COFE-CYEM Ancient Church Wisdom Teaching Via Negativa – Via Positiva Order of Christ in God
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Via Positiva through Via Negativa: The Order of Christ in God’s Ancient Church Wisdom Teaching
This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the interplay of Via Positiva (cataphatic knowing) and Via Negativa (apophatic unknowing) as the pathway into the singular Reality of Christ.
While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctive within COFE-CYEM.
They are offered as explanatory language within this framework rather than as part of the historic Christian creeds or universally accepted theological vocabulary.
We vehemently reject the modern day false Social Gospel.
In (our view and our belief) – the modern day Social Gospel is the Trojan Horse used by False Teachers to gain access to the Church to spread politically motivated (worldly) motivations, garbage, nonsense and lies.
The point is this: only through stripping away all the falsity of duality and the false man-made mind idols and the dualistic thinking about who and what God is, can we then truly rest in who and what God truly is.
Only then can we start to be known and to know God as we truly are without false duality. God can accept nothing less or more than what He sees and knows in His Son.
Then we can truly start to see and experience God in all we have to do with duality from our true reality within non-duality.
This is the heart of the Via Negativa leading into the Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM.
The way of unknowing clears the ground so that the way of knowing can be pure.
The soul must first release every “second” — every imagined separation, every mental idol, every dualistic construct — before it can rest in the singular Reality of God in Christ.
Only then can the believer truly see and be seen, know and be known, from the place of union rather than separation.
The Necessity of the Via Negativa
The Via Negativa is the way of stripping away. It is the gentle but thorough release of all false images, concepts, and attachments that the fallen mind creates about God, about ourselves, and about reality.
In the COFE-CYEM understanding, this is not a rejection of revelation but the necessary purification so that revelation can be received without distortion. Every dualistic thought — every notion of a separate self, a distant God, a second reality — must be seen for what it is: a man-made idol born of the Fall and the first Adam.
The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation. The soul lets go of every thought that implies separation. It releases every emotional attachment that creates distance. It drops every doctrinal formulation that would limit the living God to human categories.
This is not a violent emptying but a loving surrender. The mind stops striving to define God. The heart stops clinging to false securities. The will surrenders again into the hands of the Priest-King. Only then can the soul rest in the simple, unmediated presence of the living God.
The Revelation of the Via Positiva
Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can shine with clarity. This is the joyful beholding of God’s self-revelation in Christ, Scripture, creation, and the indwelling Holy Spirit. In the singular Reality, God is not known through concepts alone but through loving union.
The Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa; it is its fulfilment. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the One who is all in all without the interference of duality.
The Via Positiva reveals Christ as the exact representation of the Father. It beholds the finished work of the cross, the open Holiest of All, and the power of an endless life. It sees the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, the mind as renewed, and the will as surrendered in love.
In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is the celebration of the singular Reality: Christ is all, and we are in Him. The believer sees God not as a separate object from a separate self but from within the union that has always been true.
God Sees Us as We Truly Are in Christ
God can accept nothing less or more than what He sees and knows in His Son. This is the heart of the matter. The Father does not see us as we falsely think we are in duality. He sees us as we truly are in Christ — hidden with Him in God, complete in Him, accepted in the Beloved.
The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God. He entered the illusion so that we might be freed from it.
In the now of the Fourth Truth Transcendence, we begin to see ourselves as God sees us. We no longer look toward God from a separate self in a body. We see our separate self in a body as God sees us from inside of Him, looking toward us and to who we falsely think we are in duality.
God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam. The inner experience of God is the soul awakening to this truth. We see from within the union rather than from outside it. We know as we are known.
The Practical Outworking in Daily Life
In daily life, the interplay of Via Negativa and Via Positiva becomes the rhythm of Cofemplation. When dualistic thoughts arise — fear, judgment, striving, separation — the Via Negativa gently releases them.
When the beauty of Christ appears — in Scripture, in creation, in the face of another — the Via Positiva receives it with joy. The soul moves between release and beholding, unknowing and knowing, until it rests in the singular Reality.
This is the way the believer lives in the world but not of it. Duality is seen for what it is, yet the believer engages the world from the place of union. The body is not denied but offered. The mind is not emptied but renewed. The will is not crushed but surrendered. The believer serves the living God from the place of unclouded fellowship, seeing all things in Christ and all things held within the singular Reality.
The Fig Tree as a Symbol of the Visible Church
The incident of the Fig Tree in the New Testament is one of the most striking and sobering moments in the earthly ministry of Jesus. On the surface, it appears as a simple act of judgment upon a barren tree. But to those with eyes to see, it carries a profound esoteric meaning that speaks directly to the state of the visible church in every generation, including our own.
