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u Ottawa L'Universit6 canadienne Canada's university mn FACULTE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES t=l FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND ET POSTOCTORALES u Ottawa POSDOCTORAL STUDIES I.'Universitc* eonadienne Canada's university
Suzette Carol Philipps "AUfEMi3F[ATHESE7AUTHOROF THESIS"
.?A-P;.iThe?!?gy) GRADE/DEGREE
Faculty of Theology FACULTE, ECOLE, DEPARTEMENT / FACULTY, SCHOOL, DEPARTMENT
Re-reading The Way of a Pilgrim: A Research Project Utilizing Contemplative Psychology
TITRE DE LA THESE / TITLE OF THESIS
Andriy Chirovsky DIRECTEUR (DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE / THESIS SUPERVISOR
CO-DIRECTEUR (CO-DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE / THESIS CO-SUPERVISOR
EXAMINATEURS (EXAMINATRICES) DE LA THESE/THESIS EXAMINERS
Han de Wit John Gibaut
Peter Galadza John Jillions
Gary W. Slater Le Doyen de la Faculte des etudes superieures et postdoctorales / Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Re-reading The Way of a Pilgrim: A Research Project Utilizing Contemplative Psychology
Suzette Carol Phillips
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctorate in Theology [Ph.D (Th.)]
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1*1 Canada © Suzette Carol Philipps, Ottawa, Canada, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1: DIALOGUE PARTNERS 5 1.1. Christian Spirituality at the Dawn of the Third Millennium 5 1.2. Two Dialogue Partners —Psychology and Eastern Christian Spirituality 6 1.3. An Eastern Christian Spiritual Text and a Psychological Approach 11 1.3.1. Candid Narratives of a Pilgrim to His Spiritual Father [The Way of a Pilgrim] 18 1.3.1.1. The Way of a Pilgrim in Context 21 1.3.1.1.1. The Way of a Pilgrim and Eastern Christian Spirituality 21 1.3.1.1.2. The Way of a Pilgrim and the Modern Western World 24 1.3.1.2. Psychological Analysis of The Way of a Pilgrim 32 1.3.1.3. Selection of The Way of a Pilgrim as the Text of Choice 32 1.3.2. Contemplative Psychology 34 1.3.2.1. Overview of Contemplative Psychology 36 1.3.2.2. Literature Review of Contemplative Psychology 38 1.3.2.3. Contemplative Psychology in Context 41 1.3.2.3.1. Contemplative Psychology and Western Psychology 42 1.3.2.3.2. Contemplative Psychology and Stories of the Spiritual Traditions 48 1.3.2.3.3. Contemplative Psychology and The Eastern Christian Spiritual Tradition 49 1.3.2.3.3.1. Definition of Contemplative Psychology 49 1.3.2.3.3.2. Contemplation and Meditation 51 1.3.2.3.3.3. Contemplative Traditions 52 1.3.2.3.3.4. Theology 61 1.3.2.3.3.5. Psychological Insight, Knowledge and Methods in Contemplative Traditions 65 1.3.2.3.3.6. Freedom and Grace 70 1.3.2.3.4. Selection of Contemplative Psychology as the Methodology of Choice 72 1.4. Methodology 74 1.4.1. Research Hypothesis 74 1.4.2. The Way ofa Pilgrim -Edition of Choice 76 1.4.3. Language 77 1.4.4. Utilizing Contemplative Psychology to Re-read The Way of a Pilgrim 80 1.5. Summary 82
2. CHAPTER 2: THE WAY OF A PILGRIM. 84 2.1. Theories About Its Authorship 84 2.2. History of the Publication of the Text 86 2.3. The Setting -19th Century Russia 88 2.4. The Structure and Content of The Way of a Pilgrim 89 2.5. Inter-textuality of The Way of a Pilgrim 94 2.6. Literary Analysis oiThe Way of a Pilgrim 96 2.7. Narrative Structure and Use of Pilgrimage as a Root Metaphor 98 2.8. The Character of the Pilgrim and Other Figures in The Way of a Pilgrim 99
3. CHAPTER 3: KEY ELEMENTS OF CONTEMPLATIVE PSYCHOLOGY.. 102 3.1. The Person and the Experience of Reality 102 3.1.1. Concept of Humanity 103 3.1.2. Components of the Person 105 3.1.3. The Profane and the Spiritual Person and the Experience of Reality 114 3.1.4. The Development of Ego 126 3.1.5. Ego and the Christian Tradition 130 3.2. The Concept of the Way 135 3.2.1. Spiritual Development 135 3.2.2. Two Views of the Concept of Way 145 3.2.3. The Metaphor of the Path 156 3.2.3.1. Development of Humaneness 156 3.2.3.2. Sides of the Path 158 3.2.3.3. Changing Experience of Reality 160 3.2.3.4. Stages of the Path 163 3.2.3.5. The Stream of Experience 164 3.2.3.6. Challenges of Path Language 166 3.3. Transmission of the Way 168 3.3.1. Mind and Knowledge 170 3.3.2. Mind in Contemplative Psychology 171 3.3.3. The Contemplative Psychology of Thought 175 3.3.4. Connections between Thinking, Experiencing and Consciousness 177 3.3.5. Knowledge and Insight in Contemplative Psychology 178 3.4. Spiritual Practices or Disciplines 184 3.4.1. The Mental Disciplines 187 3.4.1.1. Disciplines of Thought 188 3.4.1.1.1. Intellectual Disciplines 188 3.4.1.1.2. Disciplines of Imagination 190 3.4.1.1.3. The Limitations of the Disciplines of Thought 197 3.4.1.2. Disciplines of Consciousness 198 3.4.1.2.1. Disciplines of Mindfulness 199 3.4.1.2.2. Disciplines of Insight 208 3.4.1.3. The Interplay Between the Mental Disciplines 215 3.4.1.4. The Order of Application of the Mental Disciplines 216 3.4.2. Disciplines of Action and Speech 218 3.4.2.1. Relation of the Disciplines of Action and Speech to the Mental Disciplines 223 3.4.2.2. The Double Function of the Disciplines of Speech and Action 223 3.4.2.3. The Function of the Disciplines of Action and Speech as Mirrors.... 224 3.4.2.4. The Form of the Disciplines of Action and Speech 225 3.4.2.5. The Application of the Disciplines of Action and Speech 245 3.4.2.6. The Practice of the Disciplines of Action and Speech 246 3.5. Role of the Teacher 248 3.6. Schema of Contemplative Psychology 260
4. CHAPTER 4: RE-READING THE WAY OF A PILGRIM 268 4.1. The Strannik'sIAfe Prior to His Formal Pilgrimage 270 4.2. The Strannik 's Formal Pilgrimage 281 4.3. Transformations in the Strannik 285 4.3.1. First Meeting 285 4.3.2. Second Meeting 304 4.3.3. Third Meeting 331 4.3.4. Fourth Meeting 332 4.4. The Last One Knows of the Strannik 362 4.5. General Shifts in the Strannik 362
5. CONCLUSION 379 5.1. McGinn's Invitation and Research Hypothesis Revisited 379 5.2. Points of Convergence and Divergence Between the Dialogue Partners 382 5.3. Fruit of the Dialogue Between The Way of a Pilgrim and Contemplative Psychology 392 5.4. Areas of Further Research and Investigation 398
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 406 A LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS
Figure 1: A General Framework of Contemplative Psychology 262 Figure 2: An Eastern Christian Contemplative Psychology 263 Figure 3: Bondage and Healing 264-265 Figure 4: The Passion-Bound Heart 266 Figure 5: The Virtuous Heart 267
Map 1: The Russian Empire in the Late 1800s 284 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to extend my gratitude to Professors Normand Bonneau and David Perrin, former Deans, and Professor Andrea Spatafora, present Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada for their support throughout my studies. I would also like to sincerely thank my thesis director, Professor Andriy Chirovsky, for sharing his wisdom, inspiration, guidance, and encouragement over the course of many years of study and formation, and throughout the preparation of this doctoral dissertation. Special thanks as well to Professors John Gibaut and Peter Galadza for being on the thesis committee, contributing to the writing of the thesis, and accompanying me on the journey. Thanks also to the jury members — Professors John Jillions and Han F. de Wit — whose insights and comments strengthened the dissertation. I wish to especially thank Dr. De Wit for formulating the methodology that is the backdrop of this thesis. Also thanks to the various faculty members of Saint Paul University who contributed direcdy or indirecdy to the dissertation, including Professors James Pambrun, John van den Hengel, Kevin Coyle, Gregory Bloomquist, Andrew Onuferko, Fabrice Blee and Professors Emeritus Micheline Lague and Augustine Meier. I would also like to express by gratitude to Fr. Stephen Wojcichowsky, Director of the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, Professor Mary Egan of the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Ottawa, and the faculty at Newman Theological College, particularly Professor Stephano Penna (Dean of Theology), and Professor Dan Kingdon, for their encouragement and support. I would also like to acknowledge Archbishop Michael Bzdel who, together with the late Archbishop Antoine Hacault, encouraged me to embark on my course of studies and "breathe with both lungs." Were it not for their initial encouragement, the journey would not have begun and this dissertation would never have come into being. I want to especially thank my husband, Andrew, for his unending encouragement, sacrifices, patience and support, as well as for contributing his professionalism and creativity that make the illustrations contained in the dissertation so visually appealing. His ongoing technical, linguistic, editorial and formatting support can also not go unrecognized. I would like to thank my parents, Aurele and Caroline Bremault, who instilled in me the importance of perseverance, and encouraged me in my ongoing pursuit of higher education. I also wish to acknowledge my twin sister, Mariette Dobrowolski, for her prayers and support, and my brother Gerard Bremault for being an inspiration. Special thanks go to Catherine Macgregor, Christine Jannasch, Sharon Lindstrom, Fr. John Kracher, Fr. Gregory Zubacz, and Andriy Horniatkevych for assisting with editing and proofreading, and for lending their support in a multitude of ways. Likewise, I would like to thank my colleagues at the Camrose Mental Health Clinic who have offered me endless support over the last few years, especially Michelle Duncan, Brenda Nelson, Aaron Johnston, Audrey Findlay, Shelley Heck and Diane Branton. Thanks also to David Goa, Director of the Chester Ronning Centre, for his insight and encouragement. Finally, I would like to thank all of the people who I have been privileged to journey with: the faculty members in the School of Medical Rehabilitation at the University of Manitoba who formed me as a therapist, the many students who furthered my research through their insightful questions and comments, and the many clients who have allowed me to enter into the landscape of their minds and hearts. Also to Fr. John Kracher who has journeyed with, believed in, guided, prayed for and inspired me through much of my life. A sincere thank you to each of you. Neither this doctoral dissertation, nor the journey, would have been possible without you. Thesis Resume:
Re-reading The Way of a Pilgrim: A Research Project Utilizing Contemplative Psychology
Suzette Carol Phillips
In the third millennium, spirituality and psychology would greatly benefit from
dialoguing with one another. As both of these areas of contemporary human experience
have made efforts to understand the inner workings of the human mind and heart, and their
expression through a person's words, actions and relationships with self and others, they
would each serve to gain from the insights acquired by the other. Only limited dialogue,
however, between these two aspects of human experience has occurred. This is particularly
true of the relationship between academic psychology and the Eastern Christian Spiritual
tradition (which has a long history of exploring the human psyche and heart, and guiding
people along the path of personal and spiritual development). The psychological insights
inherent in Eastern Christian Spirituality are largely unknown in the field of psychology.
Contemplative psychology — a distinctive form of psychology developed by
psychologist Han F. de Wit that focuses on spiritual development — aims to expose the
psychological insights embedded in spiritual traditions, including those that are expressed within texts specific to any particular spiritual tradition. This form of psychology,
[EJndeavors to understand that which comprises spiritual development and, on the basis of that understanding, it tries to guide the individual on the contemplative way. This type of psychology therefore not only explores the value of contemplative knowledge and the use of those contemplative disciplines that lead to such knowledge, but it also discusses the nature of effective spiritual guidance. It provides a psychological understanding of the role of mercy, compassion and, last but not least, it explores the nature of contemplative action in daily life and in the liturgy. Furthermore, it is a form of psychology that studies egocentrism and ways of transforming it.1
1 Han F. de Wit, The Spiritual Path: An Introduction to the Psychology of the Spiritual Traditions, trans, of De verborgen bloei by Henry Jansen & Lucia Hofland-Jansen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1999), 57-58. In this doctoral thesis, contemplative psychology is brought into dialogue with an
Eastern Christian Spiritual classic — The Way of a Pilgrim — so as to expose the psychological
insights that it contains. Of particular interest are the ways in which the main character — a
pilgrim {strannik) — changes in his thoughts, words, and actions, as well as his relationships
with himself, God, others, and the world as he practices hesychast spirituality.
The hypothesis of this thesis is that the application of contemplative psychology as a
heuristic tool (particularly in an Eastern Christian formulation) to The Way of a Pilgrim will
illumine the psychological insights and methods that clarify and guide the strannik7s spiritual
development throughout the course of his life. As a result, the inner structures and patterns
of maturation intrinsic to the lifelong spiritual experience of the strannik are exposed, and the
psychological insights that the tradition employs in guiding the pilgrim along the spiritual
path and facilitating change in his thinking, acting, speaking and relationships are revealed.
To accomplish its task, this dissertation first sets the stage for dialogue between psychology and spirituality in general, and between Eastern Christian Spirituality and
contemplative psychology more specifically. It then provides an overview of The Way of a
Pilgrim and current research on this classic text. Using the framework of contemplative psychology as a guide, understandings of the person, spiritual development, spiritual practices, and the role of the spiritual father (starets) from both the perspectives of contemplative psychology and the Eastern Christian Spiritual tradition are next presented. A re-reading of The Way of a Pilgrim is then undertaken using the framework of contemplative psychology with the intent of exposing how the pilgrim changes spiritually as he journeys, interacts with others, and deepens in his spiritual walk. Finally, the dissertation considers the fruit of the dialogue between The Way of a Pilgrim and contemplative psychology, points of convergence and divergence between the dialogue partners, and areas of further research and
investigation that became apparent.
In addition to the very specific research regarding the text at hand, this doctoral project
has had further outcomes. First, a possible contemplative psychology specific to the Eastern
Christian Spiritual tradition is outlined. Second, a determination of the appropriateness of
De Wit's method for the study of The Way of a Pilgrim is made. Third, an opinion regarding
the suitability and benefit of applying De Wit's framework to other aspects of Eastern
Christian Spirituality is offered. Fourth, groundwork for dialogue with other major religions
regarding the psychological insights inherent in their traditions is laid. Fifth, an alternate
approach to dialogue between Eastern Christian Spirituality and academic psychology by way
of contemplative psychology is put forward. Sixth, a contribution is made toward the
development of a broad and profound universal psychology.
Overall, it was determined that De Wit's well thought-out and comprehensive
framework of contemplative psychology was an appropriate research tool for exposing the psychological insights and methods inherent in the Eastern Christian Spiritual tradition.
This framework made it possible to illumine psychological insights particular to Eastern
Christian Spirituality generally and The Way of a Pilgrim more specifically. The pilgrim's process of spiritual maturation, as revealed in the changes in his thoughts, words, and actions, as well as his relationship with self, God others and the world were revealed.
In applying De Wit's framework to the Eastern Christian Spiritual tradition, it became evident that there were numerous points of convergence and divergence between contemplative psychology and the Eastern Christian Spiritual tradition. Both consider the ways people change in thought, word and action as they practice a spiritual way of life; are first-person in nature; explore the totality of human experience; maintain that people have freedom to change and develop; and emphasize the anthropological components of the person, spiritual development, movement from the carnal to a spiritual state of being, spiritual practices and the importance of the mentor. Distinctions between the two emerge largely due to the theistic, theanthropocentric nature of Eastern Christian Spirituality, and the non-theistic, anthropocentric approach of contemplative psychology. As a result, understandings of terms such as contemplation, conversion, sin, consciousness, and states of the person differ. Likewise, various spiritual practices and the reasons for their use are understood in very different ways. 1
INTRODUCTION
Over the centuries, people from various psychological perspectives and spiritual backgrounds have attempted to understand the inner workings of the human mind and heart, as well as ways to assist people in re-ordering their lives: their thoughts, words, actions and relationships with themselves and others. One particular spiritual tradition — the Eastern
Christian spiritual tradition — has a long history of exploring the human psyche and heart, and guiding people along the path of personal and spiritual development. The psychological insights that this tradition contains, however, are largely unknown to the world of psychology.
Contemplative psychology — a distinctive form of psychology developed by psychologist Han
F. de Wit —. aims to expose the psychological insights embedded in spiritual traditions, including those that are expressed within texts that are specific to the given tradition. This
form of psychology "...endeavors to understand that which comprises spiritual development and, on the basis of that understanding, it tries to guide the individual on the contemplative way."1 In this doctoral thesis, contemplative psychology will be brought into dialogue with an
Eastern Christian spiritual classic — The Way of a Pilgrim — to facilitate a re-reading of it from a psychological perspective so as to expose the psychological insights that it contains.
The Way of a Pilgrim is a compilation of four simple stories of a pilgrim {strannik) seeking to understand the prayer of the heart. Recounted in the text are the pilgrim's experiences
(including his experiences in prayer and his encounters with various people) as he lives his early life and then journeys more formally as a strannik through nineteenth-century Russia,
Ukraine and Siberia. Inspired by St. Paul's injunction to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17
1 Han F. de Wit, Contemplative Psychology, trans. Marie Louise Baird (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1991), 1-2. 2
NRSV2), the strannik seeks someone to teach him how to pray unceasingly. He eventually is introduced to the Jesus prayer (the repetition of the phrase 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me'), and then a collection of writings of the Eastern Christian spiritual masters: the Philokalia (Dobrotolubiye)? Together with his relationship with God, others, and the
Bible, the Jesus prayer and the Philokalia become his guides in his personal, psychological and spiritual walk.
Arising from questions as to how the psychological know-how embedded within this spiritual classic can be revealed, it is the hypothesis of this thesis that an application of contemplative psychology as a heuristic tool to The Way of a Pilgrim will illumine the psychological insights and methods that clarify and guide the strannik7s spiritual development over the course of his lifetime. Through use of contemplative psychology, the inner structures and patterns of maturation intrinsic to the spiritual experience of the strannik will be exposed, as will be the psychological insights that the tradition employs in guiding the strannik along the spiritual path and facilitating change in his thinking, acting, speaking and relationships.
To accomplish its task of iUumining the psychological insights inherent in The Way of a
Pilgrim, this research project is divided into four main chapters. Chapter 1 sets the stage for dialogue between psychology and spirituality in general, and Eastern Christian spirituality and contemplative psychology more specifically. It also situates contemplative psychology within
2 New Revised Standard Version Bible (hereafter NRSV) (U.S.A: Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ, 1989) as referred to in The Pilgrim's Tale, ed. and intro. Aleksei Pentkovsky, trans. T. Allan Smith, preface Jaroslav Pelikan (New York: Paulist Press, 1999), 49. Please note mat, unless otherwise specified, Scriptural quotations referenced in this thesis rely on one of the following translations: Revised Standard Version (hereafter RSV) (New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1946, 1952); the New Jerusalem Bible (hereafter NJB) (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985); or the Septuagint (hereafter LXX) - See The Orthodox Study Bible (Dallas, TX: St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, 2008). The translation will be specified together with the scriptural reference. In those few cases in which the Scriptural quotation is part of a larger reference taken from the writings of one of the Fadiers of the Church, no translation version is given as none was provided in the patristic translation. 3 An explanation of the Philokalia (Dobrotolubiye) will follow shortly. 3
the field of psychology, and outlines the methodology for die diesis. Chapter 2 provides an overview of The Way of a Pilgrim and current research on this classic text: its authorship, structure, history, literary analysis and inter-textuality. Chapter 3 is a discussion between contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian anthropology and spirituality regarding an understanding of the person, spiritual development, spiritual praxes, and the role of the spiritual father [starets). It closes with a schematic framework of both contemplative psychology and a possible Eastern Christian contemplative psychology. Diagrams attempting to depict spiritual development from an Eastern Christian spiritual perspective are also presented. Chapter 4 is a re-reading of The Way of a Pilgrim - an application of contemplative psychology (largely in its Eastern Christian formulation), to the text with the intent of exposing how the pilgrim changes as he journeys, interacts with others, and deepens in his spiritual walk from the beginning of his life until age thirty-three. The Conclusion considers the fruit of the dialogue between Eastern Christian spirituality (and The Way of a Pilgrim) and contemplative psychology, points of convergence and divergence between the dialogue partners, and areas of further research and investigation that have become apparent.
In addition to the very specific research regarding the text at hand, this doctoral project has produced the following fruit. First, a possible contemplative psychology specific to the
Eastern Christian spiritual tradition is outlined. Second, a determination of the appropriateness of De Wit's method for the study of The Way of a Pilgrim is made. Third, given the privileged place of The Way of a Pilgrim in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, an opinion regarding the suitability and benefit of applying De Wit's framework to other aspects of Eastern Christian spirituality is offered. Fourth, groundwork for dialogue with other major religions regarding the psychological insights inherent in their traditions is laid. Fifth, an 4
alternate approach to dialogue between Eastern Christian spirituality and academic psychology by way of contemplative psychology is put forward. Sixth, a contribution is made toward the development of a broad and profound universal psychology. 5
CHAPTER 1: DIALOGUE PARTNERS
1.1. Christian Spirituality at the Dawn of the Third Millennium
Preeminent scholar of Christian mysticism and spirituality Bernard McGinn suggests
that "Spirituality is currently in an ambiguous situation."5 Aiming to stimulate discussion,
McGinn offers reflections on issues relating to the current situation as regards Christian
spirituality. In so doing, he hopes that his thoughts might be of practical assistance to those
engaged in shaping the future of spirituality studies, particularly those attempting to
communicate a vision of spirituality to the business, scientific, and medical communities as
well as the wider public.6 Having myself attempted to bring together spirituality and
psychology while working as a medical rehabilitationist, mental health therapist, researcher and
pastoral and theological educator,7 I find McGinn's thoughts provocative and worthy of
consideration.
4 Bernard McGinn is the Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology and of the History of Christianity at The Divinity School, University of Chicago. A world-renowned expert and scholar of Christian mysticism and spirituality, he taught at the University of Chicago from 1969-2003. Currently he works in the areas of history of Christianity and of Christian thought, primarily in the medieval period. Prof. McGinn has written extensively on die history of apocalyptic thought, spirituality and mysticism. (See http://divinity.uchicago.edu/faculty/mcginn.shtnil; Internet; accessed 24 July 2007.) He made diese remarks when speaking at die Review Symposium: The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Classics of Western Spirituality Series. 5 Bernard McGinn, "Spirituality Confronts its Future," Spiritus — A Journal of Christian Spirituality 5, no. 1 (Spring 2005), 88. He specifically used the word "ambiguous" to indicate diat "the explosion of the use of the word "spirituality" in recent decades has potentiality both for good and for ill. While we can welcome many aspects of the revival of spiritual traditions across die globe, and while even vague uses of the term point to die desire of many to find some deeper dimension in their lives, it would be an abdication of responsibility, or at least a sign of considerable schizophrenia, to dunk diat everyuiing that is called spirituality deserves to be applauded." His comments were related when speaking at die Review Symposium: The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of die Classics of Western Spirituality Series. 6 McGinn, "Spirituality Confronts its Future," 89. 7 I am a registered Medical Rehabilitationist (Occupational Therapist) with nineteen years experience in the areas of mental healdi, psychiatry, neurology, and physical medicine — both in die public and private sectors. In addition to my practice, I have been involved in research in die areas of Spirituality and Occupational Therapy, have taught pastoral practice and tiieology/ spirituality courses at Saint Paul University and Newman Theological College, and have conducted seminars on human and pastoral formation in Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Catholic, Melkite Cadiolic, and Anglican communities. 6
In his article, McGinn identifies three aspects of spirituality that he suggests are important at the dawn of the third millennium, namely that spirituality need be "hermeneutical, ecumenical, and liberating."8 He described spirituality as hermeneutical "insofar as it is an interpretive dialogue, or conversation, between the classics of the various religious traditions and contemporary human experience."9 He further insists that this dialogue,
[Mjust be two-way if it is going to hope for success, that is, it is not just that we interrogate spiritual texts in order to decide between the good and the bad, picking and choosing what we think is useful for us in the contemporary milieu. We must also remain open to hearing the other voice, that is, allowing the tradition to challenge and even to change us: to alter our perspectives in ways that we have not imagined. The past measures us just as we measure it.
In speaking of the ecumenical and liberating aspects of spirituality, McGinn suggests that spirituality today needs to embrace "both the ecumenicity among diverse forms of Christianity, and the broader ecumenical perspective that Ewert Cousins has aptly referred to as 'Global spirituality'."11 It is liberating in its "drive to challenge repressive structures of self and society in the service of the realization of justice, both individual and social."12 Hermeneutical, ecumenical and liberating — these are three components of spirituality essential for this day and age.
1.2. Two Dialogue Partners - Psychology and Eastern Christian Spirituality
As noted, McGinn's reflections encourage dialogue between religious tradition and contemporary human experience. While a variety of religious traditions and dimensions of human experience await this kind of interchange, two of the many possible conversational partners of interest to this writer, relevant to the contemporary North American context and
8 McGinn, "Spirituality Confronts its Future," 90. 9 McGinn, "Spirituality Confronts its Future," 90. 10 McGinn, "Spirituality Confronts its Future," 90. 11 McGinn, "Spirituality Confronts its Future," 90. 12 McGinn, "Spirituality Confronts its Future," 91. 7
worthy of engagement, will be considered for the purposes of this dissertation. These dialogue partners are the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition13 (a particular range of expressions of
Christianity — more of which will be said shortly) and the psychological dimension of human experience (that is, the nature, function, and phenomena of behaviour and mental experience14).
The Christian spiritual tradition contains both Western and Eastern expressions, with many of the spiritual Fathers and Mothers of the Christian tradition being common to Eastern and Western Christianity. Emphasizing that "there is no chasm between Eastern and Western
Christianity," Lev Gillet (A Monk of the Eastern Church) suggests that the fundamental principles are the same, the methods are often alike, and the differences do not bear on the chief points. He asserts that, "On the whole, there is one Christian spirituality with, here and there, some variations of stress and emphasis."15 While Gillet's perspective may be challenged by some, the fundamental understanding that the Christian ultimately, "is an imitator of Christ in thought, word, and deed, as far as this is humanly possible,"16 would likely be readily accepted by the vast majority of Eastern and Western Christians.
The distinctively Eastern Christian spiritual expression is the product and synthesis of the theological, liturgical, ascetical/mystical and cultural life, ethos, and piety that developed
13 I have experienced the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition to be very rich. While I am Roman Catholic by background, my mind and heart have been steeped in Eastern Christian spirituality throughout the past two decades, exposing me to a wealth of theological, anthropological, psychological and spiritual insights contained within it. My background and experiences have enabled me to appreciate these insights, while at the same time retaining a critical and analytical distance. 14Andrew M. Colman, "Psychology" in Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001), 600. 15 Lev Gillet (A Monk of die Eastern Church), Orthodox Spirituality: An Outline of the Orthodox Ascetical and Mystical Tradition (Crestwood, N.Y: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1978), x. 16 St. John Climacus, Scala Paradisi 1; PG 88:633B, as found in John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, trans, by Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1982), 74. 8
and assumed a distinctive form.17 While there are four families of Eastern Christian Churches
(Eastern Orthodox, Pre-Chalcedonian, Assyrian Church of the East and Eastern Catholic
Churches), for the purposes of this thesis, the phrase "Eastern Christian" will more specifically
refer here to the religious and spiritual beliefs and practices preserved by both the Eastern
Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches that follow the Byzantine liturgical tradition.18
Efforts to understand the human person, as well as facilitate healing, integration, and growth, have long been the foci of both psychology and Christianity — East and West. It has been noted by the American Psychological Association that, "All religions contain inherent, if
not explicit, understandings of human nature. Christianity has always had a psychology, or
better said, psychologies, called theological anthropology "w H. John McDargh, in commenting on
the relationship between psychology and spirituality, notes that, "The Christian spiritual
tradition arguably has always been deeply if unsystematically engaged with the phenomena of
human interiority (affect, insight, memory, and imagination). For example, Evagrius Ponticus,
17 Petro B. T. Bilaniuk, "Eastern Christian Spirituality" in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, ed. Michael Downey (Collegeville, MI: A Michael Glazier Book, The Liturgical Press, 1993), 320. 18 See http://web.ustpaul.uottawa.ca/sheptytsky/; Internet; accessed 22 March 2003. For a further elaboration of the categorization of the Eastern Christian Churches see Petro B. T. Bilaniuk, "Eastern Catholic Churches, Spirituality of," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 318; Kallistos (Timothy) Ware, The Orthodox Church (London, England: Penguin Books, 1993), and The Orthodox Way (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995); and Ronald Roberson, The Eastern Christian Churches — A Brief Survey (Washington, DC: USCCB Publishing, 1999). An alternate grouping of the Eastern Catholic Churches is found in the canonical tradition, in which the rites of the Eastern Churches are noted to trace their origins to the Alexandrian, Antiochene, Armenian, Chaldean and Contantdnopolitan traditions. (See Congregation for the Eastern Churches, The Vatican, Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (Fairfax, Virginia: Eastern Christian Publications, 1996), 10). Each rite is "the liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church sui iuris". (Congregation for the Eastern Churches, The Vatican, Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, (promulgated by John Paul II, 18 October 1990) [CCEO], canon 28, See http://www.intratext.eom/X/ENG1199.HTM; Internet; accessed 29 March 2008). 19 H. Newton Malony "Christianity and Psychology," in Encyclopedia of Psychology, vol. 2, ed. in chief Alan E. Kazdin, (American Psychological Association, Oxford University Press, 2000), 78. 9
writing as early as the 4th century, offers in his Praktikoi0 a careful categorization of the
"passionate thoughts" that afflict the human person at prayer."21 Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna22 notes that one of the most compelling forces within the human psyche is one's search for identity, meaning, immortality, and God — a largely spiritual and psychological quest.23 Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos24 maintains that Christianity is in fact
"principally a science which cures, that is to say, a psycho-therapeutic method and treatment."25 Tomas Spidlik notes that through Christian asceticism, there is a "reordering of
20 See Evagrius of Pontus, The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, Cistercian Studies Series: Number Four, trans. John Eudes Bamberger (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1981). 21 H.John McDargh, "Psychology, Relationship and Contribution to Spirituality," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality (1993), 792. 22 Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna is a monk and Orthodox hierarch. Born in California, USA, in 1943, he became a monk and then Archimandrite prior to being consecrated Bishop of Oreoi in January, 1986. He was elected Bishop of Etna in September, 1988 and enthroned in May, 1989; and uien conferred the honorary title of Archbishop in September, 1995. He is Exarch for the Holy Synod in Resistance in America. Archbishop Chrysostomos holds undergraduate degrees in history and psychology, and graduate degrees in Orthodox Studies, Byzantine history and psychology. He has an extensive teaching history: he held a professorial post at the University of California, was a professor at Ashland University, was a visiting lecturer at die Ashland Theological Seminary, and a visiting professor at the Theological Institute of the University of Uppsala (Sweden). A former fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Archbishop Chrysostomos has been awarded visiting research appointments at the Harvard Divinity School, Oxford University (as a Marsden Fellow), the University of Washington, and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. He was also a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor in Romania, at the University of Bucharest, at the Al. I. Cuza University in Iasi, and at die Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest. From 2002-2003, he was Executive Director of the U.S. Fulbright Commission in Romania for the U.S. Department of State. In the Spring of 2006, Archbishop Chrysostomos was appointed as the David B. Larson Fellow in Health and Spirituality at the John W. Kluge Center of the U.S. Library of Congress, Washington, DC. He is currently Senior Scholar at the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies and was, until 2005, an adjunct professor in the graduate program at the Ion Mincu University in Bucharest. He is author of some twenty books, as well as more than fifty articles in history, psychology, and Orthodox theology. See the bibliography for a listing of some of his works. 23 Chrysostomos, Bishop [now Archbishop] of Oreoi [now of Etna], "Towards a Spiritual Psychology: The Synthesis of the Desert Fathers," Pastoral Psychology 37, no. 4 (Summer 1989), 260. 24 Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos is an Orthodox hierarch. He was born in Ioannina, Epirus, Greece in 1945 and elected Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St. Vlasios in 1995. He taught Greek and lectured on Orthodox ethics at St. John of Damascus theological school at the University of the Patriarchate of Antioch in northern Lebanon. He is audior of numerous books including Orthodox Psychotherapy. (See Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos, Orthodox Psychotherapy — The Science of the Fathers, trans. Esther Williams (Levadia, Greece: Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 1997). 25 Hierotheos, Orthodox Psychotherapy, 30. This perspective is further supported by J. Romanides: "The patristic tradition is neither a social philosophy nor an ethical system, nor is it religious dogmatism: it is a therapeutic treatment. In this respect it closely resembles medicine especially psychiatry. The spiritual energy of die soul that prays unceasingly in the heart is a physiological instrument which everyone has and which requires healing. Neitiier philosophy nor any of die known positive or social sciences is capable of healing this instrument. That 10
the various elements of human psychology (...) and above all, the growth of Christ in the soul."26 Such claims reflect the importance of the psychological dimension inherent in the
Christian spiritual tradition in general and Eastern Christian tradition specifically.
The psychological insights employed by Christian spiritual Fathers and Mothers are preserved within the Eastern Christian tradition in many a medium including written texts.
Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky27 noted that, "In ascetic texts we find not only psychological and ethical meditations but also the metaphysics of human life."28 However, many of these texts (both those which have been translated into Western languages and those that remain untranslated) have yet to be excavated and explored, and the theological, spiritual, psychological, ethical and metaphysical elements hidden within them studied. Unlike Western
Christianity, which has been greatly affected by die period of the Enlightenment and developments diat followed, Eastern Christian writings, theology and spirituality have largely evaded methodological analysis and categorization. This makes them seemingly more inaccessible and the mystery that the texts contain ostensibly more preserved and guarded.29
Uncovering the psychological elements within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition is therefore not a straightforward task — yet one which begs to be undertaken.
As one who has accompanied others on the quest for personal freedom, integration, and spiritual growth, and as a person who has become increasingly aware of the contribution that
can only be done through the Father's neptic and ascetic teaching. Therefore those who are not healed usually do not even know of the existence of this instrument." See J. Romanides: Romaioi i Romaioi Pateres tis Ekklisias, vol. 1, 22f. in Greek, as quoted in Hierotheos, Orthodox Psychotherapy, 30. 26 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 180. 27 Georges Florovsky (1893 - 1979) was a prominent 20th century Orthodox Christian priest, theologian, and writer, active in the ecumenical movement. For further details, see Aidan Nichols, Tight from the East: Authors <& Themes in Orthodox Theology (New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group, 1999), 129-145. 28 Georges Florovsky, The Byzantine Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers, ed. Richard S. Haugh, trans. Raymond Miller and Anne-Marie Dollinger-Labriolle, Helmut Wilhelm Schmiedel (Belmont, Ma.: Buchervertriebsanstalt, 1979), 136. 29 See Andrew Louth, Discerning the Mystery: An Essay on the Nature of Theology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999). 11
the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition can make in this regard, I cannot help but reflect on several questions: Would a dialogue between psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality be beneficial in reflecting on the means and process of liberating persons from repressive structures of self? As one follows an Eastern Christian way of life, what happens psychologically in one's thoughts, words and deeds, relationships with God, self, others and the world, and spiritual maturity? Is there a way to bring the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition into further dialogue with psychology? Is it possible to illumine the implicit and explicit psychological insights and methods employed by the Eastern Christian tradition as it guides persons in a transformative and liberating process? Is there a way to communicate these insights and methods to members of other spiritual traditions: the scientific, psychological and medical communities, and the wider public? How might this be accomplished? Which psychological approach would be most apropos from which to draw?
1.3. An Eastern Christian Spiritual Text and a Psychological Approach
Given the breadth of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition and the wide variety of psychological approaches, I have elected to follow McGinn's suggestion of entering into a two- way discussion between a specific text and experience (in this case, a spiritual text from
Eastern Christianity and a particular psychological approach) to see how each might inform and illumine the other. For the purposes of this dissertation, I have chosen to focus on the well-known Russian spiritual classic Otkrovennye rasska^y strannika duknovnomu ottsu svoemu,30ot
The Way of a Pilgrim, as it is popularly known in the English-speaking world. As a dialogue
30 The Russian title Otkrovennye rasskasy strannika dukhovnomu ottsu svoemu (Minsk, Belarus': University Press, 1995) has been translated into English as "Sincere Stories told by a Pilgrim to his Spiritual Father" or "The Candid Tale of a Pilgrim to His Spiritual Father." As it is commonly known in English as The Way of the Pilgrim, for convenience I will hereafter refer to it as such. 12
partner to The Way of a Pilgrim, I will utilize psychologist Han de Wit's 1 'contemplative psychology.'
While any one of a number of Eastern Christian spiritual texts could have been selected for this research project, The Way of a Pilgrim both stood out as a text very worthy of research and lent itself well to this endeavour. This text has a prominent place within the Eastern
Christian tradition as well as within the Western modern world. It is an accessible text that has been quite influential in a variety of milieus, and to date, it has not yet been analyzed for the psychological insights that it contains. What follows in section 1.3.1 is an introduction to The
Way of a Pilgrim, as well as contextualization and rationale for its use in this research project.
In like manner, any number of psychological approaches could have been selected to explore the psychological insights within The Way of a Pilgrim. In researching the current methodologies employed by scholars in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, one sees that several authors - particularly Daniel M. Rogich,32 Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos,33
Archbishop Chrysostomos,34 Jean-Claude Larchet,35 and John. J. Michalczyk36 - have
31 Han F. de Wit is a Dutch psychologist, past Professor of Theoretical Psychology at the Free University of Amsterdam, past Professor in the Department of Theology of the Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands, and founder of the Institute of Contemplative Studies. He has written widely on the connections between science, religion and spirituality, and is involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogue. Key elements of contemplative psychology that are appropriate to this research project will be outlined in Chapter 3 of this dissertation. 32 Daniel M. Rogich, Becoming Uncreated: The journey to Human Authenticity (Minneapolis, MN: Light and Life Publishing, 1997). 33See Hierotheos, Orthodox Psychotherapy, Hierotheos, The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition, trans, by Effie Mavromichali (Levadia, Greece: Birth of Theotokos Monastery, 1993). 34 See Chrysostomos, Archibishop of Etna, Themes in Orthodox Patristic Psychology, Volume One - Humility (Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1983); Themes in Orthodox Patristic Psychology, Volume Two - Obedience (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1984); Themes in Orthodox Patristic Psychology, Volume Three - Repentance (Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1986); Themes in Orthodox Patristic Psychology, Volume Four - hove (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1988); "Demonology in the Orthodox Church: A Psychological Perspective," Greek Orthodox Theological Review 33 (1988), 45-61; "Towards a Spiritual Psychology," 255-273; "Jung and the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church: Comments on Common Ground," Pastoral Psychology 38, no. 4 (1990), 197-203. 35 See Jean-Claude Larchet, Therapeutique des maladies spirituelles: une introduction a la tradition ascetique de I'Eglise orthodoxe (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1997); Therapeutique des maladies mentales: I experience de lOrient chretien des premiers siecles (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1992); Theologie de la maladie (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1991). 13
attempted to elucidate the psychological insights within die tradition. These authors, basing
their writings on the Fathers of the Church, elucidate an understanding of the human person,
spiritual and mental disorders, and their cures. In so doing, they open up the dialogue between
psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality.
Chrysostomos, from his perspective, offers some noteworthy comments and general
caveats about science, psychology, and the theory of Orthodox psychotherapy and its
application. In his recent work, he states that,
"It is not my contention, of course, that religion and the mental health sciences do not have real points of convergence. (...) I enthusiastically argue that they surely do. Nor do I wish to say that science and Orthodox psychotherapy have no points of convergence. I do not for a moment deny that some of the techniques of Hesychastic practice have parallels in treatment modalities used by psychologists and psychiatrists. Meditation and concentration, for example, have been used successfully to treat anxiety and stress. There is some evidence, as well, that fasting can have an ameliorative effect even on the symptoms of disorders so serious as schizophrenia and depression. Psychologists and psychiatrists have also argued that harmony between the body and mind has its curative effects. And what Orthodox psychotherapy says about the importance of love in the restoration of those suffering from psychological disorders is echoed even in popular writings about secular psychotherapy and its successes and failures. However, it would be wrong and misleading to suggest that Orthodox psychotherapy has, as its fundamentalgoal, the treatment of psychological disorders or the specific concerns of the clinic and the secular therapist. In fact, none of my writings about Patristic psychology has ever, in a direct way, touched on my pre-monastic work as an academic psychologist and my research in the clinical application of social psychological theory and in Freudian and Jungian theory. Metropolitan Hierotheos, in his treatment of Hesychastic methodology, has also been careful to emphasize that "psychiatry and neurology are called to cure pathological anomalies" in behavior, while "Orthodox theology cures" the "existential dilemmas" of life and "the deeper causes that engender them."
I might go even farther than Metropolitan Hierotheos and say that, at a global level, in most psychotherapeutic systems the ultimate purpose of the therapist is to restore the ego, the personality, or the self. Depending on the mode of therapy, this may involve, among other things, achieving an increased awareness of the subconscious inner dynamics of the individual (touching on developmental, sexual, and affective aspects of the psyche); the establishment of adaptive relations with others and the attainment of a positive sense of self-worth or self-esteem; or an encounter with existential issues that
36 See John. J. Michalczyk, Seeking Harmony with the Divine Energies: An Eastern Christian Approach to Pastoral Psychotherapy, unpublished master's thesis (Loyola University, Chicago, IL, 1995). 14
speak to the inner self or a sense of belonging and self-fulfillment, at a personal level, in the larger scheme of things. In terms of a holistic perspective on psychotherapy, in each of these cases there are both instances of concern for the relationship between the body and the mind (or the body and the soul) and circumstances in which spiritual matters arise. But the obvious and principal object of therapeutic attention still remains the treatment and emendation of human psychological ills. By contrast, the aim of Orthodox psychotherapy is, again, not the treatment of psychological maladies or various incidental symptoms of spiritual or existential malaise; its purpose is above all spiritual, and it addresses the concerns of secular psychotherapy only in a secondary sense and by way of curing specific spiritual ills as they are defined by the anthropology and soteriology of the Greek Fathers and Orthodox theology. Its primary aim is to unite the human being, body and soul, psychologically and somatically, to the Divine Energies and to restore the human being (using that term in its full ontic and noumenal sense) to a potential state of perfection, to the highest expression of humanity, to the brevet dignity Divinity by Grace.
Not only is the aim of Orthodox psychotherapy different from that of secular psychotherapy, but also the techniques of treatment that the two may employ in common adventitiously are meant to have very different consequences and are predicated on much different assumptions about the constituent components of the psychosomatic structure of man. When the Hesychast speaks of the body and mind acting in concord, therefore, he does not mean what the secular psychologist means by mind-body harmonization. Moreover, Hesychastic therapeutic methods deal with more than incidental spiritual images and spiritual or religious ideation; they are immersed in something beyond cognition or the surprise of joy — beyond religious mystery and beyond the mysterium tremendum and das gan% andere of spiritual awe. Orthodox psychotherapy brings one face a face with the "otherly" in the form of the facts of holiness, with the novus homo and a new vision of what men and women can be. If psychotherapy can restore in us a sense of what we are, or even achieve, at times, the deontological end of knowing what we should be, Orthodox psychotherapy — in returning the mind to the heart and coordinating the spiritual essence of the mind with the discursive intellect and the body — reveals to man deiform dimensions of humanity that he has probably never imagined and ontological horizons that are submerged deep in the psyche and beclouded by the indurated accretions of mere existence. In the process of curing the mind as Orthodox psychotherapy envisions it, one moves past the mere restoration of mental health, and all that it entails, to deification and an endless, ineffable potential for growth and perfection. If the two processes of restoration are related, they are also separated by the encompassing splendor of spiritual renewal."37
This encapsulates one perspective of thought regarding the interface of psychology and
Eastern Christian spirituality.
