#monastic-life — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 5 September: Sr. Thérèse of St. Augustine

Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine: My dear little Sister, I ask a favor of you: come and assist me at the hour of my death.

Saint Thérèse: Oh, yes! I will come.

Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine: And don’t let me go to purgatory. Obtain for me an act of perfect love.

Saint Thérèse: Purgatory? But you won’t go there. Souls as faithful to the Rule as you are don’t go there. You are extraordinarily faithful; it shows in everything about you. If only you knew how meritorious I find your life! You will be very surprised when you see all the good you have done and all the souls you have saved. Your eyes speak of God. How happy I am that I will soon see all the beauty of your soul and know you as you truly are! I rejoice in this, because here on earth I don’t know you.

Sr. Thérèse of St. Augustine, OCD

Memories of a Holy Friendship, no. 19, “To Know You as You Are”

Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine was the nun of whom Saint Thérèse wrote:

There is in the Community a Sister who has the faculty of displeasing me in everything, in her ways, her words, her character, everything seems very disagreeable to me. And still, she is a holy religious who must be very pleasing to God. (Ms C 13v)

In January 1897, Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine heard what sounded like beams breaking apart above her head. She believed that the sound was supernatural and that someone in the community would die within the year.

That night, she dreamed that she was alone in a large, dark room. Before her was an open doorway that was completely black, without the smallest ray of light. She then found herself on the other side of the doorway, where everything was as bright as the sun. What impressed her most was that there was no interval between the darkness and the light.

The next morning, Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine told Saint Thérèse that she believed she would die that year. Saint Thérèse received the news with joy. The two sisters agreed to wait until a day of license before Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine related the dream in full. Three weeks passed before they spoke of it again.

After hearing the dream, Saint Thérèse told her:

If you knew how much good you are doing me! Haven’t I spoken to you about the state of my soul?… I don’t believe in eternal life. It seems to me that after this mortal life there is nothing more. I cannot express the darkness into which I am plunged. What you have just told me corresponds exactly to the state of my soul. The preparations being made for me, and especially the black doorway, are truly an image of what is taking place within me.… Everything has disappeared for me, and nothing remains but love.

After Saint Thérèse entered the infirmary, she told Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine, “How well your dream is coming true.” When Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine asked her about the black doorway, Saint Thérèse answered:

It is growing darker and darker. Your dream is my only ray of light. I have no other. I know it by heart, down to the smallest detail.

This is the background to the question Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine later asked Saint Thérèse in the infirmary: “Tell me, have you had any struggles?”

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Clarke, J 1977, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Her Last Conversations, Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC.

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Foley, M 2005, Story of a Soul: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Study edn, translated from the French by Clarke, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Thérèse of St. Augustine, Sister n.d., Souvenirs d’une sainte amitié, Archives du Carmel de Lisieux, viewed 3 September 2026, https://archives.carmeldelisieux.fr/au-carmel-du-temps-de-therese/la-communaute/soeur-therese-de-st-augustin/souvenirs-dune-sainte-amitie/.

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: © Natalie Ewert (All rights reserved), used by permission.

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 42.10 Maṇicūḷakasutta: With Maṇicūḷaka

“They neither accept nor receive gold and currency. They have set aside gems and gold, and quit using gold and currency…”

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 42.10 Maṇicūḷakasutta: With Maṇicūḷaka

“They neither accept nor receive gold and currency. They have set aside gems and gold, and quit using gold and currency…”

Read the sutta
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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 42.10 Maṇicūḷakasutta: With Maṇicūḷaka

“They neither accept nor receive gold and currency. They have set aside gems and gold, and quit using gold and currency…”

Read the sutta
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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 42.10 Maṇicūḷakasutta: With Maṇicūḷaka

“They neither accept nor receive gold and currency. They have set aside gems and gold, and quit using gold and currency…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-42-10-maniculakasutta-with-maniculaka/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 42.10 Maṇicūḷakasutta: With Maṇicūḷaka

“They neither accept nor receive gold and currency. They have set aside gems and gold, and quit using gold and currency…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-42-10-maniculakasutta-with-maniculaka/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Snp 2.6 Kapilasutta: A Righteous Life

“A righteous life, a spiritual life, they call this the supreme treasure.…”

Read the sutta
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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Snp 2.6 Kapilasutta: A Righteous Life

“A righteous life, a spiritual life, they call this the supreme treasure.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/snp-2-6-kapilasutta-a-righteous-life-2/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Snp 2.6 Kapilasutta: A Righteous Life

