Illumination

This exploration is coming soon. It will cover illumination — photismos — as the second stage of the classical ascent, the threshold between active practice and contemplative reception.

The exploration will examine the tradition's description of what illumination feels like: not dramatic visions, in most cases, but a gradual brightening and clarifying of perception, a new quality of presence in prayer, and the beginning of what Evagrios called theoria physike — the capacity to see the inner logoi of created things. It will address the relationship between illumination as a stage and illumination as a continuous process, and why the tradition consistently warns against seeking spiritual experiences rather than God.