Behind our mother-image, our father-icons, beyond the impenetrable light of divine symbols and the darkness of our questions looms large a great mystery.

A dark uncertainty has often been maligned in our modern, Western societies, but this has not always been so. For Saint Dionysus and other Christian mystics it was “the luminous Darkness”. Buddhist Philosopher Nagarjuna named it sunyata, “the void”. Indian Vedic scholar Adi Shankara called it Brahman; that of which nothing can be said.

This is not atheism in a traditional sense of the word, but a profoundly religious perspective on ultimacy which may lead us to a life of trust; loosening our grip on certitudes with a heart full of wonder.

 

Topics: Wonder