Advent Meditation Week 1

Just as we celebrate and anticipate the Incarnation of the Logos on the material plane, so, too, we want to prepare for the analogous birth within the human soul.

Valentin Tomberg, in Letter II, refers to the “second birth” as Christian Yoga. Hence, the elements of Christian Yoga are analogous to the stages of yoga described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. In Letter XVI, The Tower of Destruction, these stages are related to the three stages of the spiritual life described by St. John of the Cross. Hence, we have this schema relating these yoga stages in three languages:

Stages of Christian Yoga

Sanskrit	Greek	English	Spiritual Life
Dharana	Catharsis	Concentration	Purification
Dhyana	Theoria	Meditation	Illumination
Samadhi	Theosis	Contemplation	Mystical Union

Tomberg contrasts the Vedantic ideal with the Christian goal. The former, he says, leads to the extinction of consciousness, whereas the Christian goal is the “unity of two”. For more on the differences between Yoga and Christianity, see Studies in the Psychology of the Mystics by Joseph Marechal, S.J, so we needn’t be concerned about that topic at this point.

The Greek Mystic Nicholas Cabasilas in The Life in Christ explains that there are three obstacles to theosis. These are:

1. Nature. The Divine nature is different from human nature.
2. Sin. A will corrupted by evil separate us from God.
3. Death. In the mortal body, we can see only the dim reflection in the mirror; in this state our bodies are dominated by sense life.

These obstacles are overcome by the following historical events respectively:

1. Incarnation. This unites the human and divine natures in one person.
2. Crucifixion. The leads to the forgiveness of sins.
3. Resurrection. This overcomes death and the attraction to sense life.

Cabasilas relates these ideas to the effects of the sacraments, or mysteries, with the aim of salvation. The esoteric path aims beyond this to liberation. That aim is union while still in the mortal body:

1. Purify our soul so it becomes the perfect reflector of the Holy Spirit.
2. Expose our false sense of I, replaced with the mind of Christ.
3. Move from a life of instinct to a life of intelligence and love.

The first step is concentration without effort, which depends on detachment and purification (See Letter XVI)

• Detachment is the separation from “arbitrary, personal activity”. We are no longer absorbed in the minutiae of life, but are living on a higher level.
• Purification is the cleansing of the mirror by no longer being agitated by emotional disturbances, etc.

Spirit must become divine Breath in place of arbitrary, personal activity, and Water must become a perfect mirror of the divine Breath instead of being agitated by disturbances of the imagination, passions and personal desires. Reintegrated consciousness must be born of Water and Spirit, after Water has once again become Virginal and Spirit has once again become divine Breath or the Holy Spirit. Reintegrated consciousness therefore becomes born within the human soul in a way analogous to the birth or historical incarnation of the WORD. (From Meditations on the Tarot)

* This article was originally published here