And Why This Is Orthodox
“The final goal of being is the darkness of Divinity.”
Meister Eckhart
“God is light, in him there is no darkness at all”. Yes – and at the same time, God is darkness, in him there is no light at all.
These statements don’t contradict each other.
Both are correct, or to be more precise, both are incorrect. God is infinite and transcendent; our finite human mind cannot fully grasp him, and our language is not fit to describe him. Everything we say about God we say by analogy.
Light and darkness are physical phenomena which per se have neither moral nor spiritual aspect. When we say that God is light, we try to provide an approximate understanding of unknown God by likening him to light, an entity whose positive effects are well-known to us.
A stereotype that light is related to good and darkness to evil is a very ancient one. During light we are warmed by sun and can work. When it darkens, it gets cold and predators go hunting. That is why light, especially sunlight, is a fitting symbol for God.
I am however a night owl by nature and have long noticed that this paradigm does not resonate with me. To me, darkness was never evil, but soft and restorative instead. Daylight is noisy, with people scurrying and motors roaring. The day wearies the soul, until the night comes with its blessed quiet.
Yes, night is when crimes happen, but there is much more evil that is done in broad daylight.
Light is irritating and gets everywhere, that’s why they speak of light pollution; light compels action. Darkness is serene, it demands nothing, only embraces and shelters.
Light is shallow, it lacks weight, while darkness is, so to speak, existence itself. Every object, beneath the thinly lit layer, is filled with mysterious intangible darkness. The roots of the trees grow down, into the nourishing darkness. Inside each one of us there is living, complex darkness that should not see the light.
Therefore, darkness is a good symbol for God: the deep, gentle night, the sacred silence. All metaphors do limit understanding: for centuries we have perceived God only as blinding Light and forgotten that he is also the healing Darkness. Maybe it’s time to remember that.
But there are nuances. When the Apostle John was comparing God to light, he was talking primarily about Logos, i.e. God the Son. We Christians believe in Trinity, that is, single God in three Persons. The classic model teaches that Father knows himself, and being omnipotent, does it with ideal accuracy, therefore his knowledge of himself is also God. Thus the Son is begotten, who is Knowledge of God, the living Truth.
Further, God the Son has incarnated on earth as Jesus Christ, the Human who became for us the visible image of God, who otherwise would have remained concealed forever. “No one has ever seen God; God the only Son… he has made him known”.
So, God the Son fulfills on earth his eternal mission to be Truth about God: in himself he unveils God to us. But such action is not fitting for the symbolism of darkness. Physical light bounces off objects and interacts with retina of the eye, thus transmitting to us the accurate picture of things around. Because of that it excellently expresses philosophical idea of truth and fits well with Jesus Christ – the Logos, true Word of God about himself and his creation.
However, the symbolism of night fits well to Father instead, to the unseen and unknowable God. He is Being itself, and he intimately subsists in all things, exactly like darkness. Sometimes in prayer we can feel his silent, salutary, nightly Presence.
It is no accident that God spoke to Moses from darkness, and gloom covered Mount Sinai when he descended. “He made darkness his covering”.
In Heaven we will contemplate God in beatific vision, but even then we will never know him fully, for he is Mystery which eternally unfolds and eternally remains hidden. Darkness and light become indivisible and unmingled at their pinnacle. That is what the paradox of «radiant darkness» is about: our Lord is shining Darkness – a Darkness that begets Light.
I want to dedicate this blog to people similar to me, for whom daylight is a bit too sharp, but who seek to reach after God in their own way. I know that we are numerous and that often we feel lost, because words of sermons directed at “those who dwell in realms of day” do not reach our hearts but leave us troubled. But there is indeed more than one way to speak about God.
I also wish that Catholic Church pay more attention to this unique part of its flock. From the depth of night they can bring to Church many gems of contemplation. Maybe they are the very people who might help mend its lameness.
A couple of important footnotes:
– To say “I worship Darkness” or “I worship Light” is equally incorrect. We worship God only, while we use light, dark, mystery, beauty and other concepts only to try to express him in an imperfect way through positive qualities of these concepts.
It would even be erroneous to say “I worship God as Light”, because concept of God infinitely transcends concept of light. What may be allowed to say is something like «I better perceive God in his aspect of divine Night», but such terminology is yet to become customary.
– It is orthodox to think that God is darkness, as long as you understand it correctly: that you say it by analogy. However, vulgar perception of darkness as evil is so deep-rooted that it is better to share such views only with the discerning.
That is the general rule of mysticism – be silent and keep your treasures close; not because they are bad but because they are fragile.
– At the same time, the apophatic symbolism of God as darkness is not only “permissible” but necessary, since views of transcendent matters have become oversimplified, over-rationalized, and need to be counterbalanced.
– This article is not about «dark night of the soul» of St. John of the Cross. He speaks about a special state when the soul feels that God has forsaken her, although in truth He sanctifies her in that time. John of the Cross does not use “dark night” as a symbol for God. We however do exactly that.
« We pray that we may enter into that Darkness which is beyond light, and that, by not seeing and not knowing, we may see and know that which is above vision and knowledge, through the realization that by unknowing we attain to true knowledge »
Pseudo-Dionysius