“A righteous life, a spiritual life, they call this the supreme treasure.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/snp-2-6-kapilasutta-a-righteous-life-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #SuttaNipata #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Snp 2.6 Kapilasutta: A Righteous Life

“A righteous life, a spiritual life, they call this the supreme treasure.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/snp-2-6-kapilasutta-a-righteous-life-2/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Snp 2.6 Kapilasutta: A Righteous Life

“A righteous life, a spiritual life, they call this the supreme treasure.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/snp-2-6-kapilasutta-a-righteous-life-2/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.245 Sikkhānisaṁsasutta: The Benefits of Training

“This spiritual life is lived with training as its benefit, with wisdom as its overseer, with freedom as its core, and with mindfulness as its ruler.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-245-sikkhanisamsasutta-the-benefits-of-training-2/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.245 Sikkhānisaṁsasutta: The Benefits of Training

“This spiritual life is lived with training as its benefit, with wisdom as its overseer, with freedom as its core, and with mindfulness as its ruler.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-245-sikkhanisamsasutta-the-benefits-of-training-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.245 Sikkhānisaṁsasutta: The Benefits of Training

“This spiritual life is lived with training as its benefit, with wisdom as its overseer, with freedom as its core, and with mindfulness as its ruler.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-245-sikkhanisamsasutta-the-benefits-of-training-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.245 Sikkhānisaṁsasutta: The Benefits of Training

“This spiritual life is lived with training as its benefit, with wisdom as its overseer, with freedom as its core, and with mindfulness as its ruler.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-245-sikkhanisamsasutta-the-benefits-of-training-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.245 Sikkhānisaṁsasutta: The Benefits of Training

“This spiritual life is lived with training as its benefit, with wisdom as its overseer, with freedom as its core, and with mindfulness as its ruler.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-245-sikkhanisamsasutta-the-benefits-of-training-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 10.6 Vaṅgantaputtaupasenattheragāthā: Upasena son of Vaṅgantā

“They should be content even with coarse food…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-10-6-vangantaputtaupasenattheragatha-upasena-son-of-vanganta-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Theragatha #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 10.6 Vaṅgantaputtaupasenattheragāthā: Upasena son of Vaṅgantā

“They should be content even with coarse food…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-10-6-vangantaputtaupasenattheragatha-upasena-son-of-vanganta-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Theragatha #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 10.6 Vaṅgantaputtaupasenattheragāthā: Upasena son of Vaṅgantā

“They should be content even with coarse food…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-10-6-vangantaputtaupasenattheragatha-upasena-son-of-vanganta-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Theragatha #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 10.6 Vaṅgantaputtaupasenattheragāthā: Upasena son of Vaṅgantā

“They should be content even with coarse food…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-10-6-vangantaputtaupasenattheragatha-upasena-son-of-vanganta-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Theragatha #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 10.6 Vaṅgantaputtaupasenattheragāthā: Upasena son of Vaṅgantā

“They should be content even with coarse food…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-10-6-vangantaputtaupasenattheragatha-upasena-son-of-vanganta-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Theragatha #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 5.128 Samaṇasukhasutta: An Ascetic’s Happiness

“There are these five kinds of suffering for an ascetic.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-5-128-samanasukhasutta-an-ascetics-happiness-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 5.128 Samaṇasukhasutta: An Ascetic’s Happiness

“There are these five kinds of suffering for an ascetic.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-5-128-samanasukhasutta-an-ascetics-happiness-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 5.128 Samaṇasukhasutta: An Ascetic’s Happiness

“There are these five kinds of suffering for an ascetic.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-5-128-samanasukhasutta-an-ascetics-happiness-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 5.128 Samaṇasukhasutta: An Ascetic’s Happiness

“There are these five kinds of suffering for an ascetic.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-5-128-samanasukhasutta-an-ascetics-happiness-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 5.128 Samaṇasukhasutta: An Ascetic’s Happiness

“There are these five kinds of suffering for an ascetic.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-5-128-samanasukhasutta-an-ascetics-happiness-2/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Dhp 311–314 From… Niriya Vagga: Hell

“If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly…”

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Dhp 311–314 From… Niriya Vagga: Hell

“If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly…”

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Dhp 311–314 From… Niriya Vagga: Hell

“If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly…”

Read the sutta
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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Dhp 311–314 From… Niriya Vagga: Hell

“If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly…”

Read the sutta
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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Dhp 311–314 From… Niriya Vagga: Hell

“If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/dhp-311-314-from-niriya-vagga-hell-2/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 1.36 Kumāputtattheragāthā: Kumāputta

