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By Rob Des Cotes
Then Jesus said, What is the kingdom of God like? What shall
I compare it to? Luke 13:18
It is difficult, if not impossible, to describe the spiritual life directly.
You have to tell it slant, allude to it, use metaphor, allegory, poetry and other imagery. Even Jesus, when speaking of the spiritual life, often seemed constrained to similes in describing the kingdom of God as like this or like that.
How do you picture your own spiritual life? What metaphors do you use when interpreting your experience of God? Evelyn Underhill, in her classic book on mystical theology, refers to three of the most common symbols of the spiritual life:
the Pilgrim, the Lover and the Alchemist.
You might recognize your own metaphor in these.The first symbol, the Pilgrim, describes the Abrahamic quest. It appeals to our longing to go out from the normal world in search ofan anticipated home or promised land. Examples in literature include Dante's Divine Comedy, or John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. In these, the soul is seen as outward bound, journeying towards an anticipated goal. Its destination, or home, is something perceived in the distance. The intuition for the Pilgrim is one that interprets the spiritual cravings of the heart as indicating the longing for a Place.
The symbol of the Lover on the other hand identifies a different interpretation of this longing one of heart for heart, of the soul for its perfect mate, of love for its lover. The idea of betrothal and marriage is one of its common allegories. The spiritual temperament in this disposition is that of deep desire for an intimate and personal relationship with God. This intuition is one that understands the spiritual cravings asindicating a Person.'That the imagery of human love and marriage should be enlisted asa metaphor for the spiritual life is, of course, natural. In the Song of Songs, the bride and bridegroom can represent the progression of the soul's surrender to the embrace of Perfect Love from attraction, to knowledge, to growing intimacy, to union. It parallels the sequence of states through which our spiritual consciousness unfolds in its progress towards intimacy.
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Where the Pilgrim responds to the seek and ye shall find promises of Scripture, and the Lover follows the desires and passions of love, the Alchemist longs more for a transformation of the soul. He is guided by Jesus' promise, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.The symbol of the alchemist represents the inward search for purity the Magnum Opus, or Great Work of the Soul, where the need to be born again, or regenerated, is the first necessity. Paul calls it a matter of exchanging the old man for the new.
Alchemy is the art of purification bringing forth the latent gold which lies obscure in the metal, or in the self. The longing for righteousness, perfection and sanctification in the spiritual life is a response to the call to be holy as I am holy. The intuition of the Alchemist understands the spiritual cravings as mostly indicating a State of Soul.These three images are of course only partial descriptions of the subjective experience of spiritual life.
Which ones best represent your present experience?
Consider how exploring some aspects of the other metaphors might enrich your interpretation of the spiritual life.Of course none of these symbols are exclusive, and we perhaps all share elements from each. But they are helpful to consider as we appreciate the variety of spiritual experiences that are identified in us through such imagery.
May 1/2008
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