37 Chrysostomos, Archibishop of Etna, A Guide to Orthodox Psychotherapy — The Science, Theology and Spiritual Practice Behind it and its Clinical Application (New York, NY: University Press of America, 2007), 99-101. 15
Other perspectives, however, also exist that attempt to bridge the divide between the
Eastern Christian spiritual tradition and psychology, particularly those working in clinical and
pastoral capacities. These practitioners face the challenges of working with individuals who
have experienced distressing circumstances in their lives that have impacted their concept of
self, God, others and the world; their human formation; and subsequently their experience of
spirituality.38 A number of the Orthodox psychologists, psychiatrists and academics (teachers
and practitioners) who have contributed to this work over the last twenty-five years include
persons such as Karlfried Graf von Durckheim and Alphonse Goettmann,39 John Chirban,40
38 I refer here to situations in which, for example, a person has experienced abuse (emotional, physical, and/or sexual) at the hand of perhaps a significant other (such as a parent). The person may have enormous difficulties accepting that he or she is loved, acceptable, and wonderfully and beautifully made according to the image and likeness of God (particularly given that the message received would have been shaming and contrary). If the abused person's image of him or her self, as well as his or her own father or mother, authority figures, and men or women is based on diis experience, distortion will inevitably result. Likewise, it may be very difficult for the individual to establish and maintain a relationship with God the Father, authority figures, spouses, and bosses, let alone life itself. He or she may also struggle with being a loving parent. Without addressing the unresolved psychological issues in mind and heart, the pain inflicted and its impact on die person, injustices done, the resulting distortions of self-image, the characteristics and gift of the self, and die need for healthy boundaries and appropriate coping skills, resolution and forgiveness remains at best incomplete. Spiritual development will be compromised, and possibly even arrested. If an unhealthy spirituality is practiced by such an individual (or imposed upon him or her), the abuse may be furdier perpetuated in the name of 'spirituality' and 'God,' thereby inflicting even furdier wounds. Eastern Christian practitioners working with such individuals have the challenge of integrating the insights and techniques of the human sciences widi the wisdom and compassion of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, hopefully carefully discerning and determining which approach and remedy to utilize in various circumstances and widi whom so that true healing and integration might be possible. 39 Karlfried Durckheim, Alphonse Goettmann, Dialogue on the Path of Initiation: An Introduction to the Ufe and Thought of Karlfried Graf Durckheim (Yorktown Heights, NY: Globe Pr Books, 1991). 40 John Chirban, "Spiritual Discernment and Differential Diagnosis: Interdisciplinary Approaches," Personhood (Westport, Conn: Bergin & Garvey, 1996 and Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 35-43; Chirban...[et al.], "Panel on Personhood: Medicine, Psychology, and Religion," Personhood (Westport, Conn : Bergin & Garvey, 1996 and Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 97-104; "Healing and Orthodox Spirituality," Ecumenical 'Review, vol. 45, Issue 3 (Jul 93), 337-344; Chirban, ed., Personhood: Orthodox Christianity and the Connection Between Body, Mind, and Soul (Westport, Conn: Bergin & Garvey, 1996); "Psychological Stressors in Mixed Marriages," Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 40 no 3-4 (Fall-Wint 1995), 321-337; Clergy Sexual Misconduct: Orthodox Christian Perspectives (Brookline, Mass: Hellenic College Pr, 1994); "Healing and Spirituality," Pastoral Psychology, 40 no 4 (Mr 1992), 235- 244; Canellos, George; Chirban, John T.; Harakas, Stanley S., "Interdisciplinary Report on AIDS," Health and Faith (Lanham, Md: Univ Pr of America, 1991 and Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 99-103; Chirban, John T., ed., Healing: Orthodox Christian Perspectives in Medicine, Psychology, and Religion (Brookline, Mass: Holy Cross Ordiodox Pr, 1991); "Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in Human Development," Harvard Theological Review, 74 no 4 (O 1981), 397-398; Human Growth and Faith: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in Human Development ([S.l.]: Univ Prof America, 1981). 16
George Morelli,41 Albert Rossi,42 Wendy Robinson, Stephen Plumlee,44 Jessica Rose,
Meletios Webber46 and the Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and
Religion.47 Finally, Harold G. Koenig, Michael E. McCullough, and David B. Larson have
offered insights into psychotherapy with Eastern Orthodox Christians in one of the
41 George Morelli, "Christian Asceticism and Cognitive Psychology," in Raising Lazarus (Brookline, Mass: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2004 and Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 119-127; "Response to Fr Nicholas Graff," in Raising Lazarus, 255-258; "The Biopsychology of Sexuality and Orthodoxy: Some Reflections," Personhood (Westport, Conn: Bergin & Garvey, 1996 Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 107-112; Review of Clergy Sexual Misconduct: Orthodox Christian Perspectives, St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, 39 no 3 (1995), 317-319. 42 Albert Rossi, "Silent Spaces, Silent Times." Uguorian, 82: 46-47(Dec 1994); "Teaching Children to Think Straight," Uguorian, 82: 60-61(Nov 1994); "Conflict: Challenge and Opportunity," Uguorian, 82: 34-35(Oct 1994); "Talking with Children about Sex," Uguorian, 82: 52-53(Sep 1994); "Teaching Self-esteem," Uguorian, 82: 26- 27(Aug 1994); "Strategies for Cooperation," Uguorian, 82: 56-57(Jul 1994); "Spiritual Aspects of Fatherhood," Uguorian, 82: 28-35Qun 1994); "Effective Discipline," Uguorian, 82: 44-45(May 1994); "Pastors of the Domestic Church," Uguorian, 82: 18-19(Apr 1994); Review of Raising God's children, Uguorian, 82: 50-51(Jan 1994); "Biblical Epic and Rhetorical Paraphrase in Late Antiquity," Speculum, 64 no 2 (Ap 1989), 493-496; "Religious Imagery, Paradox and Metaphor in Psychotherapy," Journal of Pastoral Counseling, 20 no 2 (Fall-Wint 1985), 107-136; "Can I make a Difference: Christian Family Life Today," (Paulist, 1990); "Learning from Our Mistakes," Studies in Formative Spirituality, 3: 245-52 (May 1982). 43 Wendy Robinson, "The Afterlife," Teacher Magazine, vol. 17 issue 1 (Aug/Sep 2005) 55-56; "Mary: The Flower and Fruit of Worship: The Mother of God in the Orthodox Tradition," Abba (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2003 Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 193-205; "Mechanisms Leading to Uniparental Disomy and Their Clinical Consequences," BioEssays, vol. 22 issue 5 (May 2000), 452-460; "The Quest for the Heart of the Work: An Ontological Approach to Spirituality and Psychotherapy/Counselling," Psychodynamic Counselling, vol. 4 issue 3 (Aug 98), 335-349; "The 'Problem' of the Female Pupil Teacher: Constructions, Conflict and Control 1860-1910," Cambridge Journal of Education, vol. 27 issue 3 (Nov 97), 365-378; Holt, D. and Robinson, W., Pastoral Counseling: An Exercise in Ontology (Oxford: ZiPrint, 1980). 44 Stephen Plumlee, "Theological Considerations," in Raising Lazarus (Brookline, Mass: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2004 Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 85-93; Review of Theology of Wonder, St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, 45 no 3 (2001), 301-306; "The Handicapped in the Orthodox Church," Partners in life, (Geneva: WCC, 1979 Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 109-114. 45 Jessica Rose, Sharing Spaces? Prayer and the Counselling Relationship (London: Darton Longman & Todd, 2002); Review of Steps of Transformation: An Orthodox Priest Explores the Twelve Steps, Souro^h, no 92 (My 2003), 58-59; "Discovering the Wonders of Our World," International Journal of Environmental Studies, vol. 45 issue 3/4 (Apr94), 313-315; "Children's Informational Books," International Journal of Environmental Studies, vol. 42 issue 2/3 (Nov92), 225-227; "Monster in Our Midst," International Journal of Environmental Studies, vol. 35 issue 1/2 (1989), 145-147; Review of The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann, 1973-1983, Souro^h, no 85 (Ag 2001), 53-56; "Looking into the Void: Addiction, Spiritual Hunger and Ecological Crisis," Souro^h, no 82 (N 2000), 28-39; "Pastoral Counselling and Prayer," in Clinical Counselling in Pastoral Settings (London; New York: Roudedge, 1999 Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2002), 51-63; Review of Father Alexander Men, A Witness for Contemporary Russia, A Man for Our Times, Souro^h, no 62 (N 1995), 50-52; Review of Equal and Different: Male and Female in Church and Family, Souro^h, no 57 (Ag 1994), 51-52. 46 Meletios Webber, Steps of transformation: an Orthodox priest explores the Twelve Steps (Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Pr, 2003). 47 See OCAMPR, www.ocampr.org. 17
foundational works on the nexus between religion and the health sciences, the Handbook of
Religion and Health put out by the American Psychological Association.48
While all of these authors have made some significant contributions to the dialogue between spirituality and psychology and have been able to systematize some of the psychological insights inherent in the Eastern Christian tradition, they do not, however, offer a systematic framework, theory, epistemology, or methodology by which the insights embedded in the tradition - or a work such as The Way of a Pilgrim — might be opened up.
Through the course of my research, 'Contemplative Psychology' presented itself.
Contemplative psychology as developed by Han F. de Wit,49 is focused primarily on spiritual development. It is,
[A] psychology that endeavors to understand that which comprises spiritual development and, on the basis of that understanding, it tries to guide the individual on the contemplative way. This type of psychology therefore not only explores the value of contemplative knowledge and the use of those contemplative disciplines that lead to such knowledge, but it also discusses the nature of effective spiritual guidance. It provides a psychological understanding of the role of mercy, compassion and, last but not least, it explores the nature of contemplative action in daily life and in the liturgy. Furthermore, it is a form of psychology that studies egocentrism and ways of transforming it.
As a heuristic tool, contemplative psychology's theoretical framework, epistemology, and methodology seem to hold much promise regarding a psychological analysis of The Way of a
Pilgrim.
48 Harold G. Koenig M.D., Michael E. McCullough, Ph.D., and David B. Larson, M.D. Handbook of'Religion and Health (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001). 49 Please note that there is another form of 'contemplative psychology' written about by psychiatrist and teacher Gerald May. See Gerald May, Will and Spirit: A Contemplative Psychology (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1982); Care of Mind, Care of Spirit: Psychiatric Dimensions of Spiritual Direction (New York, NY: HarperCollins Pub, 1992); The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004); Addiction and Grace: 'Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions ([S.l.]: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988); The Awakened Heart: Living Beyond Addiction ([S.l.]: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991); Simply Sane ([S.l.]: Paulist, 1977). 50 Han F. de Wit, The Spiritual Path: An Introduction to the Psychology of the Spiritual Traditions, trans, of De verborgen bloei by Henry Jansen & Lucia Hofland-Jansen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1999), 57-58. 18
While utilizing other psychological approaches to analyze The Way of a Pilgrim might have been useful (such as applying methods associated with the psychoanalytic, behavioural, humanistic, cognitive, or transpersonal schools; those of object relations; or stages of faith development), contemplative psychology was selected for this research project. At the root of this choice was the way in which contemplative psychology aims to draw out the psychology within a contemplative tradition or spiritual text. Conversely, utilizing other approaches generally required viewing the text through a lens external to the tradition — a lens coloured by, perhaps, a very different worldview and understanding of the human person, God, and the process of transformation than would be found in Eastern Christian spirituality. Section 1.3.2 will introduce contemplative psychology, place it in the broader context of psychology and
Eastern Christian spirituality, and further outline reasons for selecting it as the heuristic tool to be employed in this research endeavour.
1.3.1. Candid Narratives of a Pilgrim to His Spiritual Father [The Way of Pilgrim]
The Way of a Pilgrim is a collection of four simple stories about a Russian pilgrim seeking to understand and acquire the practice of unceasing prayer. Noted to be "the only text of its kind, describing the mystical-religious quest for a way of practicing prayer,"51 it is a treasure- trove of insight and wisdom into spiritual experience and an instruction manual for those wishing to follow a spiritual path. It is through these stories that a religious consciousness is intentionally described.52
51 S. A. Ipatova,' "Otkrovennye rasskazy strannika dukhovnomu svoemu ottsu": paradigma siuzeta', Khristianstvo i russkaia literatura (Sankt Peterburg: 'Nauka', 2002): 301; as referenced in Anat Vernitski, '"The Way of the Pilgrim': Literary Reading of a Religious Text," Slavonica, vol. 9, no. 2, November 2003,114. 52 Pierre Pascal, The Religion of the Russian People, trans. Rowan Williams (London: Mowbrays, 1976), 5. 19
The stories narrated in The Way of a Pilgrim are a first-person account of a poor, lame
strannik'P journeys through nineteenth-century Russia, Ukraine and Siberia with only a Bible
and a knapsack containing dry bread. Inspired by a reading of St. Paul's injunction to "pray
without ceasing"54 (1 Thess. 5:17 NRSV) during the Divine Liturgy, this strannik sets out to
find someone to teach him how to live this out. Upon finding a starets55 (spiritual father), he is
introduced to the Dobrotolubiye^ and the practice of the Jesus prayer57 — the repetition of the
53 A strannik was a typical figure in pre-Soviet Russian society (see Michel Evdokimov, Pelerins russes et vagabonds mystiques (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 2004). He or she is a "perpetual pilgrim (...) or errant, who has neither hearth nor home and spends the whole of his time, all the year round, going from one holy place to the odier," (see Pierre Pascal, "Pilgrimages of the Orthodox Church," latmen Vitae, vol. XIII, no. 2 (1958), 238.). This term "denotes a religious wanderer who wanders from monastery to monastery in search of spiritual enlightenment, rather than a pilgrim who travels to a specific holy location," (see Vernitski, "The Way of die Pilgrim", endnote 2, 121). The strannik's journey is continuous, thereby emphasizing the process of the spiritual journey rather than an end result. Continual prayer which the strannik seeks is by nature a never-ending process, (see Vernitski, "The Way of the Pilgrim", 116). The strannik's state of constant wandering and voluntary homelessness allows him to identify with Christ by being in the world, but not of die world, in imitation of Christ. For the purposes of this paper, the terms 'strannik', 'pilgrim' and 'wanderer' will be used interchangeably. Additionally, it is to be noted that the strannik's spiritual journey and maturation begins not when he embarks upon his formal pilgrimage, but commenced at the beginning of his earthly life. All of his life experiences impact his spiritual development. 54 Smith, The Pilgrim's Tale, 49. 55 A starets (elder) is a "well-known director of conscience," (see Pascal, "Pilgrimages of the Orthodox Church," 238-239.). According to Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim", endnote 4, 121, diese, "Elders are people of spiritual aufhority established not by the Church hierarchy but by popular consent. They were usually priests or monks, but dieir status did not depend on their role within the Church, thus making them purely a popular phenomenon." (Cf. Pascal, The Religion of the Russian People). As such they were an example of charismatic as opposed to institutional authority. 56 The Dobrotolubiye is the Slavonic translation of a selection of manuscripts written in Greek by spiritual masters of the Orthodox Christian tradition between the fourth and fifteenth centuries. Compiled by monk Paissii Velychkovsky (1722-1794) who visited Mount Athos and later setded in Moldavia, the Dobrotolubiye was first published in Moscow in 1793 and later reprinted in Moscow in 1822. The pilgrim in The Way of the Pilgrim carried a copy of this Slavonic translation widi him as he wandered. The original Greek texts penned by the spiritual masters were organized into an anthology that came to be known as the Philokalia. Compiled in the eighteenth century by the monks St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain (1749-1809) and St. Makarios of Corinth (1731-1805), this original Greek Philokalia was first published in Venice in 1782, then in Adiens in 1893 with some additions, and third during the years 1957-1963 by the Astir Publishing Company. The English translation of the Philokalia is based on the Astir edition. (For die English translation, see The Philokalia: The Complete Text, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth, trans, from the Greek and ed. G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware; with the assistance of die Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline) [et al.]. 4 volumes (London and Boston: Faber, 1979-1995). Selections of the Philokalia have been translated into several languages. First published in Greek, various texts from it were translated into Slavonic and Russian. Current translations into Romanian and French are underway. The Slavonic Dobrotolubiye previously mentioned is distinct from bodi the Russian Dobrotolubiye compiled by Bishop Ignatii Brianchaninov (published in 1857), as well as the Russian translation by St. Theophan the Recluse who included in it several texts not in the original Greek edition. St. Theophan the Recluse 20
phrase 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me' — is explained to him. The starets initially instructs die strannik to say the Jesus prayer 3,000 times a day, then 6,000 times, and finally 12,000 times. Gradually, the strannik stops counting the number of recitations, as the prayer has become united with his every breath and heart-beat.
Throughout the narrative, the strannik focuses on the Jesus prayer and tells of his search for true prayer, his frustration with conventional teaching, his wanderings, and his failed attempt to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Of particular interest is the strannik's depiction of the many people and trials that he encounters along his journey. Ordinary circumstances of daily life come to be points of departure for prayer, as well as theophanies for him and others.58 Whether the strannik comes across a peasant, civil servant, or landowner, he is able to find someone who shares his longing for ceaseless prayer.
The Way of a Pilgrim depicts,
[T]he radical deepening of the strannik's knowledge of poverty of spirit and of the living experience of divine presence that interior prayer opens him to. (...) Everything that occurs to the pilgrim (...) guides him through both exterior events and graded stages of inner self-revelation to an ever-more radiant awareness of the Christ-fire burning within him and in (...) creation.59
These transformations in the strannik will be explored in Chapter 4, while background details regarding The Way of a Pilgrim itself will be further outlined in Chapter 2 of this dissertation. deliberately omitted or paraphrased certain passages in some of the texts of the Greek edition. The Russian Dobrotolubiye translation by St. Theophan the Recluse was published at Moscow between 1877 and 1913. Please note that 'Philokalia" vri}\ be used from diis point forward to refer to the Dobrotolubiye — the Slavonic translation of the Greek Philokalia that the pilgrim carried. All quotations referring to this collection will be from die above noted aumoritative English translation The Philokalia, ed. G.E.H. Palmer et. al. For further details regarding the Philokalia, see the introduction to The Philokalia, vol. 1,11-18. 57 The "Jesus Prayer" is a term of convenience in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition which designates the invocation of the name Jesus, whether alone or inserted into a more or less extended formula. (See Lev Gillet [A Monk of the Eastern Church], The Jesus Prayer (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995, 21). (See bibliography for further references to the Jesus Prayer). 58 Richard Byrne, ocso, "Journey (Growth and Development in Spiritual Life)" in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 573. 59 The Way of a Pilgrim: annotated and explained, trans, and annot. by Gleb Pokrovsky (Woodstock, Vt.: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2001), x. 21
1.3.1.1. The Way of a Pilgrim in Context
The following section aims to situate The Way of a Pilgrim in context. Of particular interest is its place within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition generally, and hesychast and kenotic spirituality more specifically. Reception of The Way of a Pilgrim in the modern western world is also discussed.
1.3.1.1.1. The Way of a Pilgrim and Eastern Christian Spirituality
The Way of a Pilgrim is situated within the hesychast tradition of Eastern Christian spirituality.60 Hesychasm refers to a form of spirituality that focuses on the attainment of personal perfection by union with God through perpetual prayer.61 The word itself is derived from the Greek hesychia ("quiet" or "stillness"). For St. Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), a preeminent theologian and defender of hesychasm, hesychia is a sign of a soul reaching its true balance. It bestows "stability of mind and of the surrounding world, abandonment of things below, initiation to things above, concentration of thoughts on that which is good. Hesychia is indeed an action, leading to true contemplation, or the vision of God."62
According to St. Gregory Palamas, hesychasm is founded on certain premises, and is comprised of particular elements. Its three foundational premises are as follows: the creation of the person "in the image and likeness of God, the renewal and deification of human nature
60 Philip Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," Christian Spirituality III: Post-Reformation and Modern, World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, vol. 18, ed. by Louis Dupre and Don E. Saliers in collaboration with John Meyendorff, (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989), 417-431. While hesychasm is characteristic of the spirituality of the Eastern Christian Churches and has had a monumental influence upon the formation of Eastern Christian spirituality (see Bilaniuk, "Eastern Christian Spirituality," 329), it is only one of the many forms of spirituality found in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. 61 David Hester, The Jesus Prayer—A Gift from the Fathers (Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 2001), 6. 62 St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 53:33, as quoted in George Mantzaridis, "Spiritual Life in Palamism," in Christian Spirituality II: High Middle Ages and Reformation, World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, vol. 17, ed. by Jill Raitt in collaboration with Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff (New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing Co., 1996), 210. (See St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 53:33, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae — A Digital Library of Greek Literature, http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu). 22
in Christ, and the human person's potential to share in this renewal and deification.63
Hesychasm comprises four essential and distinguishing elements: devotion to the name of
Jesus, sorrow for sin, the discipline of frequent repetition, and a non-discursive, imageless prayer leading to inner silence.64
The term "hesychast" designates one who practices hesychasm, and who uses the Jesus prayer and the physical techniques connected with it. Though the word hesychasm does not appear in The Way of a Pilgrim, it is the form of spirituality depicted throughout the story. The strannik learns, lives and gradually exemplifies hesychasm as he both practices the Jesus prayer and studies hesychasm's central text, the Philokalia. The strannik's goal is that of hesychastic and contemplative prayer: knowledge of and union with God.65
Throughout much of the strannik's formal pilgrimage, he practices and teaches others about the Jesus prayer. This short prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me," is notably at the very heart of hesychasm.66 A form of mental prayer ("that is, prayer which is not simply mental, or performed unskillfully by the mind, but rather is performed skillfully by the mind in the heart"67), the Jesus Prayer has primarily been used by contemplatives who have given themselves to the "remembrance of God" — remembering
God unceasingly and in all things.68 These persons adopt its prayerful repetition as a way of life. Gradually, the prayer comes to speak continually to them deep within their own being and affects their every response — conscious and unconscious. Their intent in praying the Jesus
63 Mantzaridis, "Spiritual Life in Palamism," 209. 64 Ronald J. Zawilla, "Hesychasm," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 471. 65 The Way of a Pilgrim, Pokrovsky, 18. 66 Grace A. Brame, "The Prayer of Jesus and Its Relationship to Hesychasm and Orthodox Spirituality," The Patristic and Byzantine Review 5, no. 1 (1986), 48. 61 Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky, ed. by Fr. Seraphim (Rose) (Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1976), 193. 68 Brame, "The Prayer of Jesus," 48. 23
prayer is to be led back to their original, unfallen nature as made in the image of God;69 their
hope is that selfless love is able to increase within them such that their contemplation becomes
"the utmost exercise in charity."
The Jesus prayer consists of three main stages. These include "the purification of soul
and body from the effects of the 'fall', the raising of the intellect to meditation on divine
realities, and the resurrection to an original God-like state. These stages are complementary
and interdependent, although there is a certain sequence in the following of them."71 Brame
notes that "each of these is respectively dependent upon genuine penitence, the practice of the
'remembrance of God,' and receptivity to the transformative work of the Holy Spirit."72 Given
the components inherent in the prayer, and most importantly its invocation of the Name of
Jesus, some maintain that the Jesus prayer is so important to the Orthodox that it can replace
all other prayers.73
The Way of a Pilgrim also depicts kenotic spirituality — a form of spirituality central to
Eastern Slavic Christians. The word henosis is derived from the Greek kenos, meaning "empty,
without effect," and its verb form, kenoo, "to make empty or of no effect."74 Kenosis is used to
69 Brame, "The Prayer of Jesus," 48. 70 Gillet, Orthodox Spirituality, 30. 71 Philip Sherrard, Athos, Holy Mountain (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1982), 160. Here, "God-like" should be understood as referring to the image and likeness of God spoken of in Genesis 1:26-28 NRSV, and its ultimate fulfillment as heralded in 2 Peter 1:3-5 NRSV. 72 Brame, "The Prayer of Jesus," 49. 73 Lorenzo Scupoli, Unseen Warfare, ed. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, trans. E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer (London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1983), 158. It should be noted that Eastern Christianity has a penchant for hyperbole. As a result, one must be careful not to take expressions such as these too literally. While some may make such claims, this writer would disagree. One would be hard pressed to suggest that prayers such as the Lord's Prayer, instituted by Christ Himself, are replaceable by the Jesus Prayer. On the other hand, however, the power of the Name of Jesus in itself cannot be overlooked. See Hausherr, Irenee, The Name of Jesus, trans. Charles Cummings (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1978). 74 Donald Senior, C. "Kenosis" in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 584. Vladimir Lossky notes that '"The entire mystery of economy (...) consists in die self-emptying and abasement of the Son of God.' It is the renunciation of His own will in order to accomplish die will of the Father by being obedient to Him unto death and unto the cross. Besides, this renunciation of His own will is not a choice, or an act, but is so to speak the very being of die Persons of the Trinity who have only one will proper to their common nature. (...) Thus the 24
describe the kenosis of Christ: "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied [ekenosen] himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness..." (Phil 2: 6-7 NRSV). Christ's self-transcending love
— or emptying — led Him to take on a human existence marked by humility and servanthood, expressed ultimately in his death for others. Some modern spiritual authors suggest that kenosis refers to the process of self-transcendence called for in authentic conversion of heart.75 The strannik aims to identify with the humiliated Christ and embodies kenotic spirituality.
1.3.1.1.2. The Way of a Pilgrim in the Modern Western World
It has been said that one of the most significant events in the intellectual life of the modern Western world has been the discovery of the hesychast tradition.76 The Way of a Pilgrim has been instrumental in this process, and particularly acknowledged for the subtle ways in which it opens up and depicts hesychasm in both an accessible and inspiring way.
An interest in and appreciation of hesychasm in the Western world has passed through two major stages. The first stage occurred over the last century and involved the rediscovery of the writings of the Greek patristic tradition initially by Roman Catholic scholars. Central to this stage was the publication and exploration of patristic texts largely related to hesychasm and the hesychast way of life. The second stage was marked by the descholasticization and
out-pouring, self-emptying of Himself only produces the greater manifestation of the deity of the Son to all those who are able to recognize greatness in abasement, weakh in spoliation, liberty in obedience." (See Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (Cambridge: James Clarke, 1973, 144-145). Lossky further notes that, "The Holy Spirit communicates Himself to persons, marking each member of the Church with a seal of personal and unique relationship to the Trinity, becoming present in each person. How does this come about? That remains a mystery — the mystery of the self-emptying, of the xevcomg of the Holy Spirit's coming into the world." (See Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 1973,168). 75 Donald Senior, C. "Kenosis" in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 584. 76 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 417. 25
dehistoricization of hesychasm, and the recognition of hesychasm as a living tradition that permeates every aspect of the inner life of the Church.77
The translation of The Way of a Pilgrim into Western European languages, German (1925),
French (1928), English (1930), has been singled out for the important part it played in the second stage of the discovery of hesychasm. It came as a revelation to a West, in which the split between abstract theology and individualistic "mysticism," gnosis and ens, knowledge and method, had undermined the contemplative tradition, and in which many were beginning to turn to the non-Christian religions of the East for guidance.78
The Way of a Pilgrim made the hesychast tradition accessible to a modern Western readership in several ways. First, it presented the practice of the hesychast way of life and the
Jesus prayer in a context not limited to monastics, nor to the past. Hesychasm was rather portrayed as being understandable to contemporary persons of various ages and walks of life, all of whom were able to practice unceasing prayer. Second, the strannik's possession and love of the Philokalia, as well as frequent reading from and study of it, introduced its readers to a spiritual treasure trove.79 George Maloney, a renowned historian of Russian Orthodox spirituality, has suggested that the Philokalia has perhaps had the greatest influence after the
Bible in keeping alive the traits typical of Russian spirituality. The Way of a Pilgrim was perhaps the first intimation of and introduction to the "secret science" {krypte' melete) of prayer and spiritual wisdom detailed in the Philokalia^
77 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 417-418. 78 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 418. 79 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 418. 80 The 'Pilgrim's Tale, x. 81 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 418. The "secret science" {krypte melete) that Sherrard refers to is the prayer and spiritual wisdom "communicated in the form of a tradition organically attached to the integral tradition of the Christian church and set forth in (...) the (...) 'Philokalia''' (See Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 418-419). Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev states that, "The Eastern Orthodox Tradition has 26
The Philokalia consists of a series of texts that together constitute a manual, guide, and
companion to the hesychast prayer of the heart and the following of the hesychast way. The
strannik regarded his copy of the Philokalia with a reverence usually reserved solely for the
Bible. It appeared to explain, step-by-step, the stages of the mysterious spiritual journey on which the strannik had embarked and to lay down the guidelines as to how these stages were to be traversed. In many ways, the characters in The Way of a Pilgrim, and especially that of the
strannik, offer an accessible portrayal of the spiritual life and journey as set forth within the more complex texts of the Philokalia. Jean Gouillard, in his introduction to Petite philocalie de la prie're du cceur^ notes that The Way of a Pilgrim brought the Philokalia to the attention of the general public. The pilgrim, through his ongoing reference to and high regard for the
Philokalia, revealed the Philokalia to be a gospel of prayer.84
The Philokalia's influence on the piety and cultural world of Russia in the nineteenth century is alleged to have been extensive. The works of Feodor Dostoevsky, to go no further, testify to this. The significance of hesychasm as a whole was initially acknowledged with the canonization of St. Gregory Palamas, its great theological defender; and then again in 1988, when, on the occasion of the millennium of the Christianization of Rus', the translators of the developed a special form of prayer, designated by the technical term krypte melete, 'secret occupation', 'inward meditation'. This type of prayer, known from as early as the fifth century, is still very widespread in the Orthodox world and consists of the constant repetition of a short formula of prayer, such as the Jesus prayer: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner'. There are also shorter formulae: 'Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me', or 'Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me', or even 'Christ, have mercy' and 'Lord, have mercy'." (Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, "Prayer and Monasticism in Orthodox Tradition"; See http://en.hilarion. orthodoxia.org/print/6-21; Internet; accessed 8 December 2008). This Christian 'secret occupation' or 'inward meditation' should not be confused with any type of heretical Gnosticism. 82 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 418-427. 83 Petite philocalie de lapriere du cceur, traduite et presentee par Jean Gouillard (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1968). 84 Jean Gouillard notes that "Les Re'cits d'un Pelerin russe (...) ont revele la Philocalie au grand public. L'aventure de cet attachant vagabond de Jesus l'a d'emblee aureolee d'un prestige, releve encore par un titre hermetique et la rarete du livre. Refractee par la confession du Pelerin, la Philocalie est apparue comme l'Evangile d'une priere, etrange a la fois et familiere, naive et amicale comme une page des Fioritti. La realite est moins simple, sans etre tout a fait differente." Gouillard, Petite philocalie de lapriere du caur, 9. 85 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 421-422. 27
Philokalia and proponents of hesychasm (St. Paisii Velychkovsky [1722-1794], Bishop Ignatii
Brianchaninov [1807-1867], and St. Theophan the Recluse [1815-1894]), the starets St. Amvrosii
of Optino [1812-1891], and modern hesychast Silouan [1866-1938], were canonized.86
The Way of a Pilgrim began appearing in the libraries of English-speaking North
Americans following its translation into English in 1930 by R. M. French.87 Since then, it has
remained constandy in print and has enjoyed a growing readership. One of the biggest surges in the book's popularity came with the publication of J.D. Salinger's best-selling novel Franny
and Zooeyw in 1961 (Franny Glass, one of the novel's principal characters, is obsessed with the
Way of a Pilgrim as well as with the practice of the Jesus prayer89).
The Way of a Pilgrim has been touted as the best-known and most popular book on
Eastern Slavic spirituality available to an English speaking readership.90 Metropolitan Anthony
(Bloom) of Sourozh91 noted that, "No book to [his] knowledge has inspired more people to set
out to discover the inner springs that nurture the life of Orthodox Christians and to learn the practice of the Jesus Prayer. It has been for many (...) a revelation about the life of prayer."
86 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 421-422. 87 See The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. French, R. M. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991). 88 Jerome D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1991). 89 A comparison of the characters of the pilgrim in The Way of a Pilgrim and Franny in Franny and Zooey would make for an interesting analysis — particularly in light of the pilgrim's growth and integration when practicing the Jesus Prayer, as compared to Franny's nervous breakdown. 90 The Way of a Pilgrim, Pokrovsky, xv. 91 Metropolitan Anthony Bloom (1914 - 2003) was bishop of the diocese of Sourozh, the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland. A physician and surgeon, he secredy became a monk in 1939. In 1948, he was ordained to the priesthood, and then appointed vicar of the Russian patriarchal parish in London in 1950, consecrated as Bishop in 1957 and Archbishop in 1962, in charge of the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and Ireland (the Diocese of Sourozh). In 1963 he was appointed Exarch of the Moscow Patriarchate in Western Europe, and in 1966 was raised to the rank of Metropolitan. He received several honorary doctorates and published numerous works on prayer and die spiritual life including Living Prayer, Meditations on a Theme, and God and Man. 92 The Way of a Pilgrim, trans. R. M. French; foreword Dr. Andrew Walker; intro. Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh (London: Triangle, SPCK, 1995), vii. 28
Since the 1960s, four different English translations have appeared, the most recent being in 1999 (The Pilgrim's Tale) and 2001. Re-publication of an earlier translation by Olga
Savin took place in 2001,94 and in 2000 a Reader's Guide providing commentaries on the text made its way to the book shelves.95 A re-publication of an earlier work by Fedotov was released in 2003.96 Numerous publishing houses and bookstores carry the work in every format from soft cover pocket-sized to audio-book.
In addition to its appearance in text form, The Way of a Pilgrim has certainly found its way into the fabric of North American society in a variety of other ways. A reading of the narrative over eight segments aired on the radio waves of Radio Canada in 1986 on a program entided
Second Regard.97 As well, retreats have been developed around it,98 plays have been enacted, and novels which include The Way of a Pilgrim have been written.99 In today's globally-linked
Internet society, a search for the book's tide will yield hundreds of web sites of a spiritual nature — Christian (Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, United, Church of
93 The Way of a Pilgrim, Pokrovsky; The Way of a Pilgrim and a Pilgrim Continues on His Way, trans. Olga Savin, foreword Thomas Hopko (Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1991, 1996, 2001); The Pilgrim's Tale, Smith; The Way of a Pilgrim: And the Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. Helen Bacovcin, foreword Walter Ciszek (Garden City, NY.: Image Books, 1978; Doubleday and Company, Incorporated, 1992); The Way of a Pilgrim: And the Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. R.M French (Milwaukee, Wis.: Morehouse Publishing Co, 1931; NY: Harper, 1954; NY: Seabury Press, 1965, 1975; SanFrancisco: Harper, 1991; Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House, 1989, 1993; London: Triangle/SPCK, 1986). 94 When asked reasons for re-printing The Way of a Pilgrim, James Yu of Shambhala Publications indicated that it "continues to sell steadily." (E-mail correspondence on 26 February 2003 from James Yu, Editorial Assistant, Shambhala Publications, Boston, MA, (617) 424-0030, ext. 234, [email protected]). 95 Dennis J. Billy, CSsR, The Way of the Pilgrim: Complete Text and Reader's Guide (Liguori, Mo.: Liguori Publications, 2000). 96 George. P. Fedotov, The Way of a Pilgrim and Other Classics (Dover Publications, Incorporated, June 2003). 97 E-mail correspondence on March 7, 2003 from Denise Sicard, Chef, recherche et service a la clientele, Service documentation et archives, Societe Radio-Canada, Montreal, QC. Canada, H2L 2M2, 514-597-7824, denise_sicard @radio-canada.ca. 98 Kerry Walters, A Retreat with Brother Tawrence and the Russian Pilgrim — Praying Ceaselessly (Cincinnati Ohio: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2000). 99 Ronald E. Boutelle, Abandoned (CyberSubsidiary, 1999), (see http://www.cedarpost.com/0001ab/default.htm; Internet; accessed 27 April 2004); and Richard Seltzer, The Name of Hero (see http://www.samizdat. com/herol5.html; Internet; accessed 27 April 2004). 29
Christ), Jewish,1 Hindu, Buddhist and inter-religious dialogue — as well as to generally non-
religious sites which focus on anything from recipes, to issues of environment, ecology,
business, mental health and contemplation tours to name just a few. Internet newsgroups and
online forums also contain countless threads of discussions on The Way of a Pilgrim.
Recent popular reader reviews of The Way of a Pilgrim have spoken very favourably of the
work. Many of the comments can be summarized as follows: In the words of Jacob
Needleman (author of "Lost Christianity"), The Way of Pilgrim is "one of the most influential
spiritual books of the last hundred years. It is one of those rare books that can make a
difference in a person's life."101 "My heart was with the pilgrim throughout his wanderings
because his concern was mine," "his stories recount his struggle of trying to pray continually in
a world of speed and noise," and "it cannot help but inspire the prayer-life of its readers."
Interest in The Way of a Pilgrim is also evident at academic and scholarly levels. In recent
years, the work has been taught in various academic institutions, from high school through
university graduate levels. Additionally, prominent popular writers and intellectuals have
100 jn 1999; Robert Leiter, Literary Editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, wrote a book review in which he related his impression of the impact of Salinger's Franny and Zooey and The Way of a Pilgrim within the Jewish community in the late 1950s and 1960s. He claimed that reading The Way of the Pilgrim led youth of Jewish descent off on their own religious quests, clutching copies of The Way of the Pilgrim or Siddharta — anything that took them away from Judaism. He then expressed hope that the publication of Jewish Matters might turn the table around. Jewish Matters is a collection of essays about the Jewish faith. It is considered by Leiter to be 'The Way of a Pilgrim' for the 90s. It was Leiter's expressed hoped that young people might hold fast to Jewish Matters as they set out on their religious quests. He even posited that if this very portable paperback had existed in the '60s, perhaps many protracted searches for the "light of Trudi" might have been shortened or avoided completely. (See Robert Leiter, Book Review: Jewish Matters - "'The Way of a Pilgrim' for the 90s," Jewish World Review 21 Teves, 5760 (Dec. 30, 1999), http://www.targum.com/reviews/JewishMattersreview.html; Internet; accessed 27 April 2004); and Kornbluth, Doron, (ed.). Jewish Matters: A Pocketbook of Knowledge and Inspiration (Israel: Targum/Feldheim, July, 1999)). 101 See http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/subject/hd/fak7/hist/ol/logs/byzans-l/log.started960610/0388.html; Internet; accessed 28 February 2003. 102Seehttp://hallmemoirs.com/index.php/Mode/product/AsinSearch/0385468148/name/The%2520Way% 2520oP/o2520a%2520Pilgrim%2520and%2520the%2520Pilgrim%2520Continues%2520His%2520Way%253A% 2520A%2520New%2520Translation/browse/2374/page/l; Internet; accessed 27 April 2004. 103 E-mail correspondence on March 3, 2003 from Professor Ted Bobosh, [[email protected]] of University of Dayton who used The Way of a Pilgrim in Introduction to Religion courses, (See 30
acknowledged this Russian classic in their writings. These include Elisabeth Behr-Sigel,104
Louis Bouyer,105 Paul Evdokimov,106 Lev Gillet (A Monk of the Eastern Church),107 Irenee
Hausherr,108 Andrew Louth,109 George Maloney,110 John Meyendorff,111 Susan Muto,112 Henri
Nouwen,113 Tomas Spidlik,114 and Metropolitan Kallistos [Timothy Ware] of Diokleia.115
The Way of a Pilgrim, under the tide The Pilgrim's Tale, has also been subjected to scholarly rigor as part of its inclusion in The Classics of Western Spirituality: A. Library of the Great Spiritual
Masters - a library comprised of critical English translations of the great writers in the tradition of western spirituality, especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. As such, The Way of a Pilgrim has been reviewed by scholars in the field — particularly T. Allan Smith and Aleksei http://academic.udayton.edu/TedBobosh/rell03.html; Internet; accessed 18 March 2003); on March 5, 2003 from Professor Scott Kenworthy [email protected]] of Miami University who has used The Way of a Pilgrim in both his graduate seminar on Russian Religious Thought and also in a course on Religion in Russian History and Culture, (See http://casnovl.cas.muohio.edu/havighurstcenter/kenwordiy/religthought.pdf; Internet; accessed 18 March 2003); on March 4, 2003 from James Tautkus [mailto:[email protected]] who in 1999-2000 used The Way of a Pilgrim with high school students in grades 9-12 (http://home.neo.rr.com/pmonest/waypilg.pdf; Internet; accessed 18 March 2003); Dr. Kelley Raab of St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, also uses The Way of a Pilgrim in a course entided "Contemporary Christian Thought,"(http://web.sdawu.edu/relstudies/christian.htm; Internet; accessed 27 April 2004). 104Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, "The Way of the Pilgrim," in The Place of the Heart: An Introduction to Orthodox Spirituality, trans. Steven Bigham, with a contribution "The Power of the Name; The Jesus Prayer in Orthodox Spirituality" by Bishop Kallistos [Timothy Ware] of Diokleia (Torrance, Calif.: Oakwood Publications, 1992), 113- 120. 105 Louis Bouyer, Orthodox Spirituality and Protestant and Anglican Spirituality: The Orthodox 'Renaissance in Greece and Russia, trans. Barbara Wall (London: Burns & Oates, 1969), 52-53. 106 Paul Evdokimov, Ages of the Spiritual Life (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1998). 107 Lev Gillet (A Monk of the Eastern Church). The Jesus Prayer. On the Invocation of the Name of Jesus (San Bernardino, Calif.: Borgo Press, 1986). 108 Irenee Hausherr, The Name of Jesus, trans. Charles Cummings (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1978); Hesychasme et priere (Roma: Pont. Institutum orientalium studiorum, 1966); Ta methode d'oraison he'sychaste (Roma: Pont. Institutum orientalium studiorum, 1927). 109 Andrew Louth, "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tale," St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 46, no. 4 (2002), 400-403. 110 George A. Maloney, Prayer of the Heart (Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 1981). 111 John Meyendorff, St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality, authorized trans. Adele Fiske (New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974), 166-168. 112 Susan Muto, "The Way of Ceaseless Prayer," in Steps Along the Way - The Path of Spiritual Reading (Denville, NJ: Dimension Books, 1975), 134-167. 113 Henri J. M. Nouwen, "Prayer — Unceasing," in The Way of the Heart (New York, NY: Ballatine Publishing Group, 1991), 66-68. 114 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian Hast, 315-325. 115 Kallistos Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation: I. Eastern," in Christian Spirituality I: Origins to the Twelfth Century, World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, vol. 16, ed. Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff (New York, NY: 1985), 395-414; ""Pray Without Ceasing": The Ideal of Continual Prayer in Eastern Monasticism," Eastern Churches Reviews (1969), 253-261. 31
Pentkovsky. Smith carefully translated the text from the original Russian - a translation that is considered by Andrew Louth, an authority in the field, to be a stable and accurate English translation whereas Pentkovsky researched the text itself.116
While reading The Way of a Pilgrim is highly encouraged by many, some scholars such as
Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) and Dennis Billy offer several noteworthy cautions. Both
Bloom and Billy warn against attempts to merely mimic the strannik who is free from family life and unburdened by any concern even for his own survival. Always traveling and completely detached, the strannik possessed an inner freedom which few enjoy or would likely care to possess at the cost he paid for it.
Further, the strannik learned the Jesus prayer from a master. It was this guidance and teaching that enabled the strannik to read The Philokalia with the "eyes of the Spirit." The
Phi/oka/ia, as with every spiritual text, needs a key for its understanding: this key is given first and foremost by belonging in doctrine and in worship to the Church which gave it birth. Even within the Church, however, serious and damaging errors are avoidable only by those who wholeheartedly submit themselves to and learn from one who has had personal experience of what is taught and disclosed there.118 Alternatively, obsessive experiences like that of Franny in
Salinger's Franny and Zooej are not implausible.
The reception and popularity of The Way of a Pilgrim in the North American context is seen as being somewhat of a spiritual phenomenon. Elizabeth Behr-Sigel, a prominent
Orthodox theologian, commented:
116 Andrew Louth notes that the main contribution of the Smith translation is the introduction which includes the detective work of Pentkovsky. (See Louth, "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tak," 400-403). 117 Bloom, The Way of a Pilgrim, 1995, vii-viii; and Billy, The Way of the Pilgrim, xi-xii. 118 Bloom, The Way of a Pilgrim, vii-viii. 32
It is impossible to enumerate all the ... translations and re-publications of the Pilgrim that have appeared in nearly every Western language. How can we explain the unforeseen success of a work that, though it is moving, appeared to be destined for a limited circle of people who had specific cultural interests? In our time of so-called unbelief, the extent of the work's success certainly constitutes a puzzling spiritual phenomenon.119
While The Way of a Pilgrim is not the ultimate summation of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, it certainly has had a significant impact on the modern Western world and holds a prominent place within the hesychast tradition of Eastern Christian spirituality. As a spiritual classic, it has a striking power and occasionally reveals psychological insights. These insights, however, await systematization and analysis.
1.3.1.2. Psychological Analysis of The Way of a Pilgrim
Given the popularity and import of The Way of a Pilgrim, an exploration and analysis regarding its inner workings is called for. A critical study of the text, therefore, that considers its psychological aspects is warranted — particularly a systematic analysis that draws out and analyzes the psychological insights embedded within the text. Based on the literature available to us at the time of writing, it would appear that there is a dearth of writings on the psychological elements of The Way of a Pilgrim.
1.3.1.3. Selection of The Way of a Pilgrim as the Text of Choice
The Way of a Pilgrim is a deeply spiritual work, while also being enormously practical.
Capable of communicating the profound insights of The Philokalia in a simple easy-to- understand, narrative style, it has reached a wide audience and generated extensive study of The
Philokalia — the writings from which it got its inspiration. As a text for spiritual guidance, it offers hope that prayer without ceasing can be realized in the concrete circumstances of life.
