Hidden in the hidden

Words about contemplation of Light. See also: Maximus the Confessor on the hidden in the hidden of mysterious theology Victor Neovitos 1. Thinking and contemplation of Light are not compatible. Such knowledge is given to a person by the experience of supernatural admiration of the mind to the vision of the Light of the Holy Trinity, when the existence of another form of movements of the mind, called here Contemplation, is revealed. 2. The contemplation of Light is hidden by an invisible veil from the natural activity of the mind, called reason. The activity of the mind is high and admirable, but is limited by the experience of earthly existence and is not capable of Contemplation, which is higher than any human activity. 3. Before experienced Contemplation, rational thinking seems to be the only possible form of mental movements, and the cessation of the ability to think is perceived as the death of the mind and man. 4. During Contemplation, the mind does not die, but is transformed - the rational power of thinking dies and the mind plunges into complete silence, but the power of Contemplation is born, which transforms the mind into light and gives the mind the ability to contemplate the Light of Christ. 5. Thinking lives by the movements of thought. Contemplation lives by the movements of light. Every movement of thought has a beginning, development in time and an end. The movements of light have neither beginning nor end, but have a continuous development. 6. A thought can spread through words in time, it can flow instantly like lightning, it can hang like a cloud or the sun, but it cannot be outside of time. And even the contemplative activity of the mind in a state of pure prayer, when the mind is immersed in the graceful silence of silence, does not free the mind from the ability to think, listen and analyze what is contemplated over time. 7. The blessed admiration for Contemplation stops the mental movements of the mind. And, conversely, awareness of thought indicates the cessation of Contemplation. The thought returning after Contemplation is felt as a dark substance obscuring the Light. 8. Where there is thought, there is no Contemplation. But not all thoughtlessness is contemplation of Light. There are non-Christian practices and demonic tricks that can lead the mind to the delusion of silence in darkness, in which there is no Light, no Christ and no Life, but there is the non-existence of consciousness, which is death outside of God. 9 . It is not the silence of the mind that is evidence of the divine presence, but the admiration of the mind for union with Christ that leads the mind to perfect silence in God. Contemplation of the divine Light is not possible without faith and love for Christ. 10. The mind's admiration for Contemplation amazes not only by the cessation of the movements of thought, but also by the awareness of the absence of the former self-movements of will and desires. 11. When the mind moves from thinking to Contemplation, memory and concepts about earthly life disappear with the distinction of the diversity and variability of things. 12. But after Contemplation and the return of the mind to earthly life, remembrance of the Light is given, in which there is nothing dark or distinguishable, there is no more, no less, no further, no closer, neither earlier nor later, there is nothing that distinguishes one from the other, there is no distinction of locality, direction and duration, but everything that is felt is pure transparent Light, indistinguishable boundless simplicity and the unchanging eternal movement of Light. 13. Light-like movements of the mind and contemplative revelations can be felt by the mind during reading, and during grace-filled prayer, and during church services. But one thing is sensations of light and rational comprehension of divine secrets, but completely different - Contemplation or spiritual vision of Light. 14. Contemplation of Light is the grace of the mind’s perception of Divine energies, similar to the vision of sunlight, but differs from physical vision in that the mind is not an outside observer of external light, but itself becomes boundless light and lives by Light. 15. The movements of light are not movements in time, but other eternal movements of new life outside of time. The movements of light are not perceived as consistent change, but as constant amazement at other movements of the soul. 16. In the state of Contemplation, experienced knowledge is given about what is hidden in the Gospel words Light, Glory, Truth, Love, Unity in Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven, which in the Gospel designate the extraterrestrial movements of life and which are not separated from one another, but are contemplated in the indivisible unity and simplicity of the Kingdom of Heaven. 17. The Holy Fathers, vouchsafed to contemplate the Light, call this state of mind in different words. Sometimes they call it the knowledge of Truth or simply knowledge, sometimes the vision of Light, the divine Glory, the face of God or the vision of God as He is, sometimes the silence of the mind or the wonder of the mind, sometimes the taste of the Kingdom of Heaven, the shining of the Sun of Truth or the second Sun, the illumination of the Holy power of contemplation or simply contemplation. 18. The Movement of Unity is perceived not as the presence of the small in the large, but as the disappearance of the previous personality and transformation into a single Personality with the single will of the Father. But the disappearance of personality does not eliminate the awareness of one’s own Self in a new quality. 