Via Negativa

In the waiting, in the seeming madness, in the journeying the incomprehensible road with a friend whose soul pain advances and rarely retreats, the all consumingness of it can overwhelm. So in the midst of this journeying with a friend I have placed roses in the room: two long stemmed yellow, 3 Equadorian - vivid, brilliant roses.

We need reminders of beauty. Reminders of where we have been and why we travel this road with others. Markers that tell of the thorns that accompany the beauty.

This morning in quiet time, searching for poetry that speaks of beauty I find something else. The via negativa on the way to the via positiva. The ability to say no while we wait for that to which we can say yes.
The via negativa is the discipline of saying no when we have as yet no clarity about those things to which we can say yes. We take the via negativa when there is not yet any sign of the via positiva. But in the continuous utterance of the no is a profound faith that yes will appear. Not only is it bound to turn up by the law of averages, but it will also appear because we have said no to so much.
David Whyte - The Heart Aroused.

Via negativa may well be the road of hope. The road that is learning to believe the Kingdom of Heaven is here now and the search for Truth is the scent of the rose. The beauty of hope the gives a fragrance to draw us to hope and draw us to the via positiva - that to which we can say "yes".