Session Six
Chapter forty nine
Love is “good will” in harmony with God and God’s will.
This “good will” is the source and essence of all perfection. The soul in this state of love/good will doesn’t care about earthly or spiritual delights and consolations. The soul is satisfied completely with whatever God does. Thus consolations are incidental or non-essential. The soul can take them or leave them. This is freedom in God.
Chapter fifty
Focus on a humble stirring of love in the will. This is a gentle, steady turning to God and love in all things at all times. Over time this will update the soul’s operating system. Unite my will with yours God and let your will be done.
Take no notice of physical delights or spiritual gifts.
If they come your way, be polite. Welcome them, but don’t put any stock in them because you might risk loving God for the gifts he gives you instead of for himself alone as you should.
If you become grouchy when you don’t get consolations from your prayer life you’ll know you are dependent on gifts and your will is not in harmony with God. your love is not pure and held without condition.
Chapter fifty one
Be careful not to take things literally which should be taken spiritually. If contemplative teaching incites activity in the sense and intellect then you might be taking literally that which you should take spiritually. If the mystics were trying to give you something you could understand it would just be one more thing you understood with your intellect and controlled with your will. But they are attempting to give us a glimpse of the deep mystery which is tucked away in the cloud of unknowing. You’re not ready for this subtly until you’re ready to stop taking things literally all the time.
Chapter fifty two
“Work interiorly” does not mean strain to see what’s inside your own soul, it means to let go of all exterior attachments and consolations and let yourself sink with “a blind stirring of love” into the depth dimension of your own soul where you and God are not other than each other. If you take work interiorly literally then you will end up engaging your senses and intellect to figure yourself and God out which is the opposite of the work of contemplation. The next few chapters will riff on the mistakes one can make with the preposition “in” if taken literally.
Chapter fifty three
“God’s genuine disciples have good manners and are modest, too.”
Chapter fifty four
The practice of contemplation will change you in every way possible.
Chapter fifty five
Beware the adversary (the devil) for he will try to make you into an over-zealous churchy type person who believes his or her call is to make sure everyone follows the rules.
Chapter fifty six
Don’t trust your own opinions too much
“Ground yourself in the humble, blind experience of contemplative love and come to know how good life can be.”
Chapter fifty seven
We’re off of “in” now on to “up” and the mistakes made if it is taken literally.
Beginners and those that give in to the temptations and misguidance of the devil rush to look toward the sky when they hear the word “up.” But contemplatives speak the word up spiritually not literally. The literal understanding of up has led to all manner of “weird” spiritual art and practices.
“Contemplative love has no left, right, up, down, front or back. We experience it spiritually unlimited by physical dimensions.” The author is not talking about ascending up physically, his work is about raising consciousness.
Chapter fifty eight
If we were more spiritual we wouldn’t need visions.
Physical visions are given by grace to reveal spiritual truths not physical truths.