19. Contemplation of Light amazes with the discovery of other forms of movements of the mind, hidden from the natural abilities of man, but embedded in the Eternal Plan for man, as God’s will for the resurrection of the mind in the Light. 20. Man's ability to perceive Light is inherent in human nature, but Contemplation itself is supernatural and given by grace. When a supernatural light is lit, you naturally recognize it as Light. Also, when you feel supernatural love, you naturally recognize it as Love. And when you experience supernatural life, you naturally recognize it as Life. And when you receive supernatural knowledge, inexpressible in words, you naturally recognize it as the Truth. Awareness of Light, Love, Life, Truth is the Contemplation of God to the extent that it is given by God. 21. The admiration for Contemplation amazes with the knowledge of the divine Light, and the return to earth amazes with the awareness of oneself in the darkness of not seeing the Light and the knowledge of the Fear of falling away from unity with Christ. 22. Returning the mind to the natural mind reveals the existence of an insurmountable barrier for the mind between heaven and earth, between Light and darkness. 23. Thought and Light are two different forms of being. Thought is characteristic of man’s earthly existence in the present century. Light is perceived as an image of the heavenly existence of the human soul in the next century. Therefore, the holy fathers secretly say that the silence (darkness) of the mind is the secret of the future age. 24. The image of being is not yet being itself, but its tasting reveals the divine logos of being of the future century and the divine Providence of the resurrection of man through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 25. In every soul lies the logos of the birth of the baby Jesus Christ and union with Christ like the Mother of God. The Lord said: Who is My Mother and who are My brothers? then, pointing his hand at His disciples, he added: Behold, My mother and My brothers. But this logos is not embodied in every soul: whoever does the will of My Father, who is in heaven, is My brother, and My sister and My mother. The conception of the soul from the Holy Spirit occurs at Baptism, and the birth of a baby into the Light of God occurs when the mind is ignited and burns like a burning bush in the Glory of Christ while contemplating the Light. Subsequently, the renewed soul bends over the baby, like the Mother of God, protects and feeds Him with the milk of pure prayer from the Holy Spirit, like the Apostle: It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me. 26. The supernatural taste of the existence of the new century is so superior to all earthly experience that the return to the natural human existence of the present century, and the loss of unimaginable movements of the soul is perceived as the loss of true life. 27. After returning to earth, the soul, like a cup filled to the brim with love, seeks communication in order to shed the light of Love on its neighbors. But at the same time, with boundless joy, one feels one’s complete insignificance and the inability to return oneself to the life of Light. 28. The joy of tasting another life in the Light is replaced by the awareness of its loss. The joy of eternity and endless freedom is replaced by the limitations of the mind and the languor of the soul in the prison of space-time. 29. After the cessation of Contemplation, the mind returns to the state of the dark mind, but acquires the quality of enlightenment and is freed from the anxiety and limitations of the thoughts of this visible life. 30. A thought, enlightened by the Light of contemplation, moves in time, flowing not from the past to the present, but from the future to the present. The reverse flow of time, like the reverse perspective on the icon of the Holy Trinity, is felt not as a movement towards death, but as a movement towards the life of Light. 31. Enlightened by the light of Contemplation, the mind becomes capable of maintaining the silence of pure prayer and distinguishing between the light-like movements of the Spirit and the light-obscuring movements of thought. 32. In enlightened prayer, the sin that prevents the vision of the Light becomes visible. The Light is not visible, but sin is visible, obscuring the Light. And instead of the doxology “In Your Light we will see Light,” the leading heartfelt lament “In Your Light we will see sin” is given. 33. The enlightenment of the mind begins in the silence of pure prayer, when the praying mind is given the ability to hear the prayerful movements of the Holy Spirit and enter the realm of natural contemplation. Then the mind stops its volitional efforts in promoting prayer, falls into silence, but listens and merges with the movements of the Spirit and comprehends “reliable information about the unknown.” 34. The silence of pure prayer does not deprive the mind of the ability to think, but thought acquires the properties of natural contemplation. If the thought is directed at oneself (at the Self) or at the things of this visible life, then the mind deviates from enlightenment into darkness. Such prayer is deprived of purity, the mind is deprived of natural contemplation, and the mind is deprived of enlightenment. 35. A mind darkened by the darkness of ignorance and conceit, but expecting supernatural knowledge from prayer, can easily be caught in a crafty substitution and, instead of true silence, remain in soaring thoughts and false zeal. 36. False zeal comes from the egoistic desire to receive the mystical gifts of the Spirit. True zeal strives for union with the Spirit through love, without expecting gifts from the Beloved. 