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One Love
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Posted 3/13/2009 8:01 AM (GMT -6)

Kenosis

The Orthodox Mystical Theology of the East emphasises following the example of Christ. Kenosis is only possible through humility and presupposes that one seeks union with God. The Poustinia tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church is one major expression of this search.

Kenosis is not only a Christological issue in Orthodox theology, it has moreover to do with Pneumatology, namely to do with the Holy Spirit. Kenosis, relative to the human nature, denotes the continual epiklesis and self-denial of one's own human will and desire. With regards to Christ, there is a kenosis of the Son of God, a condescension and self sacrifice for the redemption and salvation of all humanity. Humanity can also participate in God's saving work through theosis; becoming holy by grace.

Therefore, in Eastern Orthodoxy, theosis never concerns becoming like God in nature or essence, which is pantheism; instead, it concerns becoming united to God by grace, through his Energies. Since God in the Eastern traditions is somewhat panenthestic, Orthodox theology distinguishes between divine Essence and Energies. Kenosis therefore is a paradox and a mystery since "emptying oneself" in fact fills the person with divine grace and results in union with God. Kenosis in Orthodox theology is the transcending or detaching of oneself from the world or the passions, it is a component of dispassionation. Much of the earliest debates between the Arian and Orthodox Christians were over kenosis. The need for clarification about the human and divine nature of the Christ (see the hypostatic union) where fought over the meaning and example that Christ set the example of kenosis or ekkenosis.

Christ-Consciousness (Don't knock it. Take the meat, spit the bones. )

So, once again I say that to empty oneself is to empty oneself of the materialised accretions that have apparently grown over the universality of the Spirit. And then, you are filled with a flood of the oceanic abundance of God-consciousness. When you rise to the level of God, you are filled with an ocean, as it were, inundating you from all sides with a nectarine taste, beauty, grandeur and magnificence. When God comes, He does not come like a man coming from one direction. He comes from all directions, because He is everywhere. He does not come only from the East or the, West. He is not a human being. He is the universal Spirit that enters your personality. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to say that God entering man is like a mad elephant entering a thatched hut. Another mystic said that it is like an ocean entering a drop or flooding the rivers. All these are only images to give an idea as to what the supreme magnificence of Spirit is. They all think alike, because they stand on the same pedestal of realisation. The more we succeed in thinking along these lines, the more are we spiritual, the more are we Yogins. Yoga is not becoming something in the social sense. It is not also doing something with your hands and feet. It is a transformation of your inner stuff of thinking and feeling, willing and understanding in a completeness that surpasses your present physical personality. That is where the Christ is born. We say that Christ and Krishna were born at midnight. They are never born when the sun is bright, which means to say, when it is day light to the senses. "Ya nisa sarvabhutanam tasyam jagarti samyami, yasyam jagrati bhutani sa nisa pasyato muneh"—says the Bhagavad Gita. What you see, the sages do not see; and what the sages see, you cannot see. What is day to you, is night to them; and what is day to them, is night to you. For you, God-consciousness is like darkness, a night of ignorance, and God does not exist at all. Therefore, many people go to the extent of even denying God. They cannot see Him. Whereas the sages see only God and nothing else. (OL's note: Think panentheism ala antinomial monodualism which retains the uncreated/created distinctions...Meaning "Liken this to human beings who, having purified nouses, see all things in, through, and by the Spirit, meaning contemplation of the "logoi" in love relationship with the One Logos of God, even unto seeing the uncreated light of God)They do not see the world as the world. A person who has been cured of his cataract in the eyes does not see two moons. He does not say: 'There were two moons and now one moon is lost.' There were no two moons, and there was only one moon. This is the truth. Likewise when the spiritual medicine is administered to the sick soul of the human being, it assumes the spiritual health which enables one to think in a new reoriented manner altogether, and man becomes a superman. A man who thinks in this way is a superman. He is not an ordinary man. He cannot be called a man at all. A superman is a temple enshrining the superhuman Spirit. When God thinks through man, we call him a superman. Such was Christ, Buddha and Krishna. But all the great wonderful masters of mankind were thoroughly misunderstood; their teachings were never understood, but misrepresented, misapplied and abused to the doom of man, towards which we seem to be heading today, unfortunately.

