meditations on the tarot by valentin tomberg

These are summarized in the following table: Stage These stages, in a sense, correspond to the four levels of interpretation of sacred writings. Tomberg describes three stages of meditation, above our ordinary waking consciousness. In his human nature the representative human feels the force of the sin of the whole world pressing upon him, the horror, for the one sinless being, of contact with sin, and of the justice of God outraged thereby. This was accompanied by the awareness of God’s wrath. Christ was fully aware of the human race living in spiritual darkness with stupidity, weakness, sloth, lust, injustice, disease … in short, sin. Moreover, his understanding of man’s nature was not sugar-coated as it so often is today. … The agony provides clear evidence at once of the reality of his human nature and of the depth of his self-abasement. He was subject to every human propensity: he experienced hunger and thirst, exhaustion, grief, temptation. Sergius Bulgakov in Sophia: The Wisdom of God describes it this way.Ĭhrist underwent all the limitations and infirmities of human life. The sacrifice is not limited to the cross, since the Incarnation itself was a sacrifice. The fact of freedom led to the Incarnation. God is all-powerful in history inasmuch as there is faith he is crucified insofar as one turns away from him. On the one hand, without freedom, God would be a “divine tyrant” yet on the other hand, because of man’s freedom, God’s power may be falsely doubted. Freedom is the key to understanding Providence in history. Incarnation is a sacrifice: the fact of freedomĬreation is effected by a divine contraction and by voluntary divine powerlessness, which is akin to crucifixion.Creation is a sacrifice: to allow freedom.In the Letter on the Emperor, we learn of two sacrifices:

To understand the Redemption, it is first necessary to start with understanding the cosmic significance of the idea of Sacrifice. That task will be a follow up to this essay. Hence, our meditation will lead to contemplation of the seven stages of the Passion. Ultimately, this will awaken a consciousness and appreciation of Christ’s work of Redemption.

In the Letter on the Fool, we learn that Christian meditation pursues the aim of deepening the two divine revelations:

Meditations on the tarot by valentin tomberg