Drenched in Love

“Where shall we find a loving person, rich with a transcendent experience…who understands so well the unity of his essential presence in all things and the oneness of all things in him…? Surely such a man will be deeply drenched in God’s love and in the full and final loss of self as nothing…and thus he will rest untroubled by feverish activity, labor, and concern for his own well-being.”
—Privy Counsel Ch. 8

In this brief space, with a few short words, the author of Privy Counsel offers a universe of meaning and experience. He describes the contemplative first and foremost as one who perceives her unity with all things and the oneness of all things with her. Peering deeply into our inner being, we see the lines between self and other blurred to the point of indistinction, and a vast interconnectedness of all phenomena.

The feature film I Heart Huckabees, which premiered last year, a comedic exploration of the contemplative experience itself, provides a wonderful look into this interconnectedness (or “inter-being” as Thich Nhat Hanh describes it). The protagonist, a young man who full of anger and despair at those who he believes are against him, is finally brought, through the influence of good teachers, to see that the pain he feels is the same pain his enemy feels. Ultimately there is no division between us and our enemies. We are one and the same.

The author of Privy Counsel notes that the chief quality of the contemplative is that she is “drenched in love,” because love is the only adequate reaction to such blessed inter-being.