But God is great, and everything shall be well in the realm of God whose Omniscient eyes see everything. The recognition of the Spirit is, therefore, the recognition of God's omnipresent existence. And to be filled with God, is the same as to be filled with the Spirit. For that, we have to empty ourselves of all the externalised prejudice of objective thinking. We should not hang on objects, for our sustenance. Man does not live on bread alone, which means to say you do not live merely by the quantitative stuff of the world. You have something in you which is more than quantitative, which is superior to even the entire quantity of the cosmos. The Spirit is larger than the universe itself. The universe is after all a quantity. And Spirit is larger than that. 'Atyatishtad-dasan-gulam—the Spirit is above the universe,' says the Purusha Sukta.

Chuuuuch. icon_bandit

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

"God in Christ by His Spirit empowers, enables, energizes and enacts all Christian behavior and ministry as the dynamic expression of the life of Jesus Christ. Christianity is Christ. Christian living is the life and character of Jesus Christ lived out through the Christian." -James Fowler

Post Edited (One Love) : 3/13/2009 8:23:24 AM (GMT-5)

One Love
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Posted 3/13/2009 8:09 AM (GMT -6)

And for something totally random...

Move...
your...
behind...

(Shake your booty, for those stuck in the '70s icon_brows2 )

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

One Love
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Total Posts : 13888

Posted 3/13/2009 8:34 AM (GMT -6)

Lemme say something...hopefully, helpful.

Use the imagination. Imagine that there is a brilliant bright white light that exists at each point of space-time in the universe that represents the Creator Spiritus at work in creatio continua.

Now what would that look like?

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It its so to speak his name written on us, as our poverty, as our indigence, and our dependence, as our sonship. It is like a pure diamond , blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions or points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely…The gate of heaven is everywhere.

Thomas Merton

Yeah.

Just use the imagination, with the Spirit's empowerment.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

James Loder. Knight's Move. 273

Beyond vision, in the fourth and final phase of the journey of intensification, is the numinous, imageless passage into the absolute unity of all things. Here no-thingness (cf. Eckhart's Ohne bild) is experienced as more real that than the reality of the ordinary state, even after self-consciousness returns to phase 1. Although imageless, its impact most often leaves the after-image of radiant white light, so vivid it cannot be described except perhaps by a kind of via negativa. For this phase there is no language, only silence--favete linguis (hold your tongue), says Kierkegaard. For this phase there is still differentiated self-consciousness, but beyond that only a reaction of awe as before the Holy who both fascinates and overpowers at the same time. This corresponds to the vision of God in Augustine, Hildegaard, Teresa (of Avila), Eckhart, and several others.

The neurological foundation of this experience is the profoundly significant capacity of the brain to present to consciousness not only an ordered content but the very way in which that content is itself presented: i.e., the order itself. In this case, it is the whole or totality in itself that is communicated. Clearly this is not a reductive account, but only a claim that the human organism is made so as to support and entertain an encounter with an imageless sense of the Absolute Unity of Being. The numinous impact of this is, of course, like that of the encounter with the Holy in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. If mythic vision and cosmic consciousness were the consequences of the third phase, then here the consequence is that one may now see the cosmos from a standpoint beyond it, while still within it.

The benevolent detachment from the world which is the consequence of this experience has the effect of making the world becomes a matter of choice rather than one of defensive survival. All that is needed for ultimate survival has been given and far more, so engagement with the world are a matter of decision in what can only be called a state of blessedness.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Post Edited (One Love) : 3/13/2009 8:47:27 AM (GMT-5)

selah
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Posted 3/13/2009 9:54 AM (GMT -6)

LOVE THIS

see how the whole kenosis/theosis thing worked out, d?

I still think theres a part of each person that makes them distinct and unique....but overall, its good stuff

"When one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world — no matter how imperfect — becomes rich and beautiful, it consists solely of opportunities for love."
~ Soren Kierkegaard

One Love
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Posted 3/13/2009 9:58 AM (GMT -6)

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Tom
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Total Posts : 10353

Posted 3/13/2009 10:46 AM (GMT -6)

I need to go out to a Jazz club, have some good food, toast my favorite MN friends, chew on some theology, and dance the night away.

