tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808683809539786714.post1134948462043564518..comments2024-03-03T16:26:37.299-08:00Comments on MONKS AND MERMAIDS (A Benedictine Blog): THE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL TO GOD by St John of the Cross (quotations)Father David Bird O.S.B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02805483959222856800noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2808683809539786714.post-37266526315942948342011-07-29T18:36:26.151-07:002011-07-29T18:36:26.151-07:00Divine love and spiritual knowledge are interrelat...Divine love and spiritual knowledge are interrelated throughout my ebook, as they are in many other works on mysticism. Four paragraphs on the major religions attempt a basic summary for general readers.<br /><br /> In Sufism of Islam, knowledge is the key which opens the lock of love. Ma`rifa, spiritual knowledge, is essential to properly guide those who are intoxicated with mahabba, love for the divine. They are two of the last stations on the mystical path. Sufism often uses exquisite poetry to convey our longing for the divine. Some of the verses were considered too erotic by orthodox Muslim clerics. Sufis say that they are just allegories to express the inexpressible.<br /><br /> In Hinduism, bhakti is our devotion in love and adoration of the divine. Jnana is knowledge of the way to approach the divine. Both are considered paths to realize divine union and to be released from samsara, the cycle of birth and rebirth. The way of devotion is the preferred path of most Hindu movements, as in many orthodox religions; the way of knowledge is emphasized in Vedanta; preferred and emphasized, perhaps, but they are not mutually exclusive.<br /><br /> The “Song of Songs” (Song of Solomon) in the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, are a series of love poems which may appear to be secular. Both Jewish and Christian mystics, however, interpret them as love of God for his people. The “mystical marriage” is mentioned frequently in the Kabbalah of Judaism and by Christian mystics, although the latter often allude to love between Jesus and his faithful. Divine union is the joining of lover and beloved; it is also unity of knower and known. Love and knowledge are coequal and complementary.<br /><br /> All Buddhists are devoted to the Buddha; many may also worship celestial bodhisattvas or devas (deities). They do not “love the divine” in the common, theistic sense, but that which is found in highest spiritual experience. Sanskrit prajna, the direct awareness of sunyata, emptiness of self, is the perfect wisdom. Love is usually expressed as loving kindness, universal love for all beings...a concept and virtue shared by the traditions of mysticism in all religions.Ron Krumposhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05371279514024960026noreply@blogger.com