Kenosis

Friends,

At some point along the way we arrive at an understanding of what our starting point is, what is the paradigm/vision around which we build our life. The rational/empiricists, the fundamentalists in religion and political ideology, the humanists, and the mystics all arrive at their own understanding of what their starting point is. It remains a mystery to me how this happens. We cannot underestimate cultural conditioning. It is said in the West when a person asks about another's religion, the important question is, what are your beliefs? Asking about a person's religion in the East will lead to the important question, what is your practice? I am of the conviction that the latter is the important question. Practice here does not refer to repetition, rather it stems from the Greek word, praxis, which means to actualize what is already hidden or unmanifest.

The Wisdom traditions of East, West, North, and South teach that the starting point is Essence. Essence is what is already present, already within and around us, but because of perceptual limitations we do not comprehend, we come to awareness in a developmental process. In the Semitic Wisdom traditions of the Abrahamic Faiths in the Middle East and North Africa therefore the praxis of prayer/meditation/contemplation whether in silence and sitting, in ecstatic movement, or in the middle of work and activity, is called the Remembrance of God. It is important to recall also that the names of God in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have a common root. In Judaism the root words are Ela', or Elohim, in Christianity, Allaha ( the Aramaic term that Yeshua used to refer to God), and in Islam, Allah, or Allahu. This root word means the original Unity from which all life and existence arise.

When our starting point is Essence, and that Essence is the source of our true life and identity, then the way we come to spiritual knowledge is not by pouring something foreign into our soul, or consciousness, but by uncovering what is at the heart, or the center of our being. Hence the meditation praxis of the desert wisdom tradition is frequently called the Prayer of the Heart. "Heart" in this case does not refer to the affective center, or the anatomical organ, but rather to the ontological center of our being, that in the tradition is the dwelling place or sanctuary of the Life and Presence of our Source. This original Unity from which we arise is also the Unity which holds our life and being and humanity together.

To uncover or to Re-member Essence involves a process of actualization or praxis. In the meditation of Prayer of the Heart we cultivate our capacity for awareness, seeing, being present to what is. As this capacity grows it opens to the quality of pure presence, a quality of the Essential Life already within us. We also cultivate our capacity for self-offering or surrender. As this capacity grows we uncover that our self-offering is in fact a dimension of the universal self-offering, what we call love, coming alive and manifesting in us. When deep meditation, therefore, meets the full spectrum of all conditions of life, the result is the capacity to be Presence, to be self-giving Love with whatever is before you. This is the compassionate life. We know this process of uncovering as kenosis, letting go, emptying of all that is non-essential, so that essential Presence and Self-giving Love can arise and live in us. We don't make it happen, it is already there as a potential Life within us, to be actualized and lived in this humanity, in this consciousness/soul, in this personality, in this gender, within all the phenomenal temporal qualities of the life we live. In this way we bring forth the numinous eternal dimension of reality within the phenomenal impermanent and transitory dimension of reality. The Buddhists call this awakening to the non-duality of samsara (transitory) and nirvana(eternal). The Christians call it abiding in the Kingdom of Heaven while living in the world.

That's why we practice, kenosis is how we do it.
Peace to all,
Bill Ryan
cmpnwtr@earthlink.net