of Love.
• Question 1
Magdalene’s contemplative journey is aptly described in The Cloud: “And therefore she hung up her love and her longing desire in the cloud of unknowing, and she learned to love a thing she might never see clearly in this life, neither by the light of her understanding of her reason, nor by a true sweet feeling of love in her affection.” What resonates with you about this teaching? What remains confusing?
Cynthia Bougeault unpacks a lot about the 14th century text, " The Cloud of Unknowing". She equates unknowing to the path of kenosis in contemplative practice. Kenosis is the act of self-emptying. It is a concept of quieting the mind, but different from pure meditation in Buddhist traditions. When a thought arises, it is simply let go. It is not concentrating on the breath. It is emptying thoughts. For me, it a much less stressful meditation than other meditation practice that I have tried.
I am intrigued by this notion of love. Love is not of mind-centered reason. I think the cloud author is describing some love transcending in an imaginal realm. I personally find this notion of love describes something much more expansive, similar to how the Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin describes love. Love is the physical structure of the universe. Western culture exiles love to only human sentiment. However, I imagine that love is not just a feeling. It is not just a rational idea. Love is literally eros co-creating new wholes from simpler subjects. Many experience the emergence of creativity as God. It makes sense that Mary Magdalene may find love in the cloud of unknowing. A kind of perception cultivated by keeping the mind quiet. The author explicitly points that love is not a sweet feeling, or a understanding of reason. My main takeaway is that the same forces that drive the universe from big bang to atoms, galaxies, stars, planets, and life is the same force that humans experience as love. It resonates with me that we can interpret the ancient texts of Mary Magdalene to include the mystery of love.
• Question 2
Cloud of Unknowing depicts contemplation not as an external practice but a state of consciousness from which we live. It is a way of perceiving the world and our place in it. How is this different from or similar to how you have understood contemplation? What, if anything, does this understanding of contemplation open in you on a heart level?
Again, Cynthia Bougeault re frames the path of kenosis as opening up new organs of sense perception. Modern people reside exclusively in rational thoughts. Cynthia cultivates a body-centered perception, a perception from the heart organ. For me, emptying and letting go of thoughts does allow for attention placed in the body. I'm new to the practice. I'm already finding repetitive thought patterns and scripts can be interrupted. Daily practice is slowly bringing more body awareness to my regular daily activities. So far, embodied practice is helping me notice and feel feelings inside the body. An energy of acceptance and feeling feelings to completion is my goal. I'm striving not to have feelings stuck and avoided.
Comments
Post a Comment