The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality

by Carl McColman

  It will most likely take all of us a lifetime to learn how to obey just these two commandments. I am convinced that if every Christian, especially every aspiring contemplative, made a rock-solid, serious commitment to live according to these two directives, much of the tension and conflict that exists between Christians of different denominations, or between "conservatives" and "liberals," or "traditionalists" and "emergents," would simply disappear. When you stop judging others and start loving them instead, you create space in your heart for the Holy Spirit to enter and lead you into holiness. Likewise, take care to stop judging yourself, thereby creating space in your heart for a healthy self-love not a narcissistic pleasure-seeking love, but a mature love that is inspired by and seeks to imitate the love God has for you.

  I know a monk whose daily prayer is this: "God, teach me how to love the way you do." This, then, is the first step to living a holy life. And for most of us, it is a lifelong assignment.

  THE SECOND STEP

  Making a commitment to live a life of love may be the heart and soul of holiness, but as soon as we make that commitment, a new question arises: How do we know the love of God? What can we do to cultivate that love in our hearts, both as a response to divine love, and to more perfectly (or less imperfectly) love ourselves and our neighbors?

  Living a life of love is the key to holiness, but it is open to so many possible interpretations that it ends up being almost meaningless. One person may have a notion of "tough love" that seems at odds with someone else's rather sentimental idea of love as "everybody's happy." Then there are the questions of the relationship between love and justice, or love and selfrestraint, or love and nonviolence. How do we truly comprehend the idea of loving God and loving our neighbors?

  Traditionally, Christians have turned to the heart of Jewish ethics the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai as a blueprint for the life of love. This simple and ancient moral code still inspires us with its clarity and its demands. Sadly, for many today, the Ten Commandments have become the symbol of conflict between people with different political perspectives on the boundaries that separate church and state. For others, they have become so familiar that they have lost their power to challenge and confront. We've heard them so many times that our eyes just kind of glaze over when we encounter them again.

  But the Ten Commandments play an important role in the mystical quest for holiness. And perhaps the most powerful interpretation of the commandments I have seen in this regard comes from theologian Brian Haggerty. In his book Out of the House of Slavery: On the Meaning of the Ten Commandments, Haggerty looks at the Ten Commandments as a code of liberating directives, shaped by the experience of the Hebrew people.

  At the time of Moses, when the Hebrews received the commandments, they had just been liberated from centuries of enslavement in Egypt. Haggerty suggests that, to truly understand the full meaning and power of the commandments, we need to understand them as a sort of spiritual "Declaration of Independence." The chosen people of God obey these commandments as a sign of their liberation from all human forms of oppression or slavery. Haggerty points out that most English translations of the Bible fail to convey the concept of freedom that lies at the heart of the commandments, and provides his own "restatement" of the laws:

  1. You shall not worship transitory gods but shall serve only the living God.

  2. You shall not enshrine any notion, ideology, or interest as God and allow yourself to be dominated by it.

  3. You shall not lay exclusive claim to God's blessing or call upon God to bless your selfish purposes.

  4. Show reverence for the land; regard those who labor with respect.

  5. Treat the elderly with respect and deference.

  6. You shall not threaten the lives of others by your aggressive or irresponsible behavior.

  7. You shall not threaten another person's marriage or family life.

  8. You shall not deprive other people of their freedom.

  9. You shall not cause another person to be treated unjustly.

  10. You shall not grasp after what belongs to someone else or seek for yourself what belongs to all people.36

  The first three commandments teach us how to love God; the remaining seven provide an ethical framework for our love for our neighbors and ourselves. Let's look at each of these in turn.

  To serve only the living God and not worship transitory gods does not merely imply forsaking the worship of false deities. It speaks to a much broader understanding of what it takes to remain faithful to God. It forbids all actions by which we place our ultimate hope and trust in anything other than the Ultimate Mystery, from whom we derive our being, our salvation, and ultimately our holiness. Examples of such transitory gods include money, the stock market, real estate, and other material goods. Some place their trust in human knowledge. Others bow before the government, employers, parents, or cultural icons. Sources of pleasure often become our gods, and there is often a fine line between worshipping something and becoming addicted to it.

  Traditionally, the second commandment forbids the creation and veneration of idols. Haggerty raises the stakes by reminding us that idolatry can extend far beyond the worship of graven images. We can make idols out of political or economic systems, philosophies of life, and even our religions. As Haggerty points out, to worship an idol means, sooner or later, to allow ourselves to be dominated by it. Only in the worship of the God who transcends all idols and all ideologies can we truly be free.

