Coming to know Christ and being lead by the Holy Spirit, I find myself being drawn into practices which bring me closer to Jesus.
Whether it is doing more charitable work, both outside and within my church, coming to know how to invite the Holy Spirit in through Prayer and Worship, or getting to know Jesus by spending quality time with him in adoration and through quiet contemplation, while reading scripture, Divine Readings or Lectio Divina.
Recently I attended what is called in the Catholic Church an unbouding, this process took two hours, where members of the ministry team asked me about my life, what I was attached to and then prayed over me while I renounced all of the ways the enemy had a hold on me.
Renouncing lies I had being telling myself, not knowing that this was the enemy lying to me and that my thinking had no bases in Christian circles, pure fabricated lies.
One such lie we tell ourselves which is propagated by the enemy is this identification with ourselves, the I, Body or ego.
And not until we come back to Jesus and his church do we realise that “I or Me” has no meaning.
While attending this unbouding one of the Ministry team said I had a great understanding of the scriptures and immediately pointed out that I had a love for studying the Bible, which I do.
She introduced the idea of Christian Mysticism, with which I had never come across before.
I have heard of Mysticism, particularly from a Far Eastern perspective and have heard of the Mystics of Asia and India, but never associated this term with Christianity.
While I thought the whole goal of me coming to know Christ and becoming a part of the Catholic Church was to renounce ties to such other Spiritual groups.
Here i will explain my research and why i am delving into and enjoying the idea of exploring Christian Mysticism.
Christian mysticism
Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which “concerns the preparation [of the person] for, the consciousness of, and the effect of a direct and transformative presence of God” or Divine love. Until the sixth century the practice of what is now called mysticism was referred to by the term contemplatio, c.q. theoria, from contemplatio (Latin; Greek θεωρία, theoria), “looking at”, “gazing at”, “being aware of” God or the Divine. Christianity took up the use of both the Greek (theoria) and Latin (contemplatio, contemplation) terminology to describe various forms of prayer and the process of coming to know God.
Contemplative practices range from simple prayerful meditation of Holy Scripture (i.e. Lectio Divina) to contemplation on the presence of God, resulting in theosis (spiritual union with God) and ecstatic visions of the soul’s mystical union with God.
Three stages are discerned in contemplative practice, namely catharsis (purification), contemplation proper, and the vision of God.
Contemplative practices have a prominent place in the Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, and have gained a renewed interest in western Christianity.
Theoria
While The Greek word “theoria” (θεωρία) meant “contemplation, speculation, a looking at, things looked at”,
from theorein (θεωρεῖν) “to consider, speculate, look at”,
from theoros (θεωρός) “spectator”,
from thea (θέα) “a view” + horan (ὁρᾶν) “to see”.
It expressed the state of being a spectator.
Both Greek θεωρία and Latin contemplatio primarily meant looking at things, whether with the eyes or with the mind.
According to William Johnston, until the sixth century the practice of what is now called mysticism was referred to by the term contemplatio, c.q. theoria. According to Johnston, “both contemplation and mysticism speak of the eye of love which is looking at, gazing at, aware of divine realities.”
Several scholars have demonstrated similarities between the Greek idea of theoria and the Indian idea of darśana (darshan), including Ian Rutherford and Gregory Grieve.
Darshan
In Indian religions, Darshana, also spelt Darshan, (Sanskrit: दर्शन darśana literally means: showing, appearance, view, sight’) or Darshanam (darśanam) is the auspicious sight of a deity or a holy person.
A darshana literally means a glimpse or view. In a Hindu temple, the term refers to viewing the garbhagriha (inner sanctum) of the temple, which hosts the murti (image of a god).
The term also refers to any one of the six traditional schools of Hindu philosophy and their literature on spirituality and soteriology.
The word darshana, also in the forms of darśana or darshanam, comes from the Sanskrit root of दर्शन dṛś ‘to look at’, ‘to view’, vision, apparition or glimpse
Mysticism
Mystic marriage of Christ and the Church.
“Mysticism” is derived from the Greek μύω, meaning “to conceal,” and its derivative μυστικός, mystikos, meaning “an initiate.” In the Hellenistic world, a “mystikos” was an initiate of a mystery religion.
“Mystical” referred to secret religious rituals and use of the word lacked any direct references to the transcendental.
In early Christianity the term mystikos referred to three dimensions, which soon became intertwined, namely the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative. The biblical dimension refers to “hidden” or allegorical interpretations of Scriptures.