119 Behr-Sigel, The Place of the Heart, 124. 120 Billy, The Way of the Pilgrim, xiv. 33
The reasons for selecting The Way of a Pilgrim as the text of choice in this research project are numerous. First, The Way of a Pilgrim is a known text in North America. Second, written in the mid nineteenth-century, it is more recent than many of the Eastern Christian texts. Rather than having to understand the world of late antiquity, which would be more difficult to identify with, The Way of a Pilgrim presents a world far less removed from today's cultural milieu. Third, the story takes place in Europe, which is more familiar to North Americans than locations from which many other Eastern Christian texts originate. Fourth, the story is about a pilgrim
— a wanderer — whose lifestyle still exists today. Though the face and presentation of the pilgrim may have changed, many of us can understand, if not identify with, a pilgrim. Fifth,
The Way of a Pilgrim is anchored in the common treasury of the Eastern Christian tradition including its Biblical, patristic, theological, cultural, ascetical, sacramental, and ecclesial dimensions.121 Sixth, The Way of a Pilgrim offers insight into human formation, which could be claimed by both spiritual masters and psychological practitioners — insights which are clearly psychological and have transformative effects. Seventh, The Way of the Pilgrim has not yet been systematically analyzed regarding the inherent psychological insights found within it. Eighth, the work is in narrative form which is accessible to many and which also enables greater ease of analysis of the text regarding how one changes in thought, word and action as one practices hesychasm.122 Ninth, its translation into English is seen by authorities in the field to be
121 See SpidMk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, for an elaboration of these elements of Eastern Christian spirituality. 122 The specific words the pilgrim narrates may be analyzed according to themes in similar manner to the application of Theme-Analysis to a case study — a psychological research mediodology developed by psychologists Augustine Meier and Micheline Boivin. Though the primary methodology utilized in this dissertation will be that of Han de Wit's Contemplative Psychology and die themes for analysis that he presents, Theme Analysis has also been utilized, though to a limited extent, to isolate the changes that the pilgrim undergoes in thought, word and action as he progresses along his spiritual path. For an elaboration of Theme-Analysis, see Augustine Meier and Micheline Boivin, "The Achievement of Greater Selfhood: The Application of Theme-Analysis to a Case Study," Psychotherapy Research 10 (1) 2000, 57-77; Augustine Meier, "The Thematic Analytic Research Method and its 34
accurate and stable.123 Tenth, an exploration of this text holds much promise for further research. For these reasons, I have determined that The Way of a Pilgrim is an ideal Eastern
Christian text for this research project.
1.3.2. Contemplative Psychology
'Contemplative Psychology' — a unique approach to psychology developed by psychologist Han F. de Wit — is a psychology that studies egocentrism and ways of transforming it.124 De Wit proposes that certain spiritual traditions contain a psychology - a
'contemplative psychology' — in their own right that is very different from conventional
Western psychology.125 De Wit asserts that 'contemplative psychology'
[FJorms an intrinsic part of the contemplative traditions of most world religions. [It] (...) does not refer to academic psychological theory about contemplation, religion or religious behaviour [but] to the psychological insights and methods [or "psychological know-how"126] that are — often implicitly — present in the vision and practice of religions and that clarify and guide one's contemplative or religious development."128
Application," in In Search of Healing — Collected Papers from the Annual Conference of the Society for Pastoral Counselling Research, ed. Augustine Meier (Ottawa, ON: The Society for Pastoral Counselling Research, 2003), 224-240; and Augustine Meier, Micheline Boivin, Molisa Meier, "Theme-Analysis: Procedures and Application for Psychotherapy Research," Qualitative Research in Psychology, 5:4 (2008), 289-310. Analysis of The Way of a Pilgrim exclusively utilizing Theme Analysis as a research methodology would certainly be an area of further research and wormy of exploration. Such research may also facilitate further dialogue between Eastern Christian spirituality and psychology. 123 More will be said of the stability of the English translation of The Way of a Pilgrim in section 1.4.3 of this Chapter. 124 Han F. de Wit, The Spiritual Path: An Introduction to the Psychology of the Spiritual Traditions, trans, of De verborgen bloei by Henry Jansen & Lucia Hofland-Jansen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1999), 57-58. 125 See Han F. de Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," Shambhala Sun 9, no. 4 (March 2001), 34-37; and De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 1-37. The distinction between Western psychology and contemplative psychology will be elaborated on in section 3 of this dissertation. 126 The phrases 'psychological' insights and methods or 'psychological know-how' which will be used extensively in this dissertation, are to be understood in this context as they are applied by Han F. de Wit and the contemplative psychology he presents. (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 1-15). This will be further elaborated on in the methodology section of this doctoral dissertation. 127 The use of "implicit or explicit" and "embedded" will be used in this dissertation in reference to the insights, wisdom or methods that are inherent in the various aspects of the tradition, though not necessarily clearly identified or specified. (Jan Van Bragt uses these phrases in his "Book Review of Han F. de Wit, Contemplative Psychology" Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 7&, (March 1993), 84. 128 See Han F. de Wit, "On Contemplative Psychology," Current Issues in the Psychology of Religion, ed. J.A. van Belzen and J. M. van der Lans (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1986), 82. 35
Contemplative psychology, in De Wit's estimation, is "the oldest, and perhaps the most interesting psychology that human beings have ever developed." He proposes that this intrinsic psychology is an auxiliary discipline within contemplative traditions,130 while at the same time is held in contrast to both academic psychology and theology.131 As a discipline, contemplative psychology aims to clarify the nature and position of the psychological know- how found in the contemplative traditions of the great religions.132 The central question driving contemplative psychology is "what happens psychologically to people in their thoughts, words and deeds when they walk a contemplative path?"
De Wit's research efforts hope to identify the universal and profound nature of the contemplative ways of knowing, and provide a conceptual framework that might be helpful for understanding the perspective that gives rise to the various contemplative theories about mind and experience. He acknowledges that his exploration into contemplative psychology does not offer any inventory of psychological theories from the various contemplative traditions, and that such an inventory will require years of research.
What follows is an overview and literature review of contemplative psychology.
Contemplative Psychology is then situated in context with Western psychology, stories of the spiritual traditions and the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. Finally, reasons for selecting
Contemplative Psychology as the methodology of choice in this research project are presented.
129 ]3e WJ^ Contemplative Psychology, 1. 130 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, back cover. De Wit's understanding of contemplative traditions will be elaborated on in section 3.3 of this thesis. 131 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 6. 132 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 14. 133 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 24. 134 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 114. 36
1.3.2.1. Overview of Contemplative Psychology
Contemplative psychology was developed by Han F. de Wit at the encouragement of his director spiritualis, the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, holder of the Kagyii and
Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the main proponents of (nonsectarian)
Buddhism in the West.135 This invitation led to the writing of Contemplative Psychology. Trungpa encouraged De Wit personally to "thoroughly explore human mind and experience by means of the practice of contemplative disciplines and, in this light, to investigate our Western psychology again."136 He further encouraged him to "take up the dialogue between the psychology of the great spiritual traditions and Western psychology and by this means to make others aware of this special psychology."137 De Wit notes in The Spiritual Path that, "without the personal instruction and encouragement of [...] Trungpa [...], (he) could not and would not have dared to write on this almost invisible psychology."138
Numerous other influences and supporters shaped De Wit's thought and made his research efforts possible. European by background, and raised in the tradition of humanism,
De Wit was trained in western psychology. His research into contemplative psychology was supported by psychologists Adriaan D. de Groot and Cees Sanders; a Holland based group of
Christian theologians from various denominations and psychologists interested in the contemplative life: Barbara Koning, Dick C. Mulder, Evert H. van Olst, Henk M. Vroom,
Jacques C. Noordzij, Maarten A. Maurice and Agneta Schreurs; and persons connected with the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, particularly Marvin Casper, Edward M. Podvoll and
Francis Harwood of its psychology faculty, and Lodro Dorje Holm and Reginald Ray of its
135 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xvii. 136 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xvii. 137 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, ix-x. 138 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, ix-x. 37
Buddhist Studies Department.1 His years of involvement with Buddhist-Christian dialogue also brought him into contact with persons interested in or living the contemplative life such as those to whom he delivered ten lectures in 1991 at the Magisterdagen which the Dutch and
Belgian monasteries in the Benedictine tradition annually organized. These lectures were the occasion for writing The Spiritual Path.
The theories and framework of contemplative psychology are found in two particular texts: Contemplative Psychology and The Spiritual Path: A.n Introduction to the Psychology of the Spiritual
Traditions; as well as several articles: "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," "On
Contemplative Psychology," and "On the Methodology of Clarifying Confusion."141
Contemplative Psychology is more theoretical, anthropological and methodological in its approach, while The Spiritual Path is more of an exploration of spiritual disciplines and a practical application of contemplative psychology. De Wit hoped these works would enlighten psychologists, psychotherapist, sociologists, anthropologists, students of distinctively human formation, theologians, and educators,142 as well as anyone interested in meditative practices.
As such, he offered both practical and theoretical guidance for personal searching as well as for professional application. These works penned by De Wit provide the fundamental epistemological, theoretical, and methodological framework which will guide this dissertation.
139 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xvi-xvii. 140 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, x. 141 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 34-37; Han F. de Wit, "On the Methodology of Clarifying Confusion," Current Issues in Theoretical Psychology, ed. W. M. J. Baker, et. al. (North Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers BV, 1987), 37-47; De Wit, "On Contemplative Psychology," 82-89. 142 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xi. 38
1.3.2.2. Literature Review of Contemplative Psychology
De Wit's approach has the acclaim of several significant persons in the fields of
spirituality and psychology — notably Adrian van Kaam,143 Michael Washburn,144 Sandra
Schneiders,145 Myriam Dardenne,146 David P. Killen, Judith Broadus,147 Jan Van Bragt,148 and K.
Helmut Reich.149 Van Kaam affirms that De Wit's work "will enable many to appreciate and
mine the treasures of psychological insights of different spiritual traditions."150 He
recommends "the critical study of Dr. de Wit's message to anyone interested in a more holistic
psychology and to anyone concerned with the psychological problems and promises of the life of
contemplation and of spiritual formation in general."151 Author and theologian Daniel M.
143 Adrian van Kaam, CSSp., Ph.D. is a Dutch priest-psychologist. Author of numerous books in the fields of spiritual formation, religious education, and psychology as a human science, his works are read and studied worldwide. Van Kaam arrived in the United States in 1954 where he attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and from which he received his doctorate in psychology. Shortly thereafter, he became an American citizen. From 1954 to 1963, he taught his original approach to psychology - formative spirituality - as a human science at Duquesne University. In 1963, he founded the Graduate Institute of Formative Spirituality and taught there as a professor until its closing in 1993. He is the recipient of the President's Award for excellence in research, as well as an honorary Doctor of Christian Letters degree. Van Kaam authored numerous books on spiritual formation, and has been an inspiration to many, a renowned speaker, and a prolific poet. He currently serves as senior researcher and chaplain-in-residence of the Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality. (See http://www.epiphanyassociation.org/mlp%20founders.htm, Internet; accessed 2 January 2007). 144 Michael Washburn is professor of philosophy at Indiana University Soudi Bend. He teaches courses in the history of philosophy, Asian philosophy, existentialism, and the psychology of religious experience. Washburn is the author of Embodied Spirituality in a Sacred World, Transpersonal Psychology In Psychoanalytic Perspective and The Ego AndThe Dynamic Ground. (See http://mypage.iusb.edu/~mwashbur/, Internet; accessed 2 January 2007). 145 Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, is a Professor of New Testament Studies and Christian Spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, CA, and one of the leading voices in the field of spirituality in North America. 146 Myriam Dardenne, O.C.S.O, is a licensed teacher in Middendorf Breath Work and had served as abbess of Redwoods Monastery in California from 1962 to 1989. 147 Judith Broadus, PhD, is a psychotherapist who has been studying (and practicing) the interface of meditation, spirituality and psychology since the late nineteen seventies. 148 Jan Van Bragt is an Honorary Research Fellow of the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture; Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Nanzan University; Professor, Hanazono University. He was at die Nanzan Institute from its founding, serving as director from 1976-1991. He retired from Nanzan University in 1996. He collaborated with Paul Mommaers to write a Buddhist commentary on the thought of the Flemish mystic, Jan van Ruusbroec published as Mysticism Buddhist and Christian: Encounters with Jan van Ruusbroec. 149 K. Helmut Reich is Professor at the School of Consciousness Studies and Sacred Traditions at the Senior University International, and a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Education, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. For twenty-eight years he was a physicist at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. 150 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xi-xii. 151 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xiii. 39
Rogich refers to the work of both De Wit and Van Kaam in his text Becoming Uncreated: The
Journey to Human Authenticity^2
Michael Washburn, in the Foreword to The Spiritual Path, notes that "Dr. de Wit presents an iUuminating account of spiritual psychology in both theory and practice. [...] De Wit's perspective is cross-culturally inclusive. His insights are grounded in a respectful, in-depth study of both Eastern and Western traditions."153 He further states that the work has "much to offer both theorists of spiritual psychology and travelers on the spiritual path. In matters of theory, it opens up new ways of exploring relations among spirituality, psychology, psychotherapy, and epistemology. And in matters of practice, it clarifies the underlying processes and goals of a wide range of spiritual disciplines." Washburn notes that he was
"pleased to recommend this excellent book."
Sandra Schneiders, in a 1993 review of De Wit's work, contends diat "Contemplative
Psychology may be one of the most important books in the field of spirituality that we will see before the end of the [2nd] millennium."156 She states that it "is the most helpful contribution" she has "encountered to the ongoing and often frustrating discussion about the relationship between psychology and spirituality on the one hand and spirituality and theology on the other."157 Professor Schneiders further asserts diat Contemplative Psychology "should be required reading for all research students in the field of spirituality and could certainly help mediate discussions among psychologists, fheologians, and spirituality scholars."158
152 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 41. 153 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xiii. 154 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xv. 155 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xv. 156 Sandra M. Schneiders, "Contemplative Psychology: Mediating the Discussion," Christian Spirituality Bulletin 1, no. 2 (Fall 1993), 20. 157 Schneiders, "Contemplative Psychology: Mediating the Discussion," 19. 158 Schneiders, "Contemplative Psychology: Mediating the Discussion," 20. 40
In a further review of Contemplative Psychology, Myriam Dardenne refers to De Wit's work as "invaluable precisely because he provides a framework for identifying the questions, fulfillments, and shortcomings a person on the contemplative path may experience. As an introduction to contemplative psychology, it opens up avenues for reflection, research, and creative questioning, as well as challenging our ways of teaching and offering spiritual guidance."
David P. Killen, in his review of De Wit's work, indicates that he suspects Contemplative
Psychology "will be for large numbers of intellectual and religious thinkers, a book of major significance, one that will have to be taken seriously by religious authorities and their house theologians."160 In Judith Broadus' review of De Wit's The Spiritual Path: An Introduction to the
Psychology of the Spiritual Traditions, she indicated that "psychologists, theologians, and anyone interested in meditative practices will find this book a valuable resource and inspiration for teaching."161 Jan Van Bragt, in his book review of Contemplative Psychology, expresses hope that his review might "tempt many to read this book and induce a select few to continue and refine the lines of research opened by the pages of this pioneering work."162
As far as die reception of De Wit's psychological approach within the mainstream
Western universities, however, Reich indicates, that, in his judgment, it is "not yet really accepted."163 Neither reviews nor critiques, however, of De Wit's work by psychologists or
159 Myriam Dardenne, "Contemplative Psychology: Building a Framework," Christian Spirituality Bulletin 1, no. 2 (Fall 1993), 20. 160 David P. Killen, "Book Review: Contemplative Psychology," Buddhist-Christian Studies 13 (1993), 281. 161 Judith Broadus, "Book Review: The Spiritual Path: An Introduction to the Psychology of the Spiritual Traditions" [journal on-line]; available from http://www.aap-psychosynthesis.org/AAPNewsSummerOO.html; Internet; accessed 6 November 2002. 162 Van Bragt, "Book Review of Han F. de Wit, Contemplative Psychology," 85. 163 K. Helmut Reich, "Review Article: Spiritual Development: Han F. de Wit's and Stanislav Grof s Differing Approaches," Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 36, no. 3 (September 2001), 519. Despite Reich's comments, it is noteworthy that courses which unli2e Han de Wit's Contemplative Psychology are offered at the graduate level at 41
others within the scientific academic world were found. It is noteworthy that, while acclaim for De Wit's contemplative psychology has been slow in coming, there has been no one who appears to have disproved De Wit.
Despite this noted ostensible lack of reception, the aforementioned support for De Wit's approach by respected scholars in the field indicate that De Wit's approach is worthy of application for graduate-level research. This current thesis, as well as one by another doctoral candidate in the Netherlands — Annemiek De Jong164 — may well establish that there is validity to contemplative psychology. While this is not what either dissertation set out to prove, they are likely supportive. These may lend more credence to contemplative psychology as a helpful tool in understanding the Way of a Pilgrim, the spirituality of the Philokalia, and hesychasm.
1.3.2.3. Contemplative Psychology in Context
With the aim of exploring its appropriateness for use in this research project, the following pages will attempt to situate contemplative psychology in the context of western psychology, stories of the spiritual traditions, and Eastern Christian spirituality. A dialogue between the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition and Contemplative Psychology — particularly as regards De Wit's presentation of contemplative traditions, theology, and components of contemplative psychology including psychological insight, knowledge, methods, and freedom and grace — will be central to this determination.
the California Institute of Integral Studies (see http://www.ciis.edu/students/syllabi/EWP6556.doc; Internet; accessed 18 March 2003), and also at Duquesne University (telephone conversation with Marie Baird 14 March 2003). 164 Annemiek De Jong is completing a doctoral thesis on Mystagogy at Work - Personal and Communal Formation in Christian Mystagogy. She has questioned how mystagogy (initiation in a Christian context) works: what happens if mystagogy happens? Her work is targeted toward pastoral workers in the Netherlands and in Flanders. It will likely be defended on January 16th, 2009. Annemiek has used contemplative psychology extensively in her research, and Dr. De Wit is one of the members of the promotion committee that has examined her thesis. 42
1.3.2.3.1. Contemplative Psychology and Western Psychology
De Wit contends that both contemplative and western psychology have their own psychology about thinking, experience and awareness.165 Asserting that "the contemplative traditions of the great world religions contain a psychology in their own right" that is "very different from our conventional Western psychology," he maintains a purposeful distinction between Western psychologies and contemplative psychology, rather than attempting to fuse the two — an approach which Van Kaam applauds.
De Wit assumes that human intelligence and relationships are broader than that expressed in scientific methodology, and that human intelligence, as well as ways of knowing and understanding is not comprehensively denoted in scientific research.168 He contends that western psychology, as a result of having fallen away or emancipated itself from a religious perspective in order to develop on its own terms,
[C]annot and does not intend to clarify the psychological function of religious teachings within the context of a spiritual path. It neither clarifies how religious doctrines and disciplines function psychologically for the practitioner of religion, nor does it encourage spiritual growth. It simply does not contain a psychology of spiritual development}6'*
De Wit acknowledges that this limitation of scientific, academic Western psychology has been noticed by a number of psychologically schooled contemplatives, as well as psychologists with contemplative interests such as James, Underbill, Clark, Jaspers, Fortmann, Maslow,
Wilbur, Vergote, Van Kaam, and Rogich. Such people have pointed out the limitations of
165 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 117. 166De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology." De Wit illumines the uniqueness of the psychological insights implicit in the contemplative traditions that together contribute to a contemplative psychology which is distinct from Western scientific, academic, conventional psychology. 167 Van Kaam indicates he is impressed with De Wit's critique that "attempts today to incorporate the Western psychologies of the profane individual uncritically into any spiritual tradition can be counter-productive, as these psychologies might well undermine die formative power and dim the fundamental insights into human life that the contemplative traditions contain." (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xii). 168 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 13. 169 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 28-29. 43
Western psychology and psychotherapy as a means of fully understanding the contemplative person, and have searched for a language to describe and clarify contemplative development.170
De Wit identifies several features that distinguish contemplative psychology from
Western scientific psychology. First, contemplative psychology has been developed by intelligent and perceptive practitioners of contemplative and spiritual traditions, rather than by practitioners of academic disciplines. He acknowledges that these spiritual practitioners, whose insights are often captured in mystical texts, are shrewd psychologists. He quotes
Antoine Vergote's reflection regarding mystical writings that:
The mystical writings attempt to delineate precisely the way along which the journey to union with God proceeds, and they warn against the traps and the mirages en route. The mystical authors are shrewd psychologists who, no less than the most experienced clinical psychologists, teach us about the illusions of the inner life, the deceptive game of imagination, and the arrogance of reason.
Second, according to De Wit, Western scientific psychology has developed 'religiously neutral' theories about the secular or profane human being — theories which he notes are inadequate when it comes to understanding humans as religious beings whose spiritual experience of reality unfolds in thought, word and deed. He indicates that this form of psychology can consequently render only partial service to contemplative traditions.173
Conversely, contemplative traditions, with their inherent psychologies, specialize in understanding and facilitating transformation in the spiritual dimension of human growth and development as manifest in mind, speech and action.
170 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 29-30. 171 Antoine Vergote, Religie, geloof en ongeloof (Kapellen: Uitgeverij De Nederlandse Boekhandel, 1984), 274, as quoted in De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 14-15. 172 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 20-22. 173 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 3. 44
Third, De Wit describes Western academic psychology as generally a third-person psychology,174 and contemplative psychology as a first-person psychology. In the scientific third-person approach, 'data' is collected about persons who are seen as objects. The object of study is that part of experience which has possible causal relations to religious phenomena.
Adhering to the empirical scientific method, its aim is the acquisition of the most accurate information about its object of study. The knowledge acquired is representational and therefore indirect — it is knowledge about something. Conversely, De Wit maintains that contemplative psychology focuses on personal experience in the first-person.1 6 The object of contemplative psychology is the totality of human existence or human experience,177 and its focus is on the inner life of the person who is seen as subject. This is based on direct self- knowledge — a firsthand sense of knowing which includes a direct and non-conceptual experience of one's own existence.178 According to many religious traditions, human beings possess a mental discernment (a discriminating awareness) that allows one to clarify one's experience and distinguish between illusion and reality, self-deception and truth. Though this discriminating awareness generally functions inadequately, it can be cultivated so that one can view one's own mental domain clearly and recognize patterns in it. In essence, De Wit asserts that contemplative traditions claim that one can explore and know one's mind.179
Fourth, De Wit distinguishes between an ego and egoless psychology. According to De
Wit, western academic psychology is a sort of ego psychology. By this he means that academic psychology tends to view the human being as a selfish creature who seeks satisfaction, personal
174 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 31. 175 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 30-49. 176 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 31-32. 177 De Wit, "On Contemplative Psychology," 86. 178 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 30-49. 179 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 37. 45
comfort and the fulfillment of its wishes.180 From the perspective of the spiritual traditions, ego psychology is the psychology of the hardened sinner. Contemplative psychology is an egoless psychology that studies both the phenomena of ego in one's self-experience and the dynamics of its disappearance.
Fifth, the varying methods of knowledge acquisition found in contemplative psychologies are, according to De Wit, of a different nature than in academic psychology.
While the empirical methods of scientific psychology can be defined in terms of their external shape - in terms of observable, measurable actions — spiritual methods are determined by the internal function that they entail for the practitioner.182 The methods of first-person research consist of internal (mental) actions — for example, systematically directing one's attention, observing one's thought patterns, or letting go of mental preoccupations which are visible only to the researcher and not to others. This form of systematic exploration is carried out in the hiddenness of one's own mind, and is the type of research in which religious traditions specialize.183
Sixth, characteristic of contemplative psychology is the unity of application and insight.
This psychology, because of its first-person character, does not know the sharp division between applied psychology and psychological research that is particular to academic psychology. De Wit notes that contemplative psychology's "application is its research, and its research situations are created in the systematic and continuous practice of the spiritual disciplines"184 of action, speech and mind. Contemplative psychology, in this sense, forms
180 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 116. 181 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 117. 182 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 39. 183 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 39-40. 184 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 232. 46
one's know-how on the spiritual path. A systematization and articulation of this know-how can help make the way more insightful and practicable. According to De Wit, therein lies the practical value of contemplative psychology.
While there are several distinctions between academic and contemplative psychologies,
De Wit notes that contemplative psychology sees much value in conventional psychologies.
From the perspective of contemplative psychology, he notes that,
[C]onventional psychologies are extremely worthwhile because they pertain especially and accurately to the profane or secular individual's thoughts, communications and action. Any contemplative psychology can develop only on the basis of a clear and objective perspective of the profane individual. Contemplative psychology investigates the pain and suffering that human beings experience and inflict upon self and other, just as conventional psychology does. But contemplative psychology does so from (...) an angle that is based both on a spiritual image of the human being and on contemplative methods of acquiring insight. From that angle it tries to trace the causes (...) in order to understand (...) how they approach both their own lives and life in general.
He acknowledges that,
The approaches to religion in depth psychology have provided us with suggestions for a more psychological interpretation of terms that often appear to have only a theological connotation. Examples of such can be found (...) in the work of (...) Jung (...). Particularly when a religious tradition has lost its contemplative psychology, depth psychology can open our eyes to a more psychological point of view." He cautions, however, of the "risk of importing a terminology that is essentially alien to the spiritual tradition itself. Because of this, depth psychology can obscure precisely that which contemplative psychology has to offer. This danger looms largely, especially with respect to those non-Western or non-Christian religions that are rich with contemplative psychological insights. The particular danger here is that one believes that the insights of other religions confirm one's own already existing psychological conceptual framework. The contemplative-psychological insights that do not fit into that framework are easily overlooked or considered to be irrelevant.
Reflecting on psychotherapy and mental disturbances, De Wit comments that,
185 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 232-233. 186 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 20-22. 187 De Wjt> The Spiritual Path, 120. 188 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 120. 47
Although contemplative psychologies usually do have something to say that is relevant to psychotherapy and the nature of mental disturbances, they focus primarily on the spiritual development of so-called "normal" people. Such people might maintain "the profane individual" as their conventional image of the human being. Notwithstanding that conventional image, or should we say because they somehow sense that that image is a cause of suffering, they might want to embark upon a contemplative path.189
Along with contrasting Western psychologies and contemplative psychology, De Wit also
attempts to situate contemplative psychology within Western psychology. He notes that, in a very broad sense, "the psychologies of religious and secular contemplative traditions come
close to what is known as transpersonal190 and humanistic l psychologies"192— and hence
contemplative psychology would be most aligned with these two schools. He states that, at
minimum, the inspiration sustaining the contemplative traditions seems to be most similar to
these two schools — both of which have been considered to be optimistic as regards "human
potential." While acknowledging and exploring spiritual potential, however, contemplative
psychology also realistically considers humankind's corruptibility. De Wit maintains that the
189 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 22. For an elaboration of his thought in this regard, see De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 192-197. 190The Transpersonal school of psychology is considered by some to be a fourth force distinct from the psychoanalytic, behavioural, and humanistic approaches to psychotherapy. It strives to combine insights from modem psychology with those from the world's contemplative traditions, both East and West. Much of the source material for this psychology is believed to come from Eastern religions, although early thinkers such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas who combined a psychological awareness with a spiritual and philosophical focus are considered precursors to this school of thought. Transpersonal psychology studies the transcendent or spiritual dimensions of humanity, including matters such as self-development, peak experiences, mystical experiences and the possibility of development beyond traditional ego-boundaries. Central themes including states of consciousness, higher or ultimate potential, movement beyond the ego or personal self, transcendence and the spiritual are found within its theories and frameworks. (See "Transpersonal Psychology," in Sue Walrond-Skinner, A Dictionary of Psychotherapy (New York, NY: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986), 368-9). 191The Humanistic school of psychology is "that group of approaches which stress the need to engage the whole person in the psychotherapeutic endeavour. [...] (This approach) emphasizes the future in contrast to the past or present. [...] The group includes the work of Rogers, Maslow, Allport and Godstein. [...] The term 'becoming' is frequendy found in their literature. [...] The humanistic approaches emphasize relationship factors in therapy and are anti-technical. Experience and meaning are considered to be the important aspects of the patient's life, rather than his overt behaviour. [...] Humanistic psychologists view the dierapeutic relationships as a participative endeavour between two human beings both of whom are seeking growth from the relationship. Goals include self-actualization, personal growth, self-understanding and re-education, all of which are far removed from the emphasis of those orientations which stress symptom removal, problem solving or environmental manipulation. Helping the client to clarify his values and beliefs is also an important task of therapy." (See "Humanistic psychology (psychotherapy)," in A Dictionary of Psychotherapy, 172-173). 192 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 18. 48
transpersonal psychologies stand to learn much from the contemplative traditions and their psychology, methods and disciplines that have been effective for more than two millennia.193
1.3.2.3.2. Contemplative Psychology and Stories of Contemplative Traditions
De Wit maintains that Contemplative Psychology often can be found within the stories of a contemplative tradition.194 In speaking of stories, he notes that literature (as with all art) contains a truth-seeking aspect, attempts to clarify human existence, and involves a form of insight into human experiences. Beyond its aesthetic matter, it attempts to make something visible and clear, to arouse and communicate a certain perspective and kind of experience in which something is revealed, and to enable someone to look at things in a somewhat different way, if for only a moment. He asserts that literature seeks and contains psychological insights into the nature of human experience.195
De Wit further notes that,
Practically all contemplative traditions possess a rich collection of stories that speak about the conditions that shape the contemplative journey, and their importance in leading to the practitioner's spiritual experience of reality on the way. These stories are about events that, from a conventional point of view, often seem to be both meaningful and meaningless, comprehensible or surprising, ordinary or unusual.196
It is striking that most of these stories describe what people did, what happened to them 'on the way.' But the so-called religious experience that the events led up to is hardly ever spelled out in detail. The religious or mystical experience is usually mentioned with only a short reference. For example, the story may end with a sentence like: 'and then she understood what is meant by God's love,' or 'from that moment he understood what the essence of sin is' or 'at that point they realized the nature of man.'197
Finally, De Wit comments that, "it is in the gradual conversion, such as those chronicled in the hagiographies (saints' lives) of St. Anthony, St. Pachomius and St. Benedict and also in the
193 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 18. 194 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 132. 195 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 28-29. 196 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 70. 197 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 70. 49
biographies of saints in the other great religions, that the dynamic of the contemplative psychology is very visible."198 The pilgrim's narrative and chronicled biography — from his youth through to age thirty-three — may very well make evident the dynamics of the psychology that the text inherently contains.
1.3.2.3.3. Contemplative Psychology and the Eastern Christian Spiritual Tradition
In order to determine the acceptability of Contemplative Psychology as a tool in the analysis of the Eastern Christian spiritual text The Way of a Pilgrim, key perspectives of contemplative psychology and the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition will be put in dialogue.
The following section will consider the overall definition of contemplative psychology, specific understandings of contemplative traditions and theology, and psychological insight, knowledge and method as understood by both Contemplative Psychology and the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. This will determine if contemplative psychology can be received as a dialogue partner for The Way of a Pilgrim in this research project.
1.3.2.3.3.1. Definition of Contemplative Psychology
Developed by intelligent and perceptive practitioners of contemplative and spiritual traditions, contemplative psychology, is, as previously noted, a psychology that studies egocentrism and ways of transforming it.199 It is,
[A] psychology that endeavors to understand that which comprises spiritual development and, on the basis of that understanding, it tries to guide the individual on the contemplative way. This type of psychology therefore not only explores the value of contemplative knowledge and the use of those contemplative disciplines that lead to such knowledge, but it also discusses the nature of effective spiritual guidance. It provides a psychological understanding of the role of mercy, compassion and, last but not least, it explores the nature of contemplative action in daily life and in the liturgy.200
198 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 155. 199 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 57-58. 200 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 1-2. While De Wit does refer to Christian liturgical expressions, his discussion of liturgy in contemplative psychology largely focuses on that of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. In his 50
Psychological insights aimed at facilitating conversion of heart — away from sin and egocentrism and toward holiness — can be found embedded in Biblical, sacramental-liturgical, hagiographic, and ascetical/mystical texts of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition.
Beginning in the 4th and 5th centuries, prominent figures dedicated to interior prayer including the Desert Fathers and Mothers, St. John Chrysostom, the Cappadocians, Evagrius of Pontus,
St. John Climacus, St. Symeon the New Theologian, St. Isaac the Syrian, and St. Gregory
Palamas began recording in ascetical texts the insights they had acquired regarding the human heart and its transformation.
These holy men and women studied the inner workings of the human heart and its egocentric ways, the passions and sin, spiritual development, and the ways of transformation, conversion and deification. Further, they also developed spiritual praxes aimed at both eliminating or re-directing the passions, and fostering virtues, including obedience to a spiritual mother or father. They utilized these insights and methods in their guidance of others in the ways of prayer and contemplation. Collections such as the Philokalia have preserved the insights of these Father and Mothers of the Church. They also outlined the "secret science" of
point of view, this tradition "possesses the richest liturgy by far of all living traditions" (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 221) - an opinion with which this author would disagree. While his explanation of liturgy in some measure resonates with that of an Eastern Christian understanding of Liturgy — i.e. that liturgy awakens a particular view and way of life that enables the profane perspective within the person to be exposed and let go of, and the sacred dimension to be revealed and accepted (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 214, 226), it does not speak to the essence of Liturgy in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, namely to become partakers of the Divine Nature — to become god by grace — within the ecclesial/ sacramental reality of Liturgy. While there perhaps are aspects of liturgy that are in some measure similar and can be compared between a Buddhist service and an Eastern Christian Divine Liturgy — such as bringing offerings, singing hymns of praise, or purifying oneself — there are without a doubt significant differences. Further, any consideration of how a single person from a community progresses along the contemplative way always risks falling prey to the dangers of a certain over-individualization and utilitarianism. This is at times evident in the contemplative psychology approach to liturgy as well as other ascetical praxes. While it would perhaps be a valuable exercise to engage in a comparative analysis of various forms of liturgy, it is certainly beyond the scope of this current research project. As such, only those liturgical elements that are strictly concerned with this particular research project will be addressed. This can be found in section 3.4.2.4 of this thesis. 51
prayer and spiritual wisdom that these spiritual guides developed over the centuries. More will be said of this shortly.
1.3.2.3.3.2. Contemplation and Meditation
De Wit notes that the terms contemplation and meditation are not generally used today in the way they were originally used in the Christian tradition. According to De Wit's understanding of traditional Christian terminology, the term meditation used to refer to the mental disciplines of thought, which are central to cataphatic spirituality. The term contemplation was used for the disciplines of consciousness that are emphasized in apophatic spirituality. Meditation was viewed as the preparatory phase for contemplation™ He refers to
Carmelite Tessa Bielecki regarding this development:
In fact, as we advance and grow more intimately into union with Christ, we may not need the preliminary step of meditation at all. John of the Cross teaches us in the Ascent of Mount Carmel how to discern whether it really is time to stop meditating and to move into contemplation, or whether we are simply lazy and don't want to bother meditating anymore. He also describes the necessity of letting go of meditation when it is time to do so. His instruction is, "If you find the orange peeled, eat it." You don't have to peel it again. It is unfortunate that Christianity has a reputation for being word- and activity- oriented, because contemplation is actually at the center of the tradition.202
De Wit maintains that the disciplines of consciousness have disappeared from much of
Christianity.203 Today, the meaning of the term meditation has shifted to what the Christian tradition earlier called contemplation, whereas meditation usually refers to a discipline of consciousness; that is, disciplines of mindfulness and insight as will be discussed in Section
3.4.1.2. This is also how De Wit uses the term in contemplative psychology.204
201 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 191. 202 Tessa Bielecki, in S. Walker, ed., Speaking of Silence - Christians and Buddhists on the Contemplative Way (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), 208. 203 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 191. 204 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 192. 52
According to a Christian understanding, contemplation focuses on "awareness of the presence of God apprehended not by thought but by love." This awareness tends to be unitive such that it reduces the distance between the person and that of which one is aware.
This differs from meditation which generally is understood to involve discursive reasoning — a separating process which involves a subject thinking and an object thought about.206
Contemplation is a way of making oneself aware of the presence of God who is always there.207
Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) notes that meditation and prayer are often confused:
Meditation and prayer are often confused, but there is no danger in this confusion if meditation develops into prayer; only when prayer degenerates into meditation. Meditation primarily means thinking, even when God is the object of our thoughts.208 Meditation is an activity of thought, while prayer is the rejection of every thought. According to the teaching of the eastern Fathers, even pious thoughts and the deepest and loftiest theological considerations, if they occur during prayer, must be considered as a temptation and suppressed; because, as the Fathers say, it is foolish to think about God and forget that you are in his presence. All the spiritual guides of Orthodoxy warn us against replacing this meeting with God by thinking about him. Prayer is essentially standing face to face with God, consciously striving to remain collected and absolutely still and attentive in his presence, which means standing with an undivided mind, an undivided heart and an undivided will in the presence of the Lord; and that is not 209
easy.
1.3.2.3.3.3. "Contemplative" Traditions
Foundational to De Wit's presentation of contemplative psychology is his understanding of contemplative traditions. De Wit's definition of contemplative traditions and hence contemplative psychology is quite broad. He notes that, strictly speaking, the term
'contemplative traditions' has been used to refer to "people who devote their entire lives to the
205 William H. Shannon, "Contemplation, Contemplative Prayer," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 209. 206 Shannon, "Contemplation, Contemplative Prayer," 209. 207 Shannon, "Contemplation, Contemplative Prayer," 209. 208 Archbishop Anthony Bloom, living 'Prayer (Springfield, Illinois: Templegate, 1966), 51. 209 Bloom, Living Prayer, 57-58. 53
practice of a religious discipline that is supposed to develop and sustain religious or spiritual growth."210 These people usually live, study, pray and meditate in monasteries or cloisters, and their daily activities are permeated by disciplines or practices. Some of these spiritual contemplatives acquire a particular kind of practical knowledge, or know-how, enabling them to guide and train others in the religious vision, as well as the expression of that vision in word and deed. The particular disciplines and rules that have been developed by these religious communities are intended to be based on this know-how, and these practitioners personally are the embodied expression of it. De Wit asserts that this know-how is definitely psychological in nature, and therefore falls under what he means by contemplative psychology.
He further asserts that forms of religious discipline and practice for lay people are found within most contemplative traditions. These have the same fundamental purpose as the purely monastic ones, but are practiced in and directed toward the context of "normal" everyday life.
Lay contemplative traditions also entail a particular kind of knowledge and know-how that is psychological in nature, and as such can be called contemplative psychology.213
Even more broadly speaking, De Wit's concept of contemplative traditions extends beyond a strictly religious one. Despite his inquiry being directed toward religious traditions, he notes that contemplative traditions do not need to have a connection with a particular religion. He maintains that the a-religious, temporal or secular contemplative traditions also contain methods and disciplines based on a particular kind of psychological knowledge. These traditions are meant to guide their practitioners through various stages toward the realization
210 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 15. 211 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 15. 212 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 16. 213 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 16-17. 54
of the highest human values in their personal life, and in the lives of others. De Wit's definition of contemplative psychology therefore includes any type of religious or contemplative discipline.214
Restricting his presentation to certain forms of "theistic and nontheistic contemplative traditions of world religions, in particular to the Christian, Jewish and Buddhist traditions,"215 he presupposes that these traditions are generally intelligent and sensitive, and that they contain not only a religious perspective of human beings but also various psychological theories and methods.216 It is his assumption that the psychology found in such traditions contain trustworthy knowledge and insight that aims toward human transformation.
According to De Wit, these spiritual traditions are, "concerned with identifying and letting go of the mental habits or patterns that obscure the manifestation of our buddhanature, the working of the Holy Spirit in our heart, or whatever the particular traditions calls it."218
As regards the presence of contemplative psychology in Eastern Christianity, De Wit notes that study of the practices of non-Western religions (including those of the Eastern
Christian spiritual tradition) is particularly desirable because the emancipation of psychology and the empirical approach has occurred hardly or not at all within these traditions. As such, their religions and psychological views still form a unity that includes and is therefore relevant to the person's concrete life experience.21 He particularly notes that "within the traditions of
Eastern Christianity, apophatic spirituality with its disciplines of insight has always persisted.
214 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 17. 215 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 15. 216 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 14. 217 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 13. 218 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 219 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 4. 55
Today these disciplines have once again been brought to die attention of the practitioners of the Western Christian contemplative life."220
While De Wit maintains that the Christian tradition certainly contains a contemplative psychology, his impression of the current state of contemplative psychology, especially within the Western Christian tradition, causes concern:
Although we can find contemplative psychological insights in the Christian tradition, we are missing a psychological framework within which these insights could be presented, taught and transmitted in a coherent and systematic way. The Christian tradition certainly has contemplative psychologically oriented texts at its disposal — after the manner of those of Thomas a Kempis, Bunyan, Eckhart, Teresa of Avila and many others — but the practice of contemplative psychology as a living discipline has practically disappeared from our times.221
He maintains that,
We have witnessed — especially in Christian communities — that the contemplative psychological knowledge and know-how is either disappearing, or has already disappeared. As a result, the monastic discipline itself is often no longer understood (by laypeople and monks or nuns alike) as a means to spiritual development. It is for this reason that discipline is often suspended or even rejected as something that does not "belong to our times." On the one hand, we see a shrinking of contemplative discipline to the study of religious texts, or to the discipline of social welfare work. On the other hand, we see that Western psychology is often filling the space left open by the gradual disappearance of contemplative psychology.222
To avoid any further loss of the psychological insights inherent within the Christian spiritual traditions, an explication of their contemplative psychology is, in De Wit's perspective, essential.
Based on elements De Wit highlights as being present in contemplative traditions and essential to contemplative psychology, one can conclude that the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, by all accounts, is one of the religions De Wit considers to be a contemplative
220 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 219. 221 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 4.
222 Qe wjt; Contemplative Psychology, 19-20. 56
tradition. Eastern Christian anthropology presents a detailed understanding of human beings; its ascetical/mystical teachings contain various psychological theories and methods associated with the spiritual life, spiritual praxes, and ways of contemplation; and Christian asceticism reorders "the various elements of human psychology (...) and above all, the growth of Christ in the soul."223 Practitioners of the tradition, after having grown in Christ-likeness themselves, impart knowledge and insight to others.
The ultimate concern of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, however, is quite specific — unlike De Wit's broad understanding of contemplative psychology. Central to
Eastern Christian spirituality is the aim of fostering "personal communion with Theos, the
Father, through the Logos, Christ, in the Holy Spirit — an experience lived in a state of prayer."224 In this communion, one comes to know God — not an idea, but a Person, the Son, the image of another Person, the Father225 — and enter into the whole life of Christ, becoming filled with all the fullness of God, and partaking of the uncreated glory of the Divine — process called theosis or deification^ As previously mentioned, the Christian "is one who imitates Christ in thought, word, and deed, as far as is possible for human beings."227
While De Wit includes and identifies union with God as the goal of Christianity and hence a Christian contemplative psychology, he acknowledges that contemplative psychology in its broad definition does not. This is perhaps the greatest difference between De Wit's broad depiction of 'contemplative psychology' that includes non-theistic traditions and the
223 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 180. 224 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 1. 225 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 329. 226 Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos, The Mind of the Orthodox Church, trans. Ester Willims (Levadia-Hellas: Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, 2000), 134-135. More will be said of theosis in Chapter 3 of this dissertation. 227 St. John Climacus, Scala Paradisi 1; PG 88:633B. See Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent (1982), 74. 57
Eastern Christian spiritual tradition with its understanding of a triune God and claim that one can enter into union with the Divine.
The entire spiritual life of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition has often been structured with a view to contemplation228 — union with God. Thomas Hopko, a prominent
Eastern Christian theologian, noted that:
The only real claim of religion is that it witnesses to divine truth and opens the way to union with divine reality. Any other claim of religion upon human life and activity — for example, in areas of social, political, ethical, cultural, or artistic endeavor — can be considered as valid only inasmuch as they emerge from and lead back to divine truth. If the living reality of God is not the genuine source and end of religion and its effects upon the life of men, then these effects, although possibly considered to be quite valuable and beautiful in themselves, remain nothing more than the results of an illusion which must be rejected as false and deceiving.
The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, in being true to itself and its religious convictions, can have nothing other than God as its ultimate source and aim.
The possibility and danger of syncretism between differing belief systems — theological as well as philosophical — in applying De Wit's contemplative psychology framework to Eastern
Christian spirituality is noted, and thus makes it all the more important to identify the psychological insights inherent in the Eastern Christian tradition in its own language and understanding. To De Wit's credit, he does present a Christian application of contemplative psychology, thereby assisting in the process.
The Eastern Christian spiritual life is "living union with the living God."230 Central to its understanding regarding contemplation — that "gift which (...) unites the deiform soul with
God in unbreakable communion"231 - is the inner endeavour of Christians to draw near to
228 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 328. 229 Hopko, "Orthodox Spirituality," 101. 230 Hopko, "Orthodox Spirituality," 103. 231 St. Diadochus of Photice, in The Philokalia, vol. 1, 275. 58
God,232 and to always be in God's presence. It is the Christian claim diat a personal communion with the living God is made accessible through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.
The witness of the Church in its saints is that one can be in communion widi God in a genuine union of lived experience234 — an experience lived in a state of prayer and contemplation.235
The Eastern Christian doctrine of the contemplative life evolved in the time of the
Desert Fathers who identified contemplative life, bios theoretikos, with apostolic life, bios apostolikos — monastic life itself.236 During the Byzantine Middle Ages, the disciplines and techniques of contemplation were developed.237 The spiritual Fathers and Mothers of the tradition who lived in deserts, monasteries, hermitages, or caves, or wandered as stranniks became the "specialists and technicians of contemplation."238 In their desire for union with
God and growth in likeness to Christ, they engaged in prayer, study, contemplation, development of the interior life, spiritual praxes, and loving service of others. The spiritual know-how, insights into the human heart and mind, and knowledge of the ways of prayer, contemplation, and ascetical/mystical practices that they acquired have been captured in the vast array of texts they penned including those that found their way into The Philokalia and the way of life described in The Way of a Pilgrim.
