Teachings of the Christian Mystics (eBook)

Fromthe Introduction Thereis nothing more important, I believe, for the future of the mysticalrenaissance that is struggling to be born everywhere in the West—,and thus forthe future of the planet—,than an authentic and unsparing recovery of the fullrange, power, and glory of the Christian mystical tradition. Without such arecovery the spiritual life of the West will continue to be a superficial,narcissistic and sometimes lethal mixture of a watered down or fanaticalpseudo-Christianity, hardly understood 'eastern' metaphysics andregressive Occultism—,and the great radical potential of such a renaissancewill go unlived and unenacted, with disastrous consequencesforevery human being and for all of nature. Whatis needed is the flaming-out, on a global scale, of an unstoppable force ofDivine-human love wise enough to stay in permanent humble contact with theDivine and brave enough to call for, risk, and implement change at every leveland in every arena before time runs out and we destroy ourselves. Such a lovehas to spring from an awakened mystical consciousness and must be rooted inhabits of fervent meditation, adoration of the Divine, and prayer, for onlythen will it be illuminated enough to act at all times with healing courage,and strong enough to withstand the ordeals and torments that are inevitable.Teilhard de Chardin wrote, 'Some day, after we have mastered the winds,the waves, the tides and gravity, . . . we shall harness the energies of love.Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discoveredfire.' Unless humankind discovers this fire, and uses it to burn awayeverything that blocks the changes that must come in order to transform theplanet into the mirror of divine beauty it is meant to be, it will die out andtake most of nature with it. Atthe core of Christ's enterprise is an experience of this fire and therevolutionary passion of charity that blazes from it. This passion, as Christknew and lived it, cannot rest until it has burnt down all the divisions thatseparate one human heart from another and so from reality. No authority exceptthat of the Divine, is sacred to it, no dogma, however hallowed, that keepsoppression of any kind alive can withstand the onslaught of its flame. All ofhuman experience, personal and political, is arraigned and exposed by it. Itdemands of everyone who approaches it a loving and humble submission to itsfierce, mind and heart shattering power and a commitment to enact its laws ofradical compassion and hunger for justice in every arena. Its aim is theirradiation of all of life with holy and vibrant energy and truth, so that asmany beings as possible can live, here on earth and in the body, in a directrelationship with God, each other, and nature, in what Saint Paul unforgettablycalls 'the glorious liberty of the Children of God.' Manyforces, even within the 'Christian' world, block the unleashing ofthis 'glorious liberty.' Anyone who comes to feel even a small sparkof the heat of this fire may look in vain to find any of its truth in thechurches that claim to keep it alive. Fundamentalism of any kind is alien toits adoration of freedom and its all-embracing love of all beings and allcreation, the narrow judgmental ethics that disfigure all denominations ofChristianity represent precisely that separation that Christ himself wanted toend forever. Most Western seekers are refugees from hypocritical, patriarchal,misogynistic, and homophobic versions of Christ's message that are tantamountto perverse, even demonic, betrayals of it. The great mystical treasures of allthe Christian traditions have been largely...