Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Michael Molinos & other Christian Mystics/Quietists
Nirvana
aka BUBBA ` ` South Carolina, USA Veteran
CHAP. I.
To the end God may rest in the Soul, the Heart is always to be kept peaceable in whatsoever Disquiet, Temptation and Tribulation.
1. THOU art to know, that thy Soul is the Center, Habitation, and the Kingdom of God. That therefore, to the end the Sovereign King may rest on that Throne of thy Soul, thou ought to take pains to keep it clean, quiet, void and peaceable; clean from guilt and defects; quiet from fears; void of affections, desires, and thoughts; and peaceable in temptations and tribulations.
2. Thou ought always then to keep thine Heart in Peace; that thou may keep pure that Temple of God, and with a right and pure intention, thou art to work, pray, obey and suffer, without being in the least moved, whatever it pleases the Lord to send unto thee.
There's a lot of stuff here for Christians that may look on this site. They should take a look at:
GREAT STUFF!
0
Comments
However, it's unfortunate also, in that these "evangelicals" are only talking about Old Testament "values." I doubt they pay any attention to the old red-letter New Testaments, with the words of Jesus highlighted. Were they to do so, they might realize that their leaders are like what Jesus called the religious teachers of his time: Like dogs guarding the manger, they neither eat, nor do they allow the cattle to eat. EDIT: Gospel of Thomas
That former head of the largest evangelical association who resigned some months back over the masseur issue is also featured, being interviewed some twelve months before his resignation. He's always comparing what he does to marketing. I'll have to watch again. It’s a crazy mess leading to some further Christian-Muslim conflict, among other unpleasant things.
Of Internal and Mystical Silence.
128. THERE are three kinds of silence; the first is of Words
the Second of Desires, and the third of Thoughts. The first
is perfect; the second more perfect; and the third more
perfect. In the first, that is, of words, Virtue is acquired;
in the second, to wit, of Desires, quietness is attained to;
in the third of Thoughts, Internal Recollection is gained.
By not speaking, not desiring, and not thinking, one arrives
at the true and perfect Mystical Silence, wherein God speaks
with the Soul, communicates himself to it, and in the Abyss
of its own Depth, teaches it the most perfect and
exalted Wisdom.
-Michael Molinos
After all, the quotation is almost precisely lifted from the stories of Aesop which were told all round the Greek world. It's moral is: People often begrudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves. In the light of the fact that Jesus is usually portrayed as 100% Jewish, it challenges strongly-held beliefs to suggest that he came under the influence of the strongly Cynic schools that dominated in the Galilee at the time.
I think that the (now disgraced) evangelical leader was quite right: he was in marketing. I remember seeing Billy Graham at Wembley, eons ago, and remarking at his 'pitch' to sell us the Bible in washing-powder terms. If I were to use the language that they know, I would say that such techniques are demonic, submitting the gospel message to the blasphemous 'laws' of the marketplace.
But the b*st*rds want heir big cars, mega-churches, full collection plates and the chance to spread their seed alongside the Word.
In situations like these, it is very difficult for me to maintain a compassionate attitude to one who thinks I am a sinner who needs saving, merely because I choose to follow the teachings of an enlightened being not officially approved of in their texts. In that sense, I tend to regard them as teachers, in that they show me the darker side of my compassionate nature that most needs working on. There are many Christians that I know who are able to accept all faiths on equal merits as I do, and I am continually frustrated by the evangelical way of only accepting the 'one true path'. It is this blinkered approach, I feel, that has led to so much inter-religious strife down the centuries.
I somehow have the feeling that, if Christ were to return, much the same would happen as before- he would condemn the structure of the evangelical church, and ultimately end up being villified and condemned by it.
For the popular proverb well applies to them: The healthy do not know how the sick feel, nor the full how the hungry suffer. But sick sympathize with sick, and hungry with hungry, the more closely the more they are alike. For just as pure truth is seen only with a pure heart, so a brother’s misery is truly felt with a miserable heart. But in order to have a miserable heart because of another’s misery, you must first know your own; so that you may find your neighbour’s mind in your own and know from yourself how to help him, by the example of our Saviour, who willed His passion in order to learn compassion; his misery, to learn commiseration. (HEB 5:8).... (3.6)
Observe what you are, that you are wretched indeed, and so learn to be merciful, a thing you cannot know in any other way. For if you regard your neighbour’s faults but do not observe your own, you are likely to be moved not to ruth but to wrath, not to condole but to condemn, not to restore in the spirit of meekness (GAL 6:1)... by considering yourself... how easily tempted, how liable to sin... you grow meek, and thus you come to succour others in the spirit of meekness... He, therefore, who wants to know truth in himself fully must first get rid of the beam of pride, which prevents him from seeing the light, and then erect a way of ascent in the heart by which to seek himself in himself. (4.13-15)
Those whom truth has caused to know, and so contemn themselves... aspire to what they are not and have no hope of becoming through themselves... But when they see that they are not sufficient for this (for when they have done all those things which are commanded them, they say, We are unprofitable servants (LUKE 17:10) ), they flee from justice to mercy... they follow the precept of Truth: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (MATT 5:7). And this is the second step of truth, when they seek it in their neighbours, when they learn others’ wants from their own, when they know from their own miseries how to commiserate with others who are miserable. (5.18)
Those who persevere, therefore, in these three things, the remorse of repentance, desire of justice, and works of mercy, may then pass through contemplation to the third step, having purged the spiritual vision of the three obstacles arising from ignorance and weakness and willfulness... Otherwise, if they do not know truth needy, naked, and weak as it is now, they may shamefacedly recognize it too late when it comes with great power and strength, terrifying and accusing, and may in vain answer tremblingly, “When saw we thee in need and did not minister unto thee?” (MATT 25:44). The Lord shall be known when he executeth judgments (PS 9:17), if he is not known now when he seeketh mercy... the eye of the heart is purified by weeping, hungering for justice, and devotion to works of mercy. To such a heart Truth promises to appear in his splendour: Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God (MATT 5:8).