As "no one can know God unless he first knows himself," these ascetics began their contemplative journeys with visions of their own human condition and the damage caused by
232 Gillet, Orthodox Spirituality, 20. 233 Diogenes Allen, Spiritual Theology — The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 1997), 149. 234 Hopko, "Orthodox Spirituality," 101. 235 SpidHk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 1. 236 Gillet, Orthodox Spirituality, 14. 237 Gillet, Orthodox Spirituality, 19. Gillet notes that it was pseudo-Dionysius who coined the expression "mystical theology" and developed a dieory of contemplation. 238 Gillet, Orthodox Spirituality, 19. 239 Paul Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love — The Nuptial Mystery in the Tight of the Orthodox Tradition, trans. Anthony P. Gythiel and Victoria Steadman (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995), 80. 59
evil in their souls. Thereafter, they aspired to Divine mercy240 and engaged in the ascetical/mystical life. At the end of their lives, and after having spent years growing in likeness to Christ, many of these holy people opened the doors to their cells and began to guide and train others in the ways of prayer and contemplation. "They possessed the ability to penetrate die unfathomable depths of the human conscience, reveal sins and hidden inner struggles, lift up overburdened souls, and direct others spiritually in managing the many vicissitudes of their lives."241 They became spiritual guides of the faithful.
In the Eastern Christian Church, union widi God and growth in Christ-likeness is understood to be the vocation of every Christian, regardless of occupation.242 This is possible through a dialectic of interiorization.243 While monks are uniquely committed to asceticism, apostolic life according to die Gospel and the call to die one thing needful is for all Christians.
Eastern Christian monasticism expresses a spiritual norm that is universal and normative.244
Theologian Nicholas Cabasilas noted:
Everyone may continue to exercise their art or profession. The general may continue to command, the farmer to till the soil, the workman to pursue his craft. No one need desist from his usual employment. It is not necessary to retire into the desert, or to eat unaccustomed food, or to dress differendy, or to ruin one's health, or to do anydiing reckless; for it is quite possible to practice continual meditation in one's own home without giving up any of one's possessions.
240 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of hove, 80. 241 Smolitsch, Leben undLehre der Star^en, Vienna, 1936, as referenced in Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2002), 20. 242 Allen, Spiritual Theology, 150. It was St. Maximos the Confessor who instituted the equivalent of the monastic life for lay people living in the world — for die monks contemplation, for the active laity the unceasing feeling of an unseen closeness. In the fourteenth century, Nicholas Cabasilas was instrumental in universalizing and popularizing the monastic method. (See Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 82-83). 243 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 83. 244 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 81-82. 245 As quoted in Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 412. 60
The Eastern Christian spiritual life — spiritual theology or ascetical and mystical theology as it is normally termed246 — is often considered to be comprised of two basic stages. The first stage is the active life (praxis, praktike) which involves ascetic efforts to acquire virtue and to master the passions. The second stage is the contemplative life (theorid) which signifies the vision of God. The contemplative life is further subdivided into natural contemplation or the contemplation of nature (physike), and the contemplation of God (theoria) which is also termed theologia, "theology," or gnosis, spiritual "knowledge."247 At this latter stage, the contemplation of God, the Christian no longer approaches the Creator through the works of creation, but meets God directly, "face to face," in an unmediated union of love apophatically.248 Evagrius of Pontus assimilated theologia to the highest degree of prayer as is evident in the following: "If you are a theologian you truly pray. If you truly pray you are a theologian."249
According to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, contemplation has numerous effects. Striving to promote unceasing union with and remembrance of the Lord, contemplation first nourishes a stable disposition toward good (diathesis agathe) and a Vehement desire to please God'. Second, it transforms the person such that he or she becomes more and more like that contemplated — more loving and more like God. Third, contemplation is the rediscovery of the true transparency of the mind;250 it is a diorasis (insight). The clear-sighted person recognizes Divine Wisdom operating in the world, and 'glorifies God'. Man becomes
246Behr-Sigel, The Place of the Heart, 1. 247 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation: I. Eastern," 396-397. 248 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation: I. Eastern," 399. 249 Evagrius of Pontus, De oratione 60; PG 79: 1180B, as found in Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, Cistercian Studies Series, Number Four, trans, and intro. by John Eudes Bamberger, ocso (Spencer, MA: Cistercian Publications, 1970), 65. 250 St. Athanasius, Vita Antonii 73; PG 26:946A; See St. Athanasius, Vita Antonii 73, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae — A Digital Library of Greek Uterature, http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu); Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The Tetter to Marcellinus, The Classics of Western Spirituality, trans, and intro. by Robert C. Gregg (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1980), 84. 61
conscious of God's gifts and of the greatness of the Giver, and becomes a being of praise like the angels. Summarizing the contemplative tradition, St. Gregory Palamas stated that,
"Enlightened, man reaches the eternal heights...And even without being in heaven, he cooperates with the heavenly powers in their unceasing song; while on earth, he, like an angel, leads every creature to God."2 1
1.3.2.3.3.4. Theology
De Wit maintains that dialogue between theology and Contemplative Psychology is necessary. As "contemplative insights are often embedded in a religious way of thought and terminology"252 — in essence in the theology of a particular spiritual tradition - an understanding of the anthropological, spiritual, theological and psychological elements of human transformation specific to each spiritual tradition is necessary. Words utilized in one perspective, for example the psychological, may have a very different connotation in the theology of a particular spiritual tradition. Likewise terms or ways of thought may be lacking to even engage in a dialogue. Without dialogue, much misunderstanding is possible.
The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition has a particular theology, anthropology, spirituality, ecclesiology and psychology — all of which are intricately linked. In his book, The
Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, Vladimir Lossky asserts that "spirituality and dogma, mysticism and theology, are inseparably linked in the life of the Church. As regards the
Eastern Church, (...) she makes no sharp distinction between theology and mysticism, between the realm of the common faith and that of personal experience."253
251 Gregory Palamas, De passionibur, PG 150:1081AB as quoted in SpidKk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 342. 252 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 57. 253 Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (2002), 15. 62
Each aspect of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition is comprised of specific terminology and concepts with psychological insights embedded within. A dialogue between contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality that would examine terminology specific to both perspectives would be invaluable. Despite this certainly being an area worthy of further research, it is beyond the scope of this present research project, and as such, only a cursory look at terminology will be made. Much of this will occur in Chapter 3 of this thesis, and will lay the groundwork for further research.
As part of a dialogue between theology and contemplative psychology, De Wit notes that it is important to bear in mind the anthropocentric and theocentric distinction between contemplative psychology and theology. He acknowledges that contemplative psychology, like all psychology, is anthropocentric while theology is theocentric.254 De Wit asserts, however, that the term anthropocentric is not to be confused with egocentric, and clarifies that contemplative psychology is not an egocentric psychology, but rather, as previously mentioned, a psychology that studies egocentrism and offers means for transforming it.
Moreover, contemplative psychology deals with those who might experience reality from a theocentric perspective.
While the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition is essentially theocentric as De Wit notes, it also has an anthropocentric nature, particularly in its hesychast expression. This anthropocentric dimension is revealed, however, in a Christocentric humanism. Constantine
N. Tsirpanlis notes that the God-Man Jesus Christ,
[RJeveals not only the divine nature and love, but also man's potential and unique greatness and supremacy, spiritual as well as physical, in God's creation. In Christ's
254 He maintains that a theological psychology is a contradiction in terms and does not exist. (See De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 57). 255 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 57-58. 63
divino-humanum Person, then, are perfectly united the perfect human nature and personhood and the divine nature through a prosopic koinonia or a divino-humanum perichoresis.256
From this perspective, Eastern Christianity is both humanistic and anthropocentric.
The central idea and experience of "Hesychastic Humanism" is the experience of the
dignity of the human being as a theophany. By becoming man and emphasizing human
nature, God revealed the perfect person — the spiritual, genuine and eternal human being.257
"If the ideal of humanism is the perfection of man, that of Christian anthropology is the ideal
of the Man-God."258 Becoming like Christ — truly human in every way — is the anthropological
challenge presented to each Christian.
As regards contemplative psychology and theology, De Wit further suggests that
contemplative psychology and practical theology are closely related, such that applied
contemplative psychology (which arises from one's practice of contemplative disciplines) is the
anthropocentric counterpart of practical theology (which is fundamentally theocentric).
Anthropocentrically, contemplative psychology "is concerned with how people relate to their world (or environment) and themselves, in terms of their behavior, communication and
thoughts."259 De Wit maintains that it is the anthropocentric element of contemplative psychology that seems to facilitate interconnection and ecumenism between world religions.260
256 Constantine N. Tsirpanlis, "Byzantine Humanism and Hesychasm in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Synthesis or Antithesis, Reformation or Revolution?" The Patristic and Byzantine Review, vol. 12, nos. 1, 2, 3 (1993): 20-23. 257 Tsirpanlis, "Byzantine Humanism and Hesychasm in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries," 20-23. 258 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 352. 259 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 24. 260 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 29. 64
Eastern Christian theology is inherently practical. Lossky writes that "Christian theory has an eminently practical meaning, and this is all the more true because it is mystical."261
Simply, Eastern Christian spirituality is "the living out of the faith; it is the divine mystery progressively assimilated by each believer. This growth, which takes place within the communion of the 'catholic' Church, has an impact on thought, feelings and concrete attitudes."262 An extension of theology, spirituality's highest expression is the unification and pacification of the human person in Christ by the Holy Spirit — holiness.263 The way of hesychasm more specifically, as depicted by St. Gregory Palamas, is an "everyday hermeneutic" that has place and significance in the discipline of theology as well as in daily Christian life.264
Eastern Christian spirituality functions at a different level than does secular philosophy, science and culture as is noted in the following comment by Tomas SpidMk:
All the problems which secular 'philosophy' and secular science and culture try to solve on the purely human level ('natural', in the sense of naturapara) — knowledge, freedom, the spiritual character of man, the desires of the soul, the appetites of the body, hygiene in the physical life — are (...) transposed to a higher level.265
261 Vladimir Lossky, "Du troisieme Attribut de l'Eglise," [Concerning the Third Attibute of the Church], Dieu Vivant 10 (1948), 7. English translation found in Behr-Sigel, The 'Place of the Heart, 2. 262 Behr-Sigel, The Place of the Heart, 1-2. 263 Behr-Sigel, The Place of the Heart, 1-2. 264 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 7. 265 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 352. For a brief discussion regarding Byzantine Humanism and hesychasm, see Tsirpanlis, "Byzantine Humanism and Hesychasm in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries," 20-23. There, he notes that "The Orthodox Church, by approving Palamism and hesychasm in 1351 and by recognizing Gregory Palamas as one of her Fathers, had not condemned traditional Byzantine humanism, but only the secularism of modern times, opposing thereto a humanist ideal which is essentially Christian and Patristic. That is, the hesychasts were defending a fundamental conception of Christianity inherited from the Fathers, which left no form of human activity outside the sphere of God's action, i.e. the idea of a complete "synergy" ("collaboration") between these two activities. Precisely this defense of and emphasis on "synergy" and psychophysical or psychosomatic knowledge of God as "theosis" was the special message of Palamism. (...) Hesychasm and the Eastern Church, even today, hold divinization or theosis to be a possibility in the flesh, while one is still living in the world. Consequendy, Hesychasm and western scholasticism are different approaches to salvation, pneumatology and anthropology, but not "antinomies," in a literal sense. (...) Hesychasm is also the rebirth and transfiguration of an individual in the sense that he/she is to be the prefigurement of the healing of the cosmos, the renewal and restoration of all creation." 65
As a result, not all aspects of a 'contemplative psychology' of Eastern Christian spirituality will be conversant with the contemplative psychologies of other traditions when considered from a philosophical or non-theistic perspective, despite perhaps the use of similar spiritual disciplines.
1.3.2.3.3.5. Psychological Insight, Knowledge and Methods in Contemplative
Traditions
According to De Wit, the term contemplative psychology refers to the psychological insights, knowledge and methods that are found within and that are as old as the contemplative traditions themselves.266 First, as regards psychological insights, De Wit notes that these insights "are often implicitly present in the vision of religions, and [...] become concretized in the authentic religious practices of individuals."267 They include "insights into the human mind, motivations, emotions, cognition, insights into actions and speech, language and communication, and, last but not least, insights into how all of these facets influence one's spiritual growth, the inner development of courage, wisdom and joy in life."268
These psychological insights further refer to fundamental existential relations:
[I]n particular, to the way these relations change when traveling the contemplative way: individuals' relations to themselves, the world and the divine; their relations to their self- images, images of the human being, images of the world and images of God, their relations to themselves as practitioners of a contemplative tradition, their relations to the tradition itself and the teacher. Together, all these relations ultimately determine an individual's experience of reality. The development of these relations is what the metaphor of a way, a. path or a. journey refers to.
266 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 1. 267 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 12. 268 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 28. De Wit notes that all of the major religions recognize that people of all times, places and cultures "must deal with such fundamental concerns as fear of and joy in life, compassion and callousness, insight and ignorance. And greed, jealousy and aggression (...). All great world religions attempt to transform or liberate that way of being. All contemplative psychologies ask what happens to an individual along the contemplative way and how he or she can watch out for pitfalls and dead ends." (See De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 55). 269 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 5. 66
According to De Wit:
[T]he interest of contemplative psychology lies [...] in the fact that it contains and seeks to impart psychological insight into the way in which the spiritual and profane modes of our experience of reality come into existence, and how these modes of experience are connected with our acts. Moreover, it contains and seeks to impart practical and psychological insight into the methods or spiritual disciplines that help the practitioner to transform his or her mode of experiencing reality and way of action in the direction of the contemplative way.
When speaking of the profane modes of experience of reality, De Wit is referring to the experience of the profane person — "a self-centered human being who operates on the basis of a self-centered psychology and outlook."271 The mode of experience of reality of the spiritual person contrastingly is that of the non-materialistic person who recognizes his or her fallen state, but does not identify personally with it.272 The profane and spiritual person and experience of reality will be elaborated on in Chapter 3 of this thesis.
The content of particular insights transmitted by contemplative traditions therefore includes the following:
1) Insight into the nature of the profane state of the human being (individuals in their brokenness, sinfulness, ignorance or further articulations of their fallenness). 2) Insight into the cause of this profane state. 3) Insight into the nature of the transformed state (the state of fulfillment, enlightenment, holiness, redemption, etc.). 4) Insight into the causes of the transformed state - that is, insight into the way: how the profane individual can be brought closer to this transformed state.273
Each of these states and the process of transformation will be further discussed in Chapter 3.
The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition has numerous writings on insights into the human mind, heart, motivations, emotions, spiritual development and praxes, and has used
270 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 1. 271 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 19. 272 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 17-19. The profane and spiritual person and experience of reality will be elaborated on in Chapter 3 of this thesis. 273 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 118. 67
these in its guidance of practitioners for over two millennia. Its well-developed theological
anthropology is rich with insights into the pre-lapsarian human condition, the human
condition after the Fall, the impact of the Fall on relationships, and the restored human
condition in Christ. Spiritual Fathers and Mothers of the tradition have taken note of the state
of the sinful human being bound by passions, as well as causes of this state. They have also
identified the nature of the deified state and ways to progress towards it. These shall be
further elaborated on in Chapter 3.
Second, as regards psychological knowledge, De Wit notes that the primary aim of
contemplative psychology is to discover a way of being — 'knowing' — in the first-person sense
of being wise. This knowledge refers to both conceptual knowledge (knowledge of the head) and perceptual knowledge (knowledge of the heart). In De Wit's view, contemplative traditions are concerned with and ultimately aimed at removing blindness, ignorance, darkness and confusion that comes with a solipsistic and egocentric experience of reality.274 He remarks that, from the perspective of contemplative psychology, the one who has been able to achieve such a removal is wise and knows life in a spiritual sense.275 This way of knowing "is borne in people who are guided from the harmful to the eternal way through God, who fathoms individuals and knows their hearts."276 An understanding of mind and knowledge in contemplative psychology will be discussed in Chapter 3 of this thesis.
The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition has union with God as its primary aim and goal.
In guiding its faithful in union with God and becoming god by Grace, this tradition encourages a probing of the depths of the heart and mind, practice of the virtues, and removal of any
274 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 144-145. 275 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 144-145. 276 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 33. 68
obstacles — blindness, ignorance, sin, confusion malice, passions — that prevent one from true knowledge of and union with God. The hope is that Christians will grow in wisdom, gnosis, and deifying love — gifts granted to those who have grown in likeness to Christ. More will be said of this in Chapter 3.
Third, as regards psychological methods, De Wit contends that contemplative traditions have developed their own contemplative epistemology and methodology so as to "open people's eyes." This has been possible partly because these traditions have acquired an understanding of the psychological aspects that can foster the acquisition of knowledge and insight into the human mind and experience.278 They also have an understanding of religious growth and contemplative practice.
Methodologically, contemplative psychology considers ways by which an egocentric mode of experience can be both explored and transformed into a spiritual experience of reality through the practice of contemplative disciplines directed at thoughts, words and actions.279
These psychological methods are embedded in the contemplative practices and disciplines of the traditions. They are found in the form of meditation, contemplation, introspection, prayer, liturgical action, contemplative action in daily life, and disciplines directed at developing mental stability and strength. Collectively, these methods "clear the way for cognizing, perceiving or realizing that which the contemplative tradition regards as its ultimate truth,"281 and involve cultivating perceptivity, attentiveness, alertness or consciousness.282
277 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 1, 7. 278 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 1, 7. 279 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, back cover. 280 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 33-34, and 232-233. 281 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 33-34. 282 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 39. 69
According to De Wit, the psychological methods employed in the contemplative traditions can generally be characterized as "awareness strategies."283 De Wit notes that:
pT]he starting point of nearly all contemplative traditions is the discipline of becoming aware of our "working basis," noticing the dynamics and patterns in thought, word, and deed of our actual state of being as it is now. By cultivating our clear sight and intimate knowing of our working basis of who we are — we might begin to see and distinguish that which runs counter to spiritual life — for example, our own arrogance, avarice or malice - from that which nurtures and sustains our spiritual development. The ability and willingness to discern and acknowledge these so-called negative qualities provides a realistic point of departure for the contemplative path, and for effective contemplative psychological guidance.284
An elaboration of the spiritual disciplines will be presented in Chapter 3 of this dissertation.
Eastern Christian spirituality employs many spiritual praxes — positive and negative — aimed at helping people see themselves for who they are, removing passions that bind the human heart, and fostering virtues that move them in the direction of Christ-likeness. These spiritual praxes are in the form of prayer, contemplation, spiritual reading, ascetical/mystical practices, sacramental/liturgical action, good works, study, and obedience to a spiritual father or mother. Their aim is to transform and convert the human heart so as to make a relationship with God, self and others more possible, and open one up to a synergistic relationship with God.285 Many of these methods require nepsis or attentiveness.
De Wit notes that the litmus test for the quality of the insight and know-how of a spiritual practitioner lies in one's ability to create formal and informal contemplative situations. The creation of formal situations involves establishing contemplative communities, or helping them thrive. These include the introduction of formal structures
283 De Wit, "On Contemplative Psychology," 87. See De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 192-197 for further consideration of the disciplines of thought employed in contemplative psychology, and psychotherapy. 284 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 33-34. 285 A synergist relationship with God primarily refers to cooperation of the human person with the salvific activity of God. In this activity, God initiates and the human person responds. More will be said of this in the following section. 70
(e.g. liturgy) which create a foundation for the contemplative life. The creation of informal situations involves making daily life situations part of the contemplative way by changing their experiential quality. According to De Wit, these two abilities form the heart, the point of departure and fruition of contemplative psychology.
According to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the litmus test for the quality of the insight and know-how of a spiritual practitioner is love and Christ-likeness. One who loves God truly cannot help but want to pray always, enter into communion with God sacramentally, and imitate Him in all ways and at all times in being incarnate love for the life of the world. More will be said of this in Chapter 3.
1.3.2.3.3.6. Freedom and Grace
De Wit notes that traditions vary regarding their view of the degree to which the pursuit of the spiritual path lies in the hands of the practitioner and the hands of God. While some emphasize grace so much that they attribute the practitioner's spiritual development purely or almost completely to God's grace,287 others maintain that contemplative development is completely in the hands of its practitioners.288 De Wit notes that, practically speaking, most religious traditions tend to maintain a position somewhere between the two extremes.
However, he emphasizes that one has to be careful not to view these two positions as being fundamentally contradictory. He rather suggests that each position may be relevant to, and an expression of, a particular stage of or an attitude toward religious development.289
De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 231. De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 41. De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 43. De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 46. 71
The person's capacity to enter into a synergistic relationship with God — one of God's
initiative and human freedom to cooperate in the salvific activity of God290 — is central to
Eastern Christian spirituality and anthropology. Lossky insists that union with God is not the
result of an unconscious process, but is accomplished in each person by the co-operation of
the Holy Spirit and our freedom.291 Maloney adds that, "Christian perfection is a process of
actuating the seeds of divine life (called theosis) through a greater knowing and loving synergeia (a
working together) between man and God."292 This affirms that persons have the capacity
within their very beings to be open to and cooperative with the ultimate Transcendent.
Metropolitan Kallistos notes paradox or antinomy in the relationship between God and
the human person:
We are to hold in balance two complementary truths: without God's grace we can do nothing; but without our voluntary co-operation God will do nothing. "The will of man is an essential condition, for without it God does nothing" (The Homilies of St. Macarius). Our salvation results from the convergence of two factors, unequal in value yet both indispensable: divine initiative and human response. What God does is incomparably the more important, but man's participation is also required.293
St. Maximos the Confessor notes that: "Man has two wings, freedom and grace."294 In its very principle, grace is the matrix of the human fiat, but it is only given to our total offering.
"It is still God who puts virtues in the human heart," but to man belongs "the hard labor and
the sweat." Synergeia requires a turning away from self-centredness, kenosis (self-emptying),
moving toward Christ-likeness, and is ultimately fulfilled in human divinization.
290 SpidHk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 102. 291 Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 2002, 216. 292 George A. Maloney, Invaded by God— Mysticism and the Indwelling Trinity (Denville, NJ: Dimension Books, 1979), 26-27. 293 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 112. 294 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 78. 295 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 78. 72
Having considered contemplative psychology in relation to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition as regards contemplative traditions, theology, psychological insight, knowledge and methods in contemplative traditions, and freedom and grace, it appears that there is enough congruence between the two lines of thought to bring them together as dialogue partners in this doctoral dissertation. Further explication of contemplative psychology in Chapter 3 will verify that contemplative psychology is an effective framework by which to elucidate the psychological insights inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim.
It is noted at the outset that the use Contemplative Psychology as a heuristic tool in this research project does not have its limitations. It is acknowledged that one of the weaknesses of this type of analysis is that it risks seeming to undervalue the corporate, liturgical/sacramental life of the new humanity which is the Church living together. This is the case as so much of the spotlight is on the single human being's progress from ego to humaneness — so much of the focus is on interiority. Analysis in this regard is reduced to an over-emphasis on the individual rather than on the corporate, ecclesial nature of the Christian life. Despite this limitation, the use of contemplative psychology as a heuristic tool remains useful. Its emphasis on the subjective experience of the person on the spiritual journey is not invalidated, particularly if one is cognizant of the risks in using such an approach.
1.3.2.3.4. Selection of Contemplative Psychology as the Methodology of Choice
Reasons for selecting contemplative psychology as the method for this research project are numerous. First, De Wit's approach is aimed at exploring insights that the contemplative traditions have acquired regarding human experience and the realization of what it means to be a human being. Second, he seems to present a well-thought-out epistemology, framework and methodology that might make it possible for unsystematically-presented psychological insights 73
embedded within die contemplative traditions to be presented, taught and transmitted in a
coherent and systematic way.296 Third, De Wit affirms that the Christian traditions in general
and the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition more specifically do contain a contemplative
psychology.297 Fourth, he indicates that psychological insights can be found in stories within
the tradition298 - such as The Way of a Pilgrim. Fifth, De Wit's presentation of contemplative
psychology as related to contemplative traditions, theology, psychological insights, knowledge
and methods, as well as freedom and grace are seemingly compatible with key elements of
Eastern Christian spirituality. Sixth, De Wit himself encourages further research into the
specific contemplative psychology of particular religious traditions so as to reveal their specific
natures.299 De Wit's makes efforts to identify elements of a Christian contemplative
psychology in his writing. In so doing, he attempts to respect Christian ideals and limit the
imposition of false constructs on the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. Seventh, in the
foreword to Contemplative Psychology, renowned priest-psychologist Adrian van Kaam insists
that "representatives of different spiritual traditions should study this work to establish what is
compatible or incompatible with the foundational wisdom and doctrine of the tradition to which they are freely committed."301 Eighth, De Wit's approach has been translated into
English for purposes of evaluation and application by a North American readership.302 Ninth,
De Wit's approach has the acclaim of several key persons, as has been seen in the literature
296 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 4. 297 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 4. 298 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 132. 299 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 233. 300 According to information acquired from Marie Baird during a telephone conversation 14/03/03, Adrian van Kaam bears responsibility for bringing De Wit's works to an English speaking audience. She noted that, after Van Kaam had read De Wit's Contemplative Psychology in the original Dutch, he approached Duquesne University Press to request that the work be translated into English and published. Van Kaam then asked Marie Baird, a graduate student at the time, to translate the book. 301 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xiii. 302 More will be said of the English translation of De Wit's writings in section 1.4.3 of this thesis. 74
review. For these reasons, De Wit's psychological approach is deemed appropriate for use in this research project and holds much promise in offering a tool for analyzing precisely what it is that makes The Way of a Pilgrim such an alluring spiritual narrative.
1.4. Methodology
The intent of this dissertation will be to draw on De Wit's contemplative psychology as a heuristic tool to first formulate an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology, and then apply this formulation to The Way of a Pilgrim so as to explore the psychological insights inherent in this spiritual classic. Of particular interest will be the ways in which the strannik changes in thought, word and action, as well as relationally with God, himself, others and creation over the course of his lifetime. Transformations that occur in the strannik once he has embarked on his formal pilgrimage and begun to engage in spiritual disciplines specific to hesychasm will be of greatest note. It is anticipated that this will facilitate a fresh re-reading of The Way of a
Pilgrim and begin some form of dialogue between psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality.
1.4.1. Research Hypothesis
It is the hypothesis of this research project that the application of De Wit's psychological framework (contemplative psychology) as a heuristic tool to The Way of a Pilgrim will illumine the spiritual development that occurs in the pilgrim, as well as changes in his thoughts, words, actions, and relationships over the course of his lifetime. As he comes to practice hesychasm, it is hypothesized that contemplative psychology will expose the psychological insights and methods present in the vision and practice of this form of Eastern Christian spirituality.303 It is anticipated that applying De Wit's psychological framework to The Way of a Pilgrim will expose the inner structures and patterns of maturation intrinsic to the spiritual experience of the
303 Hesychast spirituality will be elaborated on in Chapter 2 of this dissertation. 75
strannik and identify psychological insights that the tradition employs in guiding the strannik along the spiritual path.
Further, according to De Wit himself, three possible outcomes may result:
[T]he possibility of further developing the contemplative psychology of one's own tradition. It can also deepen the dialogue between the world religions, as far as their psychological aspects are concerned. Finally, such research can establish a dialogue between contemplative psychology and academic psychology, and thus offer a contribution to the development of a broad and profound universal psychology.304
It is the first of these possible outcomes that will be the focus of this dissertation. This project may also, however, at least partially pave the way for the second and third outcomes to be actualized.
In the course of applying De Wit's framework to The Way of a Pilgrim, a test of the validity of De Wit's method for the study of Eastern Christian spirituality will also become manifest. Thus, while it is not the focus of this dissertation, this research project will also necessarily evaluate whether 1. De Wit's method is applicable for analysis of The Way of a
Pilgrim in its current formulation; 2. it is applicable as a heuristic tool with some modifications;
3. De Wit's method is not applicable at all for analysis of this Eastern Christian spiritual classic.
Given the privileged place of The Way of a Pilgrim in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, this research will also shed light on the issue of whether De Wit's framework would be helpful in any future study of other aspects of Eastern Christian spirituality.
As De Wit's method has been utilized in only preliminary and limited research within the
Eastern Christian tradition,305 this dissertation will yield an original contribution to and
304 De Wit. Contemplative Psychology, 233. 305 The only application that we are aware of De Wit's methodology to elements of Eastern Christian spirituality at this point has been made at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, ON by masters level theology students enrolled in THO 6376: Mystical-Ascetical Approach to Eastern Christian Studies, Fall, 2004, taught by Prof. Andriy Chirovsky, with the present writer assisting; and bachelors level students enrolled in THO 2144: Selected Topics 76
potentially pave the way for further research in this area of study. If this research project were
to conclude that De Wit's methodology lends itself to the clarification of various processes
described in a text like The Way of a Pilgrim (and therefore the study of the Eastern Christian
spiritual tradition), further research involving the application of De Wit's method to other
aspects of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition would be seen as warranted, and the potential for additional research noteworthy.
Further, for those who believe that modern psychology has something to offer regarding insights into the development of the human being, and those who believe that spiritual maturation (as presented by the contemplative traditions and expressed in one's relationship with God, self, neighbour and the world) is also central to human development, a dialogue between The Way of a Pilgrim and Contemplative Psychology is intriguing. This dialogue is also exciting for those engaged in inter-religious dialogue, because De Wit's system may offer a way to compare like with like across the diverse spiritual traditions of the world, as well as clarify entities that are incomparable.
1.4.2. The Way of a Pilgrim — Edition of Choice
A methodological question arises around the particular translation of The Way of a Pilgrim to be used in this research project. Given that T. Allan Smith's306 translation of The Way of a
Pilgrim — The Pilgrim's Tale307 - is a scholarly English translation, is a recent translation (1999),
in Eastern Christian Spirituality — The Contemplative Psychology of Eastern Christian Spiritual Theology, Winter 2004, taught by this writer. Works compiled during these courses are unpublished. 306 T. Allen Smith, C.S.B. B.A., M.A., M. Div., D. Theol. (Erlangen) is Associate to the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto, ON, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Theology (Historical Department and Cross-appointed to the Theological Department), Director of Advanced Degree Programs for the Faculty of Theology - History, Spirituality and Theology of the Eastern Christian Spiritual tradition; Early Christianity; Monasticism. His scholarly interests lie in the history and theology of Eastern Christianity with a special focus on the Russian Orthodox Church. 307 The Pilgrim's Tale, Smith. 77
has been highly acclaimed by Orthodox theologians Andrew Louth308 and Jaroslav Pelikan,309 and has benefited from Smith's insight and knowledge as a recognized theologian and historian, Smith's translation will be used in this research project.
Of the complex set of seven narratives that make up the generally accepted text of The
Way of a Pilgrim, only the first four tales — The Tale of a Pilgrim, A. Seeker of Prayer — will be considered. These tales have been selected as they have been deemed to have been penned from one hand, are included in the earliest version of The Way of a Pilgrim?10 and are of the same narrative genre. More will be said of this in Chapter 2 of this thesis.
1.4.3. Language
A further methodological question that arises in this re-reading of The Way of a Pilgrim is that of language, particularly given that The Way of a Pilgrim was originally written in Russian, and De Wit's work on Contemplative Psychology written in Dutch.311
As it is not this researcher's intent to perform either an exegesis of The Way of a Pilgrim or a literary analysis of the text itself, The Way of a Pilgrim is analyzed in its received form within the North American context. This will involve an examination of The Way of a Pilgrim in its
308 See Andrew Louth's comments in Louth, "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tale," 400-403. Andrew Louth is a Professor of Patristic and Byzantine Studies at the University of Durham in die UK. He is a highly respected scholar in die Orthodox world and a careful translator of various texts, including the immensely complicated Maximos die Confessor. 309 See Jaroslav Pelikan's comments in the Preface to The Pilgrims Tale, Smith, ix. Jaroslav Pelikan (1923 — 2006) was the Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University where he served on the faculty from 1962-96, and a past president of die American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was one of the world's leading scholars in die history of Christianity. 310 The history of die publication of the text will be discussed in Chapter 2 of diis thesis. 311 Han de Wit, Contemplatieve Psychologie (Kampen: Agora, 1987 and 2000); and De Verborgen Bloei: Over de psychologische achtergronden van spiritualiteit (Kampen: Kok Agora, 1994). 78
stable English translation, which contains valuable psychological insights embedded within
According to a recent review of The Pilgrim's Tale by Andrew Louth,313 it is apparent that
The Way of a Pilgrim is considered by this authority in the field to be in stable English translation. From Louth's review, it can be surmised that he does not see any significant new material in this edition, nor does he see the original 1930's English translation of the work by
R. M. French314 as in any way inferior. In fact, Louth notes that French's translation is still worth reading. If Andrew Louth thought there were substantive differences among the various English translations,315 he would have surely noted them in his book review. Rather, he indicates that the most significant contribution of Smith's edition is the introduction containing investigative work by Aleksei Pentkovsky. 6
As regards the accuracy of the English translation of The Way of a Pilgrim and its ability to transmit the "texture" or "tonality" of the original Russian translation, Jaroslav Pelikan states that,
It is a highly instructive exercise, not to say an edifying one, to read, side by side, this English translation of The Pilgrim's Tale and its Russian original, Rasska^ strannika. For not only has the translator preserved the special mixture of spiritual naivete and speculative power in Archimandrite Mikhail Kozlov's text, but at many points he has
312 Professor Smith had made himself available to address any questions that may have emerged regarding key phrases central to an understanding of the text. However, no crucial issues of a linguistic nature emerged during die research or writing phases of this project. 313Louth, "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tale," 400-403. iHThe Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, French, 1991. 315Additional translations of The Way of a Pilgrim include die following: The Way of a Pilgrim, Pokrovsky; The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Shambhala Classics Series, trans. Olga Savin, foreword Thomas Hopko (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc. 2001); The Way of a Pilgrim: and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. R.M. French, ed. Faiui Annette Sand, design Greg Endries (Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House, 1993); The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Bacovcin, 1992. 316 Aleksei Pendtovsky, PhD, edited and wrote the introduction for The Pilgrim's Tale, a translation of Candid Narratives of a Pilgrim to His SpiritualFather published in The Classics of Western Spirituality series in 1999. Pentkovsky received a Doctor of Oriental Ecclesiastical Sciences Degree from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. He has been a reader at the Moscow Theological Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church and served as executive secretary of the foundation, Russian Initiative for Culture. 79
clarified obscure passages, emended faults in die printed version of the Russian, and provided explanatory notes that elucidate references or allusions over which even an experienced reader might be tempted to pass without noticing.317
For all of the above-stated reasons, Smith's English translation of The Way of a Pilgrim was deemed appropriate for use in this research project.
As regards Contemplative Psychology, the English translations of De Wit's works
Contemplative Psychology and The Spiritual Path will be used as well, particularly since they were translated into English specifically for the purpose of evaluation and application by a North
American readership. Han de Wit himself commends the translator of Contemplatieve psychologie
(Kampen: Kok Agora, 1987), Marie Baird,318 noting that her "careful and inspiring way of translating" led to "more than an exact rendering of the Dutch text." She purportedly provided him with suggestions and room "to clarify certain issues" in his mind and in the final
English draft.319 The quality of the English translation of Contemplatieve psychologie is also applauded by Dutchman Adrian van Kaam in the foreword to Contemplative Psychology?20 Van
Kaam there commends Ms. Baird for her work in bringing the text in excellent English to an
American audience.
In his Acknowledgements in De Verborgen Bloei,321 Han de Wit expresses his thanks to the translators of the American version, Lucy and Henry Jansen, and notes that "working with them also provided the opportunity for improving the Dutch text in some respects." He goes
317 See comments by Jaroslav Pelikan in the preface to The Pilgrim's Tale, Smith, ix. Jaroslav Pelikan was the Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University where he served on the faculty from 1962-96. He was the past president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and one of the world's leading scholars in the history of Christianity. 318 Marie Baird is currently an Associate Professor in the Theology Department, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA. She has taught and conducted research in the areas of Spiritual Theology, Christian Mysticism, and World Religions. Professor Baird was a graduate student when she translated Contemplatieve psychologie. 319 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, xvii-xviii. 320 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, ix-xiii. 321 De Wit, De Verborgen Bloei. 80
on to express his gratitude to Duquesne University Press for "their willingness to make this book accessible to an English-speaking public."322 Han de Wit and Marie Baird both kindly offered their support and availability for the success of this research project. I have been in touch with them and express my sincerest thanks for their suggestions and insights.
1.4.4. Utilizing Contemplative Psychology to Re-read The Way of a Pilgrim
The intent of this research project is to draw on Han de Wit's contemplative psychology to explore the psychological insights inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim — a story that captures, in narrative form, some of the deepest insights of Eastern Christian spirituality. De Wit notes that the following question exists for contemplative psychologies: "[H]on> can the conditions that give form to the contemplative path, conditions that play a role in these stories, he classified'in such a way that a manageable number of insightful categories may be established that could also be useful in terms of guidance?"323 (italics added). The question De Wit here poses raises further questions specific to this particular research project, namely: what conditions in The Way of a
Pilgrim give form to the contemplative path of the strannik; and how can these conditions be classified into a manageable number of insightful categories so as to unpack the psychological know-how embedded within the text? This will be a guiding question for this research project.
De Wit goes on further to say that "the story is connected with reality in all possible ways [It] brings the proper meaning of reality to light," such that "an awareness or experience of reality is evoked that goes beyond words."324 He notes that,
When we hear a story about prior generations of contemplatives from our tradition, about how they led their lives and how they felt about life, a perspective may then be evoked in us whereby we — maybe for only an instant — can look at our lives through their eyes. In this manner, the transmission of a particular insight takes place that goes
322 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, x. 323 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 70. 324 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 132. 81
beyond an intellectual knowledge of die traditions' stories. A particular insight about our own concrete life situation is transmitted in that moment. That which was transmitted comes to life through this transmission. This type of transmission includes much more than a conceptual understanding; it is the transmission of the heartbeat of a living contemplative tradition.325
While it would be fascinating to explore the reader's response and ways in which evocative statements326 inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim both awaken a particular sensitivity in the reader and transmit the heartbeat of the living Eastern Christian contemplative tradition, this area of research is beyond the scope of this particular research project, though the current project may very well lay the groundwork for further qualitative research in this area in the future.
For the purposes of this dissertation, I have kept the focus solely on the closed universe of the text. Such an approach entails an examination of the pilgrim's shifting experience of reality as he lives his life and journeys along his spiritual path. To examine this experience, I will apply De Wit's psychological framework as a heuristic tool to the character of the pilgrim.
Identification of inner structures and patterns intrinsic to the pilgrim's spiritual maturation may be possible precisely through an application of De Wit's categories.
Within this research study, it will not be feasible to explore and apply all of De Wit's many insights and theoretical categories. As a result, this thesis will restrict itself to a limited number of De Wit's ideas. These will include his general categories of transformative thought, word and action, as well as two further notions that Michael Washburn noted have "special value as guiding ideas for a more comprehensive understanding of spirituality."327 One of
325 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 133. 326 According to De Wit, evocative language is language which "awakens or evokes a particular state; it creates a particular experience of reality... The evocative use of language often takes the form of poetry or stories." (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 131). 327 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xiii-xiv. 82
these ideas is that our humaneness or spiritual nature is comprised of the inseparable dimensions of clarity, courage, compassion, and joy. The other is that spiritual practice is characteristically both a restraint of ego and cultivation of some dimension of humaneness™ Washburn notes that "much of The Spiritual Path is a systematic working out of these implications."329 As such, transformations in the pilgrim's thoughts, words, actions, and spiritual nature will be explored as he engages in various spiritual practices or disciplines over the course of his lifetime. These changes will be most evidenced in the pilgrim's relationships with God, himself, others and creation.
1.5. Summary
This initial chapter has served to lay the groundwork for the following chapters of this dissertation. First, the dialogue partners of this research project — contemplative psychology and The Way of a Pilgrim — were introduced. Second, contemplative psychology and The Way of a Pilgrim were each situated within the contexts of psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality respectively. Third, the two dialogue partners were engaged in preliminary dialogue to establish the appropriateness of using both in this research project. After determining that utilizing contemplative psychology as a heuristic tool to illumine the psychological insights in
The Way of a Pilgrim would be a valuable endeavour, the methodology of this doctoral research project was presented.
The following two chapters will further explore significant aspects of the dialogue partners. In Chapter 2, current research regarding The Way of a Pilgrim will be highlighted.
Chapter 3 will then further illumine key elements of contemplative psychology and propose an
Eastern Christian contemplative psychology. The contents of Chapters 2 and 3 will be
328 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xiii-xiv. 329 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xiii-xiv. 83
foundational for Chapter 4 in which a formulated Eastern Christian contemplative psychology will be utilrzed to read The Way of a Pilgrim. We now turn our attention to an exploration of current research into the text of The Way of a Pilgrim. 84
CHAPTER 2: THE WA Y OF A PILGRIM
This chapter will explore current research related to The Way of a Pilgrim. The first section will outline theories about the authorship of the work. A brief historical overview regarding the publication of the text follows in section two. A synopsis of the socio-political context of nineteenth-century Russia, in which the text is set, comprises the third section. The structure of The Way of a Pilgrim is then discussed in the fourth section. In the fifth section, the inter-textuality of The Way of a Pilgrim is presented, and in the sixth, a literary analysis. The seventh section briefly considers the text's narrative structure and use of pilgrimage as a root metaphor. Finally, the eighth section presents understandings of the characters in the story — particularly the person of the pilgrim.
2.1. Theories About Its Authorship
Traditionally, The Way of a Pilgrim was considered to be an anonymous work written by an uneducated strannik living in Russia during the middle of the nineteenth century (1853-1861).
It was thought that the tales were of his real-life experiences which had initially been transmitted orally and were later recorded by monks of Mount Athos in Greece.330 In recent years, however, historians have questioned this belief. New evidence suggests that The Way of a
Pilgrim was written by an educated churchman as a theological and literary text, rather than an autobiography.
Various scholars have proposed several possible people to be the work's author. In the introduction to a new Russian translation of The Way of a Pilgrim™ Hegumen Tikhon, St.
Theophan the Recluse, St. Amvrosii of Optino, and Archimandrite Mikhail Kozlov are
330 Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim," 114-115. 331 Otkrovennye rasska^y strannika dukhovnomu svoemu ottsu (Moskva: Izdanie Sretenskogo monastyria, 2000). 85
suggested as possible authors. In Aleksei Pentkovsky's highly regarded historical critical analysis of the work published in 1999, he claims that the writing of the earliest version of the first four tales is actually the work of two specific monks.
According to Pentkovsky, the first author of The Way of a Pilgrim is Archimandrite
Mikhail Kozlov [1826-1884]. Mikhail had originally been an "Old Believer"334 who joined the state Church and spent much of his life as a missionary among the Old Ritualists. The Old
Ritualist background is significant, as the phenomenon of wanderers or stranniks — the background of The Way of a Pilgrim — was particularly characteristic of the persecuted Old
Ritualists.
Pentkovsky claims that the second author was Arsenii Troepolskii [1804-1870]. Like
Mikhail, Arsenii was a wanderer who spent much of his life traveling between monasteries.
Pentkovsky suggests that Troepolskii used and supplemented Mikhail's work. The "strannik" therefore, according to Pentkovsky, was a real person, or rather two real people — Arsenii
Troepolskii and Archimandrite Mikhail Kozlov — who lived as wanderers in the middle years of the nineteenth century.
332 Introduction to Otkrovennye rasska^y strannika dukhovnomu svoemu ottsu (Moskva: Izdanie Sretenskogo monastyria, 2000), 3-4; as noted in Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim," 115. 333 See The Pilgrim's Tale, 1-46. 334 An "Old Believer" (also known as "Old Ritualist") is a member of a group of Russian religious dissenters who refused to accept the liturgical reforms imposed upon the Russian Orthodox Church by the Patriarch Nikon of Moscow (1652-58). Numbering millions of faidiful in the 17di century, the Old Believers split into a number of different sects, of which several survived into modern times. (See "Old Believer," Encyclopaedia Britannica from Encyclopaedia Britannica Premium Service. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=58386; Internet; accessed 31 July 2004). "Old Believer doctrine is identical to that of Eastern Orthodoxy. Differences for most Old Believer communities are in details of ritual practice, alone. However, centuries of persecution, and die nature of their foundation, has made them highly culturally conservative and mistrustful of anything they see as insufficiently Russian. Some Old Believers go so far as to consider any pre-Nikonian Orthodox Russian practice or artifact to be exclusively theirs, denying that the Russian Orthodox Church has any claims upon a history before Patriarch Nikon." (See "Old Believer," NationMaster.com Encyclopedia. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/01d-Believers; Inter net; accessed 31 July 2004). 86
2.2. History of the Publication of the Text
The history of the published version of The Way of a Pilgrim is complex. According to a study of the history of the textual history and authorship of The Pilgrim's Tale conducted by
Pentkovsky,335 it was Arsenii Troepolskii's re-working of Archimandrite Mikhail Kozlov's original writings that became the basis for the first 1881 publication which was printed in
Kazan.336 This 1881 published version is believed to have been edited by Hegumen Paisii
Fedorov who supplemented Troepolskii's text from another of his works entitled a "Candid
Missive of an Eremitic Anchorite to his Elder and Mentor in Interior Prayer."337 Several editions of the work then followed within a short period of time. A fourth edition was published in Moscow by 1884.
