What some saints have said about Heaven

Originally Posted by Maisy

It reminds me how some nuns feel like they are married to Jesus and he is their perfect husband as this link shows:

If many thousands of nuns feel like Jesus is their husband seems like some logical flaws there because how could Jesus have many thousands of wives in heaven?

Maisy,

Thanks….this invites some contemplation. First, it seems to imply an aspiration to achieve nonduality…..for the rite of marriage according to the Bible tells us that this union of man and wife results in the becoming of one flesh….nonduality. For this reason I believe that it should be understood as becoming the bride of Christ rather than Jesus because Jesus is gender specific. There must be an according analogy for men…..to reach this state of union. No one could say that man could become the groom of Jesus. Any union is expected to yield fruit. In this case what else could it be but love ? Love is the continuing manifestation of God.

I apologize to those that remain insistent on gender distinction and separation. Be reminded that Paul said….”it is no longer I that live but rather Christ lives in me”…..Essentially this rebirth into unity results in a new being….and maybe not defined by gender IMO…..

The goal of Christian mysticism is to achieve the unitive state. Can anyone believe if a woman achieves the unitive state that she then becomes a male ? That is nonsensical to me….Union produces one ‘flesh’……..not to be identified by gender….

[sky]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Union produces one ‘flesh’……..not to be identified by gender….

But flesh has gender, union of Spirit doesn’t, imo.

[Redchic12]

Good point Sky.

Isn’t spirit just another name for consciousness? So I guess consciousness wouldn’t have a gender.

Just a wild guess.

[sky]

Originally Posted by Redchic12

Good point Sky.
Isn’t spirit just another name for consciousness? So I guess consciousness wouldn’t have a gender.
Just a wild guess.

I'm agreeing with your wild guess

Originally Posted by sky

But flesh has gender, union of Spirit doesn’t, imo.

Precisely the reason for quotation marks….meaning so-called flesh….

[Miss Hepburn]

Ha, no copyright issue here again since it was said in the 1500s!!!
About her exp of Paradise - St. Teresa of Avila, Spain:

....It is a
light that does not wane, a candidness
full of sweetness, a splendor infused that
deliciously enchants the eyes without
tire, as does the clarity in which one sees
the sublime reality.
It is a light so different
from ours that shines from the sun, that
in comparison the sun seems very dim,
this light so bright that after seeing it one
cannot even open his eyes.

It is as if on one side you see a very clear water flow
over a crystal illuminated by the sun and
on the other side a very muddy water
converge between the dust under the
cloudy sky. Not yet has sun or light had
any resemblance to that light.
Besides,
our forms of light seem rather artificial
and that one only natural: light without
sunset, that nothing can disturb it because
it is eternal, of such force that nobody
could even imagine it, not even a great
genius that contemplated it for life.”

Originally Posted by Redchic12

Isn’t spirit just another name for consciousness? So I guess consciousness wouldn’t have a gender.
Just a wild guess.

Redchic12,

Not synonymous IMO……the consciousness is easily corrupted….the Spirit is incorruptible……

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

... this light so bright that after seeing it one
cannot even open his eyes.

Experienced in earthly life by Paul on the road to Damascus…..Acts 9:7-9….

Originally Posted by Molearner

Experienced in earthly life by Paul on the road to Damascus…..Acts 9:7-9….

In relation to post #38 this blindness shuts out any perception of the outer world that can inform the consciousness……we can mimic this experience through meditation whose goal is to disengage all sensory inputs…..