The fig tree in full leaf but without fruit is a perfect symbol of religious profession without spiritual reality. It had the appearance of life — many leaves — but no fruit to satisfy the hunger of the Master. In the same way, the visible church often stands with elaborate structures, rituals, traditions, and outward forms, yet bears little or no fruit of the singular Reality.
It claims to be the repository of Divine Wisdom and the channel of Divine Revelation, yet much of its life is exoteric and barren. The true interior vision — the living knowledge of Christ as the singular Reality — is often missing. The Divine Wisdom is not to be found in its public expression. There is no interior fruit; all is leaves.
This is the condition of much of the modern church. It has many leaves — programs, buildings, conferences, social initiatives, and doctrinal statements — but no figs upon its branches. The Master still hungers and would fain have found something worthy upon that tree, but could not. The true meaning of religion and faith has been lost and replaced by the false Social Gospel.
These false teachers are not of the Ancient Church of God or of the Order of Christ in the teaching of the Ancient Divine True Wisdom. They have turned the church into a platform for political activism, social engineering, and worldly causes. The gospel of the blood that cleanses and the life that empowers has been exchanged for a gospel of human effort, earthly justice, and self-assertion.
The Esoteric Meaning of the Fig Tree
The esoteric meaning of the fig tree is a warning and a call to repentance. The tree that bears leaves but no fruit is under judgment because it promises what it cannot deliver. In the same way, a church that professes faith but does not bear the fruit of the singular Reality stands under the same indictment.
The fruit that the Master seeks is not mere religious activity but the living expression of union with Christ — the fruit of the Spirit, the life of the Melchizedek priesthood, the rest of the Fourth Truth lived out in daily existence.
The fig tree incident is not an arbitrary act of anger but a prophetic parable. Jesus knew the tree was withering away and indeed almost dead. It had often been helped by the true seers and prophets who came unto it — the remnants of the Ancient Israel — but though these came to it and gave their message from the Lord during a long period, covering long ages, yet it could not be enlivened and made to bear fruit.
The same is true today. The visible church has been helped by true voices across the centuries, yet much of it remains barren. The Divine Wisdom is not to be found in its public expression. There is no interior vision; all is exoteric and, in many cases, reduced to social and political agendas.
The Call to Bear Fruit in the Singular Reality
The incident of the fig tree is a call to the visible church today to return to the true meaning of religion and faith. The true Israel is not a political or ethnic identity but the people in whom Christ is formed. The true church is not an institution but the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the living sanctuary where God dwells. The call is to leave the leaves of externalism and bear the fruit of the singular Reality.
The fruit that the Master seeks is the fruit of the Fourth Truth: rest in the finished work, union with the living Christ, the life of the Melchizedek priesthood lived out in the power of an endless life. It is the fruit of a people who have recognised that there has never been a second and who live from that recognition. It is the fruit of a church that has returned to the Ancient Divine True Wisdom — the gospel of the blood that cleanses and the life that empowers.
The Master still hungers for a people who will bear fruit. The fig tree stands as a warning. The church that has many leaves but no figs will wither. The church that returns to the singular Reality will be enlivened and made to bear fruit. The call is clear: repent and believe the gospel of the singular Reality. Enter the Holiest of All. Abide in the Priest-King who lives continually. Serve the living God from the place of rest.
The fig tree and its esoteric meaning stand as a solemn warning and a gracious invitation to the visible church today. The true meaning of religion and faith has been lost and replaced by the false Social Gospel. These false teachers are not of the Ancient Church of God or of the Order of Christ in the teaching of the Ancient Divine True Wisdom.
The Master still hungers for a people who will bear fruit. The incident of the fig tree calls us to examine ourselves: are we full of leaves but barren of fruit, or are we bearing the fruit of the singular Reality?
The Fourth Truth stands as the way forward. There has never been a second. The Holiest is open. The Priest-King abides continually. The call is to return, to repent, and to bear fruit unto God.
Conclusion
The Via Negativa and the Via Positiva are not opposing paths but complementary movements within the singular Reality. Only through stripping away all the falsity of duality and the false man-made mind idols and the dualistic thinking about who and what God is, can we then truly rest in who and what God truly is.
Only then can we start to be known and to know God as we truly are without false duality. God can accept nothing less or more than what He sees and knows in His Son. Then we can truly start to see and experience God in all we have to do with duality from our true reality within non-duality.
In COFE-CYEM, this is the way of Cofemplation. The soul releases every “second” so that it may rest in the One who is all in all. The Via Negativa clears the ground. The Via Positiva reveals the glory. The Fourth Truth holds both in the finished work of the Priest-King. The curtain is torn. The Holiest is open. The soul rests in the singular Reality.
There has never been a second.
The Via Negativa leads to release.
The Via Positiva leads to beholding.
The Fourth Truth holds both in union.
The dialogue continues.
The fruit remains.
The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.
This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).
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