Aleksei Pentkovsky proposed that the earliest known redaction of the Four Tales of a pilgrim is the Optino redaction.338 This redaction, originating no earlier than 1859, is found in
Opt 455 and Opt 456 - two closely related manuscripts from die Optino hermitage.339
According to Pentkovsky, the Optino redaction or "The Tale of a Pilgrim, a Seeker of Prayer" was derived from an unknown and lost text entitled "The Seeker of Unceasing Prayer," that was composed by Archimandrite Mikhail Kozlov.
335 The following information regarding the history of the publication of the text is taken from Aleksei Pentkovsky, "Introduction — From "A Seeker of Unceasing Prayer" to "The Candid Tales of a Pilgrim" (notes on the textual history and authorship of The Pilgrim's Tale), as found in The Pilgrim's Tale, 1-46. 336 It was first published in Russia under the title Otkrovennye rasska^y strannika dukhovnomu svoemu ottsu. 337 The Pilgrim's Tale, 21. 338 The Pilgrim's Tale, 1-12. This is the redaction that T. Allan Smith has translated and presented in The Pilgrim's Tale, and hence the redaction used in diis thesis. 339 See the Department of manuscripts of the Russian State Library (Moscow) [hereafter OR RGB], f. 214 [f. = fond (collection) here and diroughout], No. 455 [from die library of the Optino hermitage, the former number: otd. I, No. 65]; and OR RGB, f. 214, No. 456 [from the library of the skete of Optino hermitage, the former number: otd. I, No. 239] as referenced in Smith, The Pilgrim's Tale, 39, footnotes 19 and 20). 87
The Optino redaction is distinct from the later Athos, Sergiev, and Abbreviated redactions. According to Pentkovsky, the existence of an Athos redaction (of which there are no known copies) has been postulated. The Athos redaction is believed to have been close to the Optino redaction, and its text assumed to have been used by Hegumen Paisii Fedorov, superior of Saint Michael the Archangel Monastery of Cheremis in the Diocese of Kazan, as the basis of an 1881 Kazan edition. Hegumen Paisii significandy reworked the text as regards both style and content and entitled the work "The Candid Tale of a Pilgrim to His Spiritual
Father."
The next redaction of the manuscript text was the Sergiev version which is preserved in two manuscripts — Sergiev and Panteleimon. A further redaction of the printed text was St.
Theofan the Recluse's 1883 edition - "Candid Tales of a Pilgrim to His Spiritual Father." St.
Theofan introduced significant changes into Paisii's text of 1881, heightening the role of the spiritual father, and emphasizing the Philokalia?A2
In 1882, an abbreviated and reworked version of the Pilgrim's Tales entitled "The
Remarkable Tale about the Grace-giving Effects of the Jesus Prayer," was published by the
Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos. The Abbreviated redaction of 1882,
340 The city of Sergiev Posad/Sergiyev Posad (Russian: CepmeB rtocaA) is the administrative center of Sergiyevo- Posadsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia. It was established in the 15th century around one of the greatest of Russian monasteries, the Holy Trinity, St. Sergius Lavra/Monastery founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh. The town was incorporated in 1742. The Soviet authorities, in 1919, changed its name first to Sergiyev, and then, in 1930, to Zagorsk (in memory of the revolutionary Vladimir Zagorsky). The original name of Sergiev Posad was again used official in 1991. 341 In his study of the history of the publication of the text, Pentkovsky notes that, "On the basis of results obtained from a comparison of the texts of the manuscript and printed redactions, the existence of an Athos redaction has been postulated, although diere are no known copies of it. The text of diis redaction, which in many ways is close to die Optino redaction, was assumed as the basis for the 1881 Kazan edition prepared by Hegumen Paisii Fdorov. In the foreword to the second Kazan edition (1883) Hegumen Paisii pointed out that he prepared his edition on the basis of a manuscript that he copied on Mount Athos. For diis reason the redaction of the text used by Hegumen Paisii for his 1881 edition has been called die Adios redaction." (Pentkovsky, "Introduction," The Pilgrim's Tale, 5). M2The Pilgrim's Tale, 5-6. 88
whose text is derived from either the Athos or Sergiev redaction, was published independendy
of the 1881 edition.343
In 1884, a new edition of 1883 text was made by the monastery of Saint Michael the
Archangel. This revised and edited 1884 text of the Pilgrim's Tales subsequently received
universal distribution.344 It is the 1884 publication of The Way of a Pilgrim that was translated into English by R. M. French in 1930.345 It is T. Allan Smith's translation of the Optino redaction346 as found in The Pilgrim's Tale, however, that is used in this research project.
2.3. The Setting - 19th Century Russia
The events described in The Way of a Pilgrim are believed to have taken place in the
Russian empire during the reign of Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881), between the Crimean War
(1854-1855) and the abolition of serfdom in 1860. The assumption that the events portrayed in The Way of a Pilgrim likely did not happen much after I860347 is based on two key factors.
First, prior to 1861, nearly half of the Russian population lived in serfdom, inhabiting and working the land of their birth and being bought and sold with it. This is the social milieu that predominates in the narratives. Second, there is a lack of reference in the narrative to the great social upheaval effected by the liberation of the serfs in 1861 and radical social reforms that followed. As a result, the accounts of The Way of a Pilgrim appear to have taken place between
1854 and 1860.
Nineteenth-century Russia, though a time of spiritual revival in the Russian Orthodox
Church and an age of great Russian literary figures such as Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy,
343 The Pilgrim's Tale, 1, 6,12. ^ The Pilgrim's Tale, \. 345 Louth, "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tale," 402-403. ™ The Pilgrim's Tale, 36. 347 The Way of a Pilgrim, Bloom (1995), xv. 89
was turbulent. The Crimean War delivered serious blows to the prestige of Russian foreign policy and revealed the poor state of the army. Ideas coming from abroad could not be constrained. As a result, liberalism passed from the soldiers to a new class of intelligentsia.
This group quickly divided into two antagonistic fractions: the Slavophiles, anxious to preserve the traditions and manners which, guided by faith, contributed to greatness of the country, and the westernizers, impatient to promote new ideas and accelerate the process of reform to establish an egalitarian society. The moderate socialism of Alexander Herzen [1812-1870] became more radical under the pressure of various anarchistic movements or revolutionist terrorism. In this unstable epoque, all societal structures seen previously as being able to defy the test of time were called into question.348 This appears to be the backdrop of The Way of a
Pilgrim.
2.4. The Structure and Content of The Way of a Pilgrim
The Way of a Pilgrim is comprised of two parts. The first part — The Way of a Pilgrim — consists of four tales that relate to various aspects of the strannik's journey. The second part —
The Pilgrim Continues His Way — is comprised of three further tales (the first of which is very similar in style to the original four, while the latter two take the form of dialogues between the strannik and several other characters).349 The first part is more simplistic in its presentation, while the second part — with its more theological presentation — lacks the naivete and charm of the first four tales. It is the first part — The Way of a Pilgrim — that is of interest for purposes of this research project.
348 Evdokimov, Pelerins russes et vagabonds mystiques, 145-146. 349 According to Pentkovsky, the three furdier tales published in 1911 - The Pilgrim Continues His Way — are also in part indebted to Troepolskii (See Louth, "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tale," 402-403). 90
The four tales of The Way of a Pilgrim each depict different portions of the strannik 's journey. The first tale, "The Tale of a Pilgrim, how he acquired the gift of interior unceasing prayer of the heart," begins with the pilgrim's brief self-portrayal, immediately followed by an
account of the impetus for his longing to acquire unceasing prayer. Accounts of his attempts
to find someone to explain unceasing prayer to him follow, including his encounters with a
cleric,350 then a parish priest,351 a bishop,352 a learned preacher,353 and an archpriest.354 After
having either spoken with or listened to a public sermon delivered by each, the strannik
searches Scripture to verify their teachings on prayer — only to be dissatisfied and perplexed.
He remains without any understanding of how to pray unceasingly and elects to stop listening
to sermons. Instead, he makes up his mind to search for an experienced and knowledgeable interlocutor to explain unceasing prayer to him. This leads him first to a nobleman whose words he cannot understand,356 and then to a kindly superior of a monastery who further confuses him.357 At one point in his journey, an old man — a monk of the great habit358 — catches up with him while he is walking and proceeds to explain to him the meaning of unceasing prayer. The pilgrim's discussion with the monk gives way to joy in his heart.3 9 The remainder of the first tale recounts the pilgrim's efforts to learn unceasing prayer under the
350 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49: 18-24. In order to facilitate the critical examination of the text, I have chosen to always refer to this edition. I supply line numbers specific to each page which do not appear in the text, but are added by me to make for additional precision. 351 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:25-50:6. 352 The Pilgrim's Tale, 50:11-52:3. 353 The Pilgrim's Tale, 52:4-53:17. 354 The Pilgrim's Tale, 53:18-55:12. 355 The Pilgrim's Tale, 55:13-18. 356 The Pilgrim's Tale, 55:21-56:11. 357 The Pilgrim's Tale, 56:17-57:16. 358 A monk of the great habit (megaloschemamonk) is a monk of the great angelic habit. Such a monk is one usually advanced in age, but always in spiritual life, who takes on himself a much greater ascesis and rule of personal prayer than the vast majority of monks who have only the little habit or microschema, but are never the less full fledged monks. 359 The Pilgrim's Tale, 57:17-62:12. 91
guidance of the monk whom he had taken as his starets, discussions with the starets, the pilgrim's introduction to the Philokalia, the staret's death, and the strannik's departure on his journey.360
At the outset of the second tale, "The Pilgrim's Tale on the occasion of his second meeting, 13 December 1859," the pilgrim indicates his intent to make his way to Siberia to venerate die relics of Bishop Innokentii of Irkutsk. He also recounts his experiences on his journeys, all die while praying the Jesus prayer as he wandered. He tells first of how he was robbed by two soldiers who, after knocking him unconscious, stole his Philokalia and Bible.
To the pilgrim's great delight, these were eventually returned to him,361 and he began reading all the more from them.362 As he did so, he noted that he was growing in understanding of the hidden meaning of the following: the Word of God, true prayer, and creation.363
After journeying again for some time, the strannik is eventually offered temporary residence in a mud hut in the middle of a forest. There, he spends time in silence, reads die
Philokalia, dreams of his late starets, receives instruction on reading the Philokalia, and experiences the fruits of prayer in his spirit, his feelings and in revelations.364 Sometime after leaving the hut, he is attacked by a wolr and later has a discussion with a teacher, both as regards this experience as well as that of interior prayer.366 He next relates having been asked by a priest to be a church warden. Accepting the priest's invitation, he stays tiirough the summer, prays in die chapel, and occasionally engages in conversation with frequent visitors to the chapel. Gradually, many of the visitors start seeking him out to hear him read from
360 The Pilgrim's Tale, 62:13-67:31. 361 The Pilgrim's Tale, 70:1-76:17. 362 The Pilgrim's Tale, 76:18-76:28. 363 The Pilgrim's Tale, 76:22-77:11. 364 The Pilgrim's Tale, 77:17-84:28. 365 The Pilgrim's Tale, 85:7-85:24. 366 The Pilgrim's Tale, 85:26-88:26. 92
spiritual texts or to receive his words of advice related to various everyday worries. He teaches several of them how to pray the Jesus prayer,367 including a peasant girl whom he is later accused of seducing.
On March 24th, the eve of the commemoration of the Holy Annunciation of the most pure Mother of God, the strannik relates having an overwhelming desire to receive the Holy
Mysteries. After travelling through foul weather, he, soaking wet, attends Orthros and Divine
Liturgy in a nearby Church. He experiences ineffable spiritual joy the following day,369 only later to learn that his legs are paralyzed. A peasant offers to cure him of his ailment in exchange for the strannik teaching his son how to read.370 The pilgrim agrees and is quickly healed.
A steward known to the peasant's son one day seeks the pilgrim out and requests of him that he read the Pbilokalia to him and his wife. On one occasion when he is with them, the steward's wife begins to choke on a fish bone that had lodged in her throat. The strannik shortly thereafter cures her, x and is sought out by local townsfolk who view him as a sorcerer.
The second tale ends with the strannik's arrival in Irkutsk, his meeting with a merchant who promises to pay for his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and his waiting to make his way to Odessa.372
The third tale, The Pilgrim's Tale on the occasion of his third and farewell meeting, 20
December 1859," is different in its presentation than tales one, two, and four. The shortest of all the tales, it is a meeting between the pilgrim and his spiritual father in which the pilgrim
367 The Pilgrim's Tale, 88:29-91:22. 368 The Pilgrim's Tale, 91:29-93:26. 369 The Pilgrim's Tale, 94:29-95:25. 370 The Pilgrim's Tale, 95:25-97:6. 371 The Pilgrim's Tale, 97:4-100:9. 372 The Pilgrim's Tale, 100:25-101:22. 93
aims to bid his spiritual elder farewell and thank him for his Christian love. His spiritual father requests of him that he share his origins and life prior to his pilgrimage.374 Agreeable to doing so, the strannik tells of his childhood, adolescence and early adulthood; his relationships with his grandparents, brother, and wife; and his experiences of prayer.375 He also details the beginnings of his formal pilgrimage fourteen years earlier.376 At the end of the narrative, he relates that he is unsure if the Lord will favor him to reach Jerusalem.377
The fourth tale, "The Pilgrim's Tale on the occasion of a fourth and unexpected meeting," is a further, unexpected visit between the pilgrim and his spiritual father. His plans having undergone a minor adjustment due to his agreement to accompany a deaf older man to
Odessa, the pilgrim continues to recount to his spiritual father additional events he had along his journey. This forms the contents of the fourth tale.
After detailing the circumstances surrounding his delayed departure,378 the strannik first shares his experiences in a district town of a pious family with whom he dined, conversed, prayed, read, and wept, and from whom he learned much. He notes having been struck by the family's sanctity as well as their care for the poor in their hospice. One evening at dinner with the family, the local priest, and residents of the hospice, he met a blind beggar with whom he spoke about the Jesus prayer and the Philokalia, and with whom he eventually traveled to
Tobolsk.380
373 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:4-6. 374 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:7-9. 375 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:10-104:37. 376 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:1-15. 377 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:18-24. 378 The Pilgrim's Tale, 106:14-107:27. 379 The Pilgrim's Tale, 108:28-125:30. 380 The Pilgrim's Tale, 123:4-128:29. 94
The pilgrim relates several additional incidents. One such occasion took place in a post office where he was tempted by lust. The reader is later told of the conversion of heart of the woman by whom he had been tempted. He also recounts his interaction with a sickly priest, and a discussion with an old woman who had learned the way of unceasing prayer in her youth.383 His final account is that of his discussion with a retired captain whose eight-year- old godson acquired the gift of unceasing prayer.384 The strannik 's departure for Jerusalem concludes the tales.38 One is not told whether or not the strannik makes it to his final destination.
Each of the events detailed within The Way of a Pilgrim provides insights into prayer, spiritual praxes, spiritual development, spiritual guidance and relational shifts. These will be further explored in Chapter 4 of this research project utilizing contemplative psychology in its
Eastern Christian formulation as a heuristic tool.
2.5. Inter-textuality of The Way of a Pilgrim
To begin to understand the power of The Way of a Pilgrim, & reader ought to first consider its intertextuality.386 Intertextuality evident in The Way of a Pilgrim has been discussed by both renowned Orthodox theologian Jaroslav Pelikan,387 and scholar Leonard J. Stanton.388 Of particular note is Stanton's discussion. He indicates that three authorial levels are evident in
The Way of a Pilgrim: Scriptural, Patrological, and Contemporary. Of the approximately 3,978
381 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:34-132:34. 382 The Pilgrim's Tale, 133:1-134:27; 137:12-13. 383 The Pilgrim's Tale, 134:28-137:9. 384 The Pilgrim's Tale, 137:14-140:15. 383 The Pilgrim's Tale, 140:18-140:23. 386 The abstract term for the habit, characteristic of Eastern Christian spirituality and theology, but by no means confined to it, of constructing a treatise by stringing together quotations and references from earlier sources. 387 See The Pilgrim's Tale, ix-x. 388 Leonard J. Stanton, "Three Levels of Authorship in The Way of a Pilgrim," St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 33, no. 3 (1989), 221-234. 95
lines of the originally published text of the first four tales, Stanton indicates that about 1.3%
are Scriptural; 3.1% are Patrological; and the remaining 95.6% are contemporary. Of the lines
noted to be at the contemporary level, 288 or 7.2% of the whole text is comprised of
quotations from the strannik's starets, who is the strannik's living link to Patrology and Scripture.
The remaining 88.4% of the overall text is the strannik's own narrative.389
Stanton suggests that the dominance of the strannik's narrative over Scripture and
Patrology goes beyond percentages. Its authority is dependent on the narrative's agreement with scripture and the tradition of the Fathers — an agreement that makes the strannik an
Orthodox writer. This dominance of the strannik's narrative also provides an exemplary case of
the value of the process of prayer over the privilege normally attached to the work of prayer or
even of Scripture.
The praying strannik — by his personal, practical communion with the realized
eschatology of the Incarnate Word — enjoys proximity to Jesus comparable to that of the evangelists or the Fathers. Inasmuch as he is an adept practitioner of prayer of the heart, he has authority. Stanton notes that privilege in this way devolves to the person of the strannik who, in his deification, is perhaps the finest nineteenth-century literary example of Russian
Christianity. The strannik becomes an icon of the eschatological reality of Christ, Whose energies are not distanced by time and space.
389 Stanton notes that these percentages are based on Part One of the most complete version of the text available at the time of his writing (YMCA Press, 3rd eel., 1948; 4th ed., 1973); Part One of that text corresponds to the original 1884 edition. Some sections of the longer text (YMCA, 1973, 118-81) are editorial addenda comprised almost exclusively of patrological instructions on prayer; these are not included in R. M. French's translation. Odier parts of chapters five through the end have transcriptions of long quotations from instructional works on prayer read by die holy men die strannik visits. Because Stanton's immediate concern is die integration of scripture and patrology into the strannik's narrative, the percentages in chapters 1-4 were deemed sufficient to illustrate his point. (See Stanton, "Three Levels of Authorship in The Way of a Pilgrim," footnote 2, 222). 96
2.6. Literary Analysis of The Way of a Pilgrim
The Way of a Pilgrim is both a narrative in the genre of Russian spiritual literature390 and a
Russian literary text391 from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Much of the work's literary structure has been analyzed and explained by Dr. Anat Vernitski392 in her comprehensive and convincing research which can be found in "'The Way of a Pilgrim': Literary
Analysis of a Religious Text."3 3 Vernitski's close textual analysis of several passages from this classic offers the reader a taste of the work's literary qualities, including its structure, motifs, and literary devices. Her analysis demonstrates diat The Way of a Pilgrim is a literary text written with artistic devices in mind, rather than the simple tale of a strannik. Moreover, her study concludes that, in addition to being theological in nature and dealing with spiritual experience,
The Way of a Pilgrim is also an accomplished literary work — in fact, one of the finest examples of Russian nineteenth century ska^.394
To connect the four stories comprising The Way of a Pilgrim, the audior has relied on the character of the strannik, and the themes of religious wandering and perfection of prayer.
These elements give the work cohesiveness. The protagonist-narrator — the strannik — is a specific character with a unique personality who conveys the wisdom of the Fathers of the
Church to the reader. The strannik'?, character and the themes are transmitted through the
390 Cherry Sonderer, "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tale" Anglican Theological Review 82, no. 4 (Fall, 2000), 831. 391 Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim," 113-122. 392 Dr. Anat Vernitski is the Research Officer in Russian Culture from the Department of Linguistic, Cultural and International Studies School of Arts University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK. Vernitski presented a paper entitled '"The Way of a Pilgrim': Literary Analysis of a Religious Text" (in Russian: 'Rasskasy strannika: literaturavedcheskii anali^1) 392 in March, 2002 at the Religion in Russia and Eastern and Central Europe Study Group Workshop: Religious and Spiritual Themes in Russian Cultural History. 393 Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim," 113-122. 394 Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim," 114. For summaries of the history of skaz theories, see I. R. Titunik, "The Problem of Skaz (Critique and Theory)," in Papers in Slavonic Philology I: In Honor of James Ferrell, ed. Benjamin A. Stoltz (Ann Arbor: Department of Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan, 1977), 276-301; and Peter Hodgson, "More on the Matter of Skaz: The Formalist Model," in From Los Angeles to Kiev: Papers on the Occasion of the Ninth International Congress of Slavists, Kiev (September 1983), ed. Vladimir Markov and Dean S. Worth (Columbia, OH: Slavica, 1983), 119-154. 97
strannik's many monologues as well as through his dialogues with various characters he meets
along his journey. Both the dialogues and monologues are written in a pseudo-folk style
resembling oral speech.
Vernitski argues and demonstrates that such a narrator is characteristic to the ska^395 and
is therefore in the genre of Russian spiritual literature, as well as that of Russian literature in
general. Of Russian origin, the term "ska^' derived from ska^at', ska\ literally means a "tale,"
"speech," from the term "to relate," "to tell."396 While not an exclusively Russian nor Slavic
phenomenon — as the examples of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn,
Ring Lardner's "Haircut," and Salinger's Catcher in the Rye"2,91 in English literature show — the
ska% was first noted and analyzed by the Russian Formalists.398
In identifying The Way of a Pilgrim as a ska^ Vernitski convincingly elevated this classic
"from the position of a naive monologic narrative by a real-life strannik to that of a
sophisticated literary work which engages with the artistic interest of such mainstream
nineteenth-century writers as Gogol 399 and Leskov400"401 — both of whom employed an
395 Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim," 117. 396 See "ska%/' Encyclopedia Britannica from Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service, (http://www.britannica.com/ eb/article?eu=137844;Internet; accessed 30 April 2004). 397 See http://www.cx.unibe.ch/ens/cg/genres/pppn.htm; Internet; accessed 30 April 2004. 398 Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim," 117. For summaries of the history of ska% theories, see Titunik, "The Problem of Skaz (Critique and Theory)," 276-301; and Hodgson, "More on the Matter of Skaz," 119-154. 399 Nikolai Gogol, (1809-1852), "Russian short-story writer, novelist, and playwright, sometimes considered the father of Russian realism. Of Ukrainian origin, he first won literary success with fanciful and romantic tales of his native Ukraine in Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka (1831—32). His next stories, in Mirgorod (1835), contained elements of romance, humor, and the supernatural. "Taras Bulba," part of the collection, is a vigorous description of the adventures of a 17th-century Cossack. Gogol then wrote several tales set in St. Petersburg. The most famous of these is The Overcoat (1842), about a downtrodden clerk who sacrifices much to buy a new overcoat that is stolen the first time he wears it. As a dramatist Gogol's fame rests on The Inspector-General (1836), a satire on provincial officials. Petty vice and human folly are caricatured in this as in aU his mature work. His picaresque novel Dead Souls (1842) concerns the rogue Chichikov who buys the names of dead serfs from landowners in order to mortgage them as property. This work is the culmination of Gogol's gift for caricature, imagery, and invention. Haunted throughout his life by moral and religious problems, and adverse criticism from his contemporaries, his powers declined as he attempted to write a second part to his novel, embodying positive spiritual values. In a frenzy he destroyed the manuscript; greatly depressed, his health ruined by fanatical fasting, he died shortly thereafter. Gogol's work is realistic in its concern for rich detail, but he is famed primarily for 98
individualized narrator of a story in a style resembling the spontaneity and colloquialism of oral speech.
2.7. Narrative Structure and Use of Pilgrimage as a Root Metaphor
Jaroslav Pelikan notes that the special mixture of spiritual naivete and speculative power in The Way of a Pilgrim owes some of its effectiveness to the narrative structure and to the organizing principle of the pilgrimage. He suggests that the use of pilgrimage as a root metaphor in this Russian classic is closer to that of Bunyan402 or Comenius403 than to
Chaucer.404 While acknowledging Chaucer's unforgettable reflection that "many of our brother and sister pilgrims wander because they have nothing to do or because they are lazy," The Way of a Pilgrim describes the journey of the soul to God in the language of the strarmik's journey to
Jerusalem. Pelikan posits that The Way of a Pilgrim could well have closed with Bunyan's words
creating a fantastic world of the imagination. Most of his works have been translated into English. See his letters, ed. by C. R. Proffer (1968); his Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends (tr. 1969); biographies by J. Lavrin (1926, repr. 1973) and H. Troyat (tr. 1973); studies by V. Erlich (1969), T. S. Lindstrom (1974), and D. Fanger (1979)." ("Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol" The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, http://reference.allrefer.com/ency clopedia/G/Gogol-Ni.html; Internet; accessed 24 July 2004). (For a furdier biographical sketch of Gogol, see also "Nikolay (Vasilyevich) Gogol,"" http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/gogol.htm; Internet; accessed 24 July 2004). 400 Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895) was a novelist and short-story writer who has been described as the greatest of Russian storytellers. ("Nikolay Semyonovich Leskov," Encyclopedia Britannica from Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=49035; Internet; accessed 24 July 2004). Nikolai Leskov (1831—1895); "Russian short-story writer and novelist. Leskov was first a civil servant, then an agent for his uncle's business. Encouraged by his uncle he became a journalist and writer of narrative tales, told in a colorful, vital, and humorous style. An early story of sex and violence, "Lady Macbedi of the Mzinsk District" (1866; tr. in The Sentry, 1922), was used by Shostakovich as the basis of an opera (1934). Cathedral Folk (1872, tr. 1924) is a panoramic novel emphasizing the strengths of the provincial clergy and the faults of church bureaucracy. The brilliance of Leskov's narration transcended his frequent attempts to serve an idea. See translations of his tales by D. Magar ("Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov," The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, http://reference.allrefer.com/ encyclopedia/L/Leskov-N.html; Internet; accessed 24 July 2004). 401 Vernitski, "The Way of a Pilgrim," 117. 402 John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (Signet Classic: 2002). 403 John Comenius: The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart {Classics of Western Spirituality, no. 90, Howard Louthan et al. (Paulist Press, 1998). 404 Geoffrey Chaucer, Larry D. Benson, ed., The Canterbury Tales: Complete (Houghton Mifflin College: 2000). 99
about Mr. Valiant-for-Truth: "So he passed over, and the trumpets sounded for him on the other side."405
2.8. The Character of the Pilgrim and Other Figures in The Way of a Pilgrim
Understanding the character of the pilgrim, as well as the other figures depicted in The
Way of a Pilgrim, is central to this dissertation. From research into the authorship of the text, it appears that the person of the pilgrim, as well as those of the other characters, was developed by two well-educated authors - Mikhail Kozlov and Arsenii Troepolskii — both of whom had been wanderers themselves. It is further postulated that the strannik is actually the real historical person, or rather the two real people, of Kozlov and Troepolskii. Mikhail perhaps developed the character of the pilgrim (as well as the other characters of the story) by integrating aspects of his own life as well as those of the lives of many other people into the characters, thereby developing composite characters.406 Troepolskii would have further added to the depictions of the figures in the story.
At the same time, a literary analysis would require that the pilgrim remain a literary character — a unique personality who both embodies and conveys the wisdom of the Fathers of the Church to the reader. Careful editorial corrections regarding the character of the pilgrim
(and other characters in the text) would have been made by the proposed authors and editors of the work (Mikhail Kozlov, Arsenii Troepolskii, Hegumen Tikhon, St. Theophan the
Recluse, and St. Amvrosii of Optino), all of whom were hesychasts in whom the Eastern
405 Jaroslav Pelikan, preface to The Pilgrim's Tale, xi-xii. 406 A composite character is "a character in a fictional work that is composed of two or more individuals. The individuals may be real historical or biographical figures used as models for an original piece of fiction, or they may be fictional themselves and combined in the process adaptation of fiction from one medium to another (as in die film adaptation of a novel). Frequendy, writers of fiction have been known to project elements of their own alter egos into die characters diey write about." (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_character; Internet accessed 24 May 2008). 100
Christian spiritual tradition has some trust. These authors and editors would have made
efforts to ensure that nothing was taken wrongly or misrepresented regarding the characters presented or the spiritual path depicted. They would have wanted to describe the characters as real people, and would not have aimed to portray progress in the spiritual life as being too
easy, hard or romantic.
As hesychast spirituality is experientially rooted in the real lives of those practicing hesychasm (as well as in the accounts of the experiences of the spiritual Mothers and Fathers of the tradition), these authors would have developed the characters in The Way of a Pilgrim in such a way as to at the very least, present an ideal and, at the very best, present actual experiences from the hundreds of people they knew. They would have likely integrated all of these experiences into the characters as well as stories associated with each of the figures, including most centrally the character of the pilgrim.
The new-found understanding of the complex editorial process behind the publication of this text gives us confidence that The Way of a Pilgrim is not just a romantic story about how one might develop according to Eastern Christian spiritual categories. Rather, it reflects the concrete experience and knowledge of a number of spiritual authorities who were themselves well-versed in the spiritual life, and who made significant efforts to describe it accurately — even if they took aspects from many lives of others and conflated them into a limited number of characters.
Having presented current research regarding The Way of a Pilgrim as relates to its background, authorship, publication history, setting, structure, content, inter-textuality, literary style, metaphorical components, and understanding of the characters in the story, we now turn our attention toward the dialogue partner that will be utilized to explore the psychological 101
insights that this spiritual classic contains. What follows in the Chapter 3 is a presentation of key elements of contemplative psychology, together with Eastern Christian components that would be specific to the spiritual tradition in which The Way of a pilgrim is situated. 102
3. KEY ELEMENTS OF CONTEMPLA TIVE PSYCHOLOGY
This Chapter will present key elements of contemplative psychology that will prove central to the research project at hand. These components include understandings of the person and experience of reality, the spiritual path (or way), mind and knowledge, spiritual practices or disciplines, and the role of the teacher. The Christian (and at times specifically
Eastern Christian) perspective and application that De Wit presents regarding each of these elements will, where possible and appropriate, be highlighted.407
As well, attempts will be made to identify Eastern Christian perspectives or concepts that seem to correspond to key elements of contemplative psychology presented by De Wit.
As the focus of this research project, however, is on a re-reading of The Way of a Pilgrim utilizing contemplative psychology, rather than an extensive elaboration of major themes of
Eastern Christianity (which has already been undertaken by previous authors), only identification of key elements rather than extensive elaboration of each will be made. This will lay the groundwork for future research endeavours which are beyond the scope of this current research project.
3.1. The Person and the Experience of Reality
An understanding of the concept of humanity, the person and one's experience of reality are fundamental to contemplative psychology. In this section on the person and the experience of reality, the concept of humanity and components of the person will be discussed. De Wit's distinctions between profane and humane nature, and the profane and
407 While De Wit makes reference to the perspectives and applications of these key elements in other spiritual and philosophical traditions, these will not be addressed in this thesis. Research into contemplative psychologies specific to each of the other traditions would be valuable, however, is beyond the scope of this current research project. 103
spiritual experience of reality will also be presented, as will his understanding of the development of ego. A brief discussion of each of these follows.
3.1.1. Concept of Humanity
According to De Wit, the concept of humanity is a foundational element of contemplative psychology. Whether positive or negative, one's concept of humanity impacts upon one's attitude towards life, as well as one's understanding of self and of others. This concept reveals both realistic and unrealistic expectations, perceptions of and attitudes toward one's self, and the place allocated to others in one's thoughts and emotional life.408 De Wit highlights several Christian themes that he maintains influence one's concept of humanity.
These include understandings of the Fall, sin, Christ, sanctification, the Kingdom of God and redemption. Such Christian themes challenge people to consider their own expectations of self and others, and the effect of such assertions on one's concept of humanity by various assertions — such as those stating that people are basically good or created in the image of
God.410
According to De Wit, the Christian tradition starts from the perspective of the existence of God and then from that of ego or "I," both of which point toward a transcendent, non- objectifiable given. In this light, human beings are understood as having a personal identity, and God is seen as a transcendent reality outside the person. De Wit quotes Romans 1:20
NJB: "Ever since the creation of the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power have been clearly seen by the mind's understanding of created things."411
408 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 42-45. 409 See De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 56-57. 410 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 45-46. 411 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 158. 104
Eastern Christianity's elaborate theological anthropology points out the import of one's concept of humanity. Citing Lossky, Tomas Spidlik says that this doctrine is based on "the revelation of a living and personal God who created human beings 'according to his image and likeness.' "412 The human person, who is naturally inclined toward God, is understood to bear the image of, and be able to grow in likeness with, God. According to the Eastern
Christian spiritual tradition, persons come to know their true, fully human selves through growth in likeness with Christ. Understandings of the Fall, sin, redemption, and the recapitulation of all things in Christ contribute to one's concept of humanity, as do life experiences, memories, relationships, sin, hurt, pain, joy and love.
According to De Wit, one's concept of humanity arises from a combination of 1) direct third-person knowledge: knowledge we gain by studying other human beings, 2) direct first- person knowledge: knowledge we attain by experiencing ourselves, and 3) indirect first-person knowledge: knowledge which we acquire by accepting what other human beings tell us that they know about us. Direct third-person knowledge is acquired through looking at the life situations of others. Direct first-person knowledge — the "way in which people experience themselvef,AXi — springs from direct observation of one's self and self-experience.414 Indirect forms of knowledge refer to third-person knowledge that conveys what others say about 'me'.
One's self-concept — "the totality of the ideas and views that we have formed of ourselves"415
— is, therefore, formulated based on numerous factors, and impacts how one views self and others.
412 Vladimir Lossky, In the Image and likeness of God, ed. by John H. Erickson and Thomas E. Bird, intro. by John Meyndorff (New York, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974), 112ff. 413 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 42. 414 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 42-43. 415 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 43. 105
De Wit's understanding of self-experience is of note. By self-experience he means:
[A]ll those phenomena that occur, (...) in the first person, that is to say, to phenomena that are not directly visible to others because they occur in what we could call our internal landscape. In that landscape, everything and anything is to be found: our thoughts and emotions, expectations, memories, dreams, impressions, images and anything else that we can think of. Our I or ego, as it is viewed in contemplative psychology (De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 167), is to be found there. It lives in this mental domain, as do the accompanying phenomena such as our self-image, our self-love and self-hate, etc.416
Regarding direct first-person knowledge, it is one's experience of self in the first-person that is explored in the Eastern Christian way of hesychasm. One is invited to come to "know oneself and increase in self-realization.417 The practices of hesychasm are mental, noetic, or contemplative in nature, emphasizing a conscious effort to observe and describe the results of one's self-study subjectively418 - the self-study primarily of one's "intellect" {nous) or "heart"
(kardid). According to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the "internal landscape" of self-experience is viewed as the heart or nous, and found within it are conceptual images.
More will be said of these components of the person in the following section.
3.1.2. Components of the Person
When presenting contemplative psychology, De Wit emphasizes the importance of anthropology, and utilizes the Eastern Christian anthropological models of body, flesh, mind, pneuma, psyche, and soul when discussing the components of the person. What follows is a presentation of these anthropological terms as understood in contemplative psychology followed by a brief discussion of Eastern Christian anthropology.
416 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 86-87. More will be said of the I, ego and internal landscape later in this chapter. 417 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 13. 4,8 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 4-5. 106
According to De Wit, "It is well known that the contemplative traditions of Christianity,
Judaism and Buddhism emphasize the fundamental unity of body and mind."419 Despite this unity, he also notes that body and mind are in many contemplative traditions connected with
two separate views or modes of experience, together with their associated ethical categories of good and evil. The body is regarded then as the source of evil or sin, while the mind or soul is continually threatened by this source with a loss of its purity and goodness. De Wit notes
that, when path-language is used, traditions tend to speak of a psychological (rather than
ontological) dualism about body and mind.