T

One Love
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Posted 3/13/2009 12:27 PM (GMT -6)

Then hurry up, get home, and let's party. biggrin

(Don't forget the hooka... icon_bandit

)

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

One Love
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Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 4/3/2009 11:01 AM (GMT -6)

Theosis: The True Purpose of Life

Good read, y'all. Read it all, if time allows... :-)

------------------------------------------

"A man of godly love, godly fear and perfect faith may, and he will, receive God’s Body every day at the priest's hands."
--Meister Eckhart

I think he understood about "epiklesis"* and ACTUAL participation in the Risen Lord Jesus.

*"In most Christian churches, the epiclesis (also sometimes spelled epiklesis, being a transliterated Greek word) is that part of the anaphora, or Eucharistic prayer, by which the priest invokes the Holy Spirit (or the power of His blessing). Some Eastern Orthodox theologians hold that the epiclesis is essential to the Eucharist, since the entire mystery is based on the action of the Holy Spirit." (OL: I would wholeheartedly agree!)

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Post Edited (One Love) : 4/3/2009 11:23:03 AM (GMT-5)

PotOnWheel
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Total Posts : 9890

Posted 4/3/2009 5:22 PM (GMT -6)

this......

Pilgrims from Paradise

Detachment
Posted April 02, 2009
Matthew examines the necessity of loving Christ above all.

Play in popup Download Direct link

(o)

One Love
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Total Posts : 13888

Posted 4/3/2009 11:47 PM (GMT -6)

Good stuff, B. I needed that right about now.

Thought: I wonder how many times I've related to Jesus in "attachment" and not in genuine "love" (ie. true unconditional self-giving and openness to Jesus). I think many of us often use Jesus for our own self-affirming, self-gratifying ends, even milking Jesus for eternal happiness of some type rather than really just loving him. Lord have mercy. icon_smile_shock

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Post Edited (One Love) : 4/3/2009 11:50:43 PM (GMT-5)

PotOnWheel
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Posted 4/4/2009 8:15 AM (GMT -6)

One Love said...
Good stuff, B. I needed that right about now.

Reminds me of Bonhoeffer's "Life Together"

(o)

One Love
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Posted 4/18/2009 9:59 AM (GMT -6)

Surrendering to the Divine

We hear this notion of surrendering to the Divine and it even sounds nice — in theory. But do we take this possibility seriously enough to work toward it? If we do, then we are immediately faced with our lack of understanding of what it really means. To begin to comprehend what surrendering to the Divine means, we need to explore, try out various approaches, make our mistakes, find our dead ends, and keep at it until that sacred grace responds. And even then, it only gives us a better notion of the direction, while leaving the actual how-to-surrender somewhat unclear. So we continue to experiment, placing the whole of ourselves into this most central issue, this peak of spiritual practice.

To whom do we surrender? Though It remains unknown to us, we rely on our faith in that Loving Greatness, within and behind every level of our reality. The Divine is there and here, and though we neither see It nor touch It, by considering the next question, we discover where to look.

What do I surrender? Well … what can I surrender? Giving all my worldly possessions away would only impoverish me materially. My body inevitably will die, so I cannot really give that away. Give up my anger and fear? That might be a good start, if I could do it. But all those unbecoming manifestations are only peripheral to the root of the problem: my egoism, my self-centeredness.

Where is this egoism? If egoism is a usurper of my will, then I must look to my will. Though I cannot see my will, I can, with some care and practice, look toward where my attention and intention come from. That direction points toward the source of my will, indeed the Source of all will. But that direction is usually blocked, or at least polluted by ego. So I have identified the problem, egoism, and I know where to look: toward my innermost core, toward the one in me who chooses and decides and adopts attitudes.

How do I surrender? First, I need to move into that place of who I am, or at least who I think I am. From there I can explore the practice of surrender. I must gather the whole of myself, body, heart, and mind, into the one-pointed intention to elevate my will toward the Divine, perhaps silently crying out to God, with my heart fervently and solely wishing to cleave to that ineffable, loving Source. I must relinquish my very self to That, from my most fundamental core. I must open my own inherent sense of who I am, to abdicate my interior throne, the place where I reside within myself. I empty myself utterly. I pour out all that I think and feel that I am. All that belongs to me, all my inwardness, even myself, I send away into the stillness.

