ENTERING INTO THE FLOW OF THINGS

ENTERING INTO THE FLOW OF THINGS


At the same time "pleasing" can only be in a personal relation between
persons. So if we can express the sharing of the Divine Life as being, in a sense, an entering into the flow of things, into the Tao of things. Yet, it must be then understood that this fundamental Tao is of love between persons. This flow of things is fulfilled in the offspring of self to, in and with God.

Taking as I have here the theme.. that is Life itself whose sharing between creator and creature is Theosis, it becomes clear that this is more than a subjective and inner relationship. Theosis then is also that sense of the universe as moving towards an end and fruition which some, perhaps particularly in the Eastern Church, call the Transfigured Cosmos. It also must be in the transformation and transfiguration of social life, in the service of the needy, and in the disclosure of community as the mystery of human personhood. In all aspects, Theosis is the opening out of the Divine in and through the shared Life. To focus solely on any one aspect (whether ascetical inner search or social action) must risk.. losing dimensions of Theosis as well as of Life itself.

In this perspective Theosis appears as the philosopher's stone, the
convergence and full valuation of all things, individuals, societies, worlds within the acceptance of shared Life.



Bishop Seraphim Joseph Sigrist
Retired bishop of Sendai, Japan
"L'Chaim, Theosis as Life"
BECOMING DIVINE - Essays on Theosis in Honor of Father Alexander Men
Editor, Bishop Seraphim Joseph Sigrist, Copyright 2007, page 10