Teresa of Avila, Transcending, Liking, and Love
Juliana Cesano - The Way of the Mystic.
St. Teresa of Avila's Life and Teaching.
6 February 2018.
December 6, 2022
Teresa of Avila……..Transcending, Real, Liking, Intermediaries, Impersonal and Love
Transcending her “religion”
@0:56
So I learned to pray at the same time that I learned to meditate, and I didn't really see much of a difference between these two, and later on confirmed that with Theresa's teachings.
Within the talk I will probably mention other traditions as well as the Christian tradition, because what you find when you read or look into the lives of the Mystics is that what they say transcends their own religion, and you find the same pearls in all of them, and there is a certain joy in finding those.
You see there is this common thread, it is very true.
It's tremendously inspiring.
Real
@2:57
The one thing that I find most inspiring about the Mystics is that they seem to be very real, very real people.
Common to some extent, extraordinary as well, but people with real struggles and who share those struggles with those who are also seeking, so that is quite precious.
You'll find that they are so incredibly courageous and with this yearning desire to become one with God.
Liking to be liked
@10:15
Teresa was very genuine, she had an exceptional intellect.
But this intellect was balanced by her very passionate emotions.
So she had a heart and a mind that were strong, and she says that one, the greatest obstacle that she had, but it turned out to be her most effective weapon, was that she liked to be liked.
So for a person who is trying to transcend whatever others think of you that was an obstacle.
Intermediaries
@12:05
One of the primary fruits of Teresa's inner experiences was the realization that no intermediaries were needed for the soul to achieve union with God.
And this was kind of a revelation at that time right we didn't need anybody else to take us there we can just go within, and find God within.
Impersonal
@21:20
Very briefly what I consider to be God and the devil.
God, I believe that none of them have have personal characteristics, they are impersonal forces.
God is this omnipresent ineffable eternal power that sustains everything that is alive, and that power also lives within us as a spark, so it's everything.
God is also what sleeps within the human being and slowly awakens.
And the devil, I see it as the, as the obstacles that come along the journey, that sometimes we can even call temptation, because they do tempt us, they tempt us to give up which I'm just to take another road when we decided that we were going to take that one.
You know it seems that whenever we really commit to do something, anything, I'm sure it has happened to all of us, whether it is prayer or meditation, or you know I'm gonna really try not to think badly of people or to gossip and you know it's like the moment we put this this force into motion there is the immediate response sometimes that wants to prevent that movement in the right direction so I consider that to be that devil that force.
Love
@34:11
Important to share is that quote,
“Now it seems to me that those whom God brings to a certain clear knowledge, love very differently than do those who have not reached it. This clear knowledge is about the nature of the world, that there is another world, about the difference between the one and the other, that the one is eternal and the other a dream.”
I honestly never expected a Christian mystic to use these terms, which are which are very much found in Buddhism, Hinduism and in Theosophical texts.
This very clear notion that there is the world that we see, that apparently is a little bit like a dream, it's not that real as we think it is, and there is this other world that is eternal and it's the one that actually counts.
So whenever we put our energy and our love into the world that it's a dream we're really wasting our time, what really matters is what we're building in the other world, in the world of God.
Beautiful, interesting, helpful.