The Power Of Emptiness: Exploring Via Negativa Meditation

Via Negativa, or the negative way, is a theological concept that rejects the identification of God with any human concept, as God transcends all human knowledge. Via Negativa is related to the concept of apophatic, which is a form of theological thinking that attempts to approach God by negation, speaking only in terms of what may not be said about God's perfect goodness.

Via Negativa suggests that the only meaningful things we can say about God are what God is not. God is beyond any constructed thing and is no thing. This is a paradoxical search, as while God cannot be identified with anything, one must follow the road of Via Negativa to be united with the ultimate reality.

Via Negativa is both a way to the knowledge of God and a way of union with God. It is a path of purification of the soul and the overcoming of passion as an approach to union with God.

Via Negativa is a form of meditation that involves letting go of all images, likenesses, projections, and naming

Via Negativa involves a radical letting go of language. It is a letting go of all images, whether oral, auditory, visual, inner, cognitive, or imaginative. It is a letting go of language, music, self, and God. It is a form of being, a being still.

Via Negativa is not about oral silence but about letting go of the busy work of projecting. It is about letting go of busyness and allowing silence to be silence. This can be a prayer—a prayer to let go of God. It is about letting go of symbols and images, even our names and symbols for God.

Via Negativa is about sinking into silence and non-imaging. It is about making contact with the darkness, which is to make contact with the deepest side of the Godhead. It is about embracing the dark and loving God as a "not-God, a not-mind, a not-person, a not-image".

Via Negativa is about letting go of all contact with "isness". It is about letting go of all images, likenesses, projections, and naming. It is about letting go of language and being.

Via Negativa is a path to experiencing God's presence and knowing God

Via Negativa is related to the concept of apophatic, which is a form of theological thinking and religious practice that attempts to approach God or the Divine by negation. It speaks only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God. Apophatic theology is often allied with the approach of mysticism, which aims at the vision of God, the perception of the divine reality beyond the realm of ordinary perception.

The term Via Negativa was described by Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 500 CE) in his treatises "Divine Names" and "Mystical Theology". He developed the ideas of the fourth-century Cappadocian fathers, particularly that of Gregory of Nyssa, but the term derives from the writings of the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus (411-485 CE). The writings of Dionysius were translated by John Scottus Eriugena (c. 810-880 CE), who made Via Negativa the basis of his theology, arguing that it was more effective than the affirmative path.

Via Negativa involves a radical letting go of language, images, and concepts. It is a concentration on what is non-language, non-music, non-self, and non-God. It is a form of purification of the soul and overcoming of passion as an approach to union with God. This path of Via Negativa leads to a paradoxical search, where one denies that God can be identified with anything or expressed in words or concepts, and yet one must follow this path to be united with the ultimate reality.

Via Negativa is not about reaching a state of nothingness or emptiness but about experiencing God's presence and knowing God in a deeper and more authentic way. It is about recognizing that God is beyond all human concepts and definitions, and that the only way to truly know God is by surrendering one's mind and soul to the divine mystery. This path of mystical contemplation has been followed by many theologians and spiritual seekers throughout history, seeking a closer union with the divine.

Via Negativa is a way of seeking union with God

Via Negativa is a Latin term meaning "negative way". It is related to the concept of apophatic, which is a form of theological thinking and religious practice that attempts to approach God, the Divine, by negation. It speaks only in terms of what may not be said about God's perfect goodness.

The apophatic tradition is often allied with the approach of mysticism, which aims at the vision of God beyond the realm of ordinary perception. Via Negativa was described by Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 500 CE) in his treatises "Divine Names" and "Mystical Theology". He developed the ideas of the fourth-century Cappadocian fathers, particularly Gregory of Nyssa, but the term derives from the writings of the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus (411-485 CE).

Via Negativa is a way of seeking God by letting go of all images, likenesses, projections, and naming. It is a radical letting go of language and a concentration on what is non-language, non-music, non-self, and non-God. It is a way of being still.

Via Negativa is also present in Eastern religious traditions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, the seeker's goal is union with Brahman, the ineffable, the nonconceptual. Buddhism's theory of anatta (not-self) and Madhyamaka philosophy also reflect Via Negativa.

Via Negativa involves radical denial of all definitions and transcending reason

Via Negativa is a technical term for the negative way of theology, which refuses to identify God with any human concept or knowledge. This is because God transcends all that can be known of him. Via Negativa involves the radical denial of all definitions and transcending reason. It is a paradoxical search for God, where one must deny that God can be identified with anything or expressed in words or concepts, and yet, to know God, one must follow the road of Via Negativa to be united with the ultimate reality.

Via Negativa is a way to the knowledge of God and a way of union with him. God is known by Via Negativa when, upon removal from the names, definitions, and statements used about God, all that he is not, is acknowledged. God cannot be named or defined as any name or definition imposes limits, and God is above them. God is incommensurable and incomprehensible and cannot be reached by discursive reasoning. He is not an object of knowledge as he is above knowledge.

Via Negativa is a way of purification of the soul and the overcoming of passion as an approach to union with God. God is nearer to people than they are to themselves, yet he is inconceivable. Those who experience union with God speak in negative rather than positive terms; God is even more incomprehensible than at the beginning of the religious quest. Worship, expressed in prayers and hymns, reflects Via Negativa. God, who transcends reason and thought, is also honoured in silence.

Via Negativa involves a radical letting go of language. It is a letting go of all images, whether oral, auditory, visual, inner, cognitive, or imaginative. It is a concentration on what is non-language, non-music, non-self, and non-God. It is being. A being still. It is sinking into silence and non-imaging. It is embracing the dark.

Via Negativa is essentially the study of what not to do. It is an idea that immense power can be found in improvement by subtraction. For example, a clear mind is one without distraction, and clear writing removes redundancies and clutter to make room only for the essential.

Via Negativa is a form of purification of the soul

Via Negativa is a paradoxical search. On the one hand, the seeker denies that God can be identified with anything or expressed in words or concepts. On the other hand, the seeker must follow the road of Via Negativa to be united with the ultimate reality. The life of those who seek union with God is one of purification of the soul and the overcoming of passion as an approach to that union.

Via Negativa is a path of silence and letting go. It is a radical letting go of language and a letting go of the busy work of projecting. It is a concentration on what is non-language, non-music, non-self, and non-God. It is being. A being still.

Via Negativa is also a path of darkness. God is super-essential darkness, and to make contact with the darkness is to make contact with the deepest side of the Godhead. To embrace the dark is to love God as a not-God, a not-mind, a not-person, and a not-image.

Via Negativa is intertwined with Via Positiva. The Via Negativa and the emptying involved with it can assist the work of the Via Positiva. It is a purification of the senses that happens in a sweat lodge, a fasting experience, or a situation of loss.

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