What is the Uncreated Light and how can we experience it?

[JohnTh]

What is the Uncreated Light and how can we experience it?

A marvelous text from Saint Gregory Palamas about something which - I hope - will get you out from depressing themes which are to be seen in our day-by-day reality.

 

[ArmyMatt]

very nice

 

[zippy2006]

Last night I finished Gregory's Treatise on the Spiritual Life, and much of your blog is taken directly from that text. For example, a different translation:

And what is most paradoxical--this is done by the inexpressible light which radiates the inner parts and perfects the inner self. "Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts," (2 Pet 1:19) according to the chief among the apostles, the true human being "goes forth," according to that prophetic saying, "to one's work and labor until evening," (Ps 103:23) and by using this light as a path, ascends, or rather is led upward "to the eternal mountain" (Ps 75:5). And in this light one is made a visionary of celestial things, O wonder!
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More:

Likewise, St. Isaac says: "During the time of prayer, the graced intellect sees its purity, which is like the heavenly colors, which the Israelite elders named, 'the place of God,' (Ex 24:10) when God appeared to them on the mountain." And again: "There is the purity of the intellect which during the time of prayer radiates the light of the Holy Trinity."

But the intellect which is worthy of that light transmits to the body which is united to it many beautiful signs of divinity, mediating between divine grace and fleshly imperviousness, granting power to that which is of itself powerless. From here follows the God-like and incomparable inclination towards virtue, which is completely immovable and insusceptible to evil. Next the Logos who discloses the principles of existence, reveal, out of His own purity, the inner mysteries of nature; and through them, by way of analogy, the noetic faculty of the faithful listeners is lifted upward towards the perception of that which is beyond nature--a perception of Whom, by its own contacts, remains Himself the Father of the Logos.​

 

[Phronema]

Last night I finished Gregory's Treatise on the Spiritual Life, and much of your blog is taken directly from that text. For example, a different translation:

And what is most paradoxical--this is done by the inexpressible light which radiates the inner parts and perfects the inner self. "Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts," (2 Pet 1:19) according to the chief among the apostles, the true human being "goes forth," according to that prophetic saying, "to one's work and labor until evening," (Ps 103:23) and by using this light as a path, ascends, or rather is led upward "to the eternal mountain" (Ps 75:5). And in this light one is made a visionary of celestial things, O wonder!
​

More:

Likewise, St. Isaac says: "During the time of prayer, the graced intellect sees its purity, which is like the heavenly colors, which the Israelite elders named, 'the place of God,' (Ex 24:10) when God appeared to them on the mountain." And again: "There is the purity of the intellect which during the time of prayer radiates the light of the Holy Trinity."

But the intellect which is worthy of that light transmits to the body which is united to it many beautiful signs of divinity, mediating between divine grace and fleshly imperviousness, granting power to that which is of itself powerless. From here follows the God-like and incomparable inclination towards virtue, which is completely immovable and insusceptible to evil. Next the Logos who discloses the principles of existence, reveal, out of His own purity, the inner mysteries of nature; and through them, by way of analogy, the noetic faculty of the faithful listeners is lifted upward towards the perception of that which is beyond nature--a perception of Whom, by its own contacts, remains Himself the Father of the Logos.​

Very nice! I'm a fan of St. Gregory Palamas' writings, and it's on my to read list. As a Roman Catholic did you enjoy the book? Did it conflict with your viewpoint?

Please understand I intend that question to be asked in a kind manner, but I word it that way as my understanding is that Roman Catholics reject the essence-energies distinction of Palamite origin.

 

[zippy2006]

Very nice! I'm a fan of St. Gregory Palamas' writings, and it's on my to read list. As a Roman Catholic did you enjoy the book? Did it conflict with your viewpoint?

I enjoyed it, and it was the first thing I've read by Palamas. I also have his Triads on loan and I hope to read that relatively soon. Some of the primary differences from Catholicism that I saw were: uncreated divine energies, the way that grace affects the body, an emphasis on the way that eternal life or death flows into our existence today, a somewhat different understanding of the nous/intellect, and a greater emphasis on peira/experience.

Please understand I intend that question to be asked in a kind manner, but I word it that way as my understanding is that Roman Catholics reject the essence-energies distinction of Palamite origin.

Well, I tend to lean East on some of the points noted above. Regarding the essence-energies distinction, I would have to do more homework to understand the debate. I would be curious to read the debates between Gregory and Barlaam or Akindynos, but in general I don't think folks like Augustine or Aquinas would be in full agreement with Barlaam, either. I think Aquinas admits the existence and importance of intellection (and the nous as distinct from the rational faculty) but it isn't a big theme in his works. Pseudo-Dionysis is a interesting common source for Palamas and Aquinas, so reading more of his work might be fruitful.

The West's compartmentalized notion of God's essence does seem a bit strange, though. In effect it makes the communication of divine revelation a largely rationalistic matter.

What other works would you recommend by Palamas?

 

[Phronema]

I enjoyed it, and it was the first thing I've read by Palamas. I also have his Triads on loan and I hope to read that relatively soon. Some of the primary differences from Catholicism that I saw were: uncreated divine energies, the way that grace affects the body, an emphasis on the way that eternal life or death flows into our existence today, a somewhat different understanding of the nous/intellect, and a greater emphasis on peira/experience.



Well, I tend to lean East on some of the points noted above. Regarding the essence-energies distinction, I would have to do more homework to understand the debate. I would be curious to read the debates between Gregory and Barlaam or Akindynos, but in general I don't think folks like Augustine or Aquinas would be in full agreement with Barlaam, either. I think Aquinas admits the existence and importance of intellection (and the nous as distinct from the rational faculty) but it isn't a big theme in his works. Pseudo-Dionysis is a interesting common source for Palamas and Aquinas, so reading more of his work might be fruitful.

The West's compartmentalized notion of God's essence does seem a bit strange, though. In effect it makes the communication of divine revelation a largely rationalistic matter.

What other works would you recommend by Palamas?

It's interesting to read your synopsis of the differences, and I appreciate your sharing that. I am admittedly still only learning about those points in Orthodoxy at this point, and so I am unaware of the Roman Catholic understanding of them altogether as a comparison.

I have to say that I've only read St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality, by Father John Meyendorff, and I do recommend it even if it does have an Orthodox bias to the reading. Otherwise I'm looking forward to reading more by him as hesychasm is of great interest to me.

I agree with you regarding the rationalizing of divine revelation, or rationalizing the experience of His uncreated energies as those aren't things I believe that we are able to fully comprehend in this life. They really are Holy Mysteries in my opinion.

I appreciate the recommendation on St. Dionysius the Areopagite, I will certainly look into it. I have so much I want to read, and not enough time