By all of this or perhaps by just giving up, I create a gap in my center. And into that gap, I wordlessly beg the Divine to enter, to live in me, as me. Even as my egoism keeps popping up in the middle of this process, I keep at it. I keep exploring and practicing this obscure and undervalued art of surrendering to the higher.

This does not necessarily mean that we enter a high world of light and bliss. While that may be wonderful and important in many ways, it is not the ultimate and it does not require us to change. The truest transformation comes in purifying ourselves of our egoism and leaving that empty gap open to our Loving Creator, Who may enter us. Not that we enter the Creator, but that the Creator enters us. As a thirteenth century Kabbalist put it: the seeker rises to the point that “the higher will is clothed in his will, and not only so that his will is clothed in the higher will.” (translation from Gershom Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah, 1987, p. 418) Surrender is the precondition for entering the realm of Unity. Any vestige of separateness cannot find a place There.

Understanding of this question of surrender can only come by facing it directly and in practice, by actually making attempts at it during the deepest part of our prayer or meditation. The culmination of spirituality lies through that gate. This is not about an encounter with something high. It is about abandoning our inner seat of honor so that the source of Love becomes us. This is not something we can try once and be done with it. It entails a lengthy process of purification, increasing our need, and the actual practice of surrendering to the Divine.

----------------------------------

Just like James Fowler's "...Christ-AS-Us..." and Fr. Stephen's "Emptiness of Christ"

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Post Edited (One Love) : 4/18/2009 10:02:57 AM (GMT-5)

One Love
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Posted 4/18/2009 11:10 AM (GMT -6)

Here's a helpful technique, I think.

Whenever you think about it...use your breathing. Mmentally say "Spirit of Jesus" while exhaling, and "Come!" while inhaling.

So everytime you breathe, you say "Come, Spirit of Jesus, Come..."

It helps me to really imagine the One Holy "Breath" of God "in-spiring" my entire being as I "re-spire" the one "breath" of the Earth's atmosphere. Actually, I take it as a memory helper for epiclesis. Just as my body cannot be sustained without the Earth's breath, so also my humanity itself cannot be sustained without God's Breath, the Spirit of Jesus. In my mind's eye, I partake in Christ's actual reality as I "take him in" by faith...with every breath.

Whatcha think? :-)

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Post Edited (One Love) : 4/18/2009 11:20:50 AM (GMT-5)

Tom
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Posted 4/18/2009 11:32 AM (GMT -6)

D: "...so that the source of Love becomes us."

T:

Tom
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Posted 4/18/2009 11:34 AM (GMT -6)

The source of love is/are divine persons. We are non-divine persons. The person(s) God is doesn't become the person I am and the person I become isn't the person(s) God is.

T

One Love
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Posted 4/18/2009 12:04 PM (GMT -6)

Tom:
The source of love is/are divine persons. We are non-divine persons. The person(s) God is doesn't become the person I am and the person I become isn't the person(s) God is.

In theosis of the individual believer, the One Divine Triune Being (God in 3 persons) exists within a particular, individual human being. The Holy Trinity permeates our personal presence with Jesus' Personal Presence via the Holy Spirit (PLEROSIS) through the self-emptying "transparent screen" of the human believer's self-emptying hypostasis. (KENOSIS)

I really, really want to get this clear, Tom. I am not talking about created human persons turning into the Eternal Son of God...or simply being "revealed" to be the Eternal Son in disguse. I am talking about created humans persons being so united to the Lord in Spirit that Synapheia (of a type) occurs. Humans becoming "sons-in-the-Son."

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Tom
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Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353

Posted 4/18/2009 1:45 PM (GMT -6)

This may be where you're fine with those aspects of Maximus that Moore (and I) object to. Dunno.

But "X exists within Y" does not equal "X BECOMES Y." You said "X becomes Y."

Nor does "sons in the Son" equal the "Son BECOMES the sons." You said the latter.

It's just language, D. When you say "become" you have to be VERY careful about what you mean. Just what is it that BECOMES what? When you say "the source of love BECOMES us," that seems pretty straightforward. That's not "exists in" or any other similar phrase that allows for differentiation. X becomes Y just means X comes to = Y. If you don't mean the latter, then BECOME isn't a good word to use, especially if the variables (the "source" and "us" ) are just posited without qualification.

I guess for all the points on which we seen to agree we still disagree the deeper we try to go.

