THEOSIS IS ENERGY FROM GOD

The experience of Theosis, as understood in the early Church, was and still sometimes is what Saint Paul experienced while on the road to Damascus.

Today, it is not easily described to most Christians, since it can only be known in a non-sensory way, while our ordinary forms of description are based almost entirely on sensory experience. Potentially, this was the opportunity for a great step-forward in man's ability to use higher forms of knowledge. For example: "How can anyone describe in words the Good Who is beyond words. For this, you must depend on God for a grace which does not come to the nous of those who show off their wisdom, thinking that they know everything. (Saint Gregory Palamas - The Triads, Volume 1, See Praxis bookshop.)

If we looked on it as philosophy, we would perceive it as a major step beyond the philosophy of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. In the language of the early Church, as I understand it, Theosis is not exactly a part of the material creation. It is a manifestation of energeia, a Greek word used to write about the activity of the Creator participating in our human life.

The idea of energeia differs from our modern definition of energy. The modern definition is calculated from measurements of movement, while the early Christian definition of energia was directly based on subjective human experience. Energy is produced by physical processes, while energeia is an experience of the human psyche.