Contemplatives who Live in Realms of Day

Night Sky

God appears, and God is Light

To those poor souls who dwell in night:

But doth a human form display

To those who dwell in realms of day. William Blake quoted by Evelyn Underhill in Mysticism P. 240

[T]hose contemplatives whose temperament inclines them to “dwell in realms of day”…apprehend the personal and passionate aspect of the Infinite Life, and the love, at once intimate and expansive, all-demanding and all-renouncing, which plays like lightning between it and the desirous soul. Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism P. 240

As William Blake intimates, in the lines quoted above, not all contemplatives see God in the same way; and as we have noted in Evelyn Underhill’s writing in previous blogs on this site, it much depends on the individual’s temperament as to how God is perceived in times of contemplation.

Field of Sunflowers

 I would go even further than this and say that it is not only the individual’s overall temperament but also his underlying situation, need, and mood on any particular day in which he might be practicing contemplation. This, I believe, is not only because of a contemplative’s circumstance at that time, but also because of God’s realization of that contemplative’s needs and desires at any given time.

Walking in Wind

We each have a unique relationship with God and that unique relationship may even change from moment to moment according to our present needs. God is so amazing that, knowing our need and condition at any given time, the Sacred One will change the way in which God’s revelation is given to us according to whether we currently dwell in realms of night or day.

God is love and desires to fulfil our every necessity with abundant life.

© Judith Lawrence