T

Post Edited (Tom) : 4/18/2009 1:49:04 PM (GMT-5)

One Love
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Posted 4/18/2009 2:21 PM (GMT -6)

Tom:
This may be where you're fine with those aspects of Maximus that Moore (and I) object to. Dunno.

Pretty much, I guess. But there's too many people (EO and otherwise) indicating Maximus' essential idea to be a VIABLE Christian reality for me to ignore. Remember, not talking about ego REPLACEMENT by Christ (I, "Dwayne" becomes "I, Christ" ), but ego RELATIVIZATION with Christ as Divine Center/Ground ("I, Dwayne" becomes "I, Dwayne...not I, but Christ") This is where I think that Moore, Louth and all them get it kinda wrong. The human center of personal history, and the self-transcendent "I"s use of such, is NOT obliterated...like in some divine lobotomy. Because of the reciprocity, the self-emptying self still exists as a particular, historical self before Christ's Presence, even as it it filled completely with that Presence. The self/God relationship are maintained from both the standpoint of the self and God.

The only difference between us, dude, is that you don't believe that experience exists as a possibility in God's World as you see it.

I'll just have to agree to disagree with Moore, Louth, etc...and you, as well, mein freund. shakehead

********************************

Tom:
It's just language, D. When you say "become" you have to be VERY careful about what you mean. Just what is it that BECOMES what? When you say "the source of love BECOMES us," that seems pretty straightforward. That's not "exists in" or any other similar phrase that allows for differentiation. X becomes Y just means X comes to = Y. If you don't mean the latter, then BECOME isn't a good word to use, especially if the variables (the "source" and "us" ) are just posited without qualification.

The best description I've seen for the reality is Fowler's "Christ-In/As/Through-Us", particularly the "Christ-AS-Us" thing. I think that he makes good qualifications that grant just the "Source"/"Us" distinctions in full effect.

Rewording.

Jesus (who is the Son of God who is Love) lives "as us", insofar as Jesus' Personal Presence can be expressed through the Christian's "biological hypostasis" as the Christian freely chooses in faith to "pour himself out" and open up to being completely enabled, empowered and energized by Jesus' Holy Spirit...living utterly in Grace.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Post Edited (One Love) : 4/18/2009 2:42:03 PM (GMT-5)

Tom
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Posted 4/18/2009 4:53 PM (GMT -6)

Yeah, we're definitely playing to different musical scores. Dang.

Oh well.

Tom

One Love
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Posted 4/18/2009 7:28 PM (GMT -6)

Well...I guess we can't win 'em all.

But we tried...

Jesus will continue to lead us, I'm sure.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

One Love
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Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 4/18/2009 11:08 PM (GMT -6)

Posted By : One Love - 3/8/2009 8:48 AM

Tom:
If there’s a DEEPER oneness that’s MORE interpersonal and which is had only in our being utterly determined by God, then I want that because I want to be as interpersonally whole and related to God as possible. It’s THAT truest yearning that God will fulfill, not my systematic constructs (which may or may not accurately capture the truth of such union). But if I DO need to adjust my beliefs to make that possible, God’ll give me the insights to see them when the time comes. Since we both want the fullest interpersonal union possible we'll both get that in spite of disagreeing now on what such union means in terms of creaturely freedom/determinism, etc. You could be wrong about determinism. I could be wrong as well. But we can't be wrong in believing that the fullest interpersonal union with God we long for will one day be ours.

Amen to all that, Tom.

cheers

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

One Love
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Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 4/18/2009 11:31 PM (GMT -6)

"I wish I could persuade spiritual persons that the way of perfection does not consist in many devices, nor in much cogitation, but in denying themselves completely and yielding themselves to suffer everything for the love of Christ. And if there is failure in this exercise, all other methods of walking in the spiritual way are merely a beating about the bush, and profitless trifling, although a person should have very high contemplation and communication with God."

Saint John of the Cross

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Post Edited (One Love) : 4/18/2009 11:44:38 PM (GMT-5)

One Love
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Posted 4/18/2009 11:38 PM (GMT -6)

Meister Eckhart on "Detachment"

The man who has submitted his will and purposes entirely to God, carries God with him in all his works and in all circumstances. Therein can no man hinder him, for he neither aims at nor enjoys anything else, save God. God is united with Him in all his purposes and designs. Even as no manifoldness can dissipate God, so nothing can dissipate such a man, or destroy his unity. Man, therefore, should take God with him in all things; God should be always present to his mind and will and affections. The same disposition that thou hast in church or in thy cell, thou shouldst keep and maintain in a crowd, and amid the unrest and manifoldness of the world.