The liturgical dimension refers to the liturgical mystery of the Eucharist, the presence of Christ at the Eucharist. The third dimension is the contemplative or experiential knowledge of God.
Mystic Marriage of Christ and the Church.
The writings entitled True Life in God, (TLIG) speak constantly of God offering the world the grace of divinisation. To divinize means to make humans into gods by participation in the Divinity of the Godhead.
This concept can cause alarm to people unless they realise that it is another term for being gifted with Eternal Life.
It is the Eternal Life of God. Christ promised it to us. St John’s Gospel and epistles are full of Christ’s promise.
St Peter’s letters allude to it and St Paul’s letters to the seven churches are also full of it.
This is why Jesus Christ came – that we may share His Divine Life; that we may be one with the Father as Christ and the Father are one.
That is, not similar but as Christ and the Father are one – a divine union.
We are called to be sons and daughters of God. We are called to be the Body of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the Head of His Body the Church. The Body is to completely one with its Divine Head.
What Jesus Christ is by nature as the Son of God we are called to be by grace – each according to that degree or capacity to which God had in mind for us when He created us.
Head and Body divinised with the Divine Eternal Life of God given to us in Christ Jesus which was won back for us by His redeeming life and death.
We are to be holy as our God is holy – not by coercion, but by willingly fulfilling the command of God.
(c.f. Leviticus 19:2 and Matthew 5:48);
“not out of duty like an abstract action but out of real love for God”.
Within Christian Mysticism comes a myriad of ways with which we can come into to union with God, particularly through prayer, contemplation or meditation, while there are numerous schools of thought on this subject, coming from both eastern and western spiritual practices.
The following lists just a few contemplatory schools, their origins and beliefs.
Palamas, Lectio Divina, Contemplative Prayer, Hesychasm, Hasi Chaidism.
Palamism or the Palamite theology comprises the teachings of Gregory Palamas (c. 1296 – 1359), whose writings defended the Eastern Orthodox practice of Hesychasm against the attack of Barlaam. Followers of Palamas are sometimes referred to as Palamites.
Palamas
Seeking to defend the assertion that humans can become like God through deification without compromising God’s transcendence, Palamas distinguished between God’s inaccessible essence and the energies through which he becomes known and enables others to share his divine life. The central idea of the Palamite theology is a distinction between the divine essence and the divine energies that is not a merely conceptual distinction.
Palamism word derivations and alternative origins:
Palamism – Palamist – palmist (Occult?).
Palamas – the webbing on the feet of aquatic birds.
Deification
Theosis (Ancient Greek: θέωσις), or deification (deification may also refer to apotheosis, lit. “making divine”), is a transformative process whose aim is likeness to or union with God, as taught by the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church; the same concept is also found in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, where it is termed “divinization”. As a process of transformation, theosis is brought about by the effects of catharsis (purification of mind and body) and theoria (‘illumination’ with the ‘vision’ of God).
According to Eastern Christian teachings, theosis is very much the purpose of human life. It is considered achievable only through synergy (or cooperation) of human activity and God’s uncreated energies (or operations).
Lectio Divina
In Western Christianity, Lectio Divina (Latin for “Divine Reading”) is a traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God’s word. In the view of one commentator, it does not treat Scripture as texts to be studied, but as the living word.
Traditionally, Lectio Divina has four separate steps: read; meditate; pray; contemplate.
First a passage of Scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.
The focus of Lectio Divina is not a theological analysis of biblical passages but viewing them with Christ as the key to their meaning.
For example, given Jesus’ statement in John 14:27:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you”.
While an analytical approach would focus on the reason for the statement during the Last Supper, and seeks to understand the biblical context, etc.
In Lectio Divina, however, the practitioner “enters” and shares the peace of Christ rather than “dissecting” it.
In some Christian teachings, this form of meditative prayer is understood as leading to an increased knowledge of Christ.
The roots of scriptural reflection and interpretation go back to Origen in the 3rd century, after whom Ambrose taught them to Augustine of Hippo.
The monastic practice of Lectio Divina was first established in the 6th century by Benedict of Nursia and was then formalized as a four-step process by the Carthusian monk Guigo II during the 12th century.
In the 20th century, the constitution Dei verbum of the Second Vatican Council recommended Lectio Divina to the general public and its importance was affirmed by Pope Benedict XVI at the start of the 21st century.
Contemplative Prayer.
Contemplative prayer is when we use our minds and hearts, and sometimes our imaginative ability, to recognize God’s presence and fix our gaze on Him.
