Practice[edit]
Cataphatic and apophatic mysticism[edit]
Within theistic mysticism two broad tendencies can be identified. One is a tendency to understand God by asserting what He is and the other by asserting what He is not. The former leads to what is called cataphatic theology and the latter to apophatic theology.
- Cataphatic (imaging God, imagination or words) - e.g., The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Julian of Norwich, Francis of Assisi; and
- Apophatic (imageless, stillness, and wordlessness) - inspired by the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, which forms the basis of Eastern Orthodox mysticism and hesychasm, and became influential in western Catholic mysticism from the 12th century AD onward, as in The Cloud of Unknowing and Meister Eckhart.[69]
Urban T. Holmes III categorized mystical theology in terms of whether it focuses on illuminating the mind, which Holmes refers to as speculative practice, or the heart/emotions, which he calls affective practice. Combining the speculative/affective scale with the apophatic/cataphatic scale allows for a range of categories:[70]
- Rationalism = Cataphatic and speculative
- Pietism = Cataphatic and affective
- Encratism = Apophatic and speculative
- Quietism = Apophatic and affective
Meditation and contemplation[edit]
In discursive meditation, such as Lectio Divina, mind and imagination and other faculties are actively employed in an effort to understand our relationship with God.[71][72] In contemplative prayer, this activity is curtailed, so that contemplation has been described as "a gaze of faith", "a silent love".[note 4] There is no clear-cut boundary between Christian meditation and Christian contemplation, and they sometimes overlap. Meditation serves as a foundation on which the contemplative life stands, the practice by which someone begins the state of contemplation.[73]
John of the Cross described the difference between discursive meditation and contemplation by saying:
Mattá al-Miskīn, an Oriental Orthodox monk has posited:
Threefold path[edit]
According to the standard formulation of the process of Christian perfection, going back to Evagrius Ponticus (345–399 AD)[76] and Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite (late 5th to early 6th century),[77][78] there are three stages:[79][62][78]
- Katharsis or purification;
- Theoria or illumination, also called "natural" or "acquired contemplation;"
- Union or Theosis; also called "infused" or "higher contemplation"; indwelling in God; vision of God; deification; union with God
These stages correspond to body (soma), soul (psyche), and spirit (pneuma). In 869, the 8th Ecumenical Council reduced the image of the human to only body and soul but within mystics a model of three aspects continued. The three aspects later became purgative, illuminative, and unitive in the western churches and prayer of the lips, the mind, the heart in the eastern churches.[76]
Purification and illumination of the noetic faculty are preparations for the vision of God. Without these preparations it is impossible for man's selfish love to be transformed into selfless love. This transformation takes place during the higher level of the stage of illumination called theoria, literally meaning vision, in this case vision by means of unceasing and uninterrupted memory of God. Those who remain selfish and self-centered with a hardened heart, closed to God's love, will not see the glory of God in this life. However, they will see God's glory eventually, but as an eternal and consuming fire and outer darkness.[80]
Catharsis (purification)[edit]
In the Orthodox Churches, theosis results from leading a pure life, practicing restraint and adhering to the commandments, putting the love of God before all else. This metamorphosis (transfiguration) or transformation results from a deep love of God. Saint Isaac the Syrian says in his Ascetical Homilies that "Paradise is the love of God, in which the bliss of all the beatitudes is contained," and that "the tree of life is the love of God" (Homily 72). Theoria is thus achieved by the pure of heart who are no longer subject to the afflictions of the passions. It is a gift from the Holy Spirit to those who, through observance of the commandments of God and ascetic practices (see praxis, kenosis, Poustinia and schema), have achieved dispassion.[note 5]
Purification precedes conversion and constitutes a turning away from all that is unclean and unwholesome. This is a purification of mind and body. As preparation for theoria, however, the concept of purification in this three-part scheme refers most importantly to the purification of consciousness (nous), the faculty of discernment and knowledge (wisdom), whose awakening is essential to coming out of the state of delusion that is characteristic of the worldly-minded. After the nous has been cleansed, the faculty of wisdom may then begin to operate more consistently. With a purified nous, clear vision and understanding become possible, making one fit for contemplative prayer.