“This is the ascetic life for one who has nothing.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-1-36-kumaputtattheragatha-kumaputta-2/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 1.36 Kumāputtattheragāthā: Kumāputta

“This is the ascetic life for one who has nothing.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-1-36-kumaputtattheragatha-kumaputta-2/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 1.36 Kumāputtattheragāthā: Kumāputta

“This is the ascetic life for one who has nothing.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-1-36-kumaputtattheragatha-kumaputta-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Theragatha #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 1.36 Kumāputtattheragāthā: Kumāputta

“This is the ascetic life for one who has nothing.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-1-36-kumaputtattheragatha-kumaputta-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Theragatha #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 1.36 Kumāputtattheragāthā: Kumāputta

“This is the ascetic life for one who has nothing.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-1-36-kumaputtattheragatha-kumaputta-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Theragatha #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.25 Brahmacariyasutta: The Spiritual Life

“Bhikkhus, this spiritual life is not lived for the sake of deceiving people and cajoling them…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-25-brahmacariyasutta-the-spiritual-life-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #SpiritualLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.25 Brahmacariyasutta: The Spiritual Life

“Bhikkhus, this spiritual life is not lived for the sake of deceiving people and cajoling them…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-25-brahmacariyasutta-the-spiritual-life-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #SpiritualLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.25 Brahmacariyasutta: The Spiritual Life

“Bhikkhus, this spiritual life is not lived for the sake of deceiving people and cajoling them…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-25-brahmacariyasutta-the-spiritual-life-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #SpiritualLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.25 Brahmacariyasutta: The Spiritual Life

“Bhikkhus, this spiritual life is not lived for the sake of deceiving people and cajoling them…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-25-brahmacariyasutta-the-spiritual-life-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
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#MonasticLife #SpiritualLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.25 Brahmacariyasutta: The Spiritual Life

“Bhikkhus, this spiritual life is not lived for the sake of deceiving people and cajoling them…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-25-brahmacariyasutta-the-spiritual-life-2/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #SpiritualLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 2.64: Two Kinds of Happiness

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-2-64-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#LayLife #MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 2.64: Two Kinds of Happiness

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-2-64-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#LayLife #MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 2.64: Two Kinds of Happiness

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-2-64-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#LayLife #MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 2.64: Two Kinds of Happiness

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-2-64-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#LayLife #MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 2.64: Two Kinds of Happiness

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-2-64-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#LayLife #MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used 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.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

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 in love. 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.

Cofemplation

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).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used 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.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

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 in love. 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.

Cofemplation

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).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used 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.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

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 in love. 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.

Cofemplation

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).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used 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.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

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 in love. 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.

Cofemplation

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).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

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Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used 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.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

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 in love. 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.

Cofemplation

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).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

St. Benedict’s Church in Rome: Hidden Trastevere Gem

ROME — Hidden among the winding streets of Rome’s Trastevere district stands a tiny church that many visitors…
#Italy #Europe #Europa #EU #Rome #MonasticCell #MonasticLife #mostread #St.Benedict #top-stories #Trastevere #WesternCivilization
https://www.europesays.com/italy/32137/

Quote of the day, 20 May: Venerable Lucia

Sister Lucia entered the Carmelite convent [of Coimbra] on the same liturgical day that she was born—Holy Thursday. It was also the Feast of the Annunciation [25 March 1948], and now also the Solemn Profession of a sister, [so when Lucia entered as a new member of the community, everything] was absorbed by the Solemnity of the day. 

In the Easter Triduum, the silence is more profound, making it more desirable to adore and contemplate the mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord, Who for our sake became man and suffered death to save us from sin and death. 

After Mass, Sister Lucia, in the company of Mother Prioress, was given her cell dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Centered on top of the door was a small frame which read: ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary’, and then a sentence addressed to the inhabitant: ‘My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge.’ 

This sentence was at eye level and she read it every time she entered her cell. It would be a heavenly melody in her heart during the 57 years she lived in Carmel.

On Easter Monday, March 29, she wrote to her Superior [from the Sisters of St. Dorothy] in Tuy, Mother Cunha Matos, telling her of her joy: 

As of right now, you know that on Holy Thursday morning at 5:30 a.m. I entered the Carmel of Coimbra, by the arrangements of the Bishop here, who came on this day and at that hour to assist in the Solemn Profession of a Sister. I enjoyed it very much and I am very well and extremely happy.

My name is Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart, what a beautiful name, is it not? Far more beautiful than Sister Dores [Sister Sorrows], don’t you think? Here I found a small group of lovely sisters; whenever I encounter them I have the impression of meeting Saint Teresa. The name was chosen here by the Bishop.

