Chapter 8: Comparison of the thinking and experiences of
8.1: Similarities of experience
for the life of the universe is God‟s self. Thus, for both women, there is no place that God cannot be found, for God is in everything and beyond everything. This awareness of the surrounding presence of God in all at times bombards the senses of both women. And yet, without denying the awareness of the transcendence of God, the primary experience of Mira and Teresa is the incarnate form of God. For Mira God takes the form of Krishna, and for Teresa the form of Christ. But in both forms, it is the humanity of God that is stressed. It is the human God, the God with form, whom they adore. Teresa initially used the image of friendship; slowly, the love and intimacy grew into the image of the beloved spouse. For Mira, the image of Krishna is her beloved saviour. Both speak of union with the incarnate form of God in terms of marriage, and see themselves as wedded to God. There is no one else for these two women. Their relationship with God is one of utter desire, longing and union. This love is utterly consuming; it engages every thought and desire.
Again, for both women their concept of union is described in very similar analogies. Teresa describes union as being like rain falling into a river, and Mira like a river entering the sea. Although initially separate, the two become indistinguishable. This is not for them just an emotional reality, but a deeply physical reality. Teresa clearly writes that the incarnate form of God incarnates not only into Christ, but dwells within her. Mira writes of God as the sun, and she the heat. Again, the implication is that heat has no existence in itself apart from the sun.
Teresa and Mira both fall into a clearly theistic framework, where God is seen as personal, with qualities by which God can be known, experienced and loved. Although God and the world are distinct, for Mira and Teresa the world has no independent existence outside of God. God for both is seen as the creator, sustainer and protector of the universe. So although God may
dwell in the universe, God is nevertheless not bound by that universe, and is always beyond it.
Both women also fall into the cataphatic/saguni tradition where images of God abound. Neither see these images as binding God or exhausting the being of God. Instead the images are function as symbols, pointing to an aspect of God and enabling them to explore that aspect experientially.
8.1.2 Way to union with God
Clearly in both women‟s writings the path to union with God is the way of love. A love that is all consuming not fuelled by abstract thought but by an affective meditating on the image of God. For both women this is a mutual reciprocal love, initiated and called into being by God. This is the God who loves them first and draws them to himself. The intensity of this love leads to a natural detachment from all else, for wealth, honor and power are seen to be nothing in comparison with the beauty of their Lord. All earthly things are seen as being nothing more than dust, and so the detachment is not viewed as a loss, but rather as a gain. Leaving what is nothing for that which is all.
Teresa uses the image of the ugly silkworm which dies in order to become the most beautiful butterfly, and Mira the image of the moth which offers its body to the lamp, dying in order to be united with the light. In both cases, it is the abandonment of the false self, this identification of oneself with status, wealth and honor, and an increasingly growth in a rooted, honest knowing of oneself, which Teresa terms humility. Teresa records more fully in her writings the inner struggles involved in dying to oneself, but one senses the same struggles in the writings of Mira, where she uses the image of a cord that seems to bind her to feelings of greed, anger or pride.
Having said this, however, for both women this journey is clearly not possible through human effort; it is a journey of grace. The transformation of both
women into holiness takes place through the grace of God alone. This grace is a gift of God, which cannot be demanded, controlled or forced. It can be aided by devotional practices, but never accomplished by them. A new identity is over time being forged in both women, an identity that lies not in knowledge, or family, wealthy or beauty, but rather in God. As each women becomes more “like” God, so the awareness seems to grow of all that is in them that is not of God. For both, holiness is not about outward rituals or external appearances of holiness, but rather about the inner transformation of the heart. In their writings we clearly see a theology built not on the externals of faith, but a call to enter into the heart of God, which alone is eternal.
The wound of love is an image used repeatedly by both women in their writings. The intense love and longing for God is at times akin to holy madness, a holy wounding, as both women struggle with the pain of felt separation from their beloved. Feelings of powerlessness are articulated by both women as they feel unable to do anything that would overcome this separation and in both the response to this is ultimate surrender. They surrender themselves utterly, despite the pain of feeling caught between heaven and earth.
Neither women seem to be seeking to “become” God, but rather to be united with God through this overwhelming desire and love for God. Again for both Teresa and Mira, relationship is the primary characteristic of their experience of God, and relationship implies the existence of two. This relationship is many faceted as God is related to as teacher, Lord, majesty, friend, and savior but above all as beloved.