37. True Contemplation is an undeniable state of perception and unity with divine energies, in which immeasurable joy and Love are clearly realized. True Contemplation does not offer or ask consent, but completely takes possession of the mind, so that all movement of thought and will disappears, and there is no possibility of turning away and not being light in the Light until one is allowed to think. 38. True Contemplation humbles the mind, gives knowledge of the futility of mental efforts in overcoming what is hidden from the mind and rests the mental movements of the mind in the silence of pure prayer created by the Spirit. 39. False contemplation is a state of perception of subtle movements of thought and images, the source of which is of dubious origin and, instead of humility and enlightenment of the mind, gives rise to vague mental constructions based on agreement with thoughts of exaltation and vanity inspired by a fallen spirit. False contemplation can seduce with the unusualness of a mystical state, but it cannot deprive the mind of the ability to think and refuse temptation. 40. Switching the mind from the currents of thought to Contemplation and back is not observed by the praying mind, but is given by grace by our Lord Jesus Christ to those for whom the time has come and for whom it is useful. 41. Active faith in Jesus Christ gives rise to good deeds. Doing good gives rise to doing smart. Smart doing gives the experience of comprehending Contemplation. Comprehension of Contemplation gives hope for salvation and gives rise to faith in contemplation. Contemplative faith encourages vigil and prayer. Vigil and prayer, combined with good deeds, create the abode of the Holy Spirit in the soil of the heart of the person praying. The Abode is filled with Light by the grace of Jesus Christ. 42. Contemplation of Light is given to a pure heart through the power of faith. But the taste of contemplation can be given to a not yet purified heart through the ardor of faith, turning it to an ardent desire for spiritual prayer, saving the praying person from being carried away by false mystical states and directing him to the path of true repentance. 43. The experience of contemplation may once be given to the person praying, giving knowledge of the spiritual, but subsequently the person praying can remain outside of contemplation for a long time and remain in spiritual and physical weakness, acquiring knowledge of his insignificance. 44. It is not purity of heart, but the striving for purity that opens the window of Contemplation. Strong faith surpasses impurity of heart. And the more light pours through the window of Contemplation, the more clearly the impurity of the heart and the weakness of faith are visible. 45. Faith operates outside the reasoning and imagination of the mind. Faith operates outside of time and outside of sin. But during Contemplation, faith disappears along with reason, and after Contemplation, faith of contemplation is born. 46. The contemplation of Light is hidden for the time being from the person praying, in order to protect him from exaltation and bring him into the mind of Truth. 47. To one, the knowledge of Light is given at the beginning of the path through the fervor of faith, in order to direct him to the true path of purification of the heart and turn him away from the world of sensual pleasures and false aspirations of the mind. But for another, walking the true path, the knowledge of the Light is not given for a long time in order to test his faith. 48. Falling away from Contemplation and staying outside Contemplation for a long time is felt as being abandoned by God. This is a time of enduring sorrows and learning about physical and spiritual weakness. 49. Physical weakness prevents us from praying. But weakness is given not so that the ascetic does not pray, but so that through patience he recognizes spiritual weakness and the insignificance of his labors in acquiring the grace of the Spirit. 50. In the patience of infirmities, the cry of the heart and the self-motivated prayer of the Spirit are born. 51. The faith of contemplation is like a saving ray of light, penetrating through the thickness of spiritual weakness and dispelling the darkness of despondency in the air of mental activity. 52. The mind lives by thoughts, images, imagination, remembering and daydreaming, generated by the experience of sensory interaction with the things of the earthly world. When the mind becomes like the Spirit, then sensual thought-images disappear and the soul exists through the contemplation of Light in the simplicity of non-thought. 53. Many factors hinder the ascent of the worshiper to Contemplation. You can sincerely wish, sincerely pray, but at the same time mark time or even slide down. 54. Prayer is grace and is not subject to the reasoning of the person praying. Therefore, it makes no sense to list, systematize or highlight the factors that hinder the development of prayer. But not reasoning and not looking for an answer to the perplexities that arise after Contemplation would be no less delusional than believing that one can be saved with the help of rational thinking without prayer. 55. Smart work and reading the works of the holy fathers is useful for the person praying. But what is hidden from the mind is revealed as spiritual enlightenment is acquired, which is given not by the frequency of reading, but by the purity of prayer. And if you read more than you pray, or pray less than you talk about prayer, then pure prayer is not given to the one who prays. 56. The beginning of the ascent to Contemplation is pure prayer. Pure prayer is a grace-filled transformation of prayer, but it is not Contemplation, but an introduction to the field of Contemplation and preparation for the experience of Contemplation. 