De Wit borrows from the Christian tradition regarding sarx and soma. He notes that,
[J] De Wit distinguishes two forms of mind. First, the mind in which the body appears as soma is the mind (pneuma) that guides the contemplative person, the pneumatikos. Second, the mind to which the body appears as sarx is the mind (psyche) that characterizes the profane person, the psychikos422 According to De Wit, this distinction by St. Paul's is a fundamental contemplative psychological distinction that is found in almost all contemplative traditions.423 419 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 184. 420 £)e wjt> Contemplative Psychology, 186. 421 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 186. 422 De Wit bases his understanding of the psychikos on St. Paul's understanding of die natural person as found in 1 Corinthians 2:14 NJB: "The natural person has no room for die gifts of God's Spirit; to him diey are folly; he cannot recognise them, because dieir value can be assessed only in the Spirit." 423 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 186-187. 107 De Wit notes that the contemplative way could be characterized as the transformation of sarx into soma, the profane into the contemplative or spiritual. This involves a transformation of the mind and one's associated view of reality, and conversion.424 The shift is from a view governed by hatred, greed, indifference and anxiety, with its accompanying perception of the world; to a view in which the world appears as the kingdom of God. In this latter view, body appears as soma and the world as fundamentally good. This perspective is permeated by charity, love, surrender and hospitality; and reality appears as fundamentally sacred despite its profane aspects. In Eastern Christian anthropology, the person is understood to be theocentric, and only oneself to the degree that he or she exists in God or in grace.426 This anthropology is entirely spiritual, and encompasses the entire person — the faculties of one's soul and body according to the possibility they possess of submitting themselves to the Spirit, of being spiritualized.427 The ancient Greek Patristic doctrine of the human self is foundational to Eastern Christian anthropology. This theory postulates that the human self is a layered entity. While there exist several ways to describe the self according to Eastern Christian anthropology, the four principal layers of body, soul, mind and heart that are offered by St. Gregory Palamas428 will be focused upon for purposes of this thesis as it is representative of the anthropological 424 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 190. 425 £>e wit, Contemplative Psychology, 194-195. 426 T. Allan Smith, "A Century of Eastern Orthodox Theology in the West," Religious Studies and Theology 16, no. 1 (June 1997), 72. 427 SpidKk, The Spirituality of the Christian Hast, 352. 428 St. Gregory Palamas constructed the body-soul and heart-intellect schemes in attempts to reconcile two currents or schools in early Greek Christian spirituality: those of the Evagrian and Macarian traditions. Rogich notes that, "Evagrius, a disciple of the Cappadocians — especially St. Gregory of Nyssa — and deeply indebted to the desert fadiers of Egypt, held to a more spiritualizing and Gnostic doctrine of the human self by stating in Platonic terms diat die nous is the center of the human's psycho-physiological life. Whereas Macarius and his school, seemingly more Biblical in content, adopted a more "affective" approach to die human self by placing the karthia as the center of "soul-body" life, displaying at times an affinity with the extreme ascetic movement known as Messalianism, which emerged in Mesopotamia and Syria in the last quarter of the fourth century." (See Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 8). 108 perspective specific to hesychasm.429 As noted by Rogich, St. Gregory Palamas's theological anthropology is the key theoretical prerequisite both of his explanation of the human self, as well as for understanding certain experiential paths to fuller experiences of Jesus Christ in prayer — a journey of the "return to self." This self-realization (which leads to deification of the whole human: body, soul, mind and heart) is the art of hesychasm. The human self is understood to be a composite of the visible (body) and the invisible (soul)431 — both of which have become liable to corruption or disintegration (phtharsis) after the Fall.432 According to St. Gregory Palamas, the body (soma) is the first layer of the human self. Body is the physical or material aspect of human nature and is defined by its intrinsic relationship to the human soul through the principle of love: "The soul by nature possesses such a bond of love with its body that it never wishes to leave it unless forced to do so by some serious disease or trauma."433 While the body is inclined through the five senses to the material world for its nourishment, growth, life, and pleasure; the rational soul (iogike) leads and directs the body and the senses.434 Within Eastern Christian anthropology, soma and sarx are distinct. Soma denotes the person as a whole, including the physical, external dimension of the human being. It is the basis for human life in the world and will ultimately be raised up, as God raised up Christ.435 Sarx (flesh or "the garment of skin") — is human weakness and mortality. It is what separates 429 Rogich, becoming Uncreated, 4-5. 430 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 9. 431 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 6. 432 Prof. Andriy Chirovsky, "A Brief Primer on Patristic Greek Anthropology with an Emphasis on the Process of Contemplation and Obstacles to It," THO 6370/76 "Maladies of the Soul": Patristic and Modem Approaches to Psychotherapy (Fall 2003). 433 St. Gregory Palamas, The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters, Xl^-lli, (See St. Gregory Palamas, The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters, 124-125, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae — A. Digital Library of Greek Literature, http: / / s tephanus. tlg.uci. edu). 434 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 5. 435 Susan A. Ross, "Body," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 93-94. 109 the human person from God. Alienated from God after the Fall, human beings are vulnerable to sin, and sarx is symbolic of this human frailty. Human beings find themselves in between three possible states that Paul Evdokimov identifies as homo animalis, homo spiritualis, and homo viator. Living "according to the flesh" is living carnally, according to oneself and the law rather than the Gospel — in separation from God. According to Evdokimov, "The conflict between carnal man {homo animalis) and spiritual man [homo spiritualis) takes place in the totality of the human being. (...) As homo viator, in a "state of passage," he fulfills his resemblance, his affinity, with the divine, or indeed the demonic, through his participations..."436 While on the journey, human beings are in the state of passage — they are acting as homo viator. These states and movements in the spiritual life are described somewhat differendy by others such as Metropolitan Paulos Gregorios. Metropolitan Paulos notes that the human being progresses: [B]y movement (kinesis) from birth (genesis) to fullness of being (stasis), that is, existence which is enjoyed without duration and extension. (...) Our created existence, as becoming, is the movement from genesis to stasis through the free cooperation of the will in the ascent towards the good. Eternal life is the boundary of becoming.437 Becoming more Christ-like along the spiritual path therefore presupposes movement between a beginning and end state. According to St. Gregory Palamas, the second layer of the human self is the soul (psyche) — the invisible aspect of human nature. St. Nikitas Stifhatos notes that, like the body, the soul has five senses: 436 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 50-51. 437 Paulos Gregorios, The Human Presence — An Orthodox View of Nature (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1978), 76. 110 [TJntellect, reason, noetic perception, intuitive knowledge, and cognitive insight. These are united in three psychic activities: intellection, ratiocination, and noetic perception. By means of intellection we apprehend spiritual intentions, by means of ratiocination we interpret them, and through noetic perception we grasp the images of divine insight and spiritual knowledge.4 The soul also possesses three powers: [FJirst, the power of nourishment and growth; second, that of imagination and instinct; third, that of intelligence and intellect. Plants share only in the first of these powers; animals share in the first and second; men share in all three. The first two powers are perishable; the third is clearly imperishable and immortal.439 It is the soul in human beings that leads and directs the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. "Bodily knowledge" — a product of the interplay of the human soul's reasoning ability with the body or material existence — causes the body "to be not just a lump of matter, but something that grows and moves, that feels and perceives."440 The soul is endowed with consciousness in that it is a rational soul possessing the capacity for abstract thought and the ability to advance by discursive argument from premises to conclusion.441 Though not distinct from the soul, the faculty of reason, which endows the soul with consciousness, is nonetheless considered a third layer of the human self. Dianoia, the rational mind, is the reasoning capacity of the soul. It represents the discursive, conceptualizing, and logical faculty, and functions to draw conclusions based on data provided by revelation, spiritual knowledge, or sense observation. Whereas "reason (dianoia) acts as the door-keeper of the senses, it is the intellect (nous) which is the 'deepest' underlying and directing layer of the human self.443 Nous is the 'innermost' aspect of the soul and the "faculty of the human self which has the ability to know 438 St. Nikitas Stithatos, On the Practice of the Virtues- One Hundred Texts, Text 10, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, 81. 439 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on Love, Century 32, in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 88. 440 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 48. 441 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 5. 442 "Glossary," Philokalia, vol. 2, 386. 443 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 6. Ill God by spiritual perception and hence the inner essences or principles of created things by means of direct apprehension."444 Unlike reason (dianoid), the intellect (nous) perceives Divine truth by means of immediate experience such as "recollection" {anamnesis), "union" (henosis), "contemplation" (thedrid), "faith" (pistis), "spiritual knowledge" (gnosis), intellection (noi'sis), or "ecstasy" (exstasis).445 It is inconceivable, by use of reason (dianoid) alone, to come to a full knowledge of God. The soul is tripartite and contemplated in the three powers: the intelligent, incensive, and desiring powers. Related to the intellect (nous) is the "intelligent power" (to logistikon) — the intellect's governing aspect or operative faculty which has the task of directing all other powers or aspects of the soul.447 Godly use of the powers of the soul leads to four forms of wisdom: [F]irst, moral judgment, or the knowledge of what should and should not be done, combined with watchfulness of the intellect; second, self-restraint, whereby our moral purpose is safeguarded and kept free from all acts, thoughts and words that do not accord with God; third, courage, or strength and endurance in sufferings, trials and temptations encountered on the spiritual path; and fourth, justice, which consists in maintaining a proper balance between the first three.448 444 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 10. 445 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 10, footnote 37, notes that, "From Gregory's writings one can easily multiply the names for this experience of the intellect: sobriety, self-mastery, sense perception, illumination, return to self, nepsis or vigilance, quietude, paying attention, pure prayer, watchfulness, reconversion, simple cognition, revocation, restoration, recreation, recapitulation, regeneration, reformation, intimate communion, transformation, conformation, and transfiguration. There are still more. This may be not only because of Gregory's more comprehensive approach to spirituality; or because all these terms were used in spiritual traditions before him; or because he is always working on refinements of the human mystery of divine experience. But also because Gregory wanted to preserve a "beyond" feature of all hesychast experience; diat is, since this experience is of God we must affirm its transcendent or apophatic character. A multitude of names in dlis sense is not to confuse the reader, but to "create an atmosphere" conducive to "openness" to divine Reality. See Triads 7J.iii.33: "Since the Reality which transcends every intellectual power is impossible to comprehend, ... It can in fact be possessed by a kind of ignorance rather than knowledge. For by reason of its transcendence, it is also ignorance, or rather it is beyond ignorance. This union then is a unique reality. For whatever name one gives to it — union, vision, sense perception, knowledge, intellection, illumination — would not, properly speaking, apply to it, or else would properly apply to it alone." Notice even for the word "God" Gregory chooses here another word — the Reality." 446 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 10. 447 St. Gregory Palamas, Triads II, ii. 19 as quoted in Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 6-7. 448 St. Peter of Damascus, "The Four Virtues of the Soul," in The Philokalia, vol. 3,100-101. 112 These arise from the powers of the soul as follows: "from the intelligence, or intellect, come moral judgment and justice, or discrimination; from the desiring power comes self-restraint; and from the incensive power comes courage."449 Both the "desiring" {to epithymitikon) and "incensive" {to thymikon) powers of the soul are of a passionate nature in need of a deeper power to direct their energies towards Divine things. St. Gregory Palamas notes that, "it is the misuse of the powers of the soul which engenders the terrible passions, just as the misuse of the knowledge of created things engenders the 'wisdom which has become folly'."450 Peter of Damascus noted that each virtue lies between the unnatural passions: Moral judgment lies between craftiness and thoughtlessness; self-restraint, between obduracy and licentiousness; courage, between overbearingness and cowardice; justice between over-frugality and greed. The four virtues constitute an image of the heavenly man, while the eight unnatural passions constitute an image of the earthly man.451 St. Gregory Palamas postulates a fourth component — the heart {kardid) — in his anthropological theory. The heart, as noted by theologian Paul Evdokimov, is a metaphysical center which integrates all the faculties of the human being — reason, intuition and will. It penetrates through the whole person while remaining hidden in one's mysterious depths. According to Evdokimov, it is in the depths of the heart that the self is found. Depending on one's affinities, one either orients the heart towards, and fills it with, the Divine (thereby making it a place of the perpetual presence of Christ), or orients it towards the demonic.453 Within the heart lies man's deepest desire — for good or for ill.454 The heart 449 St. Peter of Damascus, "The Four Virtues of the Soul," in The Philokalia, vol. 3,100-101. 450 St. Gregory Palamas, Triads II, ii. 19, in Gregory Palamas, The Triads, ed. by John Meyendorff, trans, by Nicholas Gendle (New York, NY: Paulist Press 1983), 54. 451 St. Peter of Damascus, "The Four Virtues of the Soul," in The Philokalia, vol. 3,100-101. 452 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 7. 453 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 50-52. 113 therefore contains the roots of the emotional life; thoughts and reflections; good and bad expressions of the religious and moral life including faith and doubt, good and bad deeds, and love of God and neighbour; evil desires; moral decisions; the orientation of the will; and 455 conscience. Gregory notes that the heart is the place of the intellect. It is the first intellectual organ of the body and the place of the deepest and truest self. The intellect {nous) and all thoughts of the soul have their seat in the heart. In the journey to the interior self, the challenge of the hesychast is to return the intellect to the heart. The practice of the "Prayer of the heart" aims to return the intellect to the "controlling organ, the throne of grace, in the 'body' which is most interior to the body" - the heart.456 Metropolitan Kallistos summarizes the Greek Patristic spiritual tradition concerning the relationship between the intellect and the heart as follows: When the heart is mentioned in Orthodox spiritual texts, it is to be understood in the full biblical sense. The heart signifies not simply the physical organ in the chest, not simply the emotions and affections, but the spiritual centre of man's being, the human person made in the God's image — the deepest and truest self, the inner shrine to be entered only through sacrifice and death. The heart is closely related to the spiritual intellect [nous] .. .in some contexts the two terms are almost interchangeable. But the "heart" [karthia] has often a more inclusive sense than "intellect." "Prayer of the heart," in the Orthodox tradition, means prayer offered by the whole person, involving intellect, reason [dianoia], will, affections, and also the physical body.457 While much more could be said regarding Eastern Christian theological anthropology, the components that have been noted are sufficient for our purposes here. 454 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 58. 455 Robert Koch, "Man - In the New Testament," Encyclopedia of Biblical Theology, ed. by J. B. Bauer (New York, NY: Crossroad, 1981), 546-548. 456 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 10-11. 457 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 115. 114 3.1.3. The Profane and the Spiritual Person and the Experience of Reality Included in De Wit's presentation of the concept of humanity and the components of the person in contemplative psychology is his distinction between the egocentric, profane or secular person on the one hand, and the humane or spiritual person on the other. According to De Wit, each of these two states has associated with it a particular experience of reality. Both perspectives or rather conditions, lead to different acts, and in that sense, create different experiential realities. The two, however, come into contact with one another through the people in whom they exist.458 In the framework of contemplative psychology, the term profane person loosely refers to a conventional,459 everyday image of human beings.460 As previously noted, the profane person is "the image of a self-centered human being who operates on the basis of a self- centered psychology and outlook. This self-centered psychology 'helps' one to focus on those aspects of one's experience that seem useful or threatening in one's attempt to maintain oneself in security at all times."461 From a Christian perspective, De Wit notes that, "[T]his profane person is the fallen one who, not recognizing this fallenness, takes it for granted and uses it precisely as the starting point and basis for life."462 Profane people are those "who in their injustice hold back the truth," (Romans 1.18 NJB), or those who although knowing God, "would not consent to acknowledge God[.] God abandoned them to their unacceptable 458 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 194-195. 459 This conventional image is variable from person to person, and might center on any of the following ideas: that people are ultimately interested only in themselves, are usually interested only in satisfying their own desires and avoiding their own pain, are a "mean species," or perhaps "ignorant" or "naive." (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 18-19). 460 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 18-19. 461 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 19. 462 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 17. 115 thoughts and indecent behavior," (Romans 1.28 NJB).465 The relationship of union between the / and God is rejected and broken — despite the person retaining the image of God. As a result, this person becomes an egocentric "I," estranged from God. In this state, the self is maintained at any price, and God is an unknown, hypothetical, non-experiential concept.464 De Wit likens ego to the hardened sinner, the center of one's self-conceit and egotism.465 Ego's origin, as well as that of one's egocentric experience of reality, is spoken of in terms of the Fall: "the origin of the egocentric experience of reality, which is the result of a certain movement of our mind."466 He notes that, according to Christianity, the Fall of humankind lies in its disobedience to God which has manifested as original sin.467 According to De Wit, committing "original sin" can be understood as the act of keeping one's self away from a personal relationship with absolute reality — hiding within one's self-created world so as to establish a relationship with reality on one's own terms.468 De Wit notes that reality, in the experience of the profane, egocentric person, is permeated with "aggression, materialism, reduction of the quality of social and personal life, and menace."469 The world from this perspective appears only worthy of hatred, rejection and destruction, and deserving of being subdued and ruled.470 In the profane perspective, weakness, cowardice and apathy threaten personal safety and dignity and as such are to be 463 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 18-19. 464 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 158-159. 465 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 90. 466 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 99. 467 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 166. From an Eastern Christian perspective, ego would perhaps be more likened to philautia (false self-love) which will be elaborated on at a later point in this Chapter. 468 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 170. 469 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 195. 470 De wjtj Contemplative Psychology, 194-195. 116 prevented and fought against. Hatred toward the pain and aggression that the profane world manifests is the motivation behind acting out of the profane perspective. In contemplative psychology, the non-materialistic or spiritual person stands in contrast to the profane person. The spiritual person is one who recognizes the Fallen state, and yet does not personally identify with it,473 but attempts to remove or disentangle the self from the profane view of life. According to De Wit, this removal is the pursuit of the contemplative path, and leads to enlightenment, liberation, fulfillment, emancipation or salvation.474 De Wit quotes Galatians 2: 20 NJB in this regard: "This is the life of which Paul says: "and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me."475 To refer to the spiritual nature of the person, De Wit uses the terms "humaneness" and "fundamental humanity." As such, fundamental humaneness from a Christian perspective is "Christ in us."476 In De Wit's understanding, humaneness is inborn,477 and seems to exist within us independent of one's desires.478 Manifesting in situations of prosperity and adversity, humaneness has four basic, inseparable dimensions: clarity of mind, courage, compassion, and joy. One is courageous in times of personal adversity, compassionate when confronted with the adversities of others, and joyful in times of personal prosperity or in viewing the prosperity of others, and has clarity of mind allowing one to be realistic in one's 471 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 195. 472 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 196. 473 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 17. De Wit calls this recognition the cognitive basis of conversion. 474 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 17-18. 475 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 17-18. 476 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 245. 477 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 6. 478 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 35. 117 view of the world and one's self. Experiencing one's humaneness brings one closer to one's self simply as a human being. According to De Wit, the person who has uncovered his or her fundamental humanity demonstrates warmth, unconditional interest in his or her surroundings, clarity of mind, lack of self-centredness, an ability to rise above him or herself, and abandonment of concern for personal projects and ambitions. Such a person's actions derive from a broader perspective: the person is free, strong, joyful in a fundamental sense, and able to encourage and inspire others in various circumstances.481 To the spiritual person, the world appears as the kingdom of God and is fundamentally good. Charity, love, surrender and hospitality permeate this point of view. As reality appears essentially sacred (or sanctified) despite its profane aspects, the world is seen as worthy of one's care and appreciation.482 De Wit indicates that the person experiences humaneness when feeling at his or her best. At such moments, one experiences self as a human being who has been born fully equipped for human life in all of its prosperity and adversity. One feels strong (in the sense that one can allow the world to be as it presents itself) and gende at the same time, filled with youthful vitality and self-confidence. One is able to be open to one's surroundings and capable of living with them.483 The profane and spiritual views of reality are quite contrary. The profane view reacts with aggression, greed or indifference to words and deeds manifested by the spiritual view. Considering itself to be completely realistic, the profane view regards the spiritual experience 479 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 35. 480 See De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xiii - 20, and "The Case for Contemplative Psychology." 481 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 35. 482 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 195. 483 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 5. 118 of reality as illusion, blindness and avoidance of life's harsh realities. Acts of charity are considered to be weakness, surrender considered cowardice, and acceptance considered apathy.484 Conversely, the spiritual view considers the profane person's experience of reality to be illusory. As such, it sees cowardice in aggression, weakness in greed, and apathy in indifference. Rather than fighting and condemning cowardice, weakness and apathy, this view tries to bring it to consciousness and let go of the profane mentality that lies behind it. Compassion or charity is the motivation behind acting out of the sacred perspective.485 Contemplative psychology is concerned with an inner flourishing — willed or not — that occurs in the depth of one's being, and that can determine one's attitude toward life. This flourishing requires a deep change in one's attitude toward life and concept of humanity,486 and concerns the uncovering of one's fundamental humanity. It becomes visible in the way in which one relates to one's environment, fellow beings and self487 — a way that deepens and elevates one's own life as well as that of others. While it occurs in the hidden depths of one's heart, De Wit maintains that it is neither abstract nor detached from one's life, but manifests in how one lives one's everyday life.488 While the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition does not use the terms "spiritual" and "profane" to speak of the tension-filled views held within the human heart, it does speak of a fundamental dualism within the person that is a result of sin and the Fall. As noted previously, it speaks of the carnal man and the spiritual man. While the image of God (what 484 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 196. 485 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 196. 486 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 45-46. 487 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 2. 488 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 34-35. 119 De Wit seems to be referring to when he speaks of inborn humaneness) remains in the person after the Fall, one's likeness to Christ has been compromised. Biblically, the resulting dualism is between the "old man" and the "new man," sinful nature and the Spirit,489 the flesh and the spirit — in essence the profane and spiritual person, the carnal and spiritual person. The Fathers of die Church speak of philautos (lover of self against self)490 versus philotheos (lover of God), philautia (false self-love) versus agapan eauton (a healthy love of self),491 prosopon (mask) versus hypostasis (person),492 biological versus spiritual,493 created in the image versus existing in the image,494 natural being versus Christ- being,495 passion-bound versus Christ-like, disintegrated versus integrated, and egocentric versus theanthropocentric. Thomas Hopko notes that, [T]he 'original sin' of human beings which infects us all, voluntarily and involuntarily, is "love of self." Egocentrism enslaves its possessor to the passions of mind and flesh and plunges him into folly, darkness and death. A person becomes blind because of his refusal to see, to affirm and to delight in what is presented to him, first of all the words and actions of God, and God Himself in His Word and Spirit in the world.496 Human beings have thus been left isolated from the creative Source of being. 489 See Romans 8:1-17. 490 St. Maximos the Confessor, Preface to Quaestiones ad Thalassium PG 90:257B. 491 See Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. IX, ed. by Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, trans, by Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B Eerdmans Publishing Company), 130. More will be said of philautia and agapan eauton shortly. 492 Paul Evdokimov, Woman and the Salvation of the World, trans. Anthony P. Gythiel (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1994).45-47. See also John D. Zizioulas, Being As Communion (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1985). 493 Zizioulas, Being As Communion. 494 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 58-59. 495 Evdokimov, Woman and the Salvation of the World, 45-47. 496 Thomas Hopko, All the Fullness of God, (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1982), 20-21. 120 As a result, human beings focus on themselves in egoistic self-love. This egoism leads to tyranny against one's neighbor,497 and a perversion of the powers of the soul. An invasion of the heart by the passions498 follows. St. Maximos the Confessor states: Thus, the immense and innumerable host of passions invades men's life. Their life becomes in this way deplorable. For the human beings honor the very cause of the destruction of their existence and pursue themselves, without knowing it, the cause of their corruption. The unity of human nature falls into a thousand pieces, and human 497 Lars Thunberg, Man and the Cosmos — The Vision of St. Maximus the Confessor (New York, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1985), 57. 498 ^ "passion (pathos): in Greek, the word signifies literally that which happens to a person or thing, an experience undergone passively; hence an appetite or impulse such as anger, desire or jealousy, that violently dominates the soul. Many Greek Fathers regard the passions as something intrinsically evil, a 'disease' of the soul: thus St. John Klimakos affirms that God is not the creator of the passions and that they are 'unnatural', alien to man's true self (The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 26...). Other Greek Fathers, however, look on the passions as impulses originally placed in man by God and so fundamentally good, although at present distorted by sin (cf. St. Isaiah the Solitary...) On this second view, then, the passions are to be educated, not eradicated; to be transfigured, not suppressed; to be used positively, not negatively." (See Glossary, Philokalia, vol. 1, 363-364). According to St. Gregory of Sinai, "The passions of the incensive faculty are anger, animosity, shouting, bad temper, self-assertion, conceit, boastfulness, and so on. The passions of die appetitive faculty are greed, licentiousness, dissipation, insatiateness, self-indulgence, avarice and self-love, which is the worst of all. The passions of the flesh are unchastity, adultery, uncleanliness, profligacy, injustice, gluttony, lisdessness, ostentation, self-adornment, cowardice and so on. The passions of the intelligence are lack of faith, blasphemy, malice, cunning, inquisitiveness, duplicity, abuse, backbiting, censoriousness, vilification, frivolous talk, hypocrisy, lying, foul talk, foolish chatter, deceitfulness, sarcasm, self-display, love of popularity, day-dreaming, perjury, gossiping and so on. The passions of the intellect are self-conceit, pomposity, arrogance, quarrelsomeness, envy, self- satisfaction, contentiousness, inattentiveness, fantasy, fabrication, swaggering, vainglory and pride, the beginning and end of all the vices. The passions of the reason are dithering distraction, captivation, obfuscation, blindness, abduction, provocation, connivance in sin, bias, perversion, instability of mind and similar things. In short, all the unnatural vices commingle with the uiree faculties of the soul, just as all the virtues naturally coexist with them." See On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises: on Thoughts, Passions and Virtues, and Also on Stillness and Prayer. One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Texts, Text 79, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, 226-227. A further list of the passions by St. Peter of Damascus can be found in The Philokalia, vol. 3, 205-206. As noted in SpidMk, The Spirituality of the Christian Hast (1986), 268-269, a "passion is the strong and constant desire to sin in a certain way; it is a love for guilty action. (...) Passions are desires. (...) [They are] an excessive appetite exceeding the measures of reason, or appetite unbridled and disobedient to the Word. (...) [T]he 'desires' are the fruit of earlier free choices, frequendy guilty choices, and are therefore passions." Metropolitan Kallistos Ware in The Orthodox Way (1986), 155, notes that passions refer to "any disordered appetite or longing that violendy takes possession of the soul: anger jealousy, gluttony, avarice, lust for power, pride, and the rest. Many of the Fadiers treat the passions as something intrinsically evil, that is to say, as inward diseases alien to man's true nature. Some of them, however, adopt a more positive standpoint, regarding the passions as dynamic impulses originally placed in man by God, and so fundamentally good, although at present distorted by sin. On this second and more subde view, our aim is not to eliminate the passions but to redirect dieir energy. Uncontrolled rage must be turned into righteous indignation, spiteful jealousy into zeal for the truth, sexual lust into an eros that is pure in its fervour. The passions, then, are to be purified, not killed; to be educated, not eradicated; to be used positively, not negatively. To ourselves and to others we say, not 'Suppress', but 'Transfigure'." For a further treatment of the passions, refer to Kallistos Ware, "The Passions: Enemy or Friend?" In Communion 17, (Fall 1999); see http://incommunion.org/articles/conferences-lectures/the-passions- enemy-or-friend; Internet; accessed 8 August 2006; and Larchet, Therapeutique des maladies spirituelles. 121 beings, like beasts, devour their own nature. In fact, in trying to obtain pleasure and avoid pain, instigated by his self-love, man invents multiple and innumerable forms of l • 499 corrupted passions. George Maloney notes that a spiritual battle results: Under the attack of the devil through the eight passions,500 man with God's help must now engage in the invisible batde, the spiritual warfare, in order to drive out of his nature all that did not come to it from the hand of God and to restore its nature to its pristine likeness to God. Thus we can understand why the psychology or rather pathology of the eight vices or passions and their "cure" occupies so predominant a place in the writings of the Fathers. The spiritual life, viewed as an interior batde, is not merely a negative process of cutting out the evil presented by the devils to the noblest faculty of man, his intellect, but the positive virtues are supposed to be developed during the fray. This leads us to the divine model of reintegration, Christ.501 As an interior spiritual batde, the Eastern Christian spiritual life involves the removal of the passions and development of the virtues. The reality within which human beings exist is, therefore, a life lived in a tension between two poles. This tension can be depicted as follows: [A]t one pole, is self-love, 'the first progeny of the devil and the mother of all passions,' which cuts the human being off from God and from other human beings; at the other pole is deifying love, that breaks down all barriers, and transfigures the human person, revealing the true glory of the image of God. In between, there is sketched an analysis 499 St. Maximos the Confessor, Quaestiones ad Thalassium, ed. Carl Laga and Carlos Steel (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1980), 33 ff., as quoted in Thunberg, Man and the Cosmos, 59. See also St. Maximos the Confessor, Quaestiones ad Thalassium, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae — A. Digital Library of Greek Literature, http: / / stephanus. tlg.uci. edu). 500 According to Evagrius, "There are eight generic [tempting-] thoughts (Jogismoi), that contain within themselves every [tempting-] thought: first is that of gluttony; and with it, sexual immorality; third, love of money; fourth, sadness; fifth, anger; sixth acedia; sevendi, vainglory; eighth, pride. Whether these thoughts are able to disturb the soul or not is not up to us; but whether they linger or not, and whether diey arouse passions or not; that is up to us. 'OKTCO eioi TTOVTES oi yEviKGOTOCToi Aoyiauoi EV 0T5 TTEPIEXETCU iras Aoyiauos. -npcoToj 6 Tfjs yacrrpiuapyias, Kcri MET' auTov 6 Tfjs TropvEi'as" Tprros 6 Tfjs cpiAapyupias" TETapTos 6 Tfjs AUTITIS' TTEUTTTOS 6 Tfis opyfjs' EKTOS 6 Tfjs aKnSiaj- EpSBouos 6 Tfjs KEvoSo^iaj- 6y5oos 6 Tfjs uTTEpri9avis. TOUTOUS TTCCVTCCS TTapEvoxAEfv UEV Tfj vjAjxti n W TrapEvoxAETu, TCOV OUK E of the passions that tear the human person apart, of the virtues that build it up again, and the way in which the Incarnation makes such restoration possible. 02 This depicts the states of homo animalis, homo spiritualis and homo viator, genesis, stasis, and kinesis. Restoration, union with God and participation in the Divine, must begin with a turning from the outer self to contact with the inner self. This involves repentance; it is not simply the process of denying ego and sin, and living a good life by virtue of self-control and Christian uprightness. More fundamentally, it is an internal change, effected by careful introspection, that calls one back to the purity of the image of God within,503 and authentic relationship with God, self, others and the world. This internal change requires taking up a moral challenge — the Socratic gnothi seauton (Know Thyself).504 One is to become aware of oneself - what passes through one's head, heart, body, imagination, and mind — as well as one's disposition, desires, dislikes, fears, virtues and vices.505 In essence, one is to directly observe one's inner self and external actions, examine one's thoughts and conscience, recognize crippling passions, and guard one's heart. The synergeia of one's desire to be sinless and God's desire to save produces an inner transformation, such that a person is no longer inclined toward sin. Rather, one draws away from it as from something unnatural,506 and adopts a repentant way of life — a life in which 502 Andrew Louth, Maximus the Confessor (London: Routledge, 1996), 84-85. 503 Chrysostomos, Themes in Orthodox Patristic Psychology, Volume Three — Repentance, 43-49. 504 Irenee Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, foreword by Bishop Kallistos [Timothy Ware] of Diokleia, trans. Anthony P. Gythiel (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1990), 223. 505 Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 223-224. 506 Chrysostomos, "Towards a Spiritual Psychology," 259-260. It is important to note that the word 'nature' has a different meaning in Western and Eastern theology. According to SpidMk, the spiritual man in Western theology, "is a 'natural' man to whom grace has been added. Human nature (natura pura) includes the intellectual and the animal life, and to this the spiritual life (the supernatural) has been added and somehow superimposed on a purely human economy. In the East, the expression, man 'in the image of God' (that is, with the grace of the Spirit) defines exacdy what man is 'by nature'. 'By his creation man shares the nature of God.' (...) What the West calls 'natural-supernatural' is simply called 'human-divine', or 'created-uncreated' by Eastern authors. Consequendy, for man 'the natural' (kata physiri) consists of whatever is for him a true good: charity, faith, the virtues, gnosis, and so on. Wickedness is sin, evil thoughts, the passions - all these are 'against nature' (paraphysin). (...) To Eastern 123 one's vision is constantly set on God, on things spiritual, and on the uncorrupted, Christ-like image which dwells in the heart. One is lead to a "life of virtue;"507 one is deified. Growth in virtue leads to healthy self-love {agapan eauton; in Greek: aycmav ECIUTOV) that is imbued with spiritual, Godly, virtuous, divine, and Christ-like love. An understanding of such love is based on the greatest commandment as found in Mark 12:28- 34NRSV: One of the scribes (...) asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all? (...) [Y]ou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself There is no other commandment greater dian these. The form that this type of love of self is to take can be found in Mark 8:34-36 NRSV: If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross, and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. As a result, virtuous self-love {agapan eauton), which stands in contrast to false love of self (philautia), involves self-renunciation and self-emptying — a giving up one's life. In The Sacrament o/Lope, Evdokimov makes the following comments regarding self-renunciation and self-acceptance/self-love: One's entire vocation is an option, an answer to a call that has been heard. (...) There is one thing we can be sure of, that every vocation is always accompanied by a renunciation. (...) However, in all the cases of deprivation Scripture speaks of, grace offers a gift; out of a negative renunciation it creates a positive vocation. To renounce one thing means to be totally consecrated to another that this very renunciation allows us to realrze. It is not a mutilation at all, but a re-making of the "economy" of a being, put at the complete disposal of a new destiny already loved. (...) From these various modes of inauthenticity where life has no meaning, a passage to a world of true life opens up. (...) theologians, conversion is a return to our 'first nature..., the only one willed by God.' Unlike theologians in the West, they do not speak of natura lapsa (fallen nature)." Spidlfk, The Spirituality of the Chirsitan East, 63-64. 507 Chrysostomos, Themes in Orthodox Patristic Psychology, Volume Three — Repentance, 43-49. 124 [A] life centered on the neighbor is a very concrete vocation, for it is a sign of the Kingdom, of its presence in the world. If salvation is beyond the world, it is in the world that it is offered. A demand coming from the world summons one to remain there as a witness to the Gospel. (...) It is a question here of cherishing one's destiny, of loving the cross formed by one's own "me." It is possible that the most ascetic act is not renunciation of self, but total self-acceptance. If I receive what befalls me as my own choice, everything becomes meaningful at that moment, profound, filled with a joyful and passionate interest. The human being is never alone; the 'hand of God' is upon him. If he knows how to accept and feel it, his destiny is worked out, "oriented"" toward the East. This is the experience of all the great spiritual masters.508 This type of self-renunciation presupposes that one has a true "self to offer another.509 According to die Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the truth of the person becomes dominant again only when one is placed in Christ. This occurs by way of the sacraments (through which one's original nature and integrity is recreated),510 asceticism (through which one aspires to one's true nature),511 and synergeia (cooperation with the activity of God in the person). Through these means, one progresses from having been "created in the image" to "existing in the image,"512 from "unnatural being" to "Christ-being," from prosopon to hypostasis™ from an anhypostatic to hypostatic self (false self to authentic person),514 fromphilautos to philotheos, from philautia to agapan eauton, from homo animalis to homo spiritualis, and from genesis to stasis. Christ-likeness — a life of growing in virtue, acquiring peace and deepening one's relationship with God — results. The Christian life is therefore understood to be never ending 508 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 98-100. 509 If a person who has not yet come to some degree of integration and authenticity were to "renounce self (especially a person, for example, who has been abused and/or who lacks a healthy and authentic sense of self), he or she may simply be acting self-abusively and may perpetuate previous hurtful patterns. This would foster an unhealthy spirituality. Conversely, if a person who is not shamed-based but rather has an integrated sense of self were to renounce self, such a self-giving act would embody a healthy spirituality — he or she would have a "self to freely give. 510 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 60-61. 511 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 60. 512 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 58-59. 513 Evdokimov, Woman and the Salvation of the World, 45-47. 514 See Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 214-217. 125 growth in virtue,515 where virtues are understood to be like members of the human spiritual body,516 through which we give the kingdom of our heart to Christ.517 While resulting from human effort (prayer, as well as one's free will, decisions, and attention) virtues are ultimately gifts from God. Such Christ-like virtues as Divine love, humility and Divine patience sum up much of the virtuous life.519 These, together with the four cardinal virtues: courage, sound understanding, self-restraint and justice,520 stand parallel to the components of courage, compassion, joy and clarity of mind De Wit associates with fundamental humaneness. Sound understanding is activated in the intellect or nous "in the form of light, courage as clear-sighted power and ever-moving inspiration, self-restraint as a power of sanctification and purification, and justice as the dew of purity, joy-inducing and cooling the arid heat of the passions."521 According to St. Gregory of Sinai, anyone who practices hesychasm must acquire the five foundational virtues of silence, self-control, vigilance, humility, and patience."522 A life of virtuous living leads one to being at peace. In his Homily VII, 5 On The Beatitudes, St. Gregory of Nyssa states: Blessed then are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Who are they? — the imitators of the divine love of people, those who shew in their own lives what 5,5 Allen, Spiritual Theology, 138. 516 St. Symeon the New Theologian, Ethical Treatises IV. 369ff. See Traite's Theologiques et Ethiques, Sources Chretiennes, no. 129, (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1967), 35-77; and St. Symeon the New Theologian, Ethical Treatises IV, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae - A Digital Library of Greek Literature, http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu. 517 St. John Cassian, Collationes 1.13: "But within us there can be nothing else than knowledge or ignorance of die truth, and the love of either the vices or the virtues, by which we make ready a kingdom in our hearts either for the devil or for Christ." See John Cassian: The Conferences, in Ancient Christian Writers, no. 57, trans, and annot. by Boniface Ramsey, op (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1997), 51. 518 Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 129. 519 St. Gregory of Sinai, On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises: on Thoughts, Passions and Virtues, and Also on Stillness and Prayer: One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Texts, Text 84, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, 229. A list of the virtues by St. Peter of Damascus can be found in The Philoklalia, vol. 3, 203-204. 520 St. Gregory of Sinai, On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises, Text 87, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, 230. 521 St. Gregory of Sinai, On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises, Text 85, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, 229. 522 St. Gregory of Sinai, On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises, Text 99, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, 233. 126 belongs to the activity of God. The Benefactor who makes all good, the Lord, totally destroys and turns to nothing whatever is foreign and alien to the good. This is the work he decrees for you, to expel hatred, to resolve conflict, to get rid of envy, to banish fighting, to destroy hypocrisy, to quench the grudge within which smoulders in the heart, and to replace these with what arises in their stead when their contraries are removed. Just as with the withdrawal of darkness light supervenes, so also in place of each of these evils the fruit of the spirit comes in instead: love, joy, peace, goodness, patience, and all the list of good things which the Apostle compiled (Gal. 5, 22-23). How then can the distributor of the divine benefits not be blessed, the imitator of the gifts of God, the one who makes his own good deeds resemble the divine generosity? Yet perhaps the Beatitude does not apply only to the good of others. I think that strictly it is correct to call 'peacemaker' the one who brings to a peaceful concord the strife within himself of flesh and spirit, the civil war in his nature, when the law of the body which campaigns against the law of the mind is no longer effective, but is subjugated to the higher kingdom and becomes a servant of the divine commandments. Better still, let us reckon that the Word recommends not that our life should be regarded as under two directing principles, but when once the middle wall of vice which divides us inside has been removed (cf. Eph 2,14), the two grow together and become one by integration with the superior. Since therefore the Divinity is held in faith to be simple and uncompounded and without configuration, when humanity also by such peacemaking is freed from its dual composition and returns rightfully to the Good, becoming simple and without configuration and genuinely one, so that the apparent is the same as the hidden and the hidden the same as the apparent, then the Beatitude is truly validated and such persons are rightly called sons of God.. .523 This is the aim and goal of the Christian life, the journey of transformation — the way of contemplation. 3.1.4. The Development of Ego A central theme in contemplative psychology is the restlessness within the heart. According to De Wit, this arises from uncertainty about one's existence and ignorance as to who one is. He suggests that spiritual traditions associate this with ego, which refers to an egocentric mental attitude that makes the flourishing of one's fundamental humaneness an impossibility. Ego in this context refers to that which undermines one's self-confidence and 523 St. Gregory of Nyssa, Homily VII, 5 On The Beatitudes, PG 159.16-161. 127 self-acceptance. This occurs because there is something disordered regarding the place that I or ego assumes in one's experience of reality. From the perspective of contemplative psychology, ego is, [T]he basis of our profane, that is, nonenlightened mentality and the cause of blindness, fear and strife. As such, it chokes the flourishing of our humaneness. On the other hand, according to many contemplative traditions, ego only seems to be something negative, just as the contents of a bad dream seem to be negative. That is why ego is not something tangible and concrete against which we can and must fight but rather a state of mind from which we must try to awaken ourselves. 2 As ego and egocentric experience of reality come from one's self-experience — mind526 — this I is frequendy encountered when one examines the contents of one's thoughts.527 According to contemplative psychology, J or ego is located in the inner landscape/mental domain of one's thoughts and emotions, expectations, memories, dreams, impressions, images and anything else that one can think of. One's self-image, self-love, and self-hate as well as other phenomena reside there.528 De Wit notes that, [TJhere is continuous activity in the form of a running commentary (...), a stream of thoughts, which more or less randomly and almost continuously merges with our sensory stream of experience. This is how our solipsistic experience of reality arises. This stream of thoughts creates a mental world, a world consisting entirely of thoughts with all their emotional coloring. (...) Almost all aspects of our experience can be reflected in our stream of thoughts and, as a reflection, can be related to thoughts about me. It is when the egocentric stream of thoughts formed in this way merges with our sensory experience that our egocentric experience of reality arises.529 524 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 86, 90, 93. For an elaboration of how psychology and contemplative psychology view ego differently, see De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 93-94. 525 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 92-93. 526 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 95. 527 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 95. 528 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 87. 529 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 95-96. For a further elaboration of the development of ego, see De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 100-105. 128 The concern of contemplative psychology is how this initial mental movement further develops into an egocentric experience of reality.530 De Wit outlines the development of ego in terms of four sequential mental movements. Prior to the occurrence of any mental movement, he notes that there is total openness — an open space of experience.531 The movements then begin. First, there is a splitting up of the open space of experience into "me here" and "that there." This results in a dualistic mode of experience.532 Second, one grabs onto certain aspects in one's stream of experience as a temporary basis for I, such that one declares, "I am this and not that." In this stage, ego comes to be experienced as an internal thing or object.533 Third, the person begins to "dress up one's naked ego" widi a definition of who one (thinks) one is. A story is then constructed about the self including a self-concept or self-image.534 Fourth, one identifies self (ego) with a self-concept such that he or she is who one thinks one is. The person comes to believe that die concept of self is one's self. It is from this state of perceptual confusion535 diat the person deals with the world.536 These mental movements form the basis for the development of an egocentric emotionality.537 This development is the result of an unfortunate turn of mind, a metanoia or conversion in die wrong direction diat distorts the emotional energy of one's fundamental humaneness into egocentric emotions. This chokes any mental flourishing. De Wit notes 530 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 99. 531 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 99. 532 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 99-100, 105. 5" De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 100-101, 105. ™ De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 103-105. 535 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 107. Perceptual confusion will be discussed later in this chapter. 536 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 105-106. 537 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 111. 129 that there are tears shed out of compassion and others that are shed because one's ego is hurt.538 De Wit states that, in the spiritual traditions, there is a certain hesitation regarding emotionality of ego and any indulgence in it. As one's emotional energy and humaneness is brought under the control of ego by way of mental movements, a distorted egocentric emotionality develops. Contained therein is the energy of one's fundamental humaneness.539 The energy of care is perverted into self-preservation, that of dedication into self- interest. Love shrinks to self-love, unconditional joy in life turns into the satisfaction of desires, equanimity is transformed into indifference and inspiration becomes ambition, power becomes high-handedness and freedom imprisonment. This is how the emotionality of the egocentric mentality arises.540 According to De Wit, ego is not a thing, but a mental activity that provides the illusion of permanence.541 Described as a "structure that is erected within one's heart,"542 or "an impregnable fortress to which others are seldom admitted,"543 ego conceals the entrance to the open space in which the illusory nature of ego would be crystal clear. Instead, ego acts as a web; it continually spreads out over the field of one's experience, such that gradually more of it comes under the domain of ego until all aspects of one's world of experience are related to it in one way or another. One's egocentric experience of reality becomes fact. One's speech and actions are affected, and one's fundamental humanity is obscured. Ego chokes the flourishing of one's fundamental humanity, as well as the development of its fruit in one's 538 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 114. 539 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 114-115. 540 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 115. 541 This is the reason De Wit has not used an article in front of the word ego — he notes he is not speaking of the ego, but of ego. See De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 106. 542 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 108. 543 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 109. 130 speech and actions. M The overall effect is that one imprisons one's fundamental humaneness. De Wit notes that, simultaneous to the rise of ego is the desire to unite with one's world. This increases the restlessness within, which then motivates one to attempt to break out. De Wit notes the tendency for one to then either attempt to change or destroy one's concrete everyday situation — a different partner, environment, and job — or to change or destroy ego. One searches for another concept of self. Both of these approaches are seen to be fundamentally ineffective as they recreate the dualistic experience of reality of ego and therefore reinforce it.546 3.1.5. Ego and the Christian Tradition Ego in De Wit's presentation is a Buddhist construct that, while he likens it to the notion of the hardened sinner in the Christian tradition, is actually distinct from it. De Wit provides a "translation rule" between Buddhism and Christianity such that the Christian concept of original sin is held to be what the Buddhist tradition calls belief in ego.547 The illusion of ego calls forth an egocentric view, within which the world appears as hostile, seductive or uninteresting.548 Ego, however, has a different connotation in contemplative psychology than it does in hesychasm. Contemplatives psychology's "death of ego" likewise has 544 De Wit, The Spiritual'Path, 107-108. 545 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 109. 546 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 110-111. 547 See my response to this claim in Section 5.2 of this thesis. In this writer's opinion, ego and original sin are not strictly parallel terms referring to the same reality despite there being some similarity in what they refer to. Nor is original sin understood in a consistent manner throughout the entire Christian world, thereby making it even more difficult to actually apply De Wit's "translation rule." In fact, die interpretation of Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:22 (upon which the doctrine is based) has often constituted a point of contention between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Christian Churches. In perhaps overly simple terms, Roman Catholics usually explain that human beings inherit the sin of Adam, and not just the consequences of that sin. The Orthodox usually maintain that original or ancestral sin is about die consequences of Adam's fall — death, concupiscence and a tendency toward sin. It would therefore be important to consider how De Wit's "translation rule" regarding ego would apply when varying Christian perspectives are taken into account. 548 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 166. 131 a different meaning from that of the conquering of the "anhypostatic" (= false) self in hesychasm.549 What is, however, considered in hesychasm is the range of egocentric tendencies associated with sin and distorted passions, as well as the ways to remove sin and re-orient the powers of the soul in Godly directions. While the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition does not utilize the term 'ego', the concept is not foreign to it. In the Eastern Christian understanding, ego might be described by the term philautia, and the egocentric person, philautos — a 'lover of self against self.' Etymologically, philautia (tpiXaorid) means "love of self,"551 "self-love, self-regard, selfishness."552 St. Maximos the Confessor uses different terms for two aspects of self-love: the pleasing of oneself (autareskeid) is the weaker form, applicable to the incensive element and to egoistic conduct in relation to one's neighbor, while philautia proper is applicable to the desiring element and to man's relation to God.553 The Fathers of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition commonly upheld Evagrius of Pontus' teaching that self-love (philautia) is "the first of all the [evil] thoughts...; the eight others (i.e. gluttony, fornication, love of money, discontent, anger, despondency, vainglory and pride554) derive from it."555 Evil thoughts are those which constitute obstacles to the knowledge of God — those 'which attack [the mind] from the irascible power and from [the 549 See Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 214-217. 550 St. Maximos the Confessor, Preface to Quaestiones ad Thalassium PG 90:257B. 551 Geoffrey W. H. Lampe, (ed.) "ipiXauz/a," in A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), 1476. 552 Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott, "ipiXauria" in A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), 1932. 553 Louth, Maximus the Confessor, 96. 554 Evagrius of Pontus, Praktikos, Chapter 6. 555 Evagrius of Pontus, trans. J. Muyldermans, 'Note additionnelle a Evagriana', Le Museon 44 (1931), 382, quoted in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 255. 132 soul's] appetitive power, and which are against nature'.556 An evil thought is 'a seed of sin,'557 andphilautia is the first of all seeds. Self-love (...) is the cause of all passionate thoughts. For from it are produced the three principal thoughts of desire: those of gluttony, avarice and self-esteem. From gluttony is born the thought of unchastity; from avarice, the thought of greed; from self-esteem the thought of pride. All the rest — the thoughts of anger, resentment, rancour, listlessness, envy, backbiting and so on — are consequent upon one or other of these three. These passions, then, tie the intellect to material things and drag it down to earth, pressing on it like a massive stone, although by nature it is lighter and swifter than fire.558 St. Maximos the Confessor, in his prologue to Questions to Thalassios, notes that self-love leads to secondary passions in the following ways based on one's desire for pleasure or avoidance of pain: If, for example, on account of pleasure, one cultivates self-love, one awakes in oneself gluttony, pride, vanity, self-conceit, avarice, greed, tyranny, arrogance, ostentation, cruelty, fury, a sense of superiority, obstinacy, contempt for others, indignity, licentiousness, prodigality, debauchery, frivolity, vaunting, slackness, insult, offence, prolixity, chatting, obscenity, and all other vices of this kind. But if self-love is hit by pain, this gives rise to wrath, envy, hate, hostility, revenge, offence, slander, calumny, gloominess, lack of hope, discomfort, false accusation of the divine Providence, indifference, dispiritedness, despondency, pusillanimity, lamentation, melancholy, bitterness, jealousy, and all the other vices that are due to lack of pleasure. The mixture of pleasure and pain causes wickedness — this is what some call the synthesis between the opposite elements of evil — and gives rise to hypocrisy, irony, cunning, dissimulation, flattery, adulation, and the other devices belonging to this mixed craftiness.559 The self-lover (philautos) is, therefore, 'dominated by all the passions,'560 and blinded by false constructs that isolate the person. Self-love builds a wall between the soul and God, enclosing one within one's stony heart.561 556 Evagrius of Pontus, Kephalaia gnostika VI. 83 quoted in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian Hast, 238. 