  The third commandment, enjoining us not to take the Lord's name in vain, has been debased in our culture to mean "don't swear." Indeed, swearing is impolite and often may arise from a heart shaped more by anger than love, but it is only the tip of the problem that this commandment addresses. To "not lay exclusive claim to God's blessing or call upon God to bless our selfish purposes" reminds us that we love to be in control. We try again and again to shape God in our own image, usually by insisting that he behave the way we expect him to (in accord with our own favored way of interpreting the Bible). We have a long and sorry history of trying to use God to justify our own selfish aims, with just one glaring example being how Christians as recently as the nineteenth century insisted that the Bible justifies slavery. This commandment reminds us that, whenever we try to use the name of God to promote hatred, oppression, judgmentalism, or social privilege, we are using the Lord's name in vain.

  The fourth commandment, traditionally "remember the Sabbath," challenges us to balance work with rest, labor with leisure, and perhaps most important for aspiring mystics activity with contemplation. Haggerty injects a social and political dimension to this law by linking respect for laborers with respect for the land. Rather than taking a legalistic view of "keeping Sabbath" (which Jesus continually ignored, landing him in trouble again and again), Haggerty recommends honoring the spiritual dimension of this commandment: Respect the gifts of nature and human toil to create wealth, and do so by creating space for rest and rejuvenation.

  The fifth commandment, "honor your father and mother," can be understood in the broader sense of treating all the elderly with kindness and respect. I would add to this a moral imperative to care for those who are handicapped or disadvantaged. Striving to honor the most vulnerable members of society is an important component of working to respect the dignity and worth of all people.

  The injunction not to kill is perhaps the most transparent of the commandments. But Jesus added another dimension to it by suggesting that "killing" someone in the anger of your heart is, morally speaking, as great a failing as actual violence. Haggerty expands on this by suggesting that threatening others, through either vicious or negligent actions, is also a kind of "killing" that is forbidden under this commandment.

  The commandment against adultery has become strongly associated with sexual acts outside of marriage. While integrity in sexuality is certainly an important aspect of Christian life, Haggerty reworks this commandment by taking the focus off of a narrow rejection of sexual w
rongdoing, and expanding it to a prohibition against anything that can destroy marriage or family bonds, including emotional infidelity, breach of trust, or the poisoning of another's relationship, for whatever reason.

  Likewise, Haggerty turns the self-explanatory "Do not steal" into a more sweeping prohibition against anything that threatens another's freedom. To deprive people of their rightful property, he claims, undermines their freedom to use or enjoy what belongs to them. His perspective on this commandment suggests that, anytime we impinge on other people's individual sovereignty, we steal from them, depriving them of dignity, identity, and freedom. This theft is contrary to the will of God.

  The ninth commandment prohibits lying, which Haggerty describes as "causing another person to be treated unjustly." Here, he forces us to face the reason why lying is contrary to holiness. It is, he points out, a fundamentally unjust act that destroys relationships, trust, and possibly even entire communities. Whether it is a stated untruth or a passive deception, lying undermines the bonds of honor and goodwill that hold relationships and communities together.

  For Haggerty, the last commandment against coveting another person's belongings extends not only to other individuals, but also to society as a whole. This has powerful environmental as well as social implications. Like the prohibition against stealing or dishonesty, however, this commandment challenges us to let go of any action by which we secretly place our own interests above those of others.

  The Ten Commandments should not be regarded as a rule book that provides concrete, relevant guidance for every possible ethical challenge we face. As concise ethical statements that challenge the human family to surrender dysfunctional self-interest in favor of a more expansive and generous commitment to family and community, however, they make a powerful statement about love. True spiritual love elevates us out of egocentric, "me-first" morality, demanding instead that relationships and bonds of trust and goodwill define our understanding of right and wrong.

  If you are like me, even these simple ethical guidelines may leave you feeling humbled (if not ashamed) at your own inability to live a truly holy life. It's tempting, when faced with our own stubborn sinfulness, to decide that the quest for holiness is for others, that we lack what it takes to achieve holiness. The truth is, we do lack what it takes all of us, even those who manage to "look" holy. And this is where grace comes in. You cannot earn God's love and favor not by being holy, or super-religious, or, for that matter, by being a contemplative or a mystic. Thus, you're faced with the paradox of being called to live according to uncompromising ethical standards while, at the same time, being loved and accepted just as you are through God's grace. The quest for holiness is not something you do in order to make yourself perfect; it is something you do in response to the fact that God already loves you so perfectly.

  THE THIRD STEP

  Together, the two great commandments of Jesus and the Ten Commandments of Moses provide brilliant general principles for ethical action. If you accept these two sets of commandments as the summation of your call to holiness, however, you run the risk of seeing holiness as merely a function of your human effort. But holiness is not primarily about your efforts; it's primarily about God's grace. Your efforts to become holy can be offered only in response to that grace. To help underline this spiritual truth, let's consider a third set of standards from the New Testament given in Galatians 5:22-3:

  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

  Paul's enigmatic comment describes the contours of a holy life, not in terms of what holiness does, but in a more existential sense of what holiness is. As there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit, so the qualities of holiness are not achieved by following rules. Rather, the characteristics of a holy life come to us through a variety of channels, including observance of the commandments, commitment to prayer, striving for emotional maturity and integrity, and most important of all reliance on grace.

