And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
Matthew 3:16

Module Six: A Drenching Shower

Study:

In preparation for this week's material, please read Sixth Dwelling, Chapters 1–11 (pp 155–255 in the Mirabai Starr translation). Please read the Wisdom for the Way essay titled, “A Drenching Shower,” found here. Available on April 6, 2022.

After you have completed the above, choose one or more of the the following:

• “Dialogue: The Sixth and Seventh Mansions Part 1” from the Turning to the Mystics Podcast

• “Teresa of Avila: Session 6” a meditation from the Turning to the Mystics Podcast

• Essays on the Contemplative Stance

• “Alchemy by Moonlight: Sweeping Narratives of Night” by Hayden Moore

• Stay with the Suffering from Richard Rohr

• The Original Double Slit Experiment and Single Photon Interference from Veritasium

Discussion Questions:

• On page 228, St. Teresa says, “We can’t figure these things out. All we can do is receive them with gratitude and awe.” How does this inform your contemplative practice?

• The path of mystical contemplation is one of release and reception. Elaine Heath describes it as: Showing up, Paying attention, Cooperating with God, and Releasing the Outcome. Of the fruit of mystical experience, St. Teresa says, “Little by little, humility grows deeper; little by little, virtues grow stronger.” How does your practice and experience affirm or contradict these statements?

• St. Teresa speaks of mystical experience as being that which “the soul doesn’t have any idea how to speak.” How do the videos describing the paradoxical nature of light allow you to reconsider the validity of that which lies beyond words or comprehension?