Landscapes of the Sacred 1

Towards the end of the book Lane brings up the difference between kataphatic and apophatic traditions in spirituality. Kataphatic, involving the use of metaphor and images in understanding the divine and apophatic, which moves away from the use of symbols and empties the mind of all efforts to understand the holy. Reading this I began to wonder which would be a better way to understand the holy and which tradition I would fall under. Being raised in a Christian family I have always had a more kataphatic approach to religion simply because I have been taught this image of a man in the clouds and how we experience him through events or symbols on earth. But lately, having not attended church since high school, I have agreed more with an apophatic approach. Part of this could just be the fact that I’m not even sure if a God does exist. I want to believe that there is something out there but I’ve matured past the man in the clouds concept. The apophatic approach fits me now because I believe it is impossible to know what is out there and to define it with our symbols, although it may be all we can do, does not do it justice.