Some people pride themselves on their detachment from mankind, and are glad to be alone or in church; and therein lies their peace. But he who is truly in the right state, is so in all circumstances, and among all persons; he who is not in a good state, it is not right with him in all places and among all persons. He who is as he should be has God with him in truth, in all places and among all persons, in the street as well as in the church; and then no man can hinder him.

------------------------------

Poustinia:

Ultimately, however, the poustinik's call is to the desert of one's own heart wherein he dwells with God alone, whether in the workplace or in a solitary locale. In the words of Jesus Christ, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing. "

Saint John of the Cross

-------------------------------------------------------

He who can see the inward in the outward, to him the inward is more inward than to him who can only see the inward in the inward.

Henry Suso

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

Post Edited (One Love) : 4/18/2009 11:44:24 PM (GMT-5)

One Love
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Posted 4/19/2009 12:06 AM (GMT -6)

Dallas Willard’s ”Renovation of the Heart”

Chapter 4: “Radical Goodness Restored to the Soul”, pp. 73-74 All emphases mine.

-----------------------------------------------------------
The advice found in Thomas a Kempis is very good as a antidote to improper sensitivity:

Choose evermore rather to have less than more.
Seek ever the lower place and to be under all.
Desire ever to pray that the will of God be all and wholly done.
So, such a one enters the land of peace and quiet.

If this plan were followed and were sufficiently accompanied by the movements of God's Spirit within us, we might make substantial progress toward what John Wesley described as the "Character of a Methodist":

His one desire is the one design of his life, namely, "not to do his own will, but the will of Him that sent him." His one intention at all times and in all things is, not to please himself, but Him whom his soul loveth. He has a single eye. And because "his eye is single, his whole body is full of light." Indeed, where the loving eye of the soul is continually fixed on upon God, there can be no darkness at all, "but the whole is light; as when the bright shining of a candle doth enlighten the house." God then reigns alone. All that is in the soul is holiness to the Lord. There is not a motion in his heart, but is according to his will. Every thought that arises points to Him, as is in obedience to the law of Christ.

This may be a bit more than many people could find credible for this life, but it is clearly the direction in which we can and should be moving as apprentices of Jesus. What we surely can say is that those who are dead to self are not controlled in thought, feeling, or action by self-exaltation or by the will to have their own way, but are easily controlled by the love of God and neighbor. They still have some sensitivity to self-will, no doubt, and are never totally beyond the possibility of falling under subjection to it. Only a proper discipline and grace will prevent this from actually happening. But they no longer are locked in a struggle with it.

************************************************************

Here’s another…

Chapter 8: Transforming the Will (Heart or Spirit) and Character, p. 143-144

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Now we ask, What does a will or heart look like that has been transformed into Christlikeness? How is it to be characterized?

Jesus said of himself—and of course he is always the pattern—“He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him” (John 8:29).

And Paul had this to say: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives 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 delivered Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20).

We also recall John Calvin’s words: “The only haven of safety is to have no other will, no other wisdom, than to follow the Lord wherever he leads. Let this, then, be the first step, to abandon ourselves, and devote the whole energy of our minds to the service of God.”

So we have the answer to our question: Single-minded and joyous devotion to God and his will, to what God wants for us—and to service to him and to others because of him—is what the will transformed into Christlikeness looks like. That is the outcome of Christian spiritual formation with reference to the will, heart, or spirit. And this outcome becomes our character when it has become the governing response of every dimension of our being. Then we can truly be said to have “put on Christ.”

But how far this is from the usual human will and character we hardly need say! Instead of being simple and transparent through a constant and coherent devotion to God, the usual human will is a place of chaotic duplicity and confusion if not darkness, because it is the playing field of pride and fear and lack of confidence in God, shrouded in layer upon layer of destructive habits.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

"I love, therefore I am in I Am. God is my life."

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 4/20/2009 7:27 AM (GMT -6)

http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/holyfathers/the_fathers_on_holy_pascha

Good (& short) listen.

(o)

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