Julio Santiago Gonzalez Jimenez

Some Insights in Metamystics: to enkindle the experience of God through the wisdom of the Carmel Julio Santiago Gonzalez Jimenez

On the eve of the second millennium pope John Paul II recalled that the Christian believes in order to understand; but he is also called to understand in order to believe. Today I take up the challenge of trying to understand better my own faith and dare to pose a philosophical reflection on the relationship of God with the soul. I call the process employed in this reasoning "metamystics" by analogy with its earthly companion metaphysics. I write these lines from Avila, the small Castilian city that saw me grow up as a child and play in its streets, the same ones that stepped on our Carmelite mystics more than 500 years ago. That is why I have not found a better way to base many of the affirmations and theses arising from this reflection that through the works of Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. Metaphysics and metamystics provide complementary facets for anthropological understanding, but the reflections they contain should not overshadow the conclusion that we can only know God through love and personal contact. Only this approach will allow us to heal and build ourselves solidly, anticipating on earth the heaven we yearn for.