THE PATH

The companion graphic breaks down what I take to be four central planks of the path toward accessing wisdom. These could be organized in many other ways and there are certainly other important dimensions of the path that warrant inclusion and emphasis. But to keep it simple let me focus on four aspects of the overall path - each of which involves a long-term journey. The differing lengths of the respective arrows on the left side of the graphic were simply necessary to get the labels within the frame of the graphic. All should be understood as integral (none are optional) and all, therefore, are essential to the way of walking the path of soulful spirituality that will support the maturation, healing, integration, and unfolding of our being as we journey toward fully occupying the truth of our self-in-Christ.

1. Via Positiva - Living with Curiosity, Wonder and Gratitude

Living with curiosity, hospitality, wonder and gratitude is training in spiritual seeing. It is the way we learn to see everything in creation as a manifestation of God. We recognize this through our heart’s resonance with the hidden wholeness in everything that exists. Watch for this hidden wholeness. It is present, even in the midst of brokenness, because God is the source and sustaining presence of everything that exists. This aspect of the wisdom path could be called the Via Positiva. 

2. Via Negativa - Embracing the Darkness

This is the counter-intuitive response in that our default response to the darkness in our life and the world is either to avoid it or try to fix it. God’s cosmic plan of making all things new starts, however, in a very different place. We cooperate with God in this work when we welcome the parts of our life and world that we would never choose – the darkness, brokenness and evil that we find all around and in us. Only in walking this Via Negativa can we begin to recognize the presence of the Divine in these places and in our own deepest self. 

3. Via Creativa - Embracing our Calling to be Co-Creators with God

This is the prophetic component of the path we need to walk for alignment with the Spirit of Wisdom that inhabits all of creation and is our truest and deepest self. It is our response to the indignation that arises within our hearts when we notice the systemic sins of our culture and global human community. This is the way in which we seek to participate in God’s transformational agenda of cosmic reconciliation and whole-making. This is the way of both creation spirituality and eco-spirituality. We can think of this as the Via Creativa.

4. Via Contemplativa - Cultivating a Contemplative Lifestyle

Everything remains external and lacking alignment with our deepest self and God until it arises out of contemplation (or meditation). This is the way in which action and prayer are woven together into the very fabric of our lives. This is the essential soil out of which awakening and transformation develops. It is the place from which we receive the gift of deep awareness of the sacredness and interconnectedness of everything. It is the place from which any trustworthy social justice initiatives spring. It is the ground of wisdom. It is the Via Contemplativa.

2020 © Dr. David G. Benner