Waking Up to Know
St. Symeon, the New Theologian (949-1032 ce) speaks of the deep abiding relational dynamic between Christ and people (and all creation) - The intimacy of Christ in us and us in Christ.
We awaken in Christ's body
as Christ awakens our bodies,
and my poor hand is Christ, He enters
my foot, and is infinitely me.
I move my hand, and wonderfully
my hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him
(for God is indivisibly
whole, seamless in His Godhood).
I move my foot, and at once
He appears like a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous? -- Then
open your heart to Him
and let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply
For if we genuinely love Him,
we wake up inside Christ's body
where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly, real,
and everything that is hurt, everything
that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably
damaged, is in Him transformed
and recognized as whole, as lovely,
and radiant in His light
he awakens as the Beloved
in every last part of our body
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Relationships are as varied and unique as people themselves but constitutive of what it is to be human (to exist). Relationship is a powerful dynamic between us, others, the world and our source (God). St Symeon, among other things, was a champion of each person having their own mystical experience with God, an intimacy of relationship with the divine.
Science has inspired a significant shift with respect to what constitutes reality. No longer does substance (matter) constitute what is real, rather a Quantum perspective demonstrates reality is more accurately experiences/events within a myriad of relational contexts.
This is also a way we might experience and think about how we are in Christ and Christ is in us. In light of relationship, we might also consider the unique relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ in a way that we can say Jesus is fully human and fully God.
To know is to experience in the context of relationship.