{"id":5322,"date":"2016-10-28T07:10:33","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T14:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=5322"},"modified":"2016-10-28T07:32:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T14:32:31","slug":"dionysius-the-areopagite-lead-us-up-beyond-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/28\/dionysius-the-areopagite-lead-us-up-beyond-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Dionysius the Areopagite – Lead us up beyond light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lead us up beyond light
\nby Dionysius the Areopagite<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n

Lead us up beyond light,
\nbeyond knowing and unknowing,
\nto the topmost summit of truth,<\/p>\n

where the mysteries lie hidden,
\nunchanging and absolute,
\nin the dazzling darkness
\nof the secret silence.
\nAll light is outshined
\nby the intensity of their shade.<\/p>\n

Our senses are flooded, our minds blinded
\nby such unseen beauty
\nbeyond all beauty.<\/em><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Sudhamshu<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

You may not be familiar with them, but the lines are hugely important in the history of Western mysticism and spirituality. Virtually all European esoteric traditions have drawn inspiration and meaning from them. So take a moment to reread them and consider what is being said and why Western mystics have been inspired by them through the centuries.<\/p>\n

In particular, that phrase about the \u201cdazzling darkness,\u201d like a Christian koan, is contemplated endlessly and keeps reappearing in esoteric writings.<\/p>\n

Dionysius is saying something about knowledge and the limitations of knowledge, using the metaphor of light and darkness. <\/p>\n

Lead us up beyond light,
\nbeyond knowing and unknowing,
\nto the topmost summit of truth\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

We might say that intellectual knowledge is knowledge dependent on things being visible, in the light. But clearly Dionysius feels that such knowledge does not attain the \u201ctopmost summit of truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is another level of knowing, deeper, more obscure, yet all-encompassing. This is the knowledge sought by the mystic. This is the knowledge found within deep inner silence. This is the knowledge that connects us with genuine truth. Amidst this darkness, the truth shines.<\/p>\n

\u2026where the mysteries lie hidden,
\nunchanging and absolute,
\nin the dazzling darkness
\nof the secret silence.<\/i><\/p>\n

But this language of darkness and blindness and unknowing as descriptions of this ultimate knowledge is more than evocative metaphor and playful contradiction.<\/p>\n

That wonderful phrase, the \u201cdazzling darkness,\u201d is a reference to a very real state of awareness experienced in deep communion when the mind has settled completely into stillness and no longer projects a conceptual overlay upon reality. <\/p>\n

We can even say that seeing (in the normal sense) stops, while perception opens as if for the first time. A person is no longer seen as a person, a table is no longer seen as a table. Surfaces and categories \u2014 the foundation of mundane perception \u2014 become ephemeral, dreamlike, insubstantial. One stops witnessing the surface level of reality in the common sense, and this can be compared to blindness or darkness. Yet everything shines! Everything is seen to be radiant with a living interpenetrating light. And the same light shines in everything.<\/p>\n

This is the dazzling darkness of Dionysius. This is why many mystics assert they no longer even see the world and, instead, only see God. It is not that they bump into furniture when they walk across a room; perception on the mundane level doesn\u2019t stop (except in the most ecstatic states), but surfaces take on a thin or unreal quality; it only occupies a minimal level of the awareness. It is as if the world everyone always assumes to be the real world, the visible world, is actually a world of shadow, but underlying that is an unseen world of brilliance and indescribably beauty.<\/p>\n

Our senses are flooded, our minds blinded
\nby such unseen beauty
\nbeyond all beauty.<\/i><\/p>\n

This is the dazzling darkness sought by mystics throughout the ages.<\/p>\n

=<\/p>\n

Speaking of darkness, Halloween is coming up, Samhain in Celtic tradition, the Dia de los Muertos. This is considered to be a time of year when the veil between this world and the Otherworld thins, when we can reconnect with the spirits of our ancestors, when can gain unexpected insight. It is a time of magic and reconnection and stepping into the unknown.<\/p>\n

And it is a time of the good darkness. This is the time of year (in the northern hemisphere) when the light of summer and the harvest season recedes, the days grow shorter, and the darkness of winter takes ascendance. This is the good darkness that balances the year. With darker, shorter, colder days, we are less active and turn inward. It is a time that reminds us to return to the dark cave of home and self. It is in this internal, inturning time that we gain insight and strength and, through endurance, find ourselves renewed and ready for the new light to come in springtime. This darkness is the time of spiritual practice that prepares us for the springtime of life and enlightenment. For only in darkness does new life gestate. Only in darkness do our eyes learn to see.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s celebrate those who came before us and made a way for us in the world. Let\u2019s celebrate the infinitely unknown possibilities yet available to us. And let\u2019s celebrate the good darkness \u2014 and the light and life we discover there!<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Dionysius the Areopagite<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Essential Mystics: Selections from the World\u2019s Great Wisdom Traditions<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nChristian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n
\n\"Dionysius<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nDionysius the Areopagite<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Syria (6th Century) Timeline<\/a>
\nChristian<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

The writings of Dionysius the Areopagite, (also called Denys or Pseudo-Dionysius) have had a profound impact on mystical Christianity, both in the West and in the Eastern Orthodox traditions. Virtually all Christian mystical movements from the medieval era through the Rennaissance and even into modern times have been directly or indirectly influenced by his writings.<\/p>\n

He is often referred to as Pseudo-Dionysius by scholars because the name Dionysius is a reference to an Athenian convert of Paul\u2019s mentioned in the Book of Acts. The mystic writer Dionysius the Areopagite clearly lived several centuries after the Dionysius of Acts, borrowing the name as a spiritual mantle. Little is known for certain about who this second Dionysius was, though scholars speculate that he was a Syrian monk who lived around the 6th century.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Dionysius the Areopagite<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lead us up beyond light by Dionysius the Areopagite English version by Ivan M. Granger Lead us up beyond light, beyond knowing and unknowing, to the topmost summit of truth, where the mysteries lie hidden, unchanging and absolute, in the dazzling darkness of the secret silence. All light is outshined by the intensity of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[809,79,2002,1004,1007],"class_list":["post-5322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-christian-mysticism","tag-christian-poetry","tag-dazzling-darkness","tag-dionysius-the-areopagite","tag-pseudo-dionysius"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5322"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5326,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322\/revisions\/5326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}