NO GREATER LOVE: EXISTENCE AND ESSENCE

Our lives as human creatures are full of tension. “Tension” in this context refers to things which are different from each other but which cannot be separated from each other. For example, we experience the tension between our attraction to God and to the world. Tensions are also present in contemplation. In his book Prayer, theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar warns against theories of contemplation which try to escape these tensions. Contemplation, in which the believer is opened so that he may hear the word of God, is an act of the whole man. Man must not be cut down to some partial aspect (whether temporarily or, in theory at least, permanently), for instance, by systematically training himself to turn his back on the outer world and concentrate on mere inwardness, abandoning the world of external and internal senses (imagination) in favor of a mere "naked" spirit. To reduce man in this way is to misunderstand the demands of the word of God as it summons man to conversion, to a "turning-around", as it calls him to leave the realm of distraction and come home to reality. Objectively speaking such a reduction represents a disobedience to the word, in that it is based on a false preconception of the nature of man in the act of hearing. We must not turn away from Divine Revelation with all its tensions in order to find God “within” us. 

The first tension which Von Balthasar examines is the tension between “existence” and “essence”. Creaturely being is constituted by the tension between existence and essence. It is an unfathomable mystery which man shares with all creatures, but in him it also goes right through his spiritual being and thus informs all his spiritual acts. Created being is not necessary in the way divine Being is; its "being thus" does not automatically give rise to its existence; coming forth out of nothing, it is attended by the mysterious aura of inscrutable divine freedom. But the wondrous fact of its "being there" is not simply due to its naked facticity (existence), as if its being (its "being thus", its essence) were familiar to us through contemplation, as if it were to be expected and not something that takes us by surprise; for the concrete, existent being is so much a concrete ( i.e., con-cretum, "grown together") and indivisible whole that our astonishment at its "being there" immediately moves on to our wonderment at its "being thus". Existence, unless it is the existence of this particular essence (and of no other) is of as little concern to the contemplative as an essence lacking the astounding quality of having reality and existence, of "being there". Essence refers to what something is, its properties and nature. However, this essence may not exist. Existence refers to the fact that a particular essence does exist. Each of us has an essence, but we also exist in reality. The is no reason for a Christian to contemplate the “force” of the fictional Star Wars universe even though much information (essence) of the “force” is available since the force does not exist in our real universe (essence apart from existence). Likewise, we cannot contemplate existence in and of itself apart from an essence which really exists since, as creatures, unlike God, we cannot bring anything into existence out of nothing (the total lack of essence).

An example of an existential and essential Divine Revelation occurs in the book of Exodus. When Moses encounters God in the burning bush, we read: God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.” (Ex 3:14-15 NIV) First God gives Moses an “existentialist” revelation of Himself by saying “I am who I am”. He is there in reality and His Essence is to exist. Then He gives Moses an “essentialist” revelation of Himself by saying he is “the God of your fathers”, the God who has revealed Himself in the book of Genesis and the rest of scripture. He is the God who shows his wrath to the unrepentant but also His kindness, mercy, patience, and love to those who fear Him.

Theologian Von Balthasar recommends that we first contemplate the essence of God as he has revealed Himself to us. This leads us to the existential wonder that this God we read about really exists. This existential wonder then leads to worship since it surely is a waste of time to worship what does not exist. In the contemplative too, therefore, there is a rhythmical alternation between essential and existential contemplation, which is both inescapable and fruitful. Both sides call for one another continuously, move toward each other; each sheds light on the other as we pray. In the face of this whole dynamic totality, the fact that, to a certain extent, we can discern different types of gifts and tendencies among contemplatives, is relatively insignificant. Some, like John the Evangelist, treat all the insights concerning "essence" simply as a prelude to their prostrate worship of the incomprehensible marvel of the divine existence. The Augustine of the Confessions, Francis, Ignatius and Newman belong to this type. Others start out from a shattering encounter with the Lord; they spend the rest of their lives in a desperate attempt, as it were, to interpret the content of this experience, to count the uncountable treasures which, "once for all", were poured out for them like a huge pile of gold. Paul was such a man, endeavoring to translate this treasure into coinage; Damascus was the source of his life, and all he can do is to point to the fullness of the mystery shown to him, which almost overpowers him. St. Paul certainly had an existential revelation of the Lord when he was knocked to the ground on the way to Damascus. Paul learned at that instant that Jesus Christ was not a deluded cult leader who was making outrageous claims, but the Son of God. For Paul, the existential encounter with the Lord came first, and later he learned about the Lord (essential encounter).

There are, however, false ways of conceiving of this tension between existence and essence. Von Balthasar warns against several of these errors. The distinction being made here is sharper than that commonly made by the terms intellectual and affective contemplation, even though these inadequate words are often used to express it. For on the one hand an affective response can be elicited by the various aspects and qualities of God's "essence" and grace; and on the other hand the total submission and self-surrender which occurs in the encounter with the "existing" Person involves far more than "affections", however much it may include them.

Nor is this distinction equivalent to that traditionally made between the prayer of the beginner, which proceeds more discursively, and the "prayer of simplicity" or the "prayer of the heart" which no longer needs a multiplicity of ideas but, since it has become simple, and can rest in the simple fullness of the object of contemplation. While there is progress here­--similar to the development from the child reading its letters to the adult who skims through a whole page at a glance---we must avoid giving the impression that the discursive element is a kind of original sin on the part of reason (as Greek metaphysics represents it), as if progress in contemplation consists primarily in overcoming this supposed "fall".

Moreover, we must not confuse the poles of "essential" and "existential" prayer with the distinction between the liturgical prayer of the Church, which is impersonal, objective and anonymous, and the decidedly personal praying of the individual in his private world. For the objectivity of liturgical prayer comes from its participation in the mystery of the Bride of Christ, and the latter's intercourse with the Bridegroom is the most sublime mystery of existential encounter and (on the Bride's part) of adoring submission and self-surrender. If something of this objectivity of the Church's prayer and the anonymity of the individual is to inform personal contemplative prayer, it is in order to impress upon it the comprehensive breadth of the ecclesial and Marian Bride; thus the private encounter with God acquires an ecclesial dimension in its very being, and not simply through its effects.

Finally, the tension we are examining must not be equated with the opposition between contemplatio and oratio, between contemplation and vocal prayer. Although there is a sense in which they can be distinguished, they are not true opposites, for all that is vocal, i.e., perceptibly uttered ( whether anyone else can hear it or whether the person praying thinks the words, which involves a certain motion of the speech organs), if it is to be prayer, must be accompanied by a spiritual attitude and spiritual acts which include and presuppose an openness to God and his word, a genuine hearing of his word. Thus, both vocal prayer and silent contemplative prayer contain both sides of the tension, essential and existential. – Jim Nugent, CFP