  Notice that love, the mandate of the two greatest commandments, takes its place as the first fruit of the Spirit. All the other fruits describe what a loving spirit looks like. A corollary to this is the famous "Love Chapter" in Corinthians often read at weddings, but useful far beyond its popular association with matrimony. It says, in part:

  Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boas ful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (I Corinthians 13:4-7).

  Ask yourself: Am I living a truly loving life? A truly joyful life? Am I marked by peace, by patience and goodness and kindness? Am I shaping my quest for holiness with faith and gentleness? Is self-control (moderation) a factor in my spiritual life?

  Of course, no one can truthfully say he perfectly embodies the characteristics of love. The purpose behind these questions is not to shame you into discouragement or despair, but rather to remind you that, ultimately, holiness can come only through God's grace and your humble willingness to ask for and receive that grace in your life. In a very real way, holiness is not something you "do" so much as it is something you allow by getting your ego and your small-minded self-interest out of the way long enough to let God's love and joy and grace flow gently through you.

  THE GIFT OF GRACE

  Each of these Biblical descriptions of holiness functions as both a challenge and an inspiration. God loves you enough that he will not settle for second best in either your behavior or your character. While the commandments provide useful general guidelines to the parameters of holy or Godly behavior, ultimately you are called to a holy character, as Paul describes. Christians understand that all good things are gifts from God; therefore, the fruit of the Spirit is only yours by grace. Like all gifts from God, it is given to you, not for your pleasure or satisfaction, but for your well-being and your ability to love and serve others.

  Thus, these gifts are rarely if ever given to us in an easy or instant way. The characteristics of holiness are slowly shaped and formed in us over time, just as all the characteristics associated with mystical spirituality -a contemplative outlook, the ability to meditate, an ongoing desire for God and the things of God, and a humble acceptance of our limitations tinged with sadness over our sinfulness are all shaped and formed in us over time.

  In other words, it is a mistake to assume that you must "master" the purgative way before hoping to enter into the splendor of illumination or union with God. Each of the three ways is a lifelong process. Purgation is never finished while you live and breathe on this earth. Like all aspects of mystical spirituality, holiness is a process.

  CHAPTER 12

  The Journey that Isn't a Journey

  Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

  JAMES 4:8

  All the way to heaven is heaven.

  CATHERINE OF SIENA37

  So far, you've anchored your commitment to Christ in a faith community; you've integrated yourself into the life of grace through worship and study, and you've begun, at least, to apply the virtues and values of Christ to your own life in an ongoing process of learning to love like God loves what the tradition has variously called repentance, sanctification, or growth in holiness. Maybe it's not a perfect alliance, but, by integrating yourself into the outward forms of the Christian tradition, you have set the stage for focusing on a sustained cultivation of the inner life.

  Now what?

  In the next few chapters, we'll turn our attention to practices specifically associated with the contemplative life including devotional reading, prayer, meditation, and contemplation, all exercises that can open us to receive the light of mystical wisdom. These spiritual practices are not just an extension of church piety, but rather an offering of your mind and body to God that makes you available for transfiguration into love. If community life and the quest for holiness constitute a type
of contemplative boot camp, then these practices that we'll consider are like the first (and neverending) assignments for a soldier who has made it through basic training. Now, we actually begin the journey the one-day-at-a-time journey of contemplation.

  THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE AS A JOURNEY

  One of the most common metaphors used for mysticism indeed, for spirituality in general is that of a journey. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, a deeply symbolic and allegorical tale of a person called only "Christian" who journeys through the trials and tribulations of life as he perseveres toward the final goal: the Celestial City. Although Bunyan was writing in a general way about the life of faith and very likely did not consider himself a mystic, his work falls into a genre of writing that appears throughout the history of Christian mysticism.

  Early mystics like Origen and Gregory of Nyssa found inspiration in Biblical tales of journey and pilgrimage particularly the stories of Moses and the exodus of the freed Hebrew slaves who journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land. In the Middle Ages, Dante explored mystical spirituality in his sprawling poem-epic The Divine Comedy, which describes a journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. This allegorical journey is often understood in terms of climbing or ascending a ladder, a staircase, or a mountain, as seen in the titles of several major mystical writings: The Ladder ofDivine Ascentby John Climacus, The Stairway ofPerfection byWalter Hilton, and The Ascent of Mount Carmel by John of the Cross.

  From the earliest Christian mystics onward, the inner process of transformation the blossoming of inner beauty that characterizes the mystical life has also been understood as a journey. Origen saw three of the poetic writings in the Hebrew Bible Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs as emblematic of three stages on the mystical path. The first, as symbolized by Proverbs, involves growth in virtue and living a holy and ethical life. Ecclesiastes embodies the second stage, in which we learn to live in a proper relationship with the natural, physical world and those who live in it. Finally, the Song of Songs represents the summit of the mystical journey, in which we ascend into the pure contemplation of God.