Word within a Word

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soma said:
Enlightenment is the awareness that Jesus always present communicating to us through our soul. It has many positive characteristics that relate to peace and tranquility of the mind and a feeling of love towards all of God’s creation. It is a resting in God.
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It is true that Jesus always speaks to us, but also we must remember that Jesus’s voice is not the only one we hear. There is the Devil and there is ourselves, and we have learn to distinguish between these different voices. 🙂
 
Thomas Aquinas calls affective knowledge a knowing not only through the mind but also through the heart. “This sapiential or affective knowledge given as a grace by the Holy Spirit is also called experiential knowledge - cognitio experimentalis. . . .” Withwind, you might call this New Age, I would call it a personal experience with Christ or Christian Mysticism.

1 Corinthians 13 1-4
Love
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,** but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

If one does not love or have a spiritual experience, it is OK. That does not mean going beyond the words is New Age. Love is beyond words. I say enjoy Our Lord and His Blessings strive with discernment towards a deeper relationship with Him and small things like words (enlightenment) will not bother you.**
 
Soma, I wouldn’t worry about focusing so much on the word but the contents of what the website has. There are few things to discuss, but let me ask you to further explain this according to your personal experience:
Enlightenment is the knowledge of the soul, which knows health, happiness, and the best path for us to take because the knowledge comes from within the person it is guiding.
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My questions for you and I hope you can share what you believe as much as you’d like to:
  1. about the knowledge of the soul - when do you think you will reach the level of the knowledge that you will have the full knowledge of your own soul?
  2. where does this knowledge come from?
  3. thanks for the above verses - and my question is: What is to be considered the ultimate love, the most important love of all?
Thanks!
 
I am not attracted to sensual material concept of life where people see themselves as a body and a mind alone in the world. I feel we all have a soul connected to God.

When we are enlightened with the light of the soul, I feel we will not attempt to control others by condemning them or manipulating them with the devil because we understand that it is through love that God governs everybody and all of creation. The personal desire to control others comes by mistakenly believing that man is evil and indicates a distrust of God’s ability to govern His own creation. I think that comes with identifying with the mind and body and not the soul. If we worship God by basing our thoughts and our actions on Him who is the strongest force, then the devil has no power. When we see God only through the light of the soul, it has a beneficial influence upon our minds, our bodies and all of creation because it moves to great clarity and good actions. We become a clear-seeing soul, when we refuse to tolerate evil.

God would not leave a seeker of the truth without truth because it is God that impels the seeking and cares for our every need. God impels seeking through love, not fear and when one sees everything as God, one falls in love with everything, everyone and God Himself. God is not separate from anything; He is the Life of our life, the Reality within our own reality and within the Soul.

The soul is like a flowing spring in our core, but if we throw dirt over it with worldly desires, the spring gets covered so we don’t know where it is or are aware of it. We think we are a body with a soul instead of a soul with a body.
 
Thanks for your post.

Please explain “When we are enlightened with the light of the soul”.

what are you refering to when talking about “light of the soul”? What is this “light”?

Thanks!
 
I don’t think light of the soul can be described with words because it is Spiritual. I feel it is beyond the mind and intellect. I feel it is best described and seen by the actions of love and service to others. People experience it at different times and it is grace given to them by Our Lord. Clean living I feel can welcome it, but it is no guarantee.
 
Soma,

Is the thinkunity website something you created, or is it someone else’s site?
 
I’ve heard something related called an “illumination of conscience” by a spiritual director. In it, evil flees as the Lord draws closer and a choice is given with clarity of mind as the soul reacts to its choice. Choosing the Lord, He then reveals His nature which is tremendous love and mercy, wiping away every tear. I’ve also heard it put as an illumination, purging, and union, though over many years. Words as these don’t do it justice, but it is the best I have come up with over the past few years. Tim
 
soma said:
I don’t think light of the soul can be described with words because it is Spiritual. I feel it is beyond the mind and intellect. I feel it is best described and seen by the actions of love and service to others. People experience it at different times and it is grace given to them by Our Lord. Clean living I feel can welcome it, but it is no guarantee.
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what did you mean by “Clean living I feel can welcome it, but it is no guarantee.”?
 
Grace is given. There are many good people who are rigidly good, but never have had a spiritual experience. At the same time II feel giving into our desires clouds the mind so we desire more of the physical, material world and not the spiritual relationship with Christ, which is beyond the physical.

Becky I created it.
 
soma said:
Grace is given. There are many good people who are rigidly good, but never have had a spiritual experience. At the same time II feel giving into our desires clouds the mind so we desire more of the physical, material world and not the spiritual relationship with Christ, which is beyond the physical.

Becky I created it.
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You mentioned about people thinking of your concept “New Age”. So, you are aware of it, yet your post indicated that you did not know what “New Age” is.
Enlightenment gives a new concept of life, which helps form a new humanity on the individual and community level, changing lives for the better.
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Why is this “englightement” a new concept?
 
Withwind, What is New Age? People throw it around, but what does it mean? I don’t use the term.

Enlightenment seems to be a new concept because it makes us an agent of evolution to begin on our spiritual path. Jesus is teaching us to walk with him and be a channel for love. How do we know we are on the right path? It is self-evident; one doesn’t have to be told. When we eat a good meal we are satisfied, in the same way, we are satisfied with the spiritual path that we have chosen without a doubt. The spiritual pleasure experienced is much more satisfying than the worldly pleasures of the senses so one loses interest in the cruder pleasures like gambling, intoxication and illicit sex. The bliss or spiritual happiness one experiences makes one forget about those lower pleasures. We can’t understand spiritual pleasure intellectually because we can’t accurately describe something that is beyond the mind so we have to experience this higher pleasure by ourselves and that is how we know we are on the right path. I see many people indulging in their physical desires so that tells me they do not understand enlightenment so to them it is new.
 
soma said:
Withwind, What is New Age? People throw it around, but what does it mean? I don’t use the term.

