Knowledge of God Through Union of the Wills:
A Teresian Perspective
This paper starts with the question of how can mystical experiences provide knowledge of God, if they are beyond our intellectual capabilities. I decided to approach this question from the thought of Teresa of Avila. To explain the plausibility of my thesis, I give some general context about The Interior Castle, to conclude that Teresa speaks of two different levels of knowledge and to present how the will is the one that grasps knowledge of God. About my starting question, I answer that from a Teresian point of view we are capable of acquiring knowledge of God from mystical experiences because there are two levels of knowledge and one of them is not dependent on the intellect. I then explain how this non-intellectual knowledge might work with the will being, able to grasp this second level of knowledge* by achieving union through a supernatural experience.