Does Union with God mean Losing Your Self?

Contemplation Inspires Us to Be Unique Expressions of Divine Love

Be yourself. Everyone else is taken!

“If the goal of the contemplative is union with God, does the individual begin to disappear and lose his or her unique self (personality, emotions) in pursuing this goal?”

The above question came to me in an email from a reader of this blog. It’s a huge question and I’m not sure a single blog post can do it justice. But I’ll give it a try.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux suggests that the spiritual...