Enlightenment seems to be a new concept because it makes us an agent of evolution to begin on our spiritual path. Jesus is teaching us to walk with him and be a channel for love. How do we know we are on the right path? It is self-evident; one doesn’t have to be told. When we eat a good meal we are satisfied, in the same way, we are satisfied with the spiritual path that we have chosen without a doubt. The spiritual pleasure experienced is much more satisfying than the worldly pleasures of the senses so one loses interest in the cruder pleasures like gambling, intoxication and illicit sex. The bliss or spiritual happiness one experiences makes one forget about those lower pleasures. We can’t understand spiritual pleasure intellectually because we can’t accurately describe something that is beyond the mind so we have to experience this higher pleasure by ourselves and that is how we know we are on the right path. I see many people indulging in their physical desires so that tells me they do not understand enlightenment so to them it is new.
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I agree with you the earthly pleasure and alike are not what we sought after. And I agree that Jesus want us to be His instrument to bring His light to the world.

“Enlightment” seems to me like a method of searching within your own soul - a method that you do not need “to be told” if you are on the right path. This is dangerous. We do not know ourselves many times, and there are times we need to be told and guided by others who are the instrument of God.

You are not using the term New Age, but what you are saying on the website is somewhat similar to what New Age does - seeking for enlightment - a friend of mine who is seeking for this no longer grounded in her faith in one true God.
 
soma said:
The spiritual pleasure experienced is much more satisfying than the worldly pleasures . . .

The bliss or spiritual happiness one experiences makes one forget about those lower pleasures . . .
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Hi Soma -
Just a few words of caution . . .

Again I’d like to point you to St. John of the Cross . . . specifically “The Ascent of Mount Carmel.” His “Nada” teaching seems very appropriate to these comments. We seek satisfaction in nothing . . . not the goods of earth or the goods of heaven.

A chief stumbling block to those he describes as “proficients” (i.e. those with experience with infused contemplation) is their un-willingness to detach themselves from spiritual experiences of all kinds - feelings, consolations, inner lights, visions, locutions, revelations . . . whatever. We are to walk in the darkness of faith with regard to these matters. He’s blunt on this . . . even harsh. Union with God is not possible so long as one clings to or is guided by one’s spiritual experiences.

Not saying you’re doing this . . . just heed his words and be careful. And this is why spiritual direction is so important . . . there’s no way we can be our own guides.
soma said:
We can’t understand spiritual pleasure intellectually . . .
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But we CAN understand it intellectually. In it’s early stages, infused contemplation inflames our will . . . leading to great leaps in love. But in it’s higher forms it gives light to our understanding (intellect) . . … we come to know things about God, ourselves and others that can only come from His “touch.”

And this is “why” I think it’s best we let the Doctors explain these things. Many folks might be “contemplatives” . . . having the personal experience of God in His infused love. However, few are true “mystics” . . . meaning having the ability to explain it to others with clarity and without error.

Dave 🙂
 
DBT said:
We seek satisfaction in nothing . . . not the goods of earth or the goods of heaven.

A chief stumbling block to those he describes as “proficients” (i.e. those with experience with infused contemplation) is their un-willingness to detach themselves from spiritual experiences of all kinds - feelings, consolations, inner lights, visions, locutions, revelations . . . whatever.
Dave 🙂
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This is very true. There is a saying; it says something like: do not seek the gift itself, but the giver of the gift.

Thanks for all your posts. I am learning from you. 🙂
 
withwind said:
There is a saying; it says something like: do not seek the gift itself, but the giver of the gift.
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You got it 🙂

“Seek the God of consolations not the consolations of God.”

Another good one on why clinging to or desiring consolations is the ultimate form of spiritual self-seeking:

“Consolations are my gift to you; dryness and airidity is your gift to me.”

Dave.🙂
 
soma said:
How do we know we are on the right path? It is self-evident; one doesn’t have to be told.
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Boy, I missed that one 🙂

No it’s not self-evident and yes one does have to be told . . . and this is precisely what infused-contemplation does 🙂

In contemplation, we do nothing and have no “voice” to follow . . . it is all God’s doing. He is the “teller” of all things, although not in a way that is seen, heard, felt or imagined in any way. Further, we can be given many inner lights through God’s gift . . . but be wrong about so many things about the path we’re walking. This is the difference between His action in our will and intellect. And why direction is critical.

So ultimately, IMO, that’s what “enlightenment” means according to the teaching of the Church through her Saints and Doctors. It’s called “self-knowledge:” of faults, weakness, sins *we had no idea *we had as well has the hidden mysteries of God and his creatures.

It should be apparent, then, that we are incapable of identifying these things ourselves; they can only be made known to us by Him. That’s the illuminative aspect of contemplation in a nutshell:)

Dave 🙂
 
What happens in the presence of God is not an objective knowing but a recognition of what is self-evident that God is all ways present and loving.

A person pointing in the direction of God can help quiet the mind, but it doesn’t give the subjective spiritual experience with God.

Reading a poem on love doesn’t make one loving, but it can help on the way.

I am saying eating cake is better than having some one describe it.
 
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