It seeks to achieve a union with God and is characterized by quiet, stillness, and simply resting in God’s presence.
According to Pope Francis, who considers contemplation the salt that gives flavor to our day, contemplation is less a way of “doing” and more a way of “being.”
Contemplative prayer, or imaginative prayer, has a rich history in the Church but probably goes back to Jesus himself.
Some theologians consider Jesus a contemplative, pointing to the times Jesus went off by himself to pray in solitude and how He encourages the disciples (and all of us) to
“go into your inner room” for prayer (Matthew 6:6).
Hesychasm – Eastern Orthodox
Hesychasm, in Eastern Christianity, type of monastic life in which practitioners seek divine quietness (Greek hēsychia) through the contemplation of God in uninterrupted prayer.
Such prayer, involving the entire human being—soul, mind, and body—is often called “pure,” or “intellectual,” prayer or the Jesus Prayer.
St. John Climacus, one of the greatest writers of the Hesychast tradition, wrote, “Let the remembrance of Jesus be present with each breath, and then you will know the value of the hēsychia.”
In the late 13th century, St. Nicephorus the Hesychast produced an even more precise “method of prayer,” advising novices to fix their eyes during prayer on the “middle of the body,” in order to achieve a more total attention, and to “attach the prayer to their breathing.”
This practice was violently attacked in the first half of the 14th century by Barlaam the Calabrian, who called the Hesychasts omphalopsychoi, or people having their souls in their navels.
Within the study of contemplative prayer, we find many schools commenting upon ways in which we should do so, particular schools seem to mainly come from a Far Eastern or Orthodox background, introducing ideas akin to what we might see practiced in Hinduism or Buddhism.
While many practitioners seem to emphasise a desire to focus on the physical aspects of God, rather than seeking and inward vision.
Focusing on the breath, navel etc.
Perhaps we can sympathise here with Barlaam the Calabrians position with such practices introduced into worship, while we may be able to deduce the true origin of such practices when we translate the origin of such groups.
While researching contemplative prayer and comparing Christian Mysticism to Jewish Mysticism, I found numerous hidden practices, secret teachings and schools.
While I reflected upon the origin of such teachings and their association with the Far East and North Eastern Europe, Ukraine etc and an association with Ashkenazi Jews.
I found it interesting how the term “Hesychasm” was linguistically similar to the words “Hasi Chasidism”, as i sought a deeper interpretation, as it seemed that Contemplative practices were heavily influenced by Far Eastern, Orthodox and Jewish Teachings.
Hasi Chasidism – Jewish Mysticism
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות Ḥăsīdus, [χasiˈdus]; originally, “piety”), is a religious movement within Judaism that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contemporary Western Ukraine, then Poland, during the 18th century, and spread rapidly throughout Eastern Europe.
Today, most of those affiliated with the movement, known as hassidim, reside in Israel and in the United States.
A tish of the Boyan Hasidic dynasty in Jerusalem, holiday of Sukkot, 2009
The “Baal Shem Tov”, is regarded as its founding father, and his disciples developed and disseminated it.
Present-day Hasidism is a sub-group within Haredi Judaism and is noted for its religious conservatism and social seclusion.
Its members adhere closely both to Orthodox Jewish practice – with the movement’s own unique emphases – and the traditions of Eastern European Jews.
Many of the latter, including various special styles of dress and the use of the Yiddish language, are nowadays associated almost exclusively with Hasidism.
Hasidic thought draws heavily on Lurianic Kabbalah, and, to an extent, is a popularization of it.
Teachings emphasize God’s immanence in the universe, the need to cleave and be one with Him at all times, the devotional aspect of religious practice, and the spiritual dimension of corporeality and mundane acts.
Hasidim, the adherents of Hasidism, are organized in independent sects known as “courts” or dynasties, each headed by its own hereditary male leader, a Rebbe.
Reverence and submission to the Rebbe are key tenets, as he is considered a spiritual authority with whom the follower must bond to gain closeness to God.
The various “courts” share basic convictions, but operate apart and possess unique traits and customs.
Affiliation is often retained in families for generations, and being Hasidic is as much a sociological factor – entailing birth into a specific community and allegiance to a dynasty of Rebbes – as it is a religious one.
There are several “courts” with many thousands of member households each, and hundreds of smaller ones.
As of 2016, there were over 130,000 Hasidic households worldwide, about 5% of the global Jewish population.
Hasid
The terms hasid and hasidut, meaning “pietist” and “piety”, have a long history in Judaism.