In the Eastern Orthodox ascetic tradition called hesychasm, humility, as a saintly attribute, is called Holy Wisdom or sophia. Humility is the most critical component to humanity's salvation.[note 6] Following Christ's instruction to "go into your room or closet and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret" (Matthew 6:6), the hesychast withdraws into solitude in order that he or she may enter into a deeper state of contemplative stillness. By means of this stillness, the mind is calmed, and the ability to see reality is enhanced. The practitioner seeks to attain what the apostle Paul called 'unceasing prayer'.
Some Eastern Orthodox theologians object to what they consider an overly speculative, rationalistic, and insufficiently experiential nature of Roman Catholic theology.[note 7] and confusion between different aspects of the Trinity.[note 8]
Discipline[edit]
The first, purification is where aspiring traditionally Christian mystics start. This aspect focuses on discipline, particularly in terms of the human body; thus, it emphasizes prayer at certain times, either alone or with others, and in certain postures, often standing or kneeling. It also emphasizes the other disciplines of fasting and alms-giving, the latter including those activities called "the works of mercy," both spiritual and corporal, such as feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless.[citation needed]
Purification, which grounds Christian spirituality in general, is primarily focused on efforts to, in the words of St. Paul, "put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 8:13). This is considered a result of the Spirit working in the person and is not a result of personal deeds. Also in the words of St. Paul, "...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Epistle to the Philippians 1:6). The "deeds of the flesh" here include not only external behavior, but also those habits, attitudes, compulsions, addictions, etc. (sometimes called egoic passions) which oppose themselves to true being and living as a Christian not only exteriorly, but interiorly as well. Evelyn Underhill describes purification as an awareness of one's own imperfections and finiteness, followed by self-discipline and mortification.[85]
Ascetic practices[edit]
Because of its physical, disciplinary aspect, this phase, as well as the entire Christian spiritual path, is often referred to as "ascetic," a term which is derived from the Greek word, ἄσκησις ([i]askesis[/i]), meaning "to train" or "to discipline." As the athlete trains and disciplines their body or eating habits, many mystics,[who?] following the model of Paul's metaphor of the athlete, as well as the story of the disciples sleeping while Jesus prayed, disciplined their bodies in order to train the soul and its appetites (passions). In ancient Christian literature, prominent mystics are often called "spiritual athletes," an image which is also used several times in the New Testament to describe the Christian life. In a religious context this [i]askesis[/i] serves to bring both body and the soul under control in order to diminish the passions which harm the soul and to elevate virtues for the purpose of apatheia (a state of being without passion), ultimately for the goal of theosis. "The purpose of Christian asceticism," therefore, "is not to weaken the flesh, but to strengthen the spirit for the transfiguration of the flesh." [86] It is an active involvement in passitivity:
This training of the body and the spiritual discipline of the soul takes many forms, but fasting is among the primary means. Other practices often included sexual abstinence, self-imposed poverty, sleep deprivation, and solitude, while other more extreme practices such as self-flagellation have occurred, though this practice has been heavily discouraged by the Church and by many ascetical masters.[citation needed] The practice of Lectio Divina, a form of meditative prayer that centers on scripture reading, was developed in its best-known form in the sixth century, through the work of Benedict of Nursia and Pope Gregory I, and described and promoted more widely in the 12th century by Guigo II.
Theoria (illumination) - contemplative prayer[edit]
An exercise long used among Christians for acquiring contemplation, one that is "available to everyone, whether he be of the clergy or of any secular occupation",[87] is that of focusing the mind by constant repetition a phrase or word. Saint John Cassian recommended use of the phrase "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me".[88][89] Another formula for repetition is the name of Jesus.[90][91] or the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner," which has been called "the mantra of the Orthodox Church",[89] although the term "Jesus Prayer" is not found in the Fathers of the Church.[92] The author of The Cloud of Unknowing recommended use of a monosyllabic word, such as "God" or "Love".[93]
Contemplative prayer in the Eastern Church[edit]
In the Eastern Church, noetic prayer is the first stage of theoria,[94][note 9] the vision of God, which is beyond conceptual knowledge,[95] like the difference between reading about the experience of another, and reading about one's own experience.[81] Noetic prayer is the first stage of the Jesus Prayer, a short formulaic prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."[96] The second stage of the Jesus Prayer is the Prayer of the Heart (Καρδιακή Προσευχή), in which the prayer is internalized into 'the heart'.[97]
The Jesus Prayer, which, for the early Fathers, was just a training for repose,[98] the later Byzantines developed into hesychasm, a spiritual work of its own, attaching to it technical requirements and various stipulations that became a matter of serious theological controversy,[98] and are still of great interest to Byzantine, Russian and other eastern churches.[98] While he maintains his practice of the Jesus Prayer, the Hesychast cultivates nepsis, watchful attention. Sobriety contributes to this mental askesis that rejects tempting thoughts; it puts a great emphasis on focus and attention. The Hesychast is to pay extreme attention to the consciousness of his inner world and to the words of the Jesus Prayer, not letting his mind wander in any way at all. The Jesus Prayer invokes an attitude of humility essential for the attainment of theoria.[note 10] The Jesus Prayer is also invoked to pacify the passions, as well as the illusions that lead a person to actively express these passions. The worldly, neurotic mind is habitually accustomed to seek perpetuation of pleasant sensations and to avoid unpleasant ones. This state of incessant agitation of the mind is attributed to the corruption of primordial knowledge and union with God (the Fall of Man and the defilement and corruption of consciousness, or nous).[note 11] According to St. Theophan the Recluse, though the Jesus Prayer has long been associated with the Prayer of the Heart, they are not synonymous.[101]
Contemplative prayer in the Roman Catholic Church[edit]
Methods of prayer in the Roman Catholic Church include recitation of the Jesus Prayer, which "combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6–11 with the cry of the publican (Luke 18:13) and the blind man begging for light (Mark 10:46–52). By it the heart is opened to human wretchedness and the Saviour's mercy";[102] invocation of the holy name of Jesus;[102] recitation, as recommended by Saint John Cassian, of "O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me" or other verses of Scripture; repetition of a single monosyllabic word, as suggested by the Cloud of Unknowing, such as "God" or "Love";[93] the method used in Centering Prayer; the use of Lectio Divina.[103] The Congregation for Divine Worship's directory of popular piety and the liturgy emphasizes the contemplative characteristic of the Holy Rosary and states that the Rosary is essentially a contemplative prayer which requires "tranquility of rhythm or even a mental lingering which encourages the faithful to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life."[104] Pope John Paul II placed the Rosary at the very center of Christian spirituality and called it "among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation."[105] In modern times, centering prayer, which is also called "Prayer of the heart" and "Prayer of Simplicity,"[note 12] has been popularized by Thomas Keating, drawing on Hesychasm and the Cloud of Unknowing.[note 13] The practice of contemplative prayer has also been encouraged by the formation of associations like The Julian Meetings and the Fellowship of Meditation.
Unification[edit]
The third phase, starting with infused or higher contemplation (or Mystical Contemplative Prayer[107]) in the Western tradition, refers to the presence or consciousness of God. This presence or consciousness varies, but it is first and foremost always associated with a reuniting with Divine love, the underlying theme being that God, the perfect goodness,[2] is known or experienced at least as much by the heart as by the intellect since, in the words 1 John 4:16: "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him." Some approaches to classical mysticism would consider the first two phases as preparatory to the third, explicitly mystical experience, but others state that these three phases overlap and intertwine.[108]
In the Orthodox Churches, the highest theoria, the highest consciousness that can be experienced by the whole person, is the vision of God.[note 14] God is beyond being; He is a hyper-being; God is beyond nothingness. Nothingness is a gulf between God and man. God is the origin of everything, including nothingness. This experience of God in hypostasis shows God's essence as incomprehensible, or uncreated. God is the origin, but has no origin; hence, he is apophatic and transcendent in essence or being, and cataphatic in foundational realities, immanence and energies. This ontic or ontological theoria is the observation of God.[109]
A nous in a state of ecstasy or ekstasis, called the eighth day, is not internal or external to the world, outside of time and space; it experiences the infinite and limitless God.[note 5][note 15] Nous is the "eye of the soul" (Matthew 6:22–34).[note 16] Insight into being and becoming (called noesis) through the intuitive truth called faith, in God (action through faith and love for God), leads to truth through our contemplative faculties. This theory, or speculation, as action in faith and love for God, is then expressed famously as "Beauty shall Save the World". This expression comes from a mystical or gnosiological perspective, rather than a scientific, philosophical or cultural one.[112][113][114][115]
Alternate models[edit]
Augustine[edit]
In the advance to contemplation Augustine spoke of seven stages:[116]
- the first three are merely natural preliminary stages, corresponding to the vegetative, sensitive and rational levels of human life;
- the fourth stage is that of virtue or purification;
- the fifth is that of the tranquillity attained by control of the passions;
- the sixth is entrance into the divine light (the illuminative stage);
- the seventh is the indwelling or unitive stage that is truly mystical contemplation.
Meister Eckhart[edit]
Meister Eckhart did not articulate clear-cut stages,[117] yet a number of divisions can be found in his works.[118]
Teresa of Avila[edit]
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According to Jordan Aumann, Teresa of Ávila distinguishes nine grades of prayer:
- vocal prayer,
- mental prayer or prayer of meditation,
- affective prayer,
- prayer of simplicity, or acquired contemplation or recollection,
- infused contemplation or recollection,
- prayer of quiet,
- prayer of union,
- prayer of conforming union, and
- prayer of transforming union.
According to Aumann, "The first four grades belong to the predominantly ascetical stage of spiritual life; the remaining five grades are infused prayer and belong to the mystical phase of spiritual life."[119] According to Augustin Pulain, for Teresa of Avila ordinary prayer "comprises these four degrees: first, vocal prayer; second, meditation, also called methodical prayer, or prayer of reflection, in which may be included meditative reading; third, affective prayer; fourth, prayer of simplicity, or of simple gaze."[62]
Prayer of simplicity - natural or acquired contemplation[edit]
For Teresa of Avila, in natural or acquired contemplation, also called the prayer of simplicity[note 12] there is one dominant thought or sentiment which recurs constantly and easily (although with little or no development) amid many other thoughts, beneficial or otherwise. The prayer of simplicity often has a tendency to simplify itself even in respect to its object, leading one to think chiefly of God and of his presence, but in a confused manner.[62] Definitions similar to that of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori are given by Adolphe Tanquerey ("a simple gaze on God and divine things proceeding from love and tending thereto") and Saint Francis de Sales ("a loving, simple and permanent attentiveness of the mind to divine things").[120]
In the words of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, acquired contemplation "consists in seeing at a simple glance the truths which could previously be discovered only through prolonged discourse": reasoning is largely replaced by intuition and affections and resolutions, though not absent, are only slightly varied and expressed in a few words. Similarly, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in his 30-day retreat or Spiritual Exercises beginning in the "second week" with its focus on the life of Jesus, describes less reflection and more simple contemplation on the events of Jesus' life. These contemplations consist mainly in a simple gaze and include an "application of the senses" to the events,[121]: 121 to further one's empathy for Jesus' values, "to love him more and to follow him more closely."[121]: 104
Natural or acquired contemplation has been compared to the attitude of a mother watching over the cradle of her child: she thinks lovingly of the child without reflection and amid interruptions. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
Infused or higher contemplation[edit]
In the mystical experience of Teresa of Avila, infused or higher contemplation, also called intuitive, passive or extraordinary, is a supernatural gift by which a person's mind will become totally centered on God.[126] It is a form of mystical union with God, a union characterized by the fact that it is God, and God only, who manifests himself.[62] Under this influence of God, which assumes the free cooperation of the human will, the intellect receives special insights into things of the spirit, and the affections are extraordinarily animated with divine love.[126] This union that it entails may be linked with manifestations of a created object, as, for example, visions of the humanity of Christ or an angel or revelations of a future event, etc. They include miraculous bodily phenomena sometimes observed in ecstatics.[62]
In Teresa's mysticism, infused contemplation is described as a "divinely originated, general, non-conceptual, loving awareness of God."[127] According to Dubay:
According to Thomas Dubay, infused contemplation is the normal, ordinary development of discursive prayer (mental prayer, meditative prayer), which it gradually replaces.[127] Dubay considers infused contemplation as common only among "those who try to live the whole Gospel wholeheartedly and who engage in an earnest prayer life". Other writers view contemplative prayer in its infused supernatural form as far from common. John Baptist Scaramelli, reacting in the 17th century against quietism, taught that asceticism and mysticism are two distinct paths to perfection, the former being the normal, ordinary end of the Christian life, and the latter something extraordinary and very rare.[128] Jordan Aumann considered that this idea of the two paths was "an innovation in spiritual theology and a departure from the traditional Catholic teaching".[129] And Jacques Maritain proposed that one should not say that every mystic necessarily enjoys habitual infused contemplation in the mystical state, since the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not limited to intellectual operations.[130]
Mystical union[edit]
According to Charles G. Herbermann, in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908), saint Teresa of Avila described four degrees or stages of mystical union:
- incomplete mystical union, or the prayer of quiet or supernatural recollection, when the action of God is not strong enough to prevent distractions, and the imagination still retains a certain liberty;
- full or semi-ecstatic union, when the strength of the divine action keeps the person fully occupied but the senses continue to act, so that by making an effort, the person can cease from prayer;
- ecstatic union, or ecstasy, when communications with the external world are severed or nearly so, and one can no longer at will move from that state; and
- transforming or deifying union, or spiritual marriage (properly) of the soul with God.
The first three are weak, medium, and the energetic states of the same grace.
The Prayer of Quiet[edit]
For Teresa of Avila, the Prayer of Quiet is a state in which the soul experiences an extraordinary peace and rest, accompanied by delight or pleasure in contemplating God as present.[131][132][133][134][135] The Prayer of Quiet is discussed in the writings of Teresa of Ávila, Francis de Sales, Thomas Merton and others.[136][137]
Transforming union[edit]
The transforming union differs from the other three specifically and not merely in intensity. It consists in the habitual consciousness of a mysterious grace which all shall possess in heaven: the anticipation of the Divine nature. The soul is conscious of the Divine assistance in its superior supernatural operations, those of the intellect and the will. Spiritual marriage differs from spiritual espousals inasmuch as the first of these states is permanent and the second only transitory.[62]
Evelyn Underhill[edit]
Author and mystic Evelyn Underhill recognizes two additional phases to the mystical path. First comes the awakening, the stage in which one begins to have some consciousness of absolute or divine reality. Purgation and illumination are followed by a fourth stage which Underhill, borrowing the language of St. John of the Cross, calls the dark night of the soul. This stage, experienced by the few, is one of final and complete purification and is marked by confusion, helplessness, stagnation of the will, and a sense of the withdrawal of God's presence. This dark night of the soul is not, in Underhill's conception, the Divine Darkness of the pseudo-Dionysius and German Christian mysticism. It is the period of final "unselfing" and the surrender to the hidden purposes of the divine will. Her fifth and final stage is union with the object of love, the one Reality, God. Here the self has been permanently established on a transcendental level and liberated for a new purpose.[138]
