Story Water By Pseudo-Dionysius

Religion is a concept and practice that has been evolving for centuries. A main characteristic of humanity is the search for meaning in life and religion has become the solution to this question. No matter the time period or origin of religion, there is a common thread. Most religious traditions focus on humanity’s role in the world and relation to the Tao, Divine, or God. Therefore, mysticism can be seen as that common thread because it focuses on the experience one has with the Divine. The qualitatively different experience one has with the Divine brings forth the connection and understanding religion strives and advocates for. In “Story Water” a poem by Rumi, a poet and Sufi mystic, water, fire and the body are seen as intermediaries to

To start off, Pseudo-Dionysius’ notion of God derives from Plato’s concept of the Good. This means that God is not only beyond being, but also gives the ability to understand. He stresses the non-rational and uses katophasis and apophasis to talk about what is beyond the conception of God, resulting in thought that is free from preconceived rational ideas of God. In section five of On Divine Names, “It is before all things, and all things in It consist” (Pseudo-Dionysus 12). In other words, God is the cause of all existing things. Water too is responsible for the creation of life and other complex innovations. Humanity is dependent on both. Pseudo-Dionysius specifically describes God in a certain way to emphasize and make the reader understand the true nature of God; He is incomprehensible. In the journal, Sculpting God: The Logic of Dionysian Negative Theology, John Jones explains, “God is not a being and so cannot be known or spoken of as beings are known or spoken of” (Jones 369). Dionysius attempts to put into words God’s incomprehensibility. Language falters and cannot truly bring to light the nature of God. John Hick’s journal, Ineffability, describes how God is, “beyond privations, beyond every denial, beyond every assertion” (Hick 38). Both journals discuss how Pseudo-Dionysius uses negative theology to avoid patterns that would cause one to think God is a certain

Teresa of Avila was changing Catholic’s perspectives on God. Her illness caused many mystical experiences that inspired and revealed her unique view on humanity’s relationship with God. She is an individual who devoted her life to explaining and emphasizing the importance of not only having a connection with God, but also the mindset and awareness one must have. In her work, Interior Castle, she describes a castle inside the soul in which God resides. To reach God, one must undergo trials but all actions are done through prayer. Prayer is an intermediary that allows humanity to reflect and surrender to God, just like water is an intermediary in Rumi’s poem. St. Teresa also uses a metaphor of a fountain to explain the Prayer of Quiet. She illustrates the metaphor as, “These two large basins can be filled with water in different ways: the water in the one comes from a long distance, by means of numerous conduits and through human skill; but the other has been constructed at the very source of the water and fill without making noise” (Teresa 81). Aqua ducts in the fountain represent reason that is necessary to attain spiritual sweetness but it is an effort that comes from the individual so it also constrains the soul. On the other hand, the well spring is what fills the soul. The natural and effortless flow of water allow the individual to transform into something that could not have been achieved on their own. Because one is fully aware of God’s