The Talmud and other old sources refer to the “Pietists of Old” (Hasidim haRishonim) who would contemplate an entire hour in preparation for prayer.
The phrase denoted extremely devoted individuals who not only observed the Law to its letter, but performed good deeds even beyond it.
Adam himself is honored with the title, in tractate Eruvin 18b by Rabbi Meir: “Adam was a great hasid, having fasted for 130 years.”
The first to adopt the epithet collectively were apparently the hasidim in Second Temple period Judea, known as Hasideans after the Greek rendering of their name, who perhaps served as the model for those mentioned in the Talmud.
The title continued to be applied as an honorific for the exceptionally devout. In 12th-century Rhineland, or Ashkenaz in Jewish parlance, another prominent school of ascetics named themselves hasidim; to distinguish them from the rest, later research employed the term Ashkenazi Hasidim.
In the 16th century, when Kabbalah spread, the title also became associated with it. Jacob ben Hayyim Zemah wrote in his glossa on Isaac Luria’s version of the Shulchan Aruch that, “One who wishes to tap the hidden wisdom, must conduct himself in the manner of the Pious.”
Bernard McGinn
Regarded as the preeminent scholar of mysticism in the Western Christian tradition
Bernard McGinn (born August 19, 1937) is an American Roman Catholic theologian, religious historian, and scholar of spirituality. A specialist in Medieval mysticism, McGinn is widely regarded as the preeminent scholar of mysticism in the Western Christian tradition. He is best known for his comprehensive series on mysticism, The Presence of God.
According to McGinn, “Even for people who may not have any religious commitment of their own, a study of the great mystics can reveal something about human creativity and genius.”, “McGinn is widely considered the preeminent scholar of mysticism in the Western Christian tradition and a leading authority on the theology of the 14th-century mystic Meister Eckhart“.
Eckhart von Hochheim OP (c. 1260 – c. 1328),commonly known as Meister Eckhart, Master Eckhart or Eckehart, claimed original name Johannes Eckhart, was a German Catholic theologian, philosopher and mystic, born near Gotha in the Landgraviate of Thuringia (now central Germany) in the Holy Roman Empire.
Eckhart came into prominence during the Avignon Papacy at a time of increased tensions between monastic orders, diocesan clergy, the Franciscan Order, and Eckhart’s Dominican Order.
In later life, he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led Inquisition, and tried as a heretic by Pope John XXII with the bull In Agro Dominico of March 27, 1329.
He seems to have died before his verdict was received.
He was well known for his work with pious lay groups such as the Friends of God and was succeeded by his more circumspect disciples Johannes Tauler and Henry Suso who was later beatified.
Since the 19th century, he has received renewed attention. He has acquired a status as a great mystic within contemporary popular spirituality, as well as considerable interest from scholars situating him within the medieval scholastic and philosophical tradition.
Mc Ginn studied several Christian Theological philosophies including Neoplatonism, while it is interesting to note how much the studies on contemplative Mysticism seems to come from the same regions, namely centred around the Holy land, Poland, Ukraine, Greece, Asia etc.
Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion.
The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers.
Among the common ideas it maintains is monism, the doctrine that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, “the One”.
Neoplatonism began with Ammonius Saccas and his student Plotinus (c. 204/5–271 AD) and stretched to the sixth century.
After Plotinus there were three distinct periods in the history of neoplatonism: the work of his student Porphyry (third to early fourth century); that of Iamblichus (third to fourth century); and the period in the fifth and sixth centuries, when the academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished.
Neoplatonism had an enduring influence on the subsequent history of Western philosophy and religion.
In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were studied and discussed by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim thinkers.
In the Islamic cultural sphere, Neoplatonic texts were available in Arabic and Persian translations, and notable philosophers such as al-Farabi, Solomon ibn Gabirol (Avicebron), Avicenna (Ibn Sina), and Maimonides incorporated Neoplatonic elements into their own thinking.
Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) had direct access to the works of Proclus, Simplicius of Cilicia, and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and he knew about other Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus and Porphyry, through second-hand sources.
The German mystic Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 – c. 1328) was also influenced by Neoplatonism, propagating a contemplative way of life which points to the Godhead beyond the nameable God. Neoplatonism also had a strong influence on the perennial philosophy of the Italian Renaissance thinkers Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and continues through 19th-century Universalism and modern-day spirituality.
Origins of the term
Neoplatonism is a modern term.
The term neoplatonism has a double function as a historical category.
On the one hand, it differentiates the philosophical doctrines of Plotinus and his successors from those of the historical Plato.
