"I beheld the uncreated light, and it was not from afar, but it was within me, and I myself was within it. It enveloped me completely, and I shone with its glory. I became one with the Light and forgot all else. I was beyond time and place, and I understood what it means to be truly alive."

— St. Symeon the New Theologian, Hymns of Divine Love

What is this light? How can it be viewed as such and yet be uncreated?

Another interesting thing with Symeon is his view that man's nature changed due to the fall, unlike simply God sustaining him in that state by His grace as St. Thomas thought. I also remember a quote from Palamas where he states that the eyes of the hesychast become different in some way in order to perceive this light. Do the eastern orthodox literally believe that humans used to be some sort of Hyperboreans before the fall and that's what they're aiming for with their practices lol?

>>24551602 (OP)
>Do the eastern orthodox literally believe that humans used to be some sort of Hyperboreans before the fall and that's what they're aiming for with their practices lol?

Yes. So did the Desert Fathers. Read Brown's The Body and Society. I'll dig up my copy if you're interested.

>How can it be viewed as such

Solitude, sense-restraint, prayer, and meditation.

>and yet be uncreated?

You have to work hard to reach the summit, but by your work you didn't create the summit.