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of God in terms of what he is not. This brings you closer to the truth because it does not say anything about God; it does not affirm anything. It is not VIA POSITIVA, it is VIA NEGATIVA. It simply says, "God is not this, God is not this." It simply denies.
Dionysius says it is like a man who is trying to make a statue out of a marble rock. He goes on chipping, cutting pieces of rock, goes on throwing pieces of rock, chunk by chunk. Slowly slowly the statue emerges.
When you are with a Master who knows the art of apophatic language... and a Master cannot be a Master without knowing the use of apophatic language. All Masters are VIA NEGATIVA, NETI NETI, neither this nor that. If they sometimes speak in descriptive language, that is only for the newcomers, for the initiates, but not for the adepts not for those who are getting a little more mature, a little more centered. For them they always speak the language of negation. They always say, "This is not, this is not, this is not..." They go on eliminating the unnecessary. And finally, when they have eliminated all, they say, "Now this is it!" But still they will not describe it, they will only say, "This is it! Now, here... this silence... this AGNOSIA... this is it!"
Dionysius says:
THIS IS MY PRAYER. AS FOR YOU, BELOVED TIMOTHY, EXERTING YOURSELF SINCERELY IN MYSTICAL CONTEMPLATION, QUIT THE SENSES, THE WORKINGS OF THE INTELLECT, AND ALL THAT MAY BE SENSED AND KNOWN, AND ALL THAT IS NOT AND IS. FOR BY THIS YOU MAY UNKNOWINGLY ATTAIN, IN AS FAR AS IT IS POSSIBLE, TO THE ONE-NESS OF HIM WHO IS BEYOND ALL BEING AND KNOWLEDGE. THUS THROUGH INDOMITABLE, ABSOLUTE AND PURE DETACHMENT OF YOURSELF FROM ALL THINGS, YOU WILL BE LIFTED UP TO THAT RADIANCE OF THE DIVINE DARKNESS WHICH IS BEYOND BEING, SURPASSING ALL AND FREE FROM ALL.
THIS is something tremendously beautiful. Dionysius writing to his disciple, Timothy, says:
THIS IS MY PRAYER.
A real Master cannot say more than that. He cannot order you. He cannot say, "Do it -- you have to do it!" He does not talk in terms of shoulds and should-nots. He is not in any way trying to lay his trip on you. He is simply praying for
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