On the other, the term makes an assumption about the novelty of Plotinus’s interpretation of Plato.
In the nearly six centuries from Plato’s time to Plotinus’, there had been an uninterrupted tradition of interpreting Plato which had begun with Aristotle and with the immediate successors of Plato’s Academy and continued on through a period of Platonism which is now referred to as middle Platonism.
The term neoplatonism implies that Plotinus’ interpretation of Plato was so distinct from those of his predecessors that it should be thought to introduce a new period in the history of Platonism.
Some contemporary scholars ,however, have taken issue with this assumption and have doubted that neoplatonism constitutes a useful label.
They claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus’ teachings from those of his immediate predecessors.
As a pupil of philosopher Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus used the knowledge of his teacher and predecessors in order to inspire the next generation.
Whether neoplatonism is a meaningful or useful historical category is itself a central question concerning the history of the interpretation of Plato.
For much of the history of Platonism, it was commonly accepted that the doctrines of the neoplatonists were essentially the same as those of Plato.
The Renaissance Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino, for instance, thought that the neoplatonic interpretation of Plato was an authentic and accurate representation of Plato’s philosophy.
Although it is unclear precisely when scholars began to disassociate the philosophy of the historical Plato from the philosophy of his neoplatonic interpreters, they had clearly begun to do so at least as early as the first decade of the nineteenth century.
Contemporary scholars often identify the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher as an early thinker who took Plato’s philosophy to be separate from that of his neoplatonic interpreters.
However, others have argued that the differentiation of Plato from neoplatonism was the result of a protracted historical development that preceded Schleiermacher’s scholarly work on Plato.
Origins and history of classical Neoplatonism
Plato’s unwritten doctrines
Neoplatonism started with Plotinus in the 3rd century AD. Three distinct phases in classical neoplatonism after Plotinus can be distinguished: the work of his student Porphyry; that of Iamblichus and his school in Syria; and the period in the 5th and 6th centuries, when the Academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished.
Hellenism
Hellenistic philosophy
Neoplatonism synthesized ideas from various philosophical and religious cultural spheres.
The most important forerunners from Greek philosophy were the Middle Platonists, such as Plutarch, and the Neopythagoreans, especially Numenius of Apamea. Philo, a Hellenized Jew, translated Judaism into terms of Stoic, Platonic, and Neopythagorean elements, and held that God is “supra rational” and can be reached only through “ecstasy”.
Philo also held that the oracles of God supply the material of moral and religious knowledge.
The earliest Christian philosophers, such as Justin Martyr and Athenagoras of Athens, who attempted to connect Christianity with Platonism, and the Christian Gnostics of Alexandria, especially Valentinus and the followers of Basilides, also mirrored elements of Neoplatonism, albeit without its self-consistency.
Ammonius Saccas
Ammonius Saccas (died c. 265 AD) was a teacher of Plotinus. Through Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus may have been influenced by Indian thought.
The similarities between Neoplatonism and Indian philosophy, particularly Samkhya, have led several authors to suggest an Indian influence in its founding, particularly on Ammonius Saccas.
Both Christians (see Eusebius, Jerome, and Origen) and Pagans (see Porphyry and Plotinus) claimed him a teacher and founder of the neoplatonic system.
Porphyry stated in On the One School of Plato and Aristotle, that Ammonius’ view was that the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle were in harmony. Eusebius and Jerome claimed him as a Christian until his death, whereas Porphyry claimed he had renounced Christianity and embraced pagan philosophy.
Plotinus
Presumed depiction of Plotinus and his disciples on a Roman sarcophagus in the Museo Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums, Rome.
Plotinus (c. 205 – c. 270) is widely considered the father of Neoplatonism. Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry’s preface to his edition of Plotinus’ Enneads.
While he was himself influenced by the teachings of classical Greek, Persian, and Indian philosophy and Egyptian theology, his metaphysical writings later inspired numerous Pagan, Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, and Islamic metaphysicians and mystics over the centuries.
Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent “One”, containing no division, multiplicity, nor distinction; likewise, it is beyond all categories of being and non-being.
The concept of “being” is derived by us from the objects of human experience and is an attribute of such objects, but the infinite, transcendent One is beyond all such objects and, therefore, is beyond the concepts which we can derive from them.
The One “cannot be any existing thing” and cannot be merely the sum of all such things (compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence) but “is prior to all existents”.
While there is much to consider here, the origins of such practices and the proper implementation, it is an interesting subject worth exploring.
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