557 St. Athanasius, Expositio in Psalmo 20.11 quoted in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 238. 558 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on Love: 56, in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 92. 559 St. Maximos the Confessor, Quaestiones ad Thalassium, ed. Carl Laga and Carlos Steel (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1980), 33 ff., as quoted in Thunberg, Man and the Cosmos, 59. 560 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on Love: 8, in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 84. 561 Evdokimov, Ages of the Spiritual Life, 162,172. 133 The effects of philautia are devastating. Having been seduced by the evil one — with whom one's free will has co-operated closely — human beings are cut off from God, and divisions in human nature appear. Isolated from the creative Source of being, human beings focus on themselves in egoistic self-love. This egoism leads to tyranny against one's neighbor.562 A perversion of the forces of the soul result such that reason {logos) becomes ignorance; the desiring (epithumid) becomes sensual self-love; and the incensive {thumos) becomes hatred towards one's neighbor.563 A preference for the pleasures of the sensible world dominates over communion with God; human beings become ignorant, forming in themselves likeness to the animals; and intellectual capacities are used in a continuing search for pleasure and the satisfaction of sensual lust.564 Citing Jean Danielou, Spidlik notes that human beings, clothed after the fall with the "garments of skin," became subject to the laws of a new existence: a way of being which involves corruptibility. In the Eastern Christian tradition, this process is depicted as temptation — peirasmos. According to St. Mark the Ascetic, all human beings undergo temptation {peirasmos}, which was already present in Eden. Eastern Christian ascetical literature posits two types of peirasmos. First, there are tests or trials sent by God for the purpose of aiding the person along the path of salvation. Second, there are evil promptings or suggestions from Satan and his minions enticing one to sin. Such promptings come in the form of thoughts (/ogismoi).566 562 Thunberg, Man and the Cosmos, 57. 563 See St. Maximos the Confessor, Patr Gr. 91, 396 D - 397 A; Various Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice, First Century 31-33, The Phi/oka/ia, vol. 2,171-172. 564 Thunberg, Man and the Cosmos, 57. 565 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian Hast, 269. 566 The Philokalia, vol. 1, 365. This raises a question as to the origin of evil. While much could be said of this as well as the understanding of Satan, demons and evil promptings from the perspective of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, much of this would be beyond the scope of the current research project. For our purposes, it will suffice to make the following basic remarks. Fundamentally, creation is understood as having been created good: "[A]nd indeed, it was very good" (Gen 1:31 NRSV). Spidlik notes, however, that "Goodness depended in 134 Evagrius of Pontus outlined the mechanism of temptation or degrees of penetration by an evil thought into the heart. These include various successive moments which unfold before consent to sin is given, and of the psychological changes which follow this decision of the will. First, there is prosbole, a suggestion. This is 'a simple idea or image suggested to the mind or the heart by 'the enemy'.' Second is the syndiasmos, the drawing near or coupling. It is a 'parleying' with the suggested object. Third is synkatathesis — 'giving mental consent to some forbidden pleasure' — which constitutes sin. Fourth is pale, the inner struggle. This struggle is decisive to consent and is therefore placed before or after it. Fifth is aichmalosia, captivity or enslavement, the forcible carrying away of the heart. This results after a time in passion, pathos, a vicious habit become like a second nature, the result of a long series of assents.567 Healing from temptation is a holistic struggle. It requires healing in the areas of habit, behaviors, emotions, will, choice, memory, sin, and the wound in the heart (place) where sin has become habitual. This involves practice so as to first stop the behaviour; second, experience healing of one's thoughts and will; third, move to free one's will so that one can choose love and the good; fourth, reconfigure one's emotions; fifth, grow in hatred of the sin; sixth, move towards experiencing one's sinful thoughts as irrelevant such that they no longer have a place in one's desires and there is no more emotional appeal; seventh, re-orient the part on man himself. God placed man before 'the tree of the knowledge of good and evil', leaving him with the capability of obeying, and enjoying the tree of life, or being taken away by death (Gen 2 :9, 17) - the decisive test of freedom which is repeated in every person. Where does evil then come from?' Chrysostom inquired, 'Ask yourself.. .Is it not the result of your free will and your choice (proairesis)? Undeniably, and there is no one who would argue against this.' This was the common teaching of all orthodox writers. By choosing evil, man becomes the agent of his own destruction and of die catastrophes that befall die world." (Spidlik, The Spiritulity of the Christian East, 136). Free will, as exercised by each person, therefore, has the potential to result in goodness or evil. Many of the Fathers of the Church speak about evil, demons and the process of temptation. St. Diadochos of Photiki, for example, explains that, " [Inhere are two kinds of evil spirits: some are more subde, others more material in nature. The more subde demons attack the soul, while die others hold the flesh captive dirough their lascivious enticements." St. Diadochos of Photiki, On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination : One Hundred Texts, Text 81, in The Philokalia, vol. 1, 282. More regarding the mechanism of temptation follows. 567 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 241-242. See also the Glossary of The Philokalia, vol. 1, 365-367. 135 powers of the soul; and eighth, grow in virtuous living and the contemplative way. God's action in one's life - as well as one's own efforts — effect integration and transformation of that which is within the heart and relationships which have been broken. Life in God is thus fostered, and every spirit of resentment or of egocentrism is destroyed.568 3.2. THE CONCEPT OF THE WAY 3.2.1. Spiritual Development Contemplative psychology studies the experience of the spiritual person on the contemplative journey569 - it explores spiritual development. De Wit acknowledges that Christianity has a long history of examining spiritual development and the contemplative journey. Scriptural references such as those in the Psalms where way and path are used regularly (see Psalm 1 and Psalm 119:15, 35, 105 NJB), emphasize that Christians are "people of the Way" (Acts 24 NJB) - people on a spiritual journey.570 Metropolitan Kallistos reminds us that one of the ancient names for Christianity is simply "the Way."571 More than a theory or teachings, Christianity is a path along which one journeys — in the deepest and richest sense, the way of life. In The Orthodox Way, Metropolitan Kallistos opens his writings with Christ's words in John 14:6 (NRSV): "I am the Way, and the truth and the life."572 This echoes the Christian view that God is both end- and starting-point. He is both the Host Who welcomes us at the end of the journey, and the Companion Who 568 Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Love, 80. 569 De Wit defines the 'contemplative journey' as the process in which our fixation on and our life in egocentric, conceptualized experience becomes unraveled and dissolved. He notes that this process, when viewed from a psychological viewpoint, is the central theme of all contemplative traditions. (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 96). 570 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 38. 571 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 7. 572 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 7. 136 walks alongside us at every step of the Way. He is present at every moment of one's life, from its inception, through one's earthly existence, and onward into eternity. While this way of life practically entails disciplines in which one engages on one's way, it is even more essentially about a profound relationship with a Person — Christ — the Way — a 'Who' rather than simply the 'what' that the disciplines entail. Hence, Christianity as a way of life is about both a 'what' and the 'Who' — spiritual praxes and relationship with God. The metaphor of a path, way or journey that De Wit utilizes so extensively when speaking of contemplative psychology is directed toward opening a mental space in which one's humaneness can flourish.574 According to De Wit, the central issue that the metaphor refers to is "the changing experience of reality for one who is on the wo/'575 in the direction of sainthood and ongoing conversion576 — the process of metanoia. De Wit uses the term conversion, however, in a different sense than the Latin conversio associated with Christian monastic life, or conversion to a religious tradition. Rather, he clarifies that contemplative psychology is primarily concerned with "an internal and existential process, with a turning around of a way of life that up until this moment was assumed to be natural, with a fundamental revision of one's own experience of reality." More will be said of this later in this chapter. According to De Wit, there exist two movements of the mind in the person journeying along the path. The first is the movement of building up and maintaining the fortification of 573 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 12. 574 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 575 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 38. 576 De Wit> The Spiritual Path, 284. 577 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 155. 137 ego. The second is, in the Western Christian tradition, identified as the movement of grace. 8 In elaborating on the latter movement, he notes that moments of openness cannot be evoked or manipulated, but simply occur when one is open-minded rather than preoccupied with strengthening the fortifications of ego. From an ego-perspective, these moments are aimless and groundless, and even frightening; from the perspective of the movement of grace, they are peaceful, clear, warm, joyful, and coloured by a sense of reconciliation and union.579 De Wit notes that moments of openness occur in everyone. Existing, however, outside of one's egocentric experience of reality, they are difficult to interpret or grasp from one's usual perspective, and as such, are the basis for conversion. They represent a crack in the metaphorical fortress of ego.581 The maintenance of ego, though continually waged throughout life, is a losing batde. From the perspective of the theistic traditions, this batde is lost because "God's love and light is greater than our egotism and conceit with all its hate and blindness with respect to God."582 Many blind spots that result from ego are incorporated into one's self-experience and the experience of one's surroundings, and are the cause of a way of life laden with psychological and social suffering.583 To contend with these blind spots, De Wit notes that some Christian traditions encourage letting go584 — totally surrendering to the world of God: 578 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 155. In e-mail communication with De Wit on 12 April 2008, he clarified that "the movement of mind that creates (the illusion of an existing) ego is fortunately not the only thing that human minds can do. Fortunately mere is an alternative movement of mind that we can make: the development away from ego. That movement (away from ego) is what I mean by traveling on the path." 579 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 156. 580 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 156. 581 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 158. 582 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 159. 583 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 87. 584 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 163. 138 ego's perceived opponent. This is considered crucifying and transcending ego. 6 De Wit speaks of "emptiness" — Via Negatipa and kenosis — noting that, while pursuing the spiritual path, one is invited to move toward liberating or emptying oneself of all manmade meanings of / and God.587 A birth of true wisdom — which involves seeing through the imagined reality of one's self — occurs concurrendy with liberation.588 Different names such as nakedness, liberation, enlightenment, openness, truth, and wholeness are attributed to the moment when internal commentary ceases, and all conceptualizations and frameworks within which one defines one's self and one's reality descend into nothingness. From the perspective of ego, these moments are associated with death.589 Scripturally, liberation from ego is proclaimed as a fact: "I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me."(Galatians 2:20 NJB). De Wit notes that, in Christian terms, these moments allow room for the activity of the Holy Spirit,590 and for fundamental humaneness rather than ego to live in one's self-experience.591 De Wit describes utilizing a sword of penetrating insight to break ego. This sword separates the view of ego or the "Old Adam," from egolessness or the "New Adam" with its accompanying interpretation of personal experience of reality or God; it purifies terminology from conventional, egocentric descriptions of reality. In this way, it forges a way for the transmission of spirituality and contemplative language. 585 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 161. 586 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 90. 587 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 165. 588 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 163. 589 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 91. 590 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 92. 591 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 96. 592 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 170. 139 There are several phases of conversion according to De Wit. The first phase is that of breaking through to the awareness that moments of openness or grace are essential and can be trusted.593 This clarity belongs to the Holy Spirit.594 One can choose to submit to the Spirit rather than move toward ego. If one's response to moments of grace is to surrender grace to ego, see it as threatening, or be indifferent to it, one is likened, in Christian terminology, to the hardened sinner. If, alternatively, one recognizes these moments for what they are and learns to trust them, one enters into the process of conversion and begins to develop genuine trust or faith.595 This results in a disintegration of ego; a state in which one is called to surrender and stand in nakedness. Even when one believes one can hide, one is always seen by God. The second phase of conversion is that of doubt. While one is not fully aware of the nature of these moments of grace, one is able to recognize the failure of ego. In seeing that failure, the person begins to doubt the possibility of cultivating insight and joy in life within one's egocentric experience of reality. An all-embracing distrust regarding self, others, the world, demands, expectations, and promises emerges.597 The person is then left to ask the question "now what?" Here one begins to seek out others engaged in "these kinds of things," so as to explore one's experience of reality.598 At this juncture, according to De Wit, one often makes contact with a spiritual tradition, and is encouraged to relax, employ a contemplative method, and examine and get to know the 593 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 159. 554 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 164. 595 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 159-161. 5% De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 163. 55V De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 164-165. 558 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 165. 140 self thoroughly — thoughts, feelings and experiences of reality. This enables the person to come to know the movement of his or her mind, become acquainted with the method, and develop discernment. He or she here comes to know and trust in the humane self, while also getting to know God. This is the moment when one is better able to listen to and actually hear what the tradition has to offer, as well as when more personal contact between one's spiritual guide and the person being guided on the journey becomes necessary. It also is the beginning of the process of surrender of ego. This process requires self-discipline and a bearing of one's self to one's own self, one's spiritual guide, and to God. Genuine trust in the other develops — someone who stands by at difficult moments, who encourages a further entry into the moments of openness; and who demonstrates that it is possible for people to live within moments of openness outside the fortress of ego.602 Metanoia and openness to grace are key elements of a Christian interpretation of contemplative psychology. Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, metanoia refers both to a "change of heart" (repentance), and the physical movement of a prostration. Metropolitan Kallistos notes that, [T]he spiritual Way proves to be a path of repentance in the most radical sense. Metanoia, the Greek word for repentance, means literally 'change of mind.' In approaching God, we are to change our mind, stripping ourselves of all our habitual ways of thinking. We are to be converted not only in our will but in our intellect. We need to reverse our interior perspective. 599 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 166. 600 De Wit; The Spiritual Path, 167-168. 601 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 168-169. 602 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 169. 603 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 14-15. 141 As repentance, metanoia "goes to the root of all our faculties, volitional and affective, and even to the heart of one's entire being, body and spirit."1304 Metanoia is "a reorientation, a fundamental transformation of oudook, of man's vision of the world and of himself, and a new way of loving others and God."605 Within Eastern Christian spirituality, the whole spiritual life is oriented toward metamorphosis — 'putting on the new man,' 'putting on Christ,' 'becoming Christ-like,' being deified. This metamorphosis or metanoia involves becoming a new creature. It is a complete turning of one's whole being that involves an interiorization rather than solely an imitation of Christ. It is a theomorphosis of the person — a transformation in God.606 This transformation occurs over a lifetime. In the Byzantine tradition, metanoia has also come to mean "to bow" — to bend and bow the neck and head. This involves the will, mind and body. When one physically makes a so- called litde metanoia, one makes the sign of the cross with a small inclination of the head; in a so-called middle metanoia, one adds a bow at the waist, and in a great metanoia one further adds a drop to one's knees and touch of the ground with the forehead. Through metanoia, one rediscovers humility. The bowing of one's head and bending of one's neck is metaphorical for the bowing of one's mind and bending of one's will respectively. As repentance, metanoia is the changing of one's mind about something — seeing, understanding and knowing it in a different light. One begins to think and train oneself to say and express things in another way. In and through repentance, one is converted from a prideful to a humble way of living; from being egotistical to Christ-like; and from being self-willed and passion-filled to being free and 604 Evdokimov, Ages of the SpiritualLife, 72. 605 John Chryssavgis, "Repentance and Confession — Introduction," ed. Holy Cross Orthodox Press (1990), http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article8493.asp; Internet; accessed 30 March 2008. 606 Evdokimov, Ages of the Spiritual Life, 71-72. 142 desirous of doing God's will. Conversion is as much a reaction to an attraction as an aversion to the distraction of sin. The word metanoia also relates to mind and knowledge. Both meta-noia and dia-noia share the same root of 'anoia'. The change in prepositions goes beyond the knowing faculty — takes one beyond what one knows to be the truth. There is, in a sense, a shift from passion-bound knowledge to real truth and knowledge. Conversion and knowledge are associated because of truth. In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, truth is not something to be grasped at, but is acquired by being a partaker in Divine nature through God's love. In Eastern Christian spirituality, metanoia and the spiritual way presuppose three indispensable elements — the ecclesial, sacramental and evangelical dimensions. First, it is presupposed that the wayfarer is a member of the Church. Lossky affirms that all the conditions necessary for attaining union with God are given to Christians in the Church.607 The journey is not an isolated one, but is undertaken in fellowship with others. While being 'the flight of the alone to the Alone', the ascetic and mystical path is essentially social and communal. A Christian has brothers and sisters, and belongs to the family of the Church.608 "Ignorance and sin are characteristic of isolated people. Only in the unity of the Church do we find these defects overcome. Man finds his true self in the Church alone: not in the helplessness of spiritual isolation but in the strength of his communion with his brothers and with his Saviour."609 Secondly, the spiritual way presupposes life in the sacraments. As Nicolas Cabasilas 607 Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 216. 608 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 143-4. 609 Alexander Elchaninov, The Diary of a Russian Priest, trans, by Helen Iswolsky, English edition prepared by Kallistos Ware (London: Faber & Faber, London, 1967), 87. 143 emphasizes, the sacraments constitute life in Christ. Evdokimov notes that, The encounter with God could not be made in the state of fallen nature. It presupposes a previous restoration of this nature in the sacrament of Baptism. For Baptism, according to the Fathers, is a true re-creation of the redeemed being. (...) St. Irenaeus, (...) emphasizes it in speaking of the "second birth." The two terms, metanoia (transformation, conversion, repentance) and birth, clearly express that profound transformation of the human being and mark his entrance into the spiritual world, whose principles are the opposite of those of this world. Between a baptized and an unbaptized person there is an abyss, the infinite difference of the two natures.611 The whole ascetic and mystical life is contained in the sacrament of Baptism. One discovers nothing other than the manifestation of baptismal grace regardless of one's degree of progress on the Way.612 The same can be said of Holy Communion. The whole of the ascetic and mystical life is a deepening and realization of Eucharistic union with Christ.613 Through Communion, the Christian is made one with and in Christ. He or she is 'christified', 'ingodded' or 'deified,' and receives the first fruits of eternity. Nicolas Cabasilas states that, "So perfect is this Mystery, so far does it excel every other sacred rite that it leads to the very summit of good things. Here also is the final goal of every human endeavour. For in it we obtain God Himself, and God is united with us in the most perfect union, for what attachment can be more complete than to become one spirit with God?"615 Finally, the spiritual Way is evangelical. At each step along the path, guidance is to be 610 Nicolas Cabasilas states that, "[T]he holy life is brought about by the sacred Mysteries. (...) [E]ach of the Mysteries leads to this life. (...) [L]ife in Christ means to be united with Christ. (...) [E]ach sacred rite unites to Christ those who have undergone it." See St. Nicolas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ'ii, 1, ed. Congourdeau, trans, by De Catanzaro (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974), 65. 611 Evdokimov, Ages of the Spiritual Life, 72-73. 612 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 109-110: "The whole of the ascetic and mystical life is already contained in the sacrament of Baptism: however far a person advances upon the Way, all that he disovers is nothing else than the revelation or making manifest of baptismal grace. The same can be said of Holy Communion: the whole of die ascetic and mystical life is a deepening and realization of our Eucharistic union with Christ the Saviour." 613 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 145. 614 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 146. 615 St. Nicolas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ iv, 3,116. 144 sought through the Bible and a spiritual Mother or Father who guides one in the application of Scripture in one's life.616 To one entering the monastery as a novice, Bishop Ignatii Brianchaninov provided the following instructions — instructions which apply equally to lay people: From his very entry into the monastery a monk should occupy himself with all possible care and attention with the reading of the holy Gospel. He should make such a study of the Gospel that it may always be present in his memory, and at every moral step he takes, for every act, for every thought, he may always have ready in his memory the teaching of the Gospel. . . Never cease studying the Gospel till the end of your life. Do not think you know it enough, even if you know it by heart.617 In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the whole Christian life and especially the ascetical life is often spoken of as repentance. Metanoia is a radical conversion, letting go, and re-centering of one's entire life upon God.619 This re-centering leads to life in Christ that is "made manifest by the light of good works, which is love. In love the brightness of all virtue consists and, as far as human effort is concerned, it constitutes the life in Christ. Accordingly one would not err by calling it life, for it is union with God."620 As regards the specific process of conversion and metanoia in the Christian tradition, Richard N. Fragomeni's reflections provide a noteworthy summary: While autobiography, biblical insights, liturgical texts, theological reflections and psychological categories are helpful to understand and explain the occurrence, the Christian tradition ultimately stands in silence before the operation of grace, the wonder of surprise, and the movement of a power beyond that of human consciousness and C _ 621 performance. 616 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 146. 617 Bishop Ignatii Brianchaninov, The Arena: An Offering to Contemporary Monasticism (Madras: The Diocesan Press, 1970), 3,15. 618 David J. Milling, "Repentance," in The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, 404. 619 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 397. 620 St. Nicolas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ vii, 15, ed. Congourdeau, trans, by De Catanzaro (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974), 228. 621 Richard N. Fragomeni, "Conversion," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 235. 145 3.2.2. Two Views of the Concept of Way There are two views that De Wit particularly highlights when speaking of the metaphor of the journey, path or way. These are the developmental psychological approach on the one hand and the methodological perspectives on the other. The former is descriptive while the latter being prescriptive. The developmental perspective describes the way or journey in terms of stages of spiritual development including changes in experience, insight, ways of thinking, emotionality, and longings that make up one's experience of reality as characterized in each stage.622 The methodological perspective can be formulated in two ways. Positively, it views the way as a prescriptive means leading to spiritual growth. This includes the acquisition of valid insight and knowledge. Negatively, it views the path as a means to both re-direct the passions, and eliminate confusion and ignorance. The focus of this view lies in the epistemological aspect of the journey, as well as psychological factors that facilitate or obstruct the development of contemplative insight and knowledge.623 In practice, the developmental and methodological perspectives are related. On the basis of the developmental psychological description of contemplative experience, it can be determined if there are methods that might accelerate or deepen development. Subsequendy, methodological statements can formulate directives about what one can do and ought to avoid in order to advance contemplative development. In Eastern Christian spirituality, the spiritual way is also considered from both the developmental and methodological perspective. Developmentally, it is commonly divided into stages. Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, these stages can be seen in a 622 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 39. 623 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 39. 624 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 39-40. 146 variety of ways: St. Dionysius the Areopagite identified these as purification, illumination and union; St. Gregory of Nyssa spoke of them as light, cloud and darkness; and St. John Climacus depicted the ladder of Divine ascent. For the purposes of this dissertation, the threefold scheme devised by Origen, rendered more precise by Evagrius of Pontus, and fully developed by St. Maximos the Confessor will be used. According to this threefold scheme, the first stage of the spiritual way is praktike or the practice of the virtues; the second stage is physike or the contemplation of nature; and the third and final stage is theologia (theologike theoria) or the contemplation of God Himself.625 According to Evagrius of Pontus, the goal of praktikeris charity, while that of contemplative knowledge is 'theology.'626 In the strict sense of the word, theology — theologia — is the contemplation of God Flimself.627 In this stage, the Christian no longer experiences God solely through the intermediary of his or her conscience or created things, but meets the Creator in an unmediated union of love — face to face — the full vision of which is reserved for the Age to come. The first stage is often termed the "active life", while the second and the third are jointly referred to as the "contemplative life". In Eastern Christian spirituality, these designations normally refer to inward spiritual states rather than outward conditions. That is to say the "active life" not only applies to those engaged in acts of love and service, but to those struggling to overcome the passions and grow in virtue. Likewise, the "contemplative life" pertains to all those who possess inward silence and prayer of the heart.629 625 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 140-1. 626 SpidHk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 295. 627 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 106. 628 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 106. 629 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 142. 147 Given that the essence of the spiritual way is prayer, and that prayer is a dynamic living relationship between persons, the metaphor of three stages on a journey can not be taken too literally. The three stages are not strictly consecutive. Sometimes God grants direct glimpses of the Divine glory as an unexpected gift to a person prior to him or her having even begun to repent or commit to the "active life." On the other hand, though deeply initiated by God into the mysteries of contemplation, one continues to engage lifelong in the first stage through the fighting of temptations and repentance. The three stages of the spiritual life are not so much successive as simultaneous; they are three deepening levels, interdependent, and coexisting with each other.630 What follows is an elaboration of each of these stages. The first stage of the spiritual way, praktike, involves die convergence of two factors - Divine initiative and a human response. It also requires that two complementary truths be held in balance: without God's grace one can do nothing; witiiout one's voluntary co operation God will do notiiing. The Divine initiative is pure gift. The human response requires struggle, faidiful perseverance, the persistent exertion of one's free will, a sincere resolve to battle against deeply-rooted sinful habits and inclinations, a constant choice for good, a daily renewal of one's relationship with God and odiers, and a continual taking up of one's Cross.631 According to Metropolitan Kallistos, praktike, or the active life, is marked by four qualities: repentance, watchfulness, discrimination, and the guarding of the heart.632 Repentance signifies the starting-point of the journey.633 "In approaching God, one is to strip 630 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 142-3. 631 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 149-151. 632 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 151. 633 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 152. 148 away all habitual ways of thinking, and be converted not only in will, but in intellect."634 Repentance is conversion — the re-centering of one's whole life upon the Trinity. It involves looking forward with hope and upwards at God's love, as well as anticipating and acting upon what one can become by Divine grace. A continuing state, repentance is an attitude of heart and will requiring constant renewal until the end of one's life.635 By listening to one's conscience and exerting one's free will, the baptized Christian, with God's help, struggles to be freed from passionate impulses. Purity of heart — the aim of the first stage — is acquired through observing the commandments, growing in awareness of right and wrong, and developing a sense of 'ought'. During physike, one grows in the perception of the 'isness' of created things, and discovers the Creator's presence in all things.636 Repentance leads to watchfulness (in Greek, nepsis), meaning sobriety and wakefulness. Nepsis signifies attentiveness, vigilance, and recollection. The neptic person is one who has come to him or herself, possesses a sense of direction and purpose, is present in the here and now, understands the "sacrament of the present moment", and tries to live by it.638 Growing in watchfulness and self-knowledge, the wayfarer begins to acquire discrimination or discernment (in Greek, diakrisis). This enables him or her to distinguish between varying thoughts and impulses, as well as to learn the difference between evil and good, the superfluous and meaningful, and fantasies inspired by the evil one versus images marked upon one's imagination by celestial archetypes.640 The person also becomes more 634 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 17. 635 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 152. 636 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 141. 637 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 152. 638 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 153. 639 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 154. 640 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 154. 149 aware of internal movements and learns to guard the heart, making conscious efforts to recognize and disallow temptations or provocations of the enemy from entering therein. Growth in watchfulness and self-knowledge is facilitated by prayer of the heart.642 By way of unceasing prayer, energy is directed away from the passions — "any disordered appetite or longing that violently takes possession of the soul: anger, jealousy, gluttony, avarice, lust for power, pride, and the rest"643 — and towards growth in the virtues. This prayer is offered by the whole person, including the intellect, reason, will, affections, and physical body. Purification of the passions occurs on the level both of body and soul, and requires prayer, participation in the sacraments of Confession and Communion, daily reading of Scripture, 641 The heart is that faculty which signifies the spiritual centre of one's being as made in God's image, and the deepest and truest self. Guarding of the heart will be elaborated upon later in this Chapter. 642 For a discussion of prayer of die heart, see Metropolitan Kalkstos, "Prayer of the Heart," s\ Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Gordon S. Wakefield (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1983), 315. There he notes that, "In early Greek spirituality, prayer is regarded sometimes as an activity primarily of the mind or intellect {dianoia, nous), and sometimes as an activity of the heart {kardid). Typical of the first tendency, during the fourth century, are Evagrius and St. Gregory of Nyssa. Viewing the human person in Platonist terms Evagrius defines prayer as 'the converse of the intellect with God' {On Prayer 3); by intellect {nous), however, he means not only the discursive reason but also, and more fundamentally, man's direct, intuitive understanding of spiritual truth. For Gregory man is constituted in the image of God by virtue of his mind {dianoia): it is by this that he communicates with his Creator, whereas the heart links him to the body and is involved with the passions {On the Creation of Man 5, 8,12). But other writers of the fourth and fifth centuries, such as the author of the Macarian Homilies (collection H, xv, 20, 32-33; xliii, 7) and St. Diadochus of Photice, see prayer as the activity of the heart par excellence. They understand by 'heart' not primarily the emotions and feelings but — as in scripture — the moral and spiritual centre of the human person, the seat of wisdom and intelligence, the place where the individual becomes most truly personal, and at the same time closest to God. In such authors prayer of the heart denotes, not just affective prayer of the feelings, but prayer of the whole human person. The same sense is found in St. John Climacus and his disciple Hesychius of Sinai. (...) The heart is particularly emphasized by the Hesychast authors of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In prayer, so they teach, we should strive 'to descend with the intellect (nous) into the heart', so that our prayer is not merely 'prayer of the mind/intellect', but 'prayer of the heart' or more exactly, 'of the intellect in the heart'. The invocation of the name of Jesus assists in this, especially when accompanied by the physical technique. As in the Macarian Homilies, the heart is here understood in a biblical sense as the unifying centre of the human person as a whole; according to Gregory Palamas, it is 'the treasury of the intelligence...the throne of grace, where the intellect and all the thoughts of the soul reside.. .the primary organ' (Triads I, ii, 3; II, ii, 28). Thus to 'descend into the heart' signifies reintegration, the recovery of primal integrity; prayer of the heart means prayer of the united person, prayer in which the one who prays is totally identified with the act of prayer. Moreover, since the heart is not only the centre of the human person but also the dwelling-place of God - the frontier and point of encounter between the created and the Uncreated — prayer of the heart means prayer in which God is as much active as man, and may thus include what the West terms 'infused contemplation'." <*3 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 155. <** Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 154-155. 150 feeding one's mind with the thought of what is good, practical acts of loving service, fasting, and abstinence.645 By God's grace, prayer of the heart eventually leads to apatheia or "dispassion" — a positive state of reintegration and spiritual freedom. Apatheia is perhaps best viewed as "purity of heart," such that one no longer yields to temptation, nor is dominated by selfishness and uncontrolled desire, but is capable of true love. Dispassion and love are integrally connected. The "dispassioned" person in this sense is the one whose heart burns with love for God, others, every living creature, and all of creation.646 Physike' theoria, the second stage of the threefold Way, is the contemplation of nature in God, or the contemplation of God in and through nature.647 This stage of "natural contemplation" is not subsequent to, but rather concurrent with, praktike. Metropolitan Kallistos notes that progress in physike cannot be made unless one makes progress in praktike by practicing the virtues and fulfilling the commandments. Without a firm foundation in the "active life," natural contemplation becomes merely aesthetic or romantic, and fails to reach the neotic or spiritual. A perception of the world in God is only possible by way of a continual change of mind.648 Nepsis is also essential to contemplation. One cannot contemplate nature, nor God, 645 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 155. 646 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 156. 647 According to Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 158-159, "All things are permeated and maintained in being by the uncreated energies of God, and so all things are a theophany that mediates his presence. At the heart of each thing is its inner principle or logos, implanted within it by the Creator Logos; and so through the logoi we enter into communion with the Logos. God is above and beyond all things, yet as Creator he is also within all things —'panentheism', not pantheism. To contemplate nature, then, is in Blake's phrase to cleanse the 'doors of our perception', both on the physical and on the spiritual level, and thereby to discern the energies or logoi of God in everything that he has made. It is to discover, not so much through our discursive reason as through our spiritual intellect, that the whole universe is a cosmic Burning Bush, filled with the divine Fire yet not consumed." 648 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 158-159. 151 without being present to the moment and the world around oneself. This is the beginning of contemplation. As the person becomes sensitive to God's created world, he or she grows more conscious of God's world within the heart. Seeing nature in God, there is an awareness of one's own place as a human person within the natural order.650 The contemplation of nature in God has two correlative aspects. First, is the consideration of the 'thusness' or 'thisness' of particular things, persons and moments. Each stone, leaf, blade of grass, creature, or human face is to be seen for what it truly is in all its intricacy and intensity — in what is disclosed and in what remains mysteriously hidden. Metropolitan Kallistos notes that, In the proper religious sense of the term, "mystery" signifes not only hiddeness but disclosure. The Greek noun mysterion is linked with the verb myein, meaning "to close the eyes or mouth." (...) So, in the Christian context, we do not mean by a "mystery" merely mat which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. A mystery is, on the contrary, something that is revealed for our understanding, but which we never understand exhaustively because it leads into die depth or the darkness of God. The eyes are closed — but they are also opened. (...) God is hidden from us, but he is also revealed to us: revealed as person and as love."651 Second, is the seeing of all things, persons and moments as signs and sacraments of God. Spiritually, each thing is to be perceived in such a way that in and through all created things, one discerns the Creator.652 In recognizing the uniqueness of each thing, one discovers how each points beyond itself to Him Who made it. Creation leads one to God, and God sends one back to creation. All things are to be viewed as essentially sacred, as gifts from God and means of communion with Him.653 Natural contemplation signifies not only finding God in all things, but also in all 649 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 157. 650 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 158. 651 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 15. 652 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 159-160. 653 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 160. 152 persons. Christ looks through the eyes of all those whom one meets. Once His universal presence is recognized, all of a person's acts of practical service to others become acts of prayer. It is common to regard contemplation as a rare and exalted gift, yet the seeds of a contemplative attitude exist in each person — if only one has the eyes to see God's signature in and on all things. With God's help, the person is eventually brought to the third stage of the spiritual way: theologia, or theologike theoria, the direct vision of God, or the contemplation of God Himself — the highest level of ascent to relationship with the Divine.655 The more one contemplates God in nature, the greater one's realization that God is above and beyond it. In this stage, God is no longer known solely through the medium of the person's conscience or of created things, but rather God is known in direct and unmediated union.656 The Christian meets the Creator face to face in an unmediated union of love — the fullness of which is attained in the Age to come.657 The transition to the third level is accomplished by introducing the apophatic way of negation into the life of prayer.658 The way of negation, which stands in contrast to the positive or cataphatic way, identifies that which God is not, rather than that which He is. By holding both negative and affirmative statements of God in tension, it is possible to point to the mystery of God - something revealed, but which is never understood exhaustively. While God remains hidden, He is also revealed as Person and Love. 9 For anyone who progresses on the spiritual way, one gradually shifts "from the known 654 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 161. 655 Theology as theologia understood in this light can do nothing but give one pause. 656 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 141,157,162; The Orthodox Way (1995), 106. 657 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 141. 658 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 162. 659 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 16-18. 153 into the unknown, and advances from light into darkness. One does not simply proceed from the darkness of ignorance into the light of knowledge, but rather from the light of partial knowledge into the "darkness of unknowing". Christianity's task is to make the person progressively aware of a mystery — the mystery of God Who is not so much the object of knowledge, as a personal Who who is the cause of wonder. The apophatic way of "unknowing" leads the person to a fullness rather than an emptiness,661 a presence rather than an absence, and a union of love rather than agnosticism. Something is denied in order to affirm, and described as not in order to say that it is. Laying aside words and concepts serves as entry into the Divine Mystery. Apophatism aims to bring one into a direct meeting with a Personal God, Who infinitely surpasses everything that can be said of Him, whether negative or positive.662 Affirmative in its final effects, the apophatic approach helps the person to reach beyond positive or negative statements, images, symbols, words, language and thought towards an immediate experience of the living God.663 Seeking the eternal Truth that lies beyond words and thoughts, one waits on God in quietness and silence, no longer talking about nor to God, but simply listening. This stillness or inward silence is known as hesychia, and involves concentration combined with inward tranquility, and an openness of heart towards God's love.664 Apophatic and cataphatic prayer coexist, and each strengthens the other. The ways of negation and affirmation are not alternatives; but are complementary. The hesychast in 660 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 16. 661 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 16-17. 662 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 167. 663 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 16-17. 664 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 163. 154 addition to practicing stillness and attentive listening, uses many forms of prayer — engaging in corporate liturgical worship, the reading of Scripture, and the reception of the sacraments. All work together to lead him or her into a mysterious union with God.665 The movement from speaking to listening is difficult. Turning off thought and suspending discursive reasoning cannot be achieved merely through an exertion of the will. The ever-restless mind demands some task to satisfy its constant need to be active, and yet simultaneously enable it to reach out beyond itself into stillness. Attempts to eliminate conscious thought without offering the mind an alternative activity, lead to day-dreaming.666 Hesychasts practice the Jesus prayer to facilitate the movement from speaking to listening. The spiritual way according to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition is never-ending. Because God is infinite, the blessed will ceaselessly grow in the knowledge and love of God. Origen notes that, [TJhey who labor for wisdom and knowledge, (...) there is no end to that task — for what could ever put a limit on God's wisdom? Indeed the more one enters into it, the deeper one goes, and the more one investigates, the more inexpressible and inconceivable it becomes, for God's wisdom is incomprehensible and immeasurable — thus he does not praise the houses of those who enter upon the path of wisdom — for they never come to an end —, but he admires their "tents" in which they continually wander and make progress; and the more progress they make the more does the road to be travelled stretch out into the measureless.667 St. Gregory of Nyssa used the term epektasis, "straining forward," to describe this unending progress in Divine Infinity. He maintained that the essence of perfection lies in the fact that one never becomes totally perfect, but unceasingly advances "from glory to glory:" [L]et us change in such a way that we may constantly evolve towards what is better, being transformed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3.18), and thus always improving and ever 665 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 162-163. 666 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 163-164. 667 Origen, Homilies on Numbers VIA, in Spirit and Fire: A Thematic Anthology of His Writings, ed. by Hans Urs von Balthasar; trans, by Robert J. Daly (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1984), 25-26. 155 becoming more perfect by daily growth, and never arriving at any limit of perfection. For that perfection consists in our never stopping in our growth in good, never circumscribing our perfection by any limitations. Metropolitan Kallistos put it well in saying that, "Not in time only but also in eternity, the road goes ever, ever on."669 There is no end to the stages of the path. Eastern Christian spirituality also speaks extensively about a more methodological approach which focuses on negative and positive praxes. In Christian terminology, praxis, broadly speaking, refers to any work of salvation. It is the "life of faith in Christ and in imitation of the Saviour."670 There are two forms of praxis: negative and positive. Negative praxis is activity aimed at overcoming obstacles (sins, the passions) and evil thoughts that bind/imprison the true self; positive praxis is activity directed at cultivating the virtues671 — fostering Christ-likeness. Prayer, self-denial, renunciation, detachment, penthos, custody of the heart and eyes, examination, revelation and elimination of thoughts, nepsis, obedience, antitrhesis,612 and discernment are a few of the practices aimed at overcoming sin and the passions. Obedience to the commandments, a spiritual mother or father, and precepts and counsels; charity; prayer; and the path of virtue are all practices aimed at fostering virtues and hence would be considered positive praxes. More will be said of both negative and positive praxes later in this chapter. 668 Gregory of Nyssa, On Perfection, PG 46.285A-D, as found in Gregory of Nyssa, From Glory to Glory, intro. by Jean Danielou, trans, and ed. by Herbert Musurillo (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995), 84. 669 Ware, "The Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 402. 670 SpidHk, The Spirituality of the Christian Hast, 178. 671 SpidMk, The Spirituality of the Christian Hast, 179. 672 Antitrhesis ('counter-speaking') is considered to be die outstanding method for combatting evil thoughts. SpidHk notes that, "When tempted by the devil, Christ replied to his suggestions widi texts from Scripture, and did not enter into discussion with the Evil One (Mt 4:3-11). We read about certain ascetics diat diey knew 'the entire Scriptures' by heart, that is, they were able to answer every question put to them widi sacred texts, but more than that, they knew a good quotation from Scripture against each demonic suggestion. The classic manual of this art is the Antirrheticus ofEvagrius." See SpidHk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 243. 156 3.2.3. The Metaphor of the Path The metaphor of the path suggests several key concepts for contemplative psychology. First, it implies that the contemplative life is about the development of one's humaneness. Second, it intimates a constraint in that a Path is bound by two sides (suggestive of a double- sided development). Third, it suggests a continually changing perspective of the landscape or experience of reality. Fourth, it reflects stages along the way and guidance. Fifth, one can choose to wander from the path or stay on it.673 An elaboration of each of these ideas follows. 3.2.3.1. Development of Humaneness De Wit notes that the spiritual traditions, when speaking of a journey, refer to an experience in which the beginning and end are different from one's biologically determined journey through time. Rather, the direction of this journey can either lead one to becoming entangled in the grips of callousness, shortsightedness and fear of life; or to increasing kindness and insight, joy in life and wisdom.674 According to De Wit, progress toward compassion and wisdom in life has to do with the development of a basic attitude to life, and the creation or discovery of a certain mental space, or mental openness that both gives insight and ennobles one's self and fellow beings. He suggests that the possibility of uncovering and developing such an inner space is the inspiration for the contemplative life.675 De Wit further notes that the final goal — a 673 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 60. 674 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 60. 675 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 61. 157 realization, fulfillment, reconciliation, or liberation — is not the source of inspiration; this lies in the progress one makes in the way of dealing with everyday circumstances.676 De Wit notes that, in religious terms, the theistic traditions speak of the restoration of relationship with God, and journeying along the Path in terms of obedience to God. External obedience and compliance to the prohibitions and commands of the tradition are a means for rediscovering one's humaneness. This leads to the discovery of a deeper, underlying internal obedience to the voice of God or Christ within.678 In contemplative-psychological terms, this obedience is to one's fundamental humaneness.679 According to De Wit, one's fundamental humaneness is never absent, but can be made to flourish; that which obscures it can also be overcome. This is the focus of the practice of the spiritual disciplines.680 The resulting development along the path is one of "liberation from all of those attitudes and views that cause us to be callous, defensive and blind to the realities of our lives and to reality as a whole."681 In De Wit's understanding, this development is central to the great religions and is the focus of the spiritual way of life in both its monastic and secular forms.682 In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, progress toward compassion and wisdom in life has to do with the development of one's relationship with Christ and imitation of Him — the development of Christ-likeness. As noted earlier, the Christian "is one who imitates Christ in thought, word, and deed, as far as is possible for human beings,"683 and progress on 676 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 61. 677 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 61-62. 678 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 259. 679 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 259-260. 680 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 57. The spiritual disciplines will be discussed in more detail below. 681 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 62. 682 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 61-62. 683 St. John Climacus, Scala Paradisi 1; PG 88:633B. See Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent (1982), 74. 158 the path is made in relation to the Person of Christ rather than solely to the praxis of spiritual disciplines engaged in along the contemplative journey. The contemplative journey is relational rather than utilitarian. The spiritual path is about a relationship with the Divine, self, others and the world, as well as personal transformation that occurs within the synergistic relationship with God. This relationship requires faith. According to Metropolitan Kallistos, faith is not logical certainty, but a personal relationship with God. As yet incomplete and faltering, this relationship is none the less real. Faith is to know God as a Person rather than as a theory or an abstract principle. It is far more than to know facts about God. To know a person is essentially to love him or her, as there can be no true knowledge of another without mutual love.684 3.2.3.2. Sides of the Path According to De Wit, the metaphor of the path includes the idea of borders delineated by spiritual practices that place certain restrictions on the practitioner. These influence the cultivation of one's mind and action. The mind chiefly develops insight into life or wisdom; action cultivates mercy, compassion or love. The two sides of the path, therefore, could be interpreted respectively as insight and loving care.685 Progress along the path involves a concurrent growth in insight and mercy. Genuine insight is accompanied by increasing dedication to one's fellow human beings; conversely, care is bound to produce insight. One cannot practice one without the other. De Wit asserts that, "according to many traditions, the pursuit and cultivation of virtue, compassion and 684 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 16. 685 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 62-63. 686 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 62-63. 159 happiness not only converge ultimately with the pursuit of insight, but are actually related to it right from the early stages of the contemplative way."687 The development of spirituality is, therefore, based on the unity of insight and compassion — insight furthers the development of compassion and genuine devotion, and vice versa.688 The insight De Wit speaks of is something that develops within and is largely concealed from others, while compassion is visible to others. Through this visible growth, one can indirectly perceive whether the flourishing within as regards insight is real or imaginary: a tree is known by its fruit. Effective charity is the visible fruit of a flourishing within and, simultaneously, this fruit is the seed of an interior flourishing.689 In Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, gnosis and charity are understood to be inseparable wings. Since 'God is love' (1 Jn. 4:8, 16 NRSV) and the first and greatest of the commandments is charity, it is evident that without love, knowledge of God is unattainable.690 There exists a relationship of tension between gnosis and love as De Wit has noted. Ultimately, Gnosis is transformed into love: "For the life of the superior nature is love, since the beautiful is in every respect lovable for those who know it, and the Divine knows Itself. But knowledge becomes love, because that which is known is beautiful by nature."691 Hence, this spiritual tradition recognizes that both a change of mind toward Wisdom, and a change of action toward charity are two aspects of the dynamic process of transformation and hence can be considered "sides of the path." 687 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 40. 688 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 41. 689 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 64. 690 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian Bast, 334-335. 691 St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and Resurrection [PG 46, col. 96C]. See St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Soul and Resurrection, Chapter 6: The Purification of the Soul, trans, by Catharine P. Roth (Crestwood NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1993), 81. 160 The way of contemplation is primarily aimed at developing both true gnosis and loving action. First, contemplation nourishes a stable disposition toward good {diathesis agathe) and a 'vehement desire to please God'. Second, the person is transformed and becomes more loving and like God.692 Third, true transparency of the mind — diorasis (insight) — is rediscovered.693 The clear-sighted person then recognizes Divine Wisdom operating in the world, and "glorifies God." He or she becomes conscious of God's gifts and of the greatness of the Giver. 3.2.3.3. Changing Experience of Reality According to De Wit, the contemplative traditions are primarily interested in the development of one's "experience of reality". This experience of reality is the "what" that "travels along the path." The spiritual path entails a continually changing perspective of this experience - the "landscape" or situations/events in life.695 From the perspective of contemplative psychology, experience highlights the subjective side of life occurrences, while reality emphasizes its objective dimension. That which is experienced as real is subjective, though experienced as objective, and the reality in which one lives is reality as one experiences it personally. It is, therefore, relative to the person experiencing it.696 De Wit notes that one can experience an external changeability in one's concrete life situation, as well as an inner changeability on one's shifting perspective about it. 692 SpidMk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 341. 693 St. Athanasius, Vita Antonii 73; PG 26:946A; as found in Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The "Letter to Marcellinus, 84; and Thesaurus Linguae Graecae — A Digital Library of Greek Literature, http://stephanus.dg.uci.edu. 694 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 342. 695 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 65. 696 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 65. 161 One's perspective determines how one perceives these events. He further notes that each person experiences events — the same or different ones — in different ways.697 According to De Wit, the "landscape" or experience of reality includes internal and external dimensions. The external dimension includes all of the external circumstances in life.698 The inner dimension, conversely, is comprised of all interior aspects of one's life — one's emotional life, way of thinking, expectations, memories, mental values. As noted in Chapter 1, one's experience of reality is ultimately determined by one's, [Fundamental existential relations and, in particular, to the way these relations change when traveling the contemplative way: individuals' relations to themselves, the world and the divine; their relations to their self-images, images of the human being, images of the world and images of God, their relations to themselves as practitioners of a contemplative tradition, their relations to the tradition itself and the teacher.699 According to De Wit, the metaphor of a way, a path or a journey refers to the development of these relations.700 Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, transformation in one's internal and external reality, as well as relationally with God, self, others, and the world is emphasized. The following quote from Unseen Warfare — The Spiritual Combat and Path to Paradise by Lorenzo Scupoli (a Western work with a very significant readership among Eastern ascetics), summarizes the invocation extended to all Christians as regards the need to focus on various aspects of one's internal reality as well as existential relationships: Use all means, brother, to keep your conscience pure; in thoughts, words, and deeds, let it always remain blameless; let it never reproach you and gnaw at you for anything. If you do this, it will gain strength both in your inner and outer actions and, becoming mistress over all your life, will govern it rightly. A pure conscience will make your life blameless, for then it will be sensitive and strong for good against evil. Conscience is 697 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 65. 