Venerable Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart

Chapter XVI, Religious Carmelite

Carmel of St Teresa 2015, A pathway under the gaze of Mary : biography of Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart O.C.D., Colson, J (trans.), World Apostolate of Fatima USA, Washington NJ.

Featured image: Venerable Maria Lucia is surrounded by her bishop and “lovely sisters” in this photo from the Carmel of Coimbra. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (by permission).

Quote of the day, 21 April: St. Edith Stein

J.M.+J.T.

Cologne-Lindenthal, 25 April 1935

Pax Christi!

Very Reverend and dear Mother Petra,

The Bridegroom sends you the little wreath of myrtle with which your love decorated him, him as well as the bridal candle, the candles on the table, the napkin, cutlery, etc. [from Edith’s temporary profession, 21 April 1935].

The Bride wore a wreath of white roses. I was very happy to hear where the adornments came from. Heartfelt thanks for them.

We have not yet finished discussing what else I am to receive from you. I thought of an emblem and lining for a vestment since the silk of the bridal dress has not yet been used and has been waiting for the necessary accessories since the Clothing Day. But perhaps our dear Mother [Mother Josepha, the prioress] will think of something more urgent.

When you visit us again—after all, we’ve been anticipating it with joy all winter—we will recount everything that happened from the first hours of the morning until night on this beautiful Easter Sunday. One cannot write about it in such detail.

The Veiling ceremony will come only three years from now, after perpetual profession. For us, the preparation consists primarily of a ten-day retreat made in total silence and solitude. During that time we are allowed to live like hermits. I will tell you about the daily schedule when I see you.

For my meditation, I had our Holy Father John’s Dark Night and the Gospel of John.

Usually, on the day before Profession, before dinner, one makes a public admission of one’s faults. I was allowed to do that at noon on the Wednesday of Holy Week so that it would not interrupt the silence of the Holy Triduum.

I found it especially good [to comply with that custom] before the first of the Tenebrae offices—once they begin one wants to leave off all occupation with oneself.

On Saturday evening I was called [to come for a few minutes to see the community] during recreation time; I received from each Sister the promise of a spiritual bouquet and a commendation of intentions.

Richly laden I then returned to the choir. Of course, out of the great riches of grace on this Easter day, I let all those have a share who have given me something of their heart to take along into Carmel.

Once more, sincere thanks for all your goodness and love. 

In caritate Christi, your Sister

Teresia Benedicta a Cruce, OCD

Saint Edith Stein

Letter 198 to Mother Petra Brüning, OSU

Notes:

• It was customary to place a small statue of the Infant Jesus on the head table in the refectory, where the newly-professed is seated next to the prioress. Myrtle is used to create a small wreath for the statue of the Infant, the “Bridegroom”, who faces his “Bride”, wearing a garland of white roses. Edith sent the myrtle wreath that had been used on the statue to Mother Petra, who had provided it and all the flowers and decorations for the celebration.
• Edith refers to the Chapter of Faults, where even to this day in many Discalced Carmelite monasteries, nuns will gather in the Chapter Room of the monastery to listen to the prioress give a brief spiritual reflection on an aspect of community life and how it applies to the Carmelite Rule and their Constitutions. The nuns then take a spiritual and moral inventory, reviewing their life together; each one admits her public faults and begs forgiveness of her sisters. On occasions like religious profession, a nun will individually and publicly admit her faults and ask for forgiveness outside of the community Chapter of Faults. Since her profession rite took place on Easter Sunday, Edith made her public admission on Holy Wednesday; she gives the reasons why.
• During the retreat days prior to her profession on Easter Sunday, Edith would have assisted at the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours in the nuns’ choir. However, she would have veiled her face with her great veil (grand Voile) when in the presence of the community so as to maintain the spirit of solitude where the Discalced Carmelites “are allowed to live like hermits,” as Edith describes above. In the photo below, the veil that you see extending over her shoulders is the great veil, while the small veil (petit Voile) tucks inside her scapular. In her hermit days while on retreat, we see that Edith preferred to spend extra hours of solitary prayer in the choir near Christ in the tabernacle while the rest of the community was occupied at recreation.

[Sources: Leuven, Stinissen & Gelber; Carmel of Haifa]

Stein, E 1993, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942, Koeppel, J (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: “The Bride wore a wreath of white roses.” Image credit: Todd Petit / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

Quote of the day, 1 April: St. Teresa of Avila

Another very good proof of love is that you strive in household duties to relieve others of work, and also rejoice and praise the Lord very much for any increase you see in their virtues.

