Calling me a lapsed Catholic would be a gross understatement about my relationship with the faith tradition I was born into.
However, it is a filter through which I witnessed the world for many years (and still do).
One frame that continues to help me practice a “less is more” approach to my life and work is the concept of “via negativa,” the negative way.
In the first centuries of Christianity, most of the faithful used a great deal of hyperbole to describe God.
Phrases like “God is good,” “God is great,” “God is love,” and “God is truth” abounded, yet they fell short of adequately describing the divine's ineffable qualities.
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In the 5th century CE, a Syrian monk, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, developed a radically counterintuitive solution to resolving the inadequate attempts to define God.
Instead of describing what God is, he defined God by what God is not.
Via negativa fully embraces the mystery of the divine by removing all the inadequate names, descriptions, and definitions of God. God is above and beyond the limits and restrictions imposed by naming, describing, and defining.
Paradoxically, to know the divine, one must practice “unknowing”—a practice in surrender and non-attachment. Letting go of everything that cannot be known about the divine actually brings one closer to it.
You may be wondering what all this has to do with finding your calling and difference-making...
I’m glad you asked. Keep reading.
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