union-with-god-is-communion-not-absorption

# Union with God is communion, not absorption The mystic's oneness reads two ways. In one the self dissolves and only the One remains; in the other the self is kept and made luminous, an I infused with God and still turning toward God in love. Only the second is communion. A union that erases the two leaves no one to love and no one to be loved, the end of relationship rather than its summit. The deepest closeness keeps the distance love needs, the between across which the I and the Thou still reach. Provenance: the distinction between unitive union and absorptive nonduality is Cynthia Bourgeault's (The Heart of Centering Prayer), a standing theme of Christian mysticism. Framing it as the relational imperative at the summit is mine. Related: [[communion-is-harmony-not-unison]], [[unity-and-multiplicity-are-perpendicular]]