Thus, it is no exaggeration to say that Eastern Orthodoxy represents a different spiritual universe than its Western counterpart.  Those who worship in Western Christian churches are typically unaware of just how much their varied beliefs diverge from those of the original Christians.  The differences are not just in specific doctrinal definitions and concepts.  East and West are separated by two distinct approaches to life with God.      

In the Christian West, faith is a personal matter. An individual’s personal faith is founded upon his or her rational understanding of God—an understanding gained through the study of the Scriptures, and through theological/philosophical analysis.  From this, one develops an image of God.  The hope is that somehow, this theological picture of God will find its way into the heart and produce feelings toward God.  As it is commonly put, “Head knowledge has to become heart knowledge.”  They key point is that a Western believer’s encounter with God is mediated by these thoughts and feelings.  That is, he or she experiences God through his or her ideas and emotions.  

But for the Apostles and early Christians, as well as for the Orthodox Christians who preserve their spiritual heritage, life with God is much different.  First of all, it is anything but individual.  It is entirely communal.  Orthodox Christians understand that there can be absolutely nothing purely personal about one’s relationship with God.  After all, what is His ultimate desire for us?  Jesus expresses it beautifully in His prayer recorded in John 17:

We are to be united with God, and with each other, in the same way that the Father and the Son are one!  It is a completely unfathomable idea. Yet it is our legacy as Christians.  It also has particularly serious implications for Christians in the Western traditions.  For Jesus is quite clear: oneness with God cannot be separated from oneness with other believers.  If I am not one with them—perfectly one, as St. Paul reminds us—I cannot be one with Him.  It’s as simple as that.

Orthodox Christians understand this.  They also know, as they have learned from the Apostles and one hundred generations of Eastern Christians before them, that the unifying work of God is not something He trusts to our understanding of the Scriptures, or to the feelings we have toward our theologically-derived images of Him.  Real oneness with God cannot be found through our personal theological thoughts or through our spiritual emotions.  

For us to be one with God like the members of the Trinity are one, we must know Him like the Father, Son, and Spirit know each other: directly, in a completely immediate, entirely experiential way.  Rather than just understanding Him, or having feelings toward Him, we must actually participate in His existence.       

The good news is that God has made that possible.  As St. Peter tells the crowd on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes to live—actually live—in those who repent before Christ and receive holy Baptism (Acts 2:38).  As we cooperate with Him, setting aside our own desires and willfully offering Him the opportunity, the Spirit expresses Himself through us.  Our spirits, minds, and bodies become His.  

God is not a doctrine or an emotion.  We can’t participate in His life by believing something about Him or feeling something for Him.  Joining in the life of God is something we must do.  Union with God can only be achieved through activity.  And from the beginning of the Christian faith, God has specified certain practices in which we are to participate with Him.  Through these activities, He blends our lives with His.  

These special events are called sacraments.  They include that well known list of seven: baptism, chrismation, confession, the Eucharist, marriage, ordination, and holy unction.  But for Orthodox Christians, the list of sacramental activities also includes liturgical worship, communion with the Virgin Mary and departed saints, and the veneration of icons.  Day to day life for a serious Orthodox Christian is a matter of moving from one sacramental act to the next. What  

these all have in common is that (1) they are God-designed and God-ordained, (2) they are performed in common with other Orthodox believers, and (3) through them, God joins our beings to His.  

For Orthodox Christians, the sacraments walk hand in hand with ascetical practices like fasting, a disciplined prayer life, almsgiving, obedience, and other acts of self-denial.  By these, we exercise the life of the Spirit within us, and by His power “put to death the deeds of the body” (Romans  8:13).  We put on the yoke of Christ (Matthew 11:29, 30).  Wearing that yoke, we struggle--in the life-giving grace of God--against our sinful and selfish desires and ambitions.   In denying ourselves, in turning away from all that is empty and lifeless, we prepare our hearts to fully embrace God in those sacramental moments.

So the Christian life is not an exercise in theological interpretation.  It is rather an intimate dance with God.  Now, learning to dance is not easy.  It demands our participation--which demands our deep commitment, and willingness to engage in a sometimes difficult and painful process.  But this labor is unlike any other; for it produces love, joy, and peace (Galatians 5:22).   As we grow and mature in God’s choreography, we are transformed.  God joins Himself to us within and without, merging our lives with His in beautiful and holy oneness.

Through the sacramental and ascetical life, we have this experience with God.  Whether or not we understand what He is doing, or have some deep emotional response to His Being, God meets us as we walk this path.  He performs His transforming work in us.  For life with God, as Orthodox Christians know, is at its foundation neither mental nor emotional.  It is, rather, mystical.  

The mystical is by definition a mystery; so there’s little one can do to explain it.  Perhaps I can offer an analogy [thanks to my friend Peter for his help on this].  Suppose I wanted to get a suntan.  Could I develop a tan by studying about exposure to solar radiation?   If I came to know everything there is to know about tanning, would that give me a tan? Obviously not.

Or what if I imagined myself nicely bronzed?  Suppose I developed a detailed vision of how it would feel to walk around with an admirable      
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