57. Pure prayer is the path to Contemplation, when the spirit and the Spirit pray and the mind becomes capable of contemplating the Light, but cannot contemplate until the spirit becomes light by the grace of the Holy Spirit. 58. Pure prayer reveals spiritual movements that are so unusual that a lonely self-willed person, relying on his own opinion and limited experience, is not allowed to it in order to protect him from the charms and subtle substitutions of the evil one. 59. Grace protects the person praying and therefore does not lead him into the sphere of pure prayer if he does not have an experienced mentor nearby, to whom he regularly confesses and who can humble the self-conceit of the person praying. 60. Prayer gives hope. Prayer teaches you to pray and live among people. Prayer purifies and prepares for change for the life of the next age. And even if there is no experienced confessor, prayer leads and gives guidelines for movements. But at the stage of pure prayer, the Lord leads to an experienced confessor if the person praying is ready to renounce trust in his reason and humble himself in obedience. 61. If prayer does not teach, then it is not yet prayer created by the Spirit, but words created by the mouth. If prayer does not teach yet, then the time has not come yet. And for whom prayer is a teacher, he worships the Teacher in Spirit and Truth. 62. The Trinity is one and simple. One created many things in many differences. The One contemplates all the diversity of creation in the unity and simplicity of Truth. The human mind is created in the image of the One and is born from nothingness in the unity and simplicity of thoughtlessness. But from the moment of realizing the Self, the unity of the simplicity of the silent baby is lost and breaks into many mental fragments, giving rise to the complexity of comprehending unity. 63. The human mind may have been given a supernatural capacity for the Contemplation of Truth, but it was lost after the Fall of Adam. What is lost is restored by the One as the mind comprehends unity in the multitude of differences and strives for prayerful unity with the One in the Spirit of Truth. 64. The thinking of a mind that has fallen away from unity with the One is the activity of a mind deprived of the grace of the Spirit of contemplation. Smart doing directs the mind to gain beneficial energy. 65. Thinking without faith and the grace of mental activity is not able to come to the contemplation of the Truth and produces thoughts, concepts and opinions that tear the Truth into many false ideas, creating the illusion of knowing the Truth. 66. Satan is not capable of Contemplation, for Contemplation is unity with the One, and Satan has fallen away from unity. 67. The prince of this world does not own human minds, but owns thoughts that can captivate with the illusion of comprehending the Truth and incline the arrogant mind to worship the fruits of thinking. 68. Whoever has fallen in love with the intellectual use of thoughts in conversations and discussions and clings to the wisdom of the mind runs the risk of remaining captive to false thoughts and worshiping Satan and his idols in the images of the fruits of thinking. 69. He who rejects mental idols and strives by faith to contemplate the Truth in the silence of the mind, worships the One in Spirit and Truth. 70. The Jesus Prayer contains a request for mercy. Pardon means the gracious liberation of the mind from the captivity of thoughts and the revival of the ability to contemplate the Truth. 71. Smart doing clears the mind of illusions cast by Satan. The mind is gradually freed from the power of thoughts and ceases to worship the idols of thinking, preferring not yet realized prayerful movements in unity with the Spirit to the wisdom of the mind. 72. Daytime prayer in interaction with others cleanses the heart and creates a desire for solitude in the silence of evening prayer. Solitary prayer vivifies the mind and nourishes daily prayer with the juices of grace. 73. Abandoning one's own understanding during prayer and striving towards Christ with patient faith in grace-filled mercy is an activity of the mind that anticipates its amazement at the Contemplation of the Truth. Without such a rejection of the mind, the Jesus Prayer becomes a sinful soaring of the mind, worshiping the idols of thinking. 74. Contemplation seems incredible and impossible. Like, where should I go, am I completely chained to the flesh and its desires? And therefore I can only live in communication with my thoughts and follow the common sense of my mind. This is the enemy's thought of false humility. 75. But there is faith. By faith in Christ and the holy power of the Church of Christ, in spite of all common sense, it is possible to follow Christ. By faith, a person is freed from attachment to bodily and mental consumption. By faith a person dies to live in society for the sake of life in Christ. Faith gives rise to the desire for unity with Christ and the desire to pray. 76. Contemplation is given by grace for a short time. It may be an hour or a moment, but it bestows indescribable bliss of eternity, peace, joy, life. And no matter how long or often it is given, it will always be a short moment in comparison with eternity. 77. It is impossible not to lose Contemplation, because it is not in our power if the time has not yet come for the irrevocable rapture of the soul to eternity. But it is possible to lose the Fear of God, faith, hope and aspiration to Christ and thereby lose the ability to have mercy. 78. The mind, having experienced the amazing joyful transformation towards the Light, realizes the cessation of all movement of thought and recognizes the freedom of life in the Spirit of Truth. 