The transfiguration, the mystical principle of existence
Biblical reflections of reverend Mario Bonfanti* published on the website of the MCC Community Il CerchioOn 6 august 2017
Sunday todayAugust 6The liturgy of several christian churches recalls theTransfigurationOf Jesus. A story present throughout the synoptic tradition (Matthew 17: 1-9; Marco 9: 2-10; Luke 9: 28-36) and that I would like to try to reinterpret even starting from my particular transfiguration experience.
Semantic premise
The term "transfiguration" indicates a change of figure, appearance or expression. It can have a negative meaning: “The deprivations and sufferings of imprisonment had transfigured him; perhaps that melancholy and long pain ... he Transfigured me, who does not recognize me " (Boccaccio). Or take a positive value: "Many of these women realizing my transfiguration, they began to marvel" (Dante). And it can also be referred to things and environments: “And rooms, illuminated by the sun, took on the day I appeared Gaio. But in the evening, after sunset, they seemed to be transfigured " (Capuana).
Evangelical transfiguration: good news
Since the term gospel (in greekeu-ronellion) means happy announcement (news that causes joy), the story of transfiguration very likely must be interpreted not so much (or not simply) as a historical and private fact of the man Jesus, but asforiero di gaudio announcement for each* of us. Its meaning is therefore first of allpositive. And then,universal: it concerns each of us.
An innate mystical phenomenon
The neuroscientistAndrew NewbergAnd the psychiatristEugene d'AquiliIn the book God in the brain they write: "Human beings are innate mystical: have the innate ability to spontaneously transcend the self ". A piece of music or a speech can take, excite and transfigure even for a moment; As well as a particularly beautiful landscape, or a sunset; or the period in which we are in love with one or more people; etc. There are really many moments and episodes of transfiguration and human ecstasy. The mystical experience of Estasi is, after all, something very common to all. And, according to the theologianMatthew Fox(with which I collaborate), it is an experience of all animals (including man). In the book Compassion he writes: “In recent years I have learned with great wonder thatmany animals go to see the sunset. Ducks, birds, dogs and only God knows how many other small creaturesthey have a contemplative side".
In the beginning, mystics. Then the religions
Returning to the book God in the brain, the authors continue by affirming that "The mystical experience ...It is a high experience of authentic spiritual union with something wider ". This experience does not necessarily involve a divinity external to itself, but the experience of a "divine" coinciding with the deepest and most intimate part of reality (and therefore also of itself). It's likea feeling that leads the person to feel absorbed and merged into something that goes beyond (transcendence) and includes itself (immanence) at the same time. From these mystical experiences then sometimes codifications are born that become religions or spiritual or practical currents (paths/streets) ascetic-music. How he wroteRaimon Pannikar: “Mysticism tells us that there isaccess to complete reality(It is called God, all, nothing, being or anything) that we present ourselvesin all its fullness - Even if we then interpret it differentlyAnd from our concrete angle; So, although reality is undivided, our access is partial ". But first of all, there is direct experience. As in the story of the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17: 1-8). After its explanation comes (Matteo 17: 9-12), or rather the attempt to interpret, sometimes chock full of misunderstandings (Matthew 17:13). The mystical experience has an appearance of novelty and profound intuition that pervades us and is difficult to describe (if not indexable).
Neurological and evolutionary bases
This experience is not something that is born in certain cultures or is invented by religions; The transfiguration of reality and mystical experience are natural experiences and common to anyone, based on the biology and physiology of our brain. Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili say: “All mystical states have biological roots inMental mechanism of transcendence". And they add: “When the parasimpatic and nice functions increase simultaneously, the mind is overwhelmed by simultaneous flows of inhibitory and exciting responses. At this point the effect of deafning that the attention area produces on the orientation area becomes maximum and in the tour of Millisecondi this is completely found without input (...) a subjective feeling of lack of limits is generated: there are no more objects or distinct beings, there is no space or time and not even a line of demarcation between itself and the rest, but only a sense of unity and fusion with the universe, not disturbed by thoughts ". This is the summit of the mystical experience in which you reach what the traditions callmystical unionOrsacred marriage. And it is interesting that metaphors are used from the human love experience to describe this state. Always the aforementioned researchers add: “We consider that the neural mechanisms of transcendence derive fromthe same nerve circuits that allow us to mate and have sex".
My Bdsmistic experience
At this point I would like to mention some of my very personal deeply mystical experiences, which I feel very aligned with what is exposed in the book God in the brain. I start with the quotation of a text that was fundamental for me in understanding the fatal Attraction (or - religiously Speaking - vocation) that the sadomaso had on me since i was a child. in The book Love companions the psychiatrist and psychotherapist Vittorio Lingiardi writes: "Masochism could be considered as a psychic attempt to have sex a sacrament that can satisfy the body by keeping it in a regime of spirituality". When I read this phrase I was struck by it, because I finally had found a person who really described what I felt deeply: a real spiritual transfiguration experience. When, in fact, I am at the foot of my master, when I am naked at his total disposal, when I serve him and I dedicate myself totally to his enjoyment and pleasure ... reallyi live a real experience of exciting transfiguration: onestate of graceIn which the boundaries between him and disappear, where I do not feel they are nothing but part of him, where time and space fades and dissolve, where I push such a great flow of life and energy that they are overwhelmed and recharged together ... an ecstatic experience that often leaves me ina state of tranceFor some time even after the end of the mystical experience itself efull of vitality and energyFor months. An experience - on the other hand - so deep and intense that I could not hold up daily: it fills me with energy and devastated together. It really ishow to find themselves suddenly in the presence of God, completely, of the whole reality and feel overwhelmed and pervaded by this mighty presence(what the Bible calls "Gloria of God"And it is no coincidence that the term corresponding Kabod indicates together power and heaviness).
Conclusion
But why mention you my Bdsmistic experience regarding the transfiguration of Jesus? I believe that the two experiences, albeit in different forms, are the same unworthy reality. And I mentioned it above all because I believe that the gospel of the transfiguration also contains this message and invitation:The life of each* of us can be full of mystical transfiguration experiences. It is up to each* of usFind their most conso and proper formsto enjoy this natural opportunity, offered to anyoneto live in fullness and mystical union reality.
* I am the reverend Mario Bonfanti, an orderly priest in 2002 and left the Catholic Church in 2012 to be authentically myself: spiritually and sexually engaged at the same time. After an approach to the Anglican Church, I joined the Metropolitan Community Churches (www.mccchurch.org). I currently call myself "Queer priest" as shepherd of an MCC community north of Milan (www.mccilcerchio.it) and belonging to theology and the queer movement.
