How does the mystery and unknowability of god align with existential nothingness?
The mystery and unknowability of God, particularly in apophatic theology and radical theology, share intriguing resonances with existential nothingness. Both concepts confront the limits of human understanding and emphasize an encounter with the void—whether divine or ontological.
1. Apophatic (Negative) Theology: The God Beyond Being
In apophatic theology, God is understood through negation:
- Beyond Concepts: God is not “good”, “powerful”, or “wise” in any humanly comprehensible sense. Instead, God is “beyond” these attributes, dwelling in a radical mystery.
- Encounter with the Void: Figures like Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Meister Eckhart describe God as the “Divine Darkness”, a kind of holy nothingness where language fails and only silence or un-knowing remains.
đź ž Connection to Existential Nothingness:
- Confronting the Abyss: Just as existentialists like Heidegger and Sartre see nothingness as a confrontation with the limits of human understanding, apophatic theology invites a spiritual encounter with unknowability.
- Freedom in the Void: For both, there is a freedom that emerges from this nothingness—the freedom to create meaning (Sartre) or the freedom to be transformed by divine mystery (apophatic tradition).
2. Radical Theology: God as Absence
Contemporary theologians like John D. Caputo, Peter Rollins, and Thomas J. J. Altizer explore a “theology of the void”, where:
- God is Not a Being: Instead of a supernatural entity, God is understood as an event, a call, or a trace—something that haunts reality with an absence rather than presence.
- Embrace of Uncertainty: These theologians draw on postmodern philosophy (e.g., Derrida’s “diffĂ©rance”) to argue that faith involves a radical openness to doubt, loss, and unanswered questions.
đź ž Connection to Existential Nothingness:
- Faith as a Leap into Nothingness: Kierkegaard’s “leap of faith” resonates here. Faith is not a grasping of certainty, but a trust in the void, a hope in what cannot be known.
- Deconstruction of Idols: Just as existentialism deconstructs false meanings and inauthentic ways of being, radical theology deconstructs idolatrous concepts of God, leaving only the void where mystery resides.
3. Existential Nothingness: A Groundless Ground
- Heidegger’s Nothingness: For Heidegger, the encounter with nothingness (e.g., through anxiety) is not nihilistic, but a revelation of Being itself. It is through the void that we encounter the possibility of authentic existence.
- Sartre’s Nothingness: Sartre sees nothingness as an integral part of consciousness—the ability to negate, to say “no”, to imagine what is not. This nothingness is what gives freedom but also anguish.
đź ž Theological Resonance:
- God as Possibility: Just as nothingness opens up possibility, some theologians speak of God not as a fixed being, but as the ground of possibility, a creative nothingness that births new realities.
- Mystery and the Abyss: The mystical tradition often describes an encounter with God as an encounter with the abyss, a plunge into darkness, which mirrors the existential encounter with nothingness.
4. A Common Spiritual-Existential Praxis
- Silence and Meditation: Both apophatic prayer and existential reflection value silence, emptiness, and contemplation of the void.
- Death and Transformation: The “death of God” in radical theology and the death of meaning in existentialism both lead to a potential rebirth—a new understanding of self, world, or divinity.
5. Is This a Nihilistic View?
Not necessarily. While nihilism is often associated with despair, both theological nothingness and existential nothingness can lead to a profound hope:
- In Radical Theology: The void is not an absence of meaning but an invitation to create and discover new modes of faith.
- In Existentialism: Nothingness is not a negation of life but a space of freedom, where authentic existence becomes possible.
Would you like to explore how these ideas might influence spiritual practices, or perhaps how they could reshape ethical life in a post-metaphysical world?