79. After returning from Contemplation to the movements of thought, the mind becomes capable of spiritual reasoning and strives to comprehend the Truth. Then it is no longer false thinking, but Truth that becomes the source of mental movements of the mind. 80. A mind that has loved true silence resorts to reasoning and runs away from conversations and discussions, because it knows how easy it is to lose through words the wordless movements of prayer in the Spirit of Truth. 81. How can we live in society, in communication with people, and not lose the wordless movements of prayer in the Spirit of Truth? There is an answer to this - the Gospel. 82. The essence of the Gospel is not how the mind understands the Gospel, for it is not possible for the mind to understand that which is not accessible to the understanding of heavenly things due to the earthly sphere of activity of the mind. In the heavenly sphere there are no movements of thought and therefore thought remains within the limited limits of thinking, where there is no salvation. 83. The essence of the Gospel is Christ, Who is the Word and is the Light. The words of Christ, written in the Gospel in human words, are not comprehended by the human mind if the word of Christ is not illuminated by the Light of Truth. The essence of the Gospel is comprehended through union with Christ in the Spirit of Truth. 84. But the verbal mind has the ability to hear the call of the Gospel to repentance and understand that it is not his conclusions, knowledge and activities that save a person, but faith in Christ, following Christ, bearing the Cross of Christ and climbing the Cross will save a person. 85. There are two ways to follow Christ. One is patient observance of the commandments and the reduction of passions in interaction with others, and the second is the striving for prayerful unity with Christ in interaction with the Spirit. The first precedes the second. The second precedes Contemplation. Without going through the first path, it is impossible to take the second. Without loving the second path, it is impossible to approach Contemplation. 86. The first way is to carry the cross to crucify the flesh. The second path is the path of carrying the cross of the Jesus Prayer to the Calvary of Contemplation. 87. The path of diminishing passions without striving for union with Christ goes in circles around the Calvary of Contemplation. And only patiently carrying the cross of the Jesus Prayer, not out of a desire to ascend, but out of a desire to surrender oneself to crucifixion, directs the one praying upward, where both the flesh and the mind of the one praying are crucified. 88. He who strives for prayerful unity with Christ is an inner monk who loves interaction with the Spirit over human relationships. 89. It’s difficult and you don’t want to die for society when you love yourself more than Christ. And therefore selfishness is an obstacle to contemplating life in Spirit and Truth. 90. The source of every movement of the soul is one - Love or its absence. The absence of Love is selfishness. It is directed towards oneself, and Love is directed away from oneself. These are opposite directions. And therefore, prayer without love for God is prayer to oneself. 91. Prayer without Love for God remains in darkness, but this is not noticeable to the self-lover. He feels the dryness of prayer and its heartlessness, but cannot understand the reasons. He looks for reasons in his neighbors, in society, in the pharisaism of the church and in other external circumstances, but not in himself. 92. But when the joy of illuminating prayer with glimpses of Love is given, then knowledge of Light and knowledge of darkness is given. And then you naturally strive for the Light, but you come across a thick and dense wall of selfishness that does not let the Light through. For Light is Love, and Love is where there is no absence of it. 93. Prayer out of a desire to give rather than receive, and service not to oneself, but to one’s neighbor in society, diminishes selfishness and stops the closed circle around the prayer calvary, directing prayer upward. 94. The Jesus Prayer and service to one's neighbor is a narrow path of mental action, which is the sharp sword of Christ, piercing the heart and cutting off all wickedness of selfishness. The narrow path is love for Christ and the path to Calvary to contemplate the Glory of Christ. 95. Smart doing is given by grace and brings one closer to Contemplation, but smart doing is not Contemplation. We can speak about smart doing in words from the Gospel, which are said about the Forerunner: smart doing is the voice of one crying in the wilderness. It is not Light, but is called upon to prepare the way to the Light. And he must decrease in order to come to the contemplation of the Light. 96. The mind lives in a prison, as in a stone coffin, where the Light does not penetrate and darkness envelops the mind with ignorance of the Light. The light is hidden from the mind. 97. But the Kingdom of Heaven is within you, and what is hidden within is revealed in what is hidden from the outside. And the Light will not open if the mind is not hidden in prayer, as in a stone tomb, where the evil thought of this visible life does not penetrate. 98. But even for those who have sought freedom of mind and are born again to the vision of Light, there is something hidden in the Light. And in this there is an eternal movement of the mind from rational thought to the vision of Light and from the vision of Light to the comprehension of the Truth hidden in the Light. 99. Words about contemplation do not reveal what is hidden from the mind, but allow the mind, which has undoubtedly experienced amazement through Contemplation, to receive answers to questions that arise and to rest in prayer. 100. The hidden in the hidden is revealed by light in Light.