All these things, not to mention the great good they contain in themselves, help very much to further peace and conformity between the Sisters, as we now, by God’s goodness, see through experience. May it please His Majesty that this love always continue. The contrary would be a terrible thing, and very difficult to endure: that is, few in number and disunited. God forbid.

If by chance some little word should escape, try to remedy the matter immediately and pray intensely. And if things of this sort against charity continue, such as little factions, or ambition, or concern about some little point of honor (for I think my blood freezes when I write about this and think that at some time it could happen, because I see it is the main evil in monasteries); when these things begin to take place consider yourselves lost.

Think and believe that you have thrown your Spouse out of the house and have made it necessary for Him to go in search of another dwelling, since you threw Him out of His own house.

Cry out to His Majesty. Seek a remedy; for if you don’t find one after such frequent confession and Communion, there is reason to fear a Judas among you.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, ch. 7, nos. 9–10

Teresa of Avila, St 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured Image: This image of the Last Supper (ca. 1480) comes from the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France. Image credit: Jean Louis Mazieres / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

Quote of the day, 25 February: Céline Martin

During the [clothing] ceremony, I received a special grace of intimate union with my Beloved; I could no longer see anything that was happening around me. The presence of the Bishop, the numerous clergy, the crowd of people who had flocked together, everything had disappeared before my eyes, I was alone with Jesus… when suddenly I was awakened from my inner silence by the chanting of Compline, which continued in vibrant and lively notes.

The choir sang the psalm: Qui habitat in adjutorio Altissimi (Psalm 90/91), and I could hear the meaning of it, and every word came down into my soul as a token of a sacred promise made to me by the One to whom I was uniting my life.

Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face, O.C.D.

Céline Martin
Histoire d’une petite âme, 265

Note: On 25 February 1959, Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face entered into eternity. She was 89 years and 10 months old and had just marked her 63rd year of profession as a Discalced Carmelite.

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Chapter four of the Manuale O.C.D. includes the prayer for the blessing of a Carmelite habit. Image credit: Photograph by Carmelite Quotes.

Quote of the Day, 17 January: St. Edith Stein

For a long while now I have hardly been able to do any work.

From the beginning of September until the middle of December, I took care of our good, eldest lay sister, Sr. Clara (cancer of the liver, as far as the doctors can tell). Then I got the office of turn-sister [portress], which means being a contact between the cloister and the outside world.

You can imagine that for this one needs a serviceable walking apparatus. I hope to be allowed to make my perpetual profession on April 21. Soon thereafter follows the Veiling Ceremony. That is, again, a big public celebration that the beloved baptismal sponsor [Hedwig Conrad-Martius] should not miss. Hopefully, the League of Academics will again cover the cost of travel.

We celebrated the 300th Jubilee Year of the Cologne Carmel for four days at the end of September/beginning of October. Our dear Mother wrote a beautiful commemorative booklet for the occasion. I believe you will receive it as a gift when you next visit us.

Do you know that Husserl’s health is very poor? This summer he suffered a severe recurrence of pleurisy and is not recovering well from it. Would you write to him sometime perhaps? They now live in Freiburg-Herdern, at Schöneck 6.

Saint Edith Stein

Letter 257 to Hedwig Conrad-Martius
17 January 1938

Note: In December 1937, Saint Edith Stein was appointed under obedience to the demanding office of Turn Sister (portress) at the Cologne Carmel—a role previously held by the sub-prioress. Responsible for daily provisions, communications at the grille, and the reception of guests, the office required tact, prudence, and discretion, virtues she exercised with notable charity and steadiness, in fidelity to the Constitutions of Saint Teresa of Avila.

Stein, E 1993, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942, Koeppel, J (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detailed image of Saint Edith Stein’s 1938 passport photo prepared for her travel to the Carmel of Echt in the Netherlands. Image credit: Discalced Carmelite (By permission).

#EdmundHusserl #jubileeYear #monasticLife #perpetualProfession #StEdithStein

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 45.35 Paṭhamasāmaññasutta: The Ascetic Life (1st)

“Mendicants, I will teach you the ascetic life and the fruits of the ascetic life. …”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-45-35-pathamasamannasutta-the-ascetic-life-1st-2/?=MDS

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✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#MonasticLife #NobleEightfoldPath #StreamEntry #SamyuttaNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 45.35 Paṭhamasāmaññasutta: The Ascetic Life (1st)

“Mendicants, I will teach you the ascetic life and the fruits of the ascetic life. …”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-45-35-pathamasamannasutta-the-ascetic-life-1st-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#MonasticLife #NobleEightfoldPath #StreamEntry #SamyuttaNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha