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2022/08/19

The Light Within, exerpts — Center for Action and Contemplation

The Light Within — Center for Action and Contemplation

MYSTICS AND THE MARGINS
The Light Within
Friday, October 2nd, 2020

The Light Within
Friday, October 2, 2020

First gathering in 17th-century England as the Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers have always existed on the margins of Christianity, but that doesn’t mean their impact has been small. In many ways, they were ahead of their time (and even our times) when it came to women’s legitimate place in spiritual leadership, abolitionism, pacifism, and even the necessity of silence to hear the voice of God. From the beginning, they insisted that every individual had access to the “Light Within” and must follow their own conscience. It took the Catholic Church until Vatican II to state that clearly! In this passage by Quaker mystic Thomas Kelly (1893–1941), I hear echoes of the writings of Thomas Merton, as Kelly encourages his readers to recognize, trust, and live authentically from the “Light Within.”

Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continually return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. It is a Light Within that illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the human face. It is a seed stirring to life if we do not choke it. It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. Here is the Slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. And [Christ] is within us all.

You who read these words already know this inner Life and Light. For by this very Light within you is your recognition given. In this humanistic age we suppose we are the initiators and God is the responder. But the Living Christ within us is the initiator, and we are the responders. . . .

The basic response of the soul to the Light is internal adoration and joy, thanksgiving and worship, self-surrender and listening. The secret places of the heart cease to be our noisy workshop. They become a holy sanctuary of adoration and of self-oblation, where we are kept in perfect peace, if our minds be stayed on [God] who has found us in the inward springs of our life. . . . Powerfully are the springs of our will moved to an abandon of singing love toward God; powerfully are we moved to a new and overcoming love toward time-blinded human beings and all creation. In this Center of Creation all things are ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.

Reference:
Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (HarperSanFrancisco: 1992, ©1941), 9–10, 11.

Thomas Kelly - Friends Journal

Thomas Kelly - Friends Journal:

Thomas Kelly

February 1, 2006
By Brian Drayton

Thomas Kelly is the first of four activist Friends that I intend to write about in this column over the next several months—Friends whose spiritual experience and their testimony for us are shaped in a fundamental way by purposeful engagement with the world. I say "purposeful" because everyone’s spiritual life is shaped by the manifold experiences of work, human relationships, and the sheer business of organismal being, but it is useful sometimes to try to trace in someone’s spiritual expression the impact of their intentionally hurling themselves into specific actions.

Now, it may come as a surprise to find Thomas Kelly grouped with such energetic bodies as John Bellers and Lucretia Mott. This view of Kelly dawned on me only recently, as I revisited his writings and biography after a long period in which I thought of him hardly at all. In his devotional pieces, I heard accents that come from fierce joy, commitments maintained under testing, and many kinds of longing. The three sorts of world-engagement that seem most important in Kelly’s life were his concern for souls, his direct service in Germany and other places with AFSC, and his almost lifelong ambition to make a significant academic mark, especially in philosophy. All of these seem to have in common a longing to be something special, which is epitomized vividly in the famous incident, in which as a Haverford student he comes to visit Rufus Jones, and in the course of the conversation says, "I just want my life to be a miracle!" While Rufus’ personality and style might well have played midwife to expansive statements from many admiring students, the heat and intensity of that ambition are Kelly’s.
Concern for souls

Kelly was born to an active, devout, evangelical Quaker family in Ohio. From an early age he was surrounded by rhythms of worship, persons of magnetic spirituality, Bible and preaching, hymns, and community life. Like other future ministers, he "played preacher," and exhibited early a commanding yet winning personality, as well as an acute mind. After college, he went to Hartford Theological Seminary, and received both theological and philosophical training; his original goal was to enter missions. He worked as a supply pastor in a variety of local Protestant and Quaker churches. While he swerved from the path to pastoral ministry for which he seemed (to others) well suited, his sense of the urgent value of each human soul and his fascination with the vagaries of inward and outward life remained strong. As he grew spiritually, his "authentic" voice more and more reached towards soul-health, high aspiration, the need for abandonment to God, and the realization that joy was part of the promise. Whether he was writing or speaking about political events, relief work, or problems of daily life, he had from youth an acute awareness of the soul life in all, and God’s beckoning and workman-like love.
Direct service

During World War I, Kelly sought alternative service with the YMCA in England, and then worked with German prisoners of war. He took an active part in AFSC work between the World Wars, going twice to Germany, once for an extended period of time as part of the relief effort there. He was articulate about the need to work in practical ways to relieve physical, psychological, and spiritual suffering; and as his writings reveal, he understood clearly how these are interrelated.
Ambition and failure

After his alternative service, and a teaching position at Wilmington College, Kelly returned to Hartford for a doctorate in philosophy. There followed several years of teaching at Earlham, in Hawaii, at Wellesley College, and finally at Haverford. During this period, deciding that his main goal was to become an accomplished and productive academic philosopher, he determined to take a second doctorate in Philosophy at Harvard. In the face of a policy not to grant a doctorate to someone who already had a PhD, Kelly wrote an agonizingly revealing letter in which he insisted that in order for him to really do first rate work in philosophy, he must both be trained at Harvard (the premier school in the country, in his opinion), and take a degree. This was reluctantly allowed, and Kelly wrote a thesis that was published to good notices. When he came to defend his thesis, however, he blanked out and was unstrung. The Harvard faculty both failed him, and barred him from ever trying again. Kelly fell into a major psychological crisis (though Haverford was happy with him on the faculty in any case).

The outcome of his failure, and his encounter with ultimate questions of his values and commitments, was a relatively sudden and dramatic integration of his personality, and a sense of liberation. His intense religious life seems to have gained an added mystical depth, and his writings from this period to his death are full of light, conviction, joy, and the sweetness that comes of walking in the Light, but knowing firsthand the ocean of darkness and death.

In Reality of the Spiritual World he writes:

"When our souls are utterly swept through and overturned by God’s invading love . . . we find ourselves enmeshed with some people in amazing bonds of love and nearness and togetherness of soul, such as we never knew before. . . . Into this fellowship of souls at the center we simply emerge. No one is chosen to the fellowship. When we discover God we discover the fellowship. When we find ourselves in Christ we find we are also amazingly united with those others who are also in Christ.

. . . Theological differences are forgotten, and liberals and conservatives eagerly exchange experiences concerning the wonders of the life of devotion. [Yet] the last depths of conversation in the fellowship go beyond spoken words. People who know one another in God do not need to talk much. They know one another already. In the last depths of understanding, words cease and we sit in silence together, yet in perfect touch with one another, more bound into the common life by the silence than we ever were by words."
For further reading

The most famous of Kelly’s writings is A Testament of Devotion, which was pulled together by Douglas Steere and a few others within months of Kelly’s death. It has a good, brief biographical sketch, as well, though this leaves out some important elements, and bears the marks of haste and grief. Recently I have found The Eternal Now and Social Concern of particular value. However, I strongly urge you to read Reality of the Spiritual World, if you have not done so recently. There is a great breadth of vision in this pamphlet, which embraces contemplation and action, prayer and service. Thomas Merton’s famous quip that Quakers have produced no great mystics finds one of its best refutations in this piece. In the 1960s, Thomas’ son, Richard Kelly, compiled a further collection of essays and short pieces under the title The Eternal Promise. For biography, the best source is still Richard Kelly’s Thomas Kelly: A Biography, which, among other virtues, quotes extensively from Thomas’ correspondence. In addition, though, the reader will enjoy T. Canby Jones’ Pendle Hill pamphlet, Thomas Kelly as I Remember Him. T. Canby Jones was part of the "gang" of inspired young people who gathered with Thomas Kelly at Haverford in his last years for study and prayer, and to feel their way into lives of service and witness. The pamphlet is warm in its recollection of Kelly’s personality, but it is especially valuable for its interpretation of his teaching on prayer and spiritual experience.

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Brian Drayton

Brian Drayton is a member of Weare (N.H.) Meeting.

2022/08/18

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2022/08/01

A Course in Christian Mysticism: Merton OCSO, Thomas, Sweeney, Jon M., McGregor, Michael N.: 9780814645086: Amazon.com: Books

https://www.scribd.com/document/495435818/A-Course-in-Christian-Mysticism-PDFDrive

A Course in Christian Mysticism Paperback – July 31, 2017

by Thomas Merton OCSO (Author), Jon M. Sweeney (Editor), & 1 more

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Thomas Merton's lectures to the young monastics at the Abbey of Gethsemani provide a good look at Merton the scholar. A Course in Christian Mysticism gathers together, for the first time, the best of these talks into a spiritual, historical, and theological survey of Christian mysticism—from St. John's gospel to St. John of the Cross. Sixteen centuries are covered over thirteen lectures. A general introduction sets the scene for when and how the talks were prepared and for the perennial themes one finds in them, making them relevant for spiritual seekers today. This compact volume allows anyone to learn from one of the twentieth century's greatest Catholic spiritual teachers. The study materials at the back of the book, including additional primary source readings and thoughtful questions for reflection and discussion, make this an essential text for any student of Christian mysticism.

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Editorial Reviews

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"With both Merton's masterful lectures on Christian mysticism, and the helpful guide questions at the end, this book presents not only an intellectual exploration of the mystical texts but also a profound spiritual engagement with contemplative prayer for those who wish to drink deeply from the wells of this spiritual tradition."Carmel Posa, SGS, Executive Director, New Norcia Institute

"A Course in Christian Mysticism is an excellent source for those who want to begin a systematic study of the great early masters of the Christian mystical tradition. Merton offers us his keen perception of these teachings with an eye to our contemporary search for the Divine, that `mystery of our union with God.' Merton's command of the sources is aided by Sweeney's skilled editing, which makes Merton's lectures more accessible to readers. I highly recommend this resource."Laura Swan, OSB, Associate editor of Magistra

"This wonderful volume transports the reader across time and space and permits us to become students of Thomas Merton alongside his novitiate formandi. The genius of Merton's scholarly mind and prayerful spirit are on full display as he takes us on a historical and spiritual journey of discovery. A Course in Christian Mysticism is not only a must-read text for fans of Merton, but also a great introduction to the history of Christian mystical spirituality through the centuries."Daniel P. Horan, OFM, Catholic Theological Union

"A fresh, engaging, and accessible course on Christian mysticism from a genuine Christian mystic—this book is a treasure. In his impressive synthesis, Jon M. Sweeney has made some of Thomas Merton's best lectures on some of the greatest Christian mystics available to everyone."Joseph Raab, STL, PhD, Professor of Religious Studies and Theology, Siena Heights University, Co-Editor of The Merton Annual: Studies in Culture, Spirituality and Social Concerns

"This is a wonderful book. Straight from Merton himself, it brings us a thorough introduction to, and survey of, the range and depth of Christian mysticism."The Merton Journal

"This text is an excellent resource not only to academics but also for sincere aspirants seeking an accessible introduction to a spiritual life." Reading Religion

"A welcome contribution to the summaries of the history of Christian spirituality that exist. It is also a great testament to Merton's erudition and to all that he brought to the novices and juniors of his own community."The Downside Review

"Called to the mystical life?" Merton suggest that we all are. Not sure where to start? This Course in Christian Mysticism will set you on a solid foundation as you learn from one of the great teachers of the last century."Tjurunga

"This delightful book offers a series of conferences given to the young men in formation at Gethsemani between 1961 and 1964, during the time that Thomas Merton was novice master. Intended as an overview of the major figures whose experience and teaching outline something of how to attain to union with God."

American Benedictine Review

About the Author

Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Catholic convert, Cistercian monk and hermit, poet, contemplative, social critic, and pioneer of interreligious dialogue, was a seminal figure of twentieth-century American Christianity.

Jon M. Sweeney is an independent scholar and one of religion’s most respected writers. His many books include James Martin, SJ: In the Company of Jesus, in the “People of God” series; The Pope Who Quit, which was optioned by HBO; and The Pope’s Cat, a popular fiction series for children. He edited A Course in Christian Mysticism by Thomas Merton, published by Liturgical Press. Sweeney writes regularly for America in the US, and The Tablet in the UK. He is the publisher at Paraclete Press in Massachusetts, and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his wife and daughters.

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liturgical Press (July 31, 2017)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0814645089

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0814645086

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #228,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#177 in Mysticism Christian Theology

#432 in Mysticism (Books)

#589 in Prayer (Books)

Customer Reviews: 4.7 out of 5 stars 101 ratings

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Jon M. Sweeney

Jon M. Sweeney is an independent scholar and author of history, spirituality, biography, poetry/mysticism, memoir, and young reader fiction. He's a popular interpreter of the life and work of Francis of Assisi, and author of more than 40 books including "St. Francis of Assisi," with a foreword by Richard Rohr, and "The Complete Francis of Assisi," used by Third Order Franciscans everywhere. HBO optioned the film rights to Sweeney's book on the medieval Pope Celestine V, "The Pope Who Quit."

In 2021, he published "Thomas Merton: An Introduction to His Life, Teachings, and Practices," with St. Martin's Press in print and ebook, and Penguin Random House Audio in audiobook; and "Feed the Wolf" in hardcover. In 2022, his biography of Mother Teresa - "Teresa of Calcutta: Dark Night, Active Love" - will publish in September.

He has been interviewed on CBS News, WGN-TV, Fox News, and CBS Saturday Morning, and by publications online ranging from CNN to Romper. He's a practicing Catholic who also prays regularly with his wife, a congregational rabbi. He loves the church, the synagogue, and other aspects of organized religion. He would never say that he's "spiritual but not religious." He is the father of four and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He serves on the board of The Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at Sacred Heart Seminary in greater Milwaukee; works as an editor for Orbis Books, and as contributing editor for books at SpiritualityandPractice.com.

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John C. Marshell Jr.

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable Insights into Merton's Gethsemani

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2017

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If you have ever wondered what it would have been like to be a monk in formation at Gethsemani Abbey during Thomas Merton's tenure, this book will give you a pretty good idea of what his instruction would have consisted. It also gives the reader a sense of Merton's own practices and dispositions in his exercise of monastic spirituality. The book consists of thirteen conferences Merton presented to monks in training. Most of the conferences are short, reflecting the Trappist tradition of intellectual simplicity, and cover a wide range of monastic authorities. The Alexandrian tradition, Cappadocian Fathers, Dionysian theology, and Saint Augustine are presented in an orderly fashion. Somewhat lesser known mystics (but equally important) include Evagrius and Maximus the Confessor. Of course, Merton discusses his own Benardian tradition and his long interest in Carmelite mysticism. These conferences are probably the longest in the book and may require more than one sitting to read.

Merton's presentations are erudite and insightful. He clearly had a good grasp of Christianity as a lived experience and knew what to emphasize in mystical theology to benefit the young charges under his care. The reader will also get a sense of Merton's own spiritual life in reading the material, as I doubt he would have passed on untried and untested wisdom. His literary training is clear in his heavy reliance on scripture and God as Word. The biblical text is an essential foundation for the mystical life. Merton does not shy away from traditional "Bridal Mysticism" and discusses at considerable length Saint Bernard's commentaries on the Song of Songs. Many of the conferences support the apophatic tradition and the rigors of ascetical life, seeking the purification of the soul, but Merton carefully avoids gnostic dualism, providing considerable direction on the notion of "theoria physike," which asserts the inherent goodness of the material world. While his monastic spirituality is essentially interior, Merton is never so abstract to exclude activity in the phenomenal world. The senses and their analogs as spiritual senses receive more discussion than I expected. It is clear Merton had some experience with liminal empiricism, a borderland in the soul that includes the senses and passions, requiring the transformation of base activities to more sublime and pnuematic engagements. Merton places a strong emphasis on the inner workings of the Holy Spirit and a communion of wills (man and God's) that requires abandoning ego for a Christ-like identity.

Probably, the one thing that impressed me the most about Merton's conferences was his sense of balance. Merton never goes half-cocked into extremes. To borrow a term from Chinese philosophy, it is a perspective of "the mean," a sensible "pivot," permitting a broad embrace of nature and reality. Psychology and metaphysics exist in harmony, seeking a transformation of affectivity and moral character. Merton's understanding of mysticism is almost obsessively anti-Quietist. Passive, certainly, but never a dead weight. Though entirely contemplative in its dynamic, it is never divorced from activity or permits the "really-real" to founder in dissociation.

This book is highly recommended.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Very challenging for the neophyte

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2018

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If my experience is any guide, readers without significant previous exposure to this material will find these "compact" lecture notes to be very tough sledding.

14 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Course on Mysticism

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2018

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As has been the case with all of Merton's books, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt as though I was taking a real-live course on Christian Mysticism.

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I don't do reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Water to a thirsty soul

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2019

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I have been reading and thinking in pieces for almost 30 years in this direction. I needed this book now on my journey, it is an oasis.

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HarleyPierrepont

1.0 out of 5 stars Not informative.

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2019

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Doesn’t tell you how to do anything

3 people found this helpful

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Dick Foley

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2021

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Great book. Love T Merton.

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Nancy

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2017

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A beautiful summation of the mystics of the Church by a great mystic himself

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N. Landry

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2018

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Inspiring!

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Joseph Allan

5.0 out of 5 stars Merton as Spiritual Director

Reviewed in Germany on February 17, 2021

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Like so many, Thomas Merton was for me a beacon and a guide to the contemplative life. Later I became disillusioned with the social activism, Eastern religions and an aspect of his personal life and felt lost. 50 years later that burnout has been revivified. This book has been instrumental in this, especially his comments, and quotations from St. John of the Cross, about Spiritual Directors.

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Jared Kassebaum rated it it was amazing

Reading this collection of lectures by Merton to his students outlining the key historic ideas of Christian Mysticism and tracing its roots to the earliest of Church Fathers was helpful in understanding its historical importance. Seeing a thread of teachers prioritizing living in the active enjoyment of the presence of God gave me hope in the universal Church's future and its ability to persist even in times of cultural acquisition of the faith. The most impactful lectures to me were on the early Greek fathers, namely Gregory of Nyssa and John of Chrysostom etc, and their ideas of unknowing and the incomprehensibility of God. Their teachings show humility in a light different than the facade of deferment of fame that is so common today. To pursue a Christian faith to the teachers found in these lectures is to pursue God himself, not a system of beliefs or a system of getting to the afterlife. Highly recommend. (less)

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Summer Rose

Apr 30, 2022Summer Rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: religion-and-theology

As Christian mysticism was something I had heard of but never explored, I found this book to be a solid introduction to the topic. I still find the idea something hard to explain (and perhaps that's the way it's supposed to be!). However, some of the general themes seemed to revolve around:

-What does it mean to be in union with God?

-What does it mean to be a member of the body of Christ? How is this expressed in the mystical nature of the Lord's Supper?

-What is Christian mysticism as expressed in prayer?

Merton works through the history of the church to present the tradition of mysticism, and, indeed, has opened my eyes to an area of the Christian experience that I have sorely neglected. (less)