Since there are therefore three steps or states of truth, we ascend to the first by the toil of humility, to the second by the emotion of compassion, to the third by the ecstasy of contemplation. In the first, truth is found harsh; in the second, loving; in the third, pure. Reason, by which we examine ourselves, leads us to the first; love, by which we sympathize with others, entices us to the second; purity, by which we are lifted to invisible heights, snatches us up to the third. (6.19).
On the first step the Son, on the second the Holy Ghost, on the third the Father seems to be acting. (JOHN 13:14; ROM 5:5; MATT 16:17, 11:25; ISA 38:19)... You see that those whom the Son first humbled by precept and example, and over whom the Spirit then shed love, have finally been received in glory by the Father. The Son makes disciples, the Paraclete consoles friends, the Father exalts his children... one and the same Truth, without violating the distinction of persons, performs these three things on the three steps. On the first, it instructs, as a teacher; on the second it consoles, as a friend or brother; on the third, it draws close, as a father his children. (7.20)
First, when the Son of God, who is the Word and wisdom of the Father, finds that faculty of the soul called reason weighed down by the flesh, captive to sin, blinded by ignorance, and given over to outward things, he gently lifts it, powerfully strengthens it, prudently instructs it, and turns it to inward things. Miraculously making the reason his vicar, as it were, he appoints it judge of itself, so that, out of reverence for the Word to which it is joined, prosecutor and witness and judge of itself, it performs the office of Truth against itself. From this first conjunction of the Word and the reason is born humility.
Another faculty, called the will, infected to be sure with the poison of the flesh but now under the control of the reason, is graciously visited, gently purged, ardently energized, and made merciful by the Holy Ghost; so that, like a skin which is anointed and stretched, it, divinely anointed, is extended in affection even to its enemies. And thus, by this second conjunction of the Spirit of God and the human will, love is created.
Both faculties, reason and will, the one taught by the Word of Truth, the other inspired with the Spirit of Truth, the former sprinkled with the hyssop of humility, the latter kindled with the fire of love, now form a finally perfected soul, flawless through humility and unruffled through love (EPH 5:27), since neither the will resists reason, nor does reason dissemble truth. The Father unites this soul to himself as a glorious bride, so that neither the reason can think of itself nor the will of its neighbour, but that blessed soul delights only in saying, The King hath brought me into his chamber (SONG 1:3). And it is worthy, coming from the school of humility, where it first learned from the Son’s teaching to enter into itself, taking heed of the warning, If thou know not thyself, go feed thy kinds (SONG 1:7). It is worthy to be led by the Holy Ghost from that school of humility and brought by affection into the storerooms of love, by which are meant the hearts of its neighbours. Thence, stayed with flagons and comforted with apples, namely good habits and holy virtues, it is finally admitted to the chamber of the King, of love for whom it is sick (SONG 2:5). There for a little while, about half an hour, there being silence in heaven (REV 8.1), it rests sweetly in the longed-for embrace, and sleeps itself; but its heart waketh (SONG 5:2), with which it searches out the secrets of truth, that it may feed on the memory of them when it returns to itself. There it sees invisible things, hears unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (2 COR 12:4). They surpass all that knowledge which night sheweth unto night; but day unto day uttereth speech (PS 18:3), and it is lawful to speak wisdom among the wise, and to compare spiritual things with spiritual. (7.21).
There is then a way down and a way up, a way to the good and a way to evil. ...David seems to have offered you two ways, but you know there is only one. Yet it is distinguished from itself and is called by different names, either the way of lying (PS 24:8) for those going down, or the way of truth (PS 118:29ƒ) for those going up. The same steps lead up to the throne and down; the same road leads to the city and from it; one door is in the entrance of the house and the exit; Jacob saw the angels ascending and descending on the same ladder... If you desire to return to truth, you do not have to seek a new way which you know not, but the known way by which you descended. Retracing your own path, you may ascend in humility by the same steps which you descended in pride. (So, Curiosity, Frivolity, Foolish Mirth, Boastfulness, Singularity, Conceit, Audacity, Excusing Sins, Hypocritical Confession, Defiance, Freedom to Sin, Habitual Sin.) (9.27)
I who know more about going down than going up did not think it would be proper for me to describe the way up... I have nothing to tell you about except the order of my own descent. Yet if this is carefully examined, the way up may be found in it. For if when going to Rome you should meet a man coming from there and ask him the way, what way could he tell better than that by which he had come. In naming the castles, towns and cities, rivers and mountains, along which he had passed, he describes his own road and prescribes yours, so that you may recognize the same places in going which he has passed along in coming. Similarly in this descent of mine you will find, perhaps, the steps leading up, and ascending will read them in your own heart better than in my book. (12.27).
Palzang
Palzang