698 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 71. 699 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 5. 700 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 5. 162 the law, inscribed by God in the hearts of men, to shed light on their path and guide them in righteousness (...) There are four relationships in which you should keep your conscience blameless: in relation to God, to yourself, to your neighbours, and to everything which is in your hands. All this you know; yet I will remind you of the most important points: In relation to God — abide in remembrance of God and walk in the presence of God; be aware of yourself being carried and protected by God's power, and led towards that end, for which He called you to existence; dedicate yourself and all you have to the service of God and the glory of His name; live in Him, have trust in Him and surrender to Him your fate, both in time and in eternity. In relation to yourself — be just to yourself and give its due to every part of your being: let your spirit, which seeks the heavenly and eternal God, rule over soul and body, whose joint function is to organize the temporal life; let the soul obey the dictates of the spirit and bend the neck of the mind to truth revealed by God, and so illume the whole scope of its knowledge, — let it keep the will in the ordinances of Divine commandments, not allowing it to turn aside towards its own desires, opposing them — let it teach the heart to find favour only in divine matters and in those which bear the divine imprint and are its expression, — and in this spirit let it order and conduct its affairs, both public and those of daily life; to the body give what it needs, observing a strict measure, and establish for yourself the rule to 'make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof (Rom. xiii. 14) ever and in anything. If you keep to this, you will be a good ruler and true benefactor of yourself. In relation to your neighbours — respect them all as being images of God, wish them all well and do good to them as much as is in your power; be humble before all and seek to please them all within the limits of what is good, rejoice with those who rejoice and grieve with those who grieve; judge and humiliate no one, even in thought or feeling; do not conceal the truth, if you know it, from those who seek from you guidance and advice, but do not impose yourself upon anyone as a teacher of your own accord, and above all keep peace and harmony with all men, ready on your part to make any sacrifice to this end, and take every care to lead no one astray. In relation to things - respect all things as God's creations; preserve and use to the glory of God those which God has placed in your possession; be content with what you have, whatever its measure, and give thanks to God for it, — form no passionate attachments for anything and regard all things as external means and instruments, so as to be free in your dealings with them, without their becoming ties and obstacles in your righteous endeavours; do not allow yourself to lean on these fragile supports, do not boast of your possessions, nor envy those of another, avoid avarice and do not be prodigal in things which are not good. 701 Scupoli, Unseen Warfare, 2Al-25\. 163 3.2.3.4. Stages of the Path The image of ordered stages suggested by the metaphor of the Way or Path represents a sequential experiencing of reality. The path begins with "a renewed and frank look at who or what one is at this very moment,"703 and gradually shifts one away from a development that chokes one's joy in life, compassion and clarity of mind, and towards a flourishing of one's fundamental humaneness.704 According to De Wit, the mental transformation that spiritual traditions are directed towards refers to a change in one's experience of concrete life events rather than a transformation of reality itself. However, because one perceives one's experience of reality as real, letting go of it seems like letting go of reality itself.706 Within Eastern Christian spirituality, there is an understanding that all things are transformed — recapitulated — in Christ. As a result, both the experiences of concrete life events over the course of a lifetime, and reality itself, are transformed. On the part of the person, this transformation requires letting go of sinful habit patterns and perceptions which have developed from the time of one's youth. Progress on the way of contemplation is made by way of engaging in positive and negative praxes which demands commitment and a reorienting of one's will. De Wit notes that the motivation required to let go of destructive ways of experiencing reality often evades spiritual practitioners because of an inability to recognize its illusory, relative nature.707 If one is able to let go, mental freedom is acquired. Within this freedom lies an element of increasing selflessness which manifests as one's desires and interests, as well as 702 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 71. 703 De Wit, The Spiritual'Path, 49. 704 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 71. 705 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 71. 706 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 71. 707 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 72. 164 perspective on reality, all of which become more transparent. Development along the path leads to an unconditional wisdom in life and loving care. This form of wisdom and compassion freely manifests and continually acts regardless of the circumstances.709 According to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, as one moves through the stages of praktike, physike theoria and theologike theoria along the contemplative journey, wisdom and compassion continue to be evident in the person. The person's insights, wisdom and actions are transformed as one's heart is freed from all that binds it and separates it from God. The result: one grows increasingly more Christ-like. 3.2.3.5. The Stream of Experience According to De Wit, the form or content of one's experience of reality comes into being through the convergence of six sources of experience. Five of the sources are linked to one's senses, and together provide a stream of sensory experience. The sixth source — mind or psyche — supplies the stream of mental experience™ Sensory experiences — what one hears, sees, smells, tastes or touches physically, combine with one's mental experience or stream of thoughts — with what one thinks, finds, feels, desires; and with one's hopes, fears, fantasies, imagination and everything else that one conceives of. An imagined reality arises from the merging of mental and sensory experience.712 De Wit asserts that this experience of reality is, as a result, permeated by an unknown degree of 708 De Wit> jhe Spiritual Path, 72. 709 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 72-73. 710 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 73. 711 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 73, 75. According to De Wit, "there is continuous activity in the form of a running commentary (...), a stream of thoughts, which more or less randomly and almost continuously merges with our sensory stream of experience. This is how our solipsistic experience of reality arises. This stream of thoughts creates a mental world, a world consisting entirely of thoughts with all their emotional coloring. (...) Almost all aspects of our experience can be reflected in our stream of thoughts and, as a reflection, can be related to thoughts about me. It is when the egocentric stream of thoughts formed in this way merges with our sensory experience that our egocentric experience of reality arises." (See De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 95-96). 712 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 73, 75. 165 blindness or self-deception such that one believes in the reality of one's self-created experience of reality. De Wit suggests that this blindness is referred to in the spiritual traditions as darkness, confusion, blindness, or ignorance, as well as their opposites of light, clarity of mind, and insight. St. Paul's prayer for the enlightenment of "the eyes of your mind" (Ephesians 1:18 NJB) is noted by De Wit in this regard. Enlightenment allows the person to see the degree to which one's experience of reality is one's own misleading creation.713 Eastern Christian spiritual writers such as St. Maximos the Confessor speak of the origin of conceptual images714 within the intellect — intermediates between fantasy and abstract concepts715 that seem to be similar to what De Wit's calls "form or content of one's experience of reality." Central to the formation of conceptual images are the five outer senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch; and the spiritual sense — the nous - wherein truth is to be found.716 St. Maximos the Confessor notes that, "When the intellect turns its attention to the visible world, it perceives things though the medium of the senses in a way that accords with nature."717 Conceptual images are stamped in one's imagination and memory, together with the emotions that are associated with them. According to Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, imagination and memory are considered to be one general inner sense which visualizes and remembers everything previously experienced by the five outer senses. Objects seen, heard, tasted, smelt and touched in the past can be evoked to one's consciousness by means of 713 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 80. 714 According to St. Maximos the Confessor, a conceptual image is a passion-free thought of a thing. See Third Century on hove, Century 42, in The Phiioka/ia, vol. 2, 89. 715 "Thought" in the Glossary of the Philokalia, vol. 1, 367. 716 Spidlfk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 332. 717 St. Maximos the Confessor, Second Century on Lave, Century 15, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 67. 166 imagination and memory, in which they have been imprinted. In this way they can be examined and considered as though they were concretely present. Formed within the intellect, it is consequently in the intellect's power to make good or bad use of conceptual images.719 St. Maximos the Confessor asserts that, [T]he intellect is not evil, nor is its natural capacity to form conceptual images of things, nor are the things themselves, nor are the senses, for all are the work of God. What, then, is evil? Clearly it is the passion that enters into the conceptual images formed in accordance with nature by the intellect; and this need not happen if the intellect keeps watch. Once, however, taken captive and darkened by the passions, the nous is bound by impassioned conceptual images. St. Maximos the Confessor relates that, [T]he intellect receives impassioned conceptual images in three ways: through the senses, through the body's condition and through the memory. It receives them through the senses when the senses themselves receive impressions from things in relation to which we have acquired passion, and when these things stir up impassioned thoughts in the intellect; through the body's condition when, as a result either of an undisciplined way of life, or of the activity of demons, or of some illness, the balance of elements in the body is disturbed and again the intellect is stirred to impassioned thoughts or to thoughts contrary to providence; through the memory when the memory recalls the conceptual images of things in relation to which we were once made passionate, and so stirs up impassioned thoughts in a similar way.721 Impassioned conceptual images leave one blind, confused and ignorant as De Wit has suggested. 3.2.3.6. Challenges of Path Languages While De Wit extensively utilizes the metaphor of the path, he also openly acknowledges that it is hazardous. First, there is a temptation to absolutize the metaphor. Second, the metaphor suggests that the path or way has a starting point and an end to which it 718 Scupoli, Unseen Warfare, 147. 719 St. Maximos the Confessor, Second Century on hove, Centuries 71-73, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 77. 720 St. Maximos the Confessor, Second Century on Love, Century 15, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 67. 721 St. Maximos the Confessor, Second Century on Love, Century 74, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 77. 167 leads, yet this linear approach is not reflective of human experience. Third, it could encourage an overly strict view of the sequential stages. Fourth, it infers faith as advancement rather than a journey in humility. Fifth, it risks viewing spirituality materialistically — as acquiring a spiritual profit and hence spiritual pride. Sixth, the metaphor suggests that the spiritual road has already been paved, and does not reflect that the spiritual journey is filled with uncertainty and risk.722 Despite these shortcomings of the metaphor of the way or path, De Wit maintains that it is a useful image for the spiritual journey. Eastern Christianity cautions use of the metaphor of the path or way in similar manner to De Wit. Kallistos Ware notes that, The image of three stages on a journey, while useful, should not be taken too literally. Prayer is a living relationship between persons, and personal relationships cannot be neady classified. In particular it should be emphasized that the three stages are not stricdy consecutive, the one coming to an end before the next begins. Direct glimpses of the divine glory are sometimes conferred by God on a person as an unexpected gift, before the person has even begun to repent and to commit himself to the struggle of the "active life". Conversely, however deeply a man may be initiated by God into the mysteries of contemplation, so long as he lives on earth he must continue to fight against temptations; up to the very end of his time in this world he is still learning to repent. (...) The three stages are not so much successive as simultaneous.723 The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition views the path as starting from the time one comes into being and extending into eternity. It would also emphasize mystery, synergeia between God and the person, spiritual warfare, and the enormously personal way in which God relates to each person in the journey toward Him. 722 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 82-85. 723 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 106-107. 168 3.3. Transmission of the Way The spiritual traditions invite people to embark on a spiritual way of life. According to De Wit, this is a "specific, disciplined way of life,"724 that allows: [S]pace for exploring and penetrating our fear of life. To do so is at the same time the manifestation and essence of courage in life as well. In this way, we also restore our link with our humaneness. This process is quite different from attempting to turn internally away from or becoming insensitive to life. It is the opposite of fleeing from the realities of our existence into materialistic or spiritual fantasy worlds that please our imagination and seem to offer security. Rather, it is the creation of circumstances in which we can rediscover and cultivate our humaneness. In those circumstances we discover that we "are able to rise above ourselves" and how we can do this, how we can be "at our best." The more we grow in our ability to do this, the more independent we become of our circumstances. Our circumstances become less and less effective in destroying the manifestation of our humaneness; they become stepping stones for its manifestation rather than focal points of our fear of life. Psychological factors play a role in this process of inner transformation.725 De Wit notes that contemplative life or spiritual growth amounts to a departure from one's familiar, conventional experience of reality.726 This life and growth often occurs in the context of a contemplative community: [A] social context that teaches and inspires us to act out of charity and lay bare our egoism. It can help us to accept spiritual disciplines and guidance, and to curtail and ultimately renounce the profane freedom of indifference and ambition. (...) Such a community exists (...) on the basis of our personal (first-person) wish to live in a social environment that practices honesty and charily as a religious path.727 The instructions for the journey provided by the traditions, however, only illumine the path a bit beyond that which lies direcuy before every step. He refers here to Psalm 119:105 NRSV, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."728 At each step, the tradition recognizes externally visible behavioural patterns that are the bitter fruit of one's internal 724 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 25. 725 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 14-15. 726 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 85. 727 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 206. 728 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 85. 169 attitude and struggle. Mental disciplines directed at recognking and letting go of the mental movements made by ego are then provided, and disciplines directed at transforming actions and speech are offered. Metaphorically, contemplative traditions speak of an all-pervading illness that has deep roots and affects all aspects of the human experience of reality. According to De Wit, this translates in the Christian tradition in the following way: the diagnosis is found Biblically as the doctrine of sin; this diagnosis points to the etiology as formulated in Genesis 3; the possibility of fulfillment or salvation, which has a liberating effect, is presented in the doctrine of grace; the contemplative way that one can travel, or that God travels with us, lies between the actuality of the fallen state and the possibility of being cured. This way is delineated in the doctrine of sanctification, and is entered into with the help of the contemplative disciplines.731 De Wit notes that, according to the Christian tradition, traveling the contemplative way and becoming a spiritual person more specifically refers to restoring one's relationship with God and abolishing egocentric dualism. Two kinds of unmasking are involved in this process. First, I or ego is unmasked, and one's personal identity revealed. Second, according to De Wit, one learns that one's religiosity was essentially enmity against God — that the God and I conceived of were idols. From a Christian point of view, traveling the contemplative way consists in finding one's identity in a self-disclosure that occurs in the presence of oneself and God. This includes the experience of God as a personal God and of self as person. De Wit 729 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 116. 730 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 118. 731 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 118-119. 170 notes that I, upon being unmasked, does not disappear,732 but refers to one's "natural," newly reborn self.733 The Christian history of salvation reveals that theistic devotion has its own character: the spiritual person walks with God.734 For the Christian, God is a living, personal God who is made manifest in the life of the human being as an experiential given.735 This is exemplified in the Christian saints,736 and prophets such as Moses who knew the Lord face to face and spoke with him as a person with a friend. In this relationship, estrangement from God and neighbor is broken, as is fundamental dualism. Relationships are then restored, and a dualism of discord is replaced by union.737 Eastern Christianity would not disagree. 3.3.1. Mind and Knowledge Prior to elaborating on the spiritual disciplines, a discussion of mind and knowledge is necessary, as De Wit bases much of contemplative psychology on the mental domain and its interplay with experience. A part of the total field of experience, the mental domain or mind is understood to be an empirical domain that interacts with the experiential domains of communication and bodily action.738 It is a kind of "internal capacity for perception," such that people are capable of seeing the movement of their mind clearly.739 According to De Wit, contemplative psychology assumes that human beings have some freedom to shape their own minds. With this freedom, one can imprison oneself within a 732 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 158-159. 733 De Wit refers here to the Christian reformed traditions which speak of having discovered self. (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 160). 734 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 160. De Wit notes that "the liberated individual in Buddhism does not walk with God, but walks in reality, in total unconcealment." (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 166). 735 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 166. 736 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 166. 737 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 160. 738 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 11. 739 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 122. 171 state of mind, or liberate oneself from it. Because the mind determines what one says and does, the way this freedom is used manifests itself in one's actions and speech, which is then subsequently felt in one's personal life and society.740 What follows is an explication of mind in contemplative psychology. 3.3.2. Mind in Contemplative Psychology De Wit notes that contemplative psychology is directed at the transformation of one's own mind in the direction of one's humaneness. He maintains that ignorance and mental blindness either arise because things escape one's awareness or cause confusion, or because of a lack of knowledge (or information). If one's mind is not clear, faulty or incorrect ways of perceiving and thinking about people, including one's self, result. This leads to confusing and conflicting emotions, which in turn affect one's clarity of mind.74' De Wit asserts that, within this first-person psychology, one's thinking — the movement of one's mind, the stream of thoughts with all its ideas, emotions and desires — can be experienced in such a way that one can in a certain sense, "see," one's mind.743 One can think, speculate and imagine with the mind, while simultaneously seeing one's mental activity and movements, and consciously experiencing it. This highlights one of the key points of contemplative psychology: one can experience one's thoughts and think about this experience.744 Mindfulness, awareness and consciousness are involved in this dynamic.745 De Wit maintains that people are capable of experiencing the sensory and mental stream either consciously or unconsciously. Consciousness, from the perspective of contemplative 740 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 741 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 38. 742 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 122. 7« De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 121. 744 De Wit, "On the Methodology of Clarifying Confusion," 38. 745 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 121. 172 psychology, does not refer to a mental facility or region, but rather is a quality of experience or perception that has a degree of clarity.746 He notes that it is similar to nakedness, happiness, eagerness, mindfulness, and awareness. Unconsciousness, conversely, is understood to mean the "absence of the quality of consciousness."748 De Wit utilizes terms such as lack of mindfulness, lack of awareness, and mindlessness in the same way.749 According to De Wit, there are two aspects of consciousness — mindfulness and discernment. The first of these aspects is signified by words such as mindfulness, attention, concentration and one-pointedness; and is opposite to absentmindedness, or a restless, chaotic state of mind. Mindfulness refers to the ability to focus consciously on something and keep focused on it. It confers stability, precision and a mental calm to one's way of experiencing, thereby counteracting the tendency to shift from one thing to another, and creating space for one to recognize the details of one's situation. In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, mindfulness and discernment are two qualities of the active life as previously discussed. J Mindfulness may be considered to be watchfulness or nepsis. Watchfulness is the opposite to a state of drunken stupor which impedes attention, inhibits self-control, confuses thoughts, and induces indulgent sentimentality and self-pity. Instead, nepsis involves sharpened attention, resolute self-control, clarity of thought, wakeful awareness and steadiness of judgment.752 It is spiritual sobriety, alertness, and vigilance, and signifies an attitude of attentiveness, watchfulness over one's inward thoughts and fantasies, and keeping guard over the heart and intellect. Nepsis is used 746 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 124,127. 747 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 124. 748 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 124. 749 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 124. 750 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 128. 751 See Section 3.2.2. 752 "Nipsis," The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, 346. 173 broadly to indicate the whole range of the practice of the virtues, and is closely linked with purity of heart and stillness.753 According to De Wit, mindfulness is the basis for the second aspect of consciousness — discernment. De Wit refers to discernment as a chscriminating awareness.754 This aspect is the dynamic quality of consciousness. Also denoted by terms such as openmindedness or clarity of mind, discriminating awareness is an intelligent, alert openness unhindered by biases, preoccupations or prejudiced ideas.755 It is an unconditional awareness that is both the seed and fruit of enlightenment, fulfillment, surrender, or eternal life. In moments of intense, unconditional awareness, one's mind's eye opens, allowing one to disentangle illusion and reality and see life unveiled.756 Imparting knowledge and insight, it is cultivated by the practice of the spiritual disciplines of insight.757 The resulting discernment is, according to De Wit, the clarity of mind of one's fundamental humaneness.758 De Wit maintains that discernment or discriminating awareness is developed only on the basis of mental stability or calm. This calm results from letting go of fixation on one's turbulent stream of thoughts. It makes the mind function like a mirror, and is a means to insight, such that the more restful one's mind is, the more mobility one's discernment has. Calm is a form of mental or internal stability — a steadfastness that does not allow itself to be carried away by turbulent streams of thoughts, but rather makes the stream visible or conscious. Hence, calm is the basis of open insight. The wakefulness that one enters into 753 "Watchfulness," in the Glossary of The Philokalia, vol. 1, 367. 754 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 128. 755 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 129. 756 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 130. 757 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 128-129. The spiritual disciplines of insight will be elaborated on later in this chapter. 758 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 130. 759 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 130-131. 174 in the calm destroys every distortion and self-hypnosis that belongs to one's fixated 760 consciousness. According to De Wit, discriminating awareness allows one to see the effect of one's interpretations on one's experience of reality from moment to moment. He notes that in many contemplative traditions, this discriminating awareness leads to wisdom — the kind of wisdom that causes one to recognize the confusing and painful illusion of one's egocentric experience of reality, and be liberated from it. De Wit identifies this as diakrisis in the Christian tradition. Diakrisis extinguishes the power of the egocentric experience of reality with its associated emotionality, and breaks self-deception. This is the wisdom or state of wisdom that spiritual traditions, in De Wit's estimation, seek to cultivate. One's fundamental humaneness is then able to be fully manifested in the world for the well-being of all living beings.761 Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, diakrisis or discrimination is a spiritual gift: Permitting one to discriminate between the types of thought that enter into one's mind, to assess them accurately and to treat them accordingly. Through this gift one gains 'discernment of spirits' — that is, the ability to distinguish between the thoughts or visions inspired by God and the suggestions or fantasies coming from the devil. It is a kind of eye or lantern of the soul by which man finds his way along the spiritual path without falling into extremes; thus it includes the idea of discretion.762 Further, it is "an exceptional gift enabling one person, usually an elder or teacher, to discern the spiritual state of another."763 With the gift of diakrisis, one can distinguish between impassioned and passionless conceptual images, philautia and the true self, deception and 760 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 132. 761 De Wit, The Spiritual Vath, 141. 762 "Discrimination," in the Glossary of The Philokalia, vol. 1, 359. 763 "Discrimination," in The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, 163. 175 truth, impure and pure thoughts, vices and virtues, the ways of the evil one and those of God, and non-Christ-likeness and Christ-likeness. Nepsis is integral to diakrisis. Metropolitan Kallistos notes that in "[kjeeping watch over his heart, growing in self-awareness, the aspirant acquires nepsis (...) and diakrisis (...)." 3.3.3. The Contemplative Psychology of Thought A fundamental theme for contemplative psychology is that the way in which one experiences the world is dependent on how one dresses it up mentally — with one's thoughts.765 De Wit clarifies the meaning of the concept of thought in contemplative psychology. To do so, he describes points specific to thought including the meaning of the term, the content and object of thought, and the forms of thought. What follows is an elaboration of each of these items. According to De Wit, the meaning of the term thought in most spiritual traditions is closely associated with stream of thoughts. Thought is often used as a general term for "all mental movement, for everything that occurs within our head,"766 and is almost synonymous with mental activity. It includes images, desires and possibly even strong emotions. De Wit distinguishes between the content and object of thought. He maintains that thoughts are separate from the object of thought. The object of thought — that which the thought is about — lies outside the thought. When one thinks about a situation, one can feel that one's thinking is separate from and does not influence the situation. The content of thought conversely lies within the thought. It is the formation of thought occurring in one's head. The content of thought has a certain form — for example images from one's 764 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 398. 765 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 146. 766 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 132. 767 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 132. 176 environment, or the conversation with another. It is a mental representation of the object of the thought. The wealth of forms of thought content is determined by the richness of one's imagination, mental creativity, and material available in the form of memories.768 De Wit maintains that the contents of thought are the forms of thought. Rather than being mental entities, the contents of thought are shorter or longer phases or moments in one's stream of thoughts. In that stream, which cannot be observed visually or audibly, flexible and changing mental formations are almost constantly occurring. The content of thoughts according to De Wit, therefore, exists as forms of thoughts, rather than as objects or things in one's experience.769 The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition considers conceptual images and passions as well as streams of thoughts. The spiritual path consists in separating the passions from conceptual images so that one can look on things dispassionately.770 In his Third Century on Love, St. Maximos the Confessor makes the following distinctions: A thing, a conceptual image and a passion are all quite different one from the other. For example, a man, a woman, gold and so forth are things; a conceptual image is a passion-free thought of one of these things; a passion is mindless affection or indiscriminate hatred for one of these same things. The monk's batde is therefore against passion. An impassioned conceptual image is a thought compounded of a passion and a conceptual image. If we separate the passion from the conceptual image, what remains is the passion-free thought. We can make this separation by means of spiritual love and self-control, if only we have the will. The intellect of a man who enjoys the love of God does not fight against things or against conceptual images of them. It batdes against the passions which are linked with these images. It does not, for example, fight against a woman, or against a man who has 768 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 133-134. 769 De Wjt> ^e Spiritual Path, 135. 770 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on "Love, Century 41, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 89. 771 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on 'Love, Century 42, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 89. 772 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on hope, Century 43, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 89. 177 offended it, or even against the images it forms of them; but it fights against the passions which are linked with the images.773 Conceptual images, thoughts, and passions impact how one experiences the world. 3.3.4. Connections between Thinking, Experiencing and Consciousness De Wit notes that, because contemplative psychologies regard the mental domain as experiential, they maintain that there are two positions that thinking and experiencing can occupy in relation to one another — "one can think about experience and one can experience one's thoughts"11* This view is formulated most clearly in traditions that assume a sixth sense faculty or "mind's eye" which perceives the mental domain. Perception is there understood as conscious perception, and awareness is used in reference to the observation of any visual, auditory or mental object.775 This emphasizes that the domain of experience in contemplative psychology includes the subjective, mental domain. From the Christian contemplative tradition, De Wit draws attention to Ignatius of Loyola's Spiritual Exercises in which people are encouraged to listen to and be aware of their thoughts just as they would be attentive to events or things in their environment, and are directed to detect and eliminate thoughts that block or go against the spiritual life.777 He further cites the Carmelite tradition, particularly the first phase of purificatio, during which people utilize contemplative methods to help them become aware of habitual thought patterns and discern ways these patterns interact with speech and action.778 773 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on Love, Century 40, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 89. 774 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 78. 775 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 78-79. De Wit here also notes that Buddhism, Christianity as well as some forms of psychology address inner perception. 776 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 79. 777 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 79. 778 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 79. 178 In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, much emphasis is placed on the identification and elimination of the eight evil thoughts as identified by Evagrius of Pontus — gluttony, lust, avarice, dejection (lype), anger, despondency or lisdessness (akedid), vainglory and pride.779 Much could be said about this process. However, it is beyond the scope of this current research project. 3.3.5. Knowledge and Insight in Contemplative Psychology De Wit makes a point of clarifying concepts such as knowledge, insight, ignorance, and confusion in contemplative psychology. He emphasizes that the practice of the mental disciplines is concerned with "the cultivation of insight into the nature of the human mind and experience,"780 This insight is believed to transform one's mind and experience. The kind of insight and knowledge that he refers to is a question about the epistemology — or theory of knowledge — of the contemplative traditions which he maintains are primarily interested in producing good, wise knowers™ A summary of the key points of this epistemology follows.782 De Wit distinguishes between two types of knowledge — conceptual knowledge and perceptual knowledge. Conceptual knowledge is the result of thinking about something: a concept or experience. According to De Wit, "Conceptual knowing has often been connected with the intellectual faculty or the reasoning mind, as well as with the faculty of 779 See section 3.1.5 of this thesis where evil thoughts are treated as some length. For a comprehensive elaboration on the evil thoughts and their elimination, see Larchet, Therapeutique des maladies spirituelles. 780 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 142. 781 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 83-84. According to De Wit, " 'good knowers' possess knowledge about the mental domain, as well as the odier domains of human experience that diey are in touch with. Through the practice of the contemplative methods, they learn to know the movements of their minds, including the mind's discursive activity. That is, diey learn to discern and recognize the mental formations as they appear in their minds, and how these mental formations mix with other forms of experience. They learn to recognize what states of being are dius created, and what blind spots they contain. As good knowers, diey know how to clear up ignorance and confusion." 782 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 142. 179 hearing. (...) [It] is closely connected with the concept of thinking."783 This is evident when one thinks clearly about experience. Conceptual knowledge is acquired by thinking in ideas or concepts, and is a means, rather than the end. The second type of knowledge that De Wit identifies is perceptual knowledge. According to De Wit, perceptual knowledge is apparent when one tries to experience clearly what goes on in one's mind or thoughts by employing discriminating awareness. Perceptual knowledge comes through looking with one's inner eye, and yields a form of knowledge or insight that is nonconceptual — not based on concepts. It is rather reliant on clear vision and recognition.784 According to De Wit, "[K]nowing in the sense of awareness has been connected with the heart or soul, or likened to a kind of mental eye. Knowledge in the form of awareness is often explained (metaphorically) by means of the concepts of seeing, that is, by means of the concept of perception^ De Wit notes that a distinction between perceptual and conceptual knowledge is found in almost all spiritual traditions. Within the Christian tradition, he notes that "one often finds a distinction between knowledge of the head (or understanding) and knowledge of the heart. The knowledge of the heart is understood as a form of perceptual knowledge, it is acquaintance with. Knowledge of the head is a form of conceptual knowledge: it is knowledge about."1*6 The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition speaks of two types of knowledge. Spidlik notes that Christian spiritual writers, [Differentiated between, and contrasted, 'mere' (psile) knowledge and 'spiritual' ipneumatike) knowledge. 'There is a double knowledge of the world: the pragmatic 783 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 86. 784 De wit, The Spiritual Path, 142-143. 785 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 86. 786 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 144. 180 which even the impious obtain, and the spiritual which is reserved for the saints.' Mere knowledge is 'sterile', unable to subordinate itself to the kingdom of God.787 These are akin to what St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic termed natural and supranatural knowledge. Natural knowledge is knowledge which the soul can acquire through its natural faculties and powers when investigating creation and its cause. Supranatural knowledge is knowledge which enters the intellect in a manner transcending its own means and power.788 A further distinction between spiritual knowledge and reason is made in Eastern Christian spirituality. Spiritual knowledge {gnosis) is "the knowledge of the intellect as distinct from that of the reason. As such it is knowledge inspired by God, and so linked with contemplation and immediate spiritual perception." 789 The faculty capable of this spiritual knowledge which goes beyond words and concepts and toward union with God is the nous. Spiritual knowledge would be considered knowledge of the heart or perceptual knowledge in De Wit's terminology. Dianoia (discursive reason, mind) is associated with knowledge of the head or conceptual knowledge: [T]he discursive, conceptualrzing and logical faculty in man, the function of which is to draw conclusions or formulate concepts deriving from data provided either by revelation or spiritual knowledge or by sense-observation. The knowledge of the reason is consequendy of a lower order than spiritual knowledge and does not imply any direct apprehension or perception of the inner essences or principles of created beings, still less of divine truth itself. Indeed, such apprehension or perception, which is the function of the intellect, is beyond the scope of reason. 787 SpidKk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 330. 788 St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic, Theoretikon, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 39. 789 "Spiritual Knowledge," in the Glossary of The Philokalia, vol. 1, 365. 790 "Reason," in the Glossary of The Philokalia, vol. 1, 364. 181 Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the two forms of knowledge are therefore identified as spiritual knowledge (gnosis or supranatural knowledge), and discursive reasoning (dianoid) — perceptual and conceptual knowledge of the heart and the head respectively. De Wit notes that the function of knowledge in the spiritual traditions is to change human beings by removing blindness, ignorance, darkness, and confusion that comes from one's egocentric experience of reality.792 Knowledge, perceptual as well as conceptual, is seen as a useful instrument in overcoming ignorance and confusion. Conceptual confusion arises when the person makes mistakes in reasoning, which leads to wrong conclusions. Conceptual ignorance occurs when one lacks the concepts or information required for having insight into something. Perceptual ignorance results when something escapes us — when the person does not pay attention, mistakes one's thoughts about a situation for the situation itself, mistakes the content of his or her thought for the object of one's thought, or confuses the mental representation with that which is represented. According to De Wit, the profane person is bound by both conceptual and perceptual ignorance and confusion. Conceptually and perceptually ignorant and confused, the profane person cannot distinguish his or her mental stream of experience from one's sensory stream of experience. Because of this, the person is locked in a self-created world. In this illusory world, a number of false personages and events, including ego, appear. His or her self-concept, concept of the world, of God, and of all other concepts that one has developed are therein contained. Without active discernment, the person cannot distinguish the self-concept from the true 791 This author would question whether or not perceptual knowledge as understood within contemplative psychology is a similar construct to the spiritual knowledge, supranatural knowledge or gnosis that is spoken of in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. See section 5.2 of this thesis for this writer's concern regarding syncretism. 792 De Wit, The SpiritualPath, 144. 793 De Wit, The SpiritualPath, 145-146. 182 nature, his or her concept of God from God, nor one's concept of the world from reality. The person then lives in darkness. According to De Wit, conceptual knowledge can either interfere with or facilitate the development of perceptual knowledge. It can block this development such that knowledge about self, reality or God impedes his or her acquaintance with one's self, reality or God.795 Confusion results — even as regards the spiritual way of life. This can be the case when, for example, the person intellectually thinks that he or she knows the spiritual path without ever having led a spiritual life, or known it in the heart.796 From this stance, some tend to look down upon those who actually practice a spiritual discipline, or pray a simple prayer such as "O God, be merciful to me, a sinner."797 A means rather than an end, conceptual knowledge can alternatively point to perceptual knowledge, helping to bring the head and heart, intellect and intuition, together. Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, ignorance is understood to be caused both by the failure to practice the virtues,799 and by disobedience to the commandments. Evagrius of Pontus noted that when praxis is lacking, the mind is dulled by passions and "takes flight," abandoning its duty and contemplation.800 As a result, the sinner is plunged 794 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 148-149. "s De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 149. 796 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 149. 797 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 150. 798 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 150. 799 Tomas SpidMk, Gregoire de Na?rian%e — Introduction a I'etude de sa doctrine spirituelle, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 189 (Rome, 1971), 79. soo Evagrius of Pontus, Praktikos 41: "When we are constrained to pass some time in the city or town then above all is the time to be abstemious. We find ourselves in the presence of secular persons and this measure will prevent the edge of our spirit from being dulled. We shall be able to avoid perpetrating some ill-considered action which being temporarily deprived of our customary practices we might be led to commit. Under the demons' assaults such action might cause us to take flight from our monastic practices altogether." See Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, Cistercian Studies Series, Number Four, 27. 183 into a deep sleep.801 Disobedience, lack of knowledge and sin go hand in hand. True knowledge, conversely — which presupposes observance of the commandments — transforms human beings into the likeness of Christ. Nikitas Stithatos notes that, "We are in His likeness if we possess virtue and understanding."802 Hence, practice of the virtues leads one into relationship with God. St. John Damaskos urges people to, "...strive wholeheartedly to acquire the virtues — particularly the virtues of the soul, for through these we draw close to God."803 In this way, [W]e unite ourselves to Him, in so far as this is possible, by participating in the godlike virtues and by entering into communion with Him through prayer and praise. Because the virtues are similitudes of God, to participate in them puts us in a fit state to receive the Deity, yet it does not actually unite us to Him. Dianoia and spiritual knowledge are necessary toward this end as they assist in overcoming sin, ignorance and confusion — of the head as well as of the heart. Considered by St. Mark the Ascetic to be one of the three great vices,805 ignorance (agnosis) is defined by St. Maximos the Confessor as a privation of knowledge.806 According to St. Nikitas Stithatos, "ignorance is (...) a truly palpable darkness. Souls suckled on ignorance are tenebrous, their thought is fragmented, and they are cut off from union with God. (...) [TJt makes the whole person mindless and insensate."807 801 St. Theophane the Recluse, Put' ko spaseniju [The Way to Salvation] (Moscow, 1908), 74, as referred to in SpidMk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 186. 802 Nikitas Stithatos, On Spiritual Knowledge, Love and the Perfection of Living: One Hundred Texts, Text 11, in The Philokalia, vol 4,142. 803 St. John Damaskos, On the Virtues and Vices, in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 341. 804 St. Gregory Palamas, Three texts on Prayer and Purity of Heart, Text 1, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, 343. 805 St. Mark the Ascetic, Letter to Nicolas the Solitary, The Philokalia, vol. 1,158-160. 806 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on Love: 29, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 88. 807 St. Nikitas Stithatos, On Spiritual Knowledge, Love and the Perfection of Living: One Hundred Texts, Text 19, The Philokalia, vol. 4, 144. 184 St. Maximos the Confessor identified two forms of ignorance — ignorance of Divine help and of human weakness. When these two kinds of ignorance unite together they form a single confused state of mind.808 According to St. Nikitas Stithatos, [T]he ignorance of the worldly mind (...) blots out the soul's vision, so that it cannot grasp things either divine or human; (...) But when through repentance its vision has been restored, it sees these things clearly, hears them with understanding and intuits them intellectually. (...) [I]t also assimilates more exalted things (...) and (...) its knowledge grows more lucid. It can then, in the light of God's wisdom, explain to all the nature of the divine blessings.809 The destructive darkness of ignorance is expelled by the light of spiritual knowledge.810 St. Diadochus of Photice explains that the soul, at the start of the spiritual way: [UJsually has the conscious experience of being illumined with its own light through the action of grace. But, as it advances further in its struggle to attain theology, grace works its mysteries within the soul for the most part without its knowledge. Grace acts in these two ways so that it may first set us rejoicing on the path of contemplation, calling us from ignorance to spiritual knowledge.811 According to St. Nikitas Stithatos, "divine knowledge is luminous and endlessly illuminating: souls in which it has been engendered because of their purity possess a godlike radiance, for it fills them with peace, serenity, joy, ineffable wisdom and perfect love."812 As St. Maximos the Confessor noted, "A pure intellect is one divorced from ignorance and illumined by divine light."813 3.4. Spiritual Practices or Disciplines Integral to contemplative psychology is an understanding of the spiritual disciplines and the role they play in spiritual development. By discipline, De Wit means "systematic and 808 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on hove: 64, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 226. 809 St. Nikitas Stithatos, On the Inner Nature of Things and On the Purification of the Intellect, Text 87, The Philokalia, vol. 4,132. 810 St. Mark the Ascetic, Letter to Nicolas the Solitary, The Philokalia, vol. 1, 158-160. 811 St. Diadochus of Photice, The Philokalia, vol. 1, 276. 812 St. Nikitas Stithatos, On Spiritual Knowledge, Lave and the Perfection of Living: One Hundred Texts, Text 19, The Philokalia, vol. 4, 145. 813 St. Maximos the Confessor, First Century on Love. 33, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 56. 185 ongoing practice."814 Spiritual practices or disciplines are spiritual skills for managing one's mind, speech and actions.815 Practical insight into what is humanly possible is reflected in these skills.816 All disciplines of the contemplative life (mental exercises, the performance of work and study) are practiced to give one's fundamental humaneness space and cultivate it in speech and deed.817 More specifically, spiritual disciplines work to reveal and eliminate factors that smother humaneness; aid one to (re)discover, uncover and trust it; and support one in living from it.818 De Wit maintains that spiritual practice is both a restraint of ego and a cultivation of one or more dimension of humaneness.819 As ego causes one to live a self-preoccupied, illusion-filled life, and consequently lose touch with one's humaneness, the person needs to learn to disengage the activities of ego and cultivate humaneness in order to regain clarity, courage, compassion, and joy. The spiritual disciplines accomplish both of these by disengaging ego and then, as an inner space is opened, by cultivating humaneness.820 As previously discussed, two basic stages of the spiritual journey are emphasized by the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition — the active life {praxis, praktike) and the contemplative life (theorid) — both of which apply to the inner development of the person. The active life involves ascetic efforts aimed at both acquiring virtue and mastering the passions. The contemplative life refers to the vision of God. Spiritual practices as described by De Wit would refer predominantly to the active life in which vices are restrained, philautia and the 814 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 172. 815 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 172. 816 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 172. 817 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 62. 818 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 16. 819 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xiii. 820 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, xiv-xv. 821 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 396-397. 186 passions are re-directed, and virtuous Christ-likeness is fostered. This is accomplished through negative and positive praxes, as previously mentioned. Negative praxes overcome obstacles (evil thoughts, sin, philautia, and the passions) that bind/imprison the true self; positive praxes cultivate the virtues thereby fostering Christ-likeness. Both negative and positive praxes take a variety of forms, while some practices such as prayer can simultaneously be both positive and negative. De Wit divides the spiritual disciplines into the domains of mind, word and deed — the mental domain, domain of speech, and domain of action. The spiritual disciplines specific to each domain are the mental disciplines, the disciplines of speech and the disciplines of action.823 The mental disciplines are concerned with cultivating insight into the nature of one's mind, and are directed at dealing with one's self, thoughts and attitudes toward life. They are comprised of the disciplines of thought (which include the intellectual disciplines and the disciplines of imagination), and the disciplines of consciousness (which include the disciplines of mindfulness and the disciplines of insight). The disciplines of speech and action — what De Wit calls the practical disciplines — are directed at cultivating a respectable way of communicating with and relating to others and the environment. They function to facilitate a transcending of the callous, egocentric emotionality out of which one can respond to life experiences. In practice, the mental and practical disciplines are engaged in concurrendy.824 While the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition does not categorize the spiritual praxes according to the categories proposed by De Wit, these may be helpful in understanding how both negative and positive praxes work to facilitate growth and inner transformation. 822 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 179. 823 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 172. 824 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 173. 187 What follows is a discussion of the various disciplines as presented by De Wit. Where appropriate, identification of Eastern Christian or hesychast elements or spiritual disciplines will be made as each of the disciplines is discussed. Again, this will only be done briefly as a full discussion is beyond the scope of this present research project. 3.4.1. The Mental Disciplines According to De Wit, the mental disciplines develop insight into the nature of one's mind and are directed at cultivating the flourishing within — the person's dealing with his or her self, thoughts and attitude toward life — and allowing one to connect with one's humaneness. These disciplines can be practiced while the person is alone with his or her mind.825 The disciplines of speech and action are then aimed at revealing one's humaneness through the cultivation of a decent, caring way of relating to others and the environment.826 Within the range of mental disciplines are found two main groups: the disciplines of consciousness and the disciplines of thought. According to De Wit, these are the contemplative forms of the two fundamental ways of acquiring knowledge.827 The first group of mental disciplines — disciplines of consciousness — is intended to provide and enhance perceptual knowledge. These disciplines accomplish this by cultivating mindfulness, as well as sharpening discriminating awareness. Within the disciplines of consciousness are two groups of disciplines: disciplines of mindfulness (or stability) and disciplines of insight (or discriminating awareness). The second group of mental disciplines — the disciplines of thought — "work with the creation and use of mental content: with concepts, ideas, theories, representations, images and 825 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 173. 826 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 827 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 174. 828 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 174. 188 symbols." 829 They allow the person to think about his or her perceptions. Some of these disciplines are directed at enlarging one's conceptual knowledge or intellectual understanding of the contemplative life, while others rely on the imagination. These disciplines of thought offer mental representations and images that can foster a change in one's experience of reality — hopefully leading to clarity of mind and greatness of heart. Within the disciplines of thought are two further groups: the intellectual disciplines and the disciplines of the imagination.830 What follows is an elaboration of the mental disciplines. 3.4.1.1. Disciplines of Thought De Wit's concern regarding the disciplines of thought is how and what these disciplines do with and to the mind and the experience of reality of those who practice them. He notes that, psychologically speaking, the systematic use of one's intellect and power of imagination are very different disciplines. The intellectual disciplines are more well-known, particularly given that we live in a culture that is strongly oriented toward the intellect.831 The strength of these intellectual disciplines is their communicability as they work with language and concepts.832 The more unfamiliar disciplines of imagination tend to be less recognized or valued as a means of transforming one's experience of reality, despite the tendency of people to make representations of everything in everyday life. 3.4.1.1.1. The Intellectual Disciplines Elaborating on the intellectual disciplines, De Wit indicates that these disciplines are directed at enlarging one's intellectual understanding of the spiritual path, mind and 829 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 174, and "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 830 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 174. 831 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 175. 832 £)e \scit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 833 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 175-176. 189 experience. Often based on theories of phenomena (about one's self, the visible and the invisible), people attempt to systematically organize their understanding of experience. These theories consist of a set of concepts and contain knowledge about a particular dimension of reality.835 De Wit notes that all religious traditions have a conceptual framework in die form of systematic doctrine or teaching, which is based on their holy writings — for example, the catechism in the Christian tradition goes back to the Bible. The practice of the intellectual disciplines therefore entails studying, as well as analyzing and reflecting on, dieories about the spiritual way of life. This gives rise to commentaries in which the key concepts of a religion are intellectually clarified. Such is the case with Christian theology.836 De Wit notes that there are existential themes of the human condition that are common to many of the traditions. Citing H. M. Vroom, De Wit notes that these include the finitude of human existence; human responsibility and failing; the experience of the good, happiness, peace, well-being, and meaning; the receiving of insight; and evil and suffering.837 He insists that all traditions have a conceptual framework for clarifying one's thinking about these themes. The practice of the intellectual disciplines includes intellectual training that has the potential to clarify both one's conceptual framework and its application to one's concrete existence. Conceptual ignorance is removed and conceptual confusion is clarified when a person is more informed. The intellectual disciplines reveal the how and why of traveling the 834 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 835 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 176. 836 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, Y16-Y11. 837 H. M. Vroom, Religions and the Truth, trans. J.W. Rebel (Amsterdam/Grand Rapids: Rodopi/Eerdmans, 1989), 330, as quoted in De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 177-178. 190 spiritual path, and can instruct and motivate the person traveling along the path. By appropriating religious concepts, the content of one's stream of thoughts changes, positioning the person to clarify and intellectually investigate his or her own world of experience. Intellectual disciplines that are commonly seen in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition and practiced by hesychasts include spiritual reading, study and analysis of texts from the Bible, The Philokalia, writings of the Fathers and Mothers of the Church, Church doctrine and teachings, or the Liturgy. It may also include listening to and having discussions with learned spiritual guides who might teach, re-direct or challenge the person's understanding of various aspects of theology, doctrine, prayer and spirituality. As regards critical study and analysis of the Bible which is the basis for the reading of all other spiritual writings, one is encouraged to learn, gather information, wrestle with the sense of obscure sentences, compare and analyze. However, this is secondary to die real purpose of Biblical study which is to feed one's love for Christ, kindle one's heart into prayer, and provide guidance for one's personal life. Studying the words is to lead to prayer and dialogue with the living Word Himself.839 3.4.1.1.2. The Disciplines of the Imagination Elaborating on the disciplines of the imagination, De Wit notes that these disciplines work with mental representations or images to offer mental images that can evoke a different, more humane way of experiencing reality. They replace unwholesome images with images that have a beneficial experiential value, employing images that are contrary to one's conventional egocentric mode of experiencing reality. While being nothing more than images in one's stream of thought, they enable one to see the qualities of one's own fundamental 838 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 178. 839 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 147-148. 191 humaneness. These images derive their effectiveness from being the expression of one's fundamental humaneness, just as one's conventional images derive their power from being representations of an egocentric mind.840 Imagery drawn on in the practice of the disciplines of imagination can be varied. They may include representations of God, Christ, one's mentor or other people. Stories, prayers, and religious representations particular to a religious tradition also contain and transmit concepts. While certain images are not formally found within a religious tradition, they may be inspirational and uplifting: a memory or hopeful expectation, an image from literature or the arts, or a liberating thought. All of these mental images are inherent in the practice of the disciplines of the imagination. Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition and hesychasm, images and representations such as in icons, stories including The Way of a Pilgrim itself or those in the Bible, hagiography, writings in The Philokalia, the Jesus prayer, liturgical prayers, the Credo, or dreams may be considered disciplines of imagination. The invocation Lard Jesus or the Jesus prayer is particularly practiced to assist in the control of one's wandering imagination, and bring an unceasing awareness of the Divine presence.842 The imagination has, however, been considered as something to be used with great caution in Eastern Christian spirituality. While it can be helpful in penetrating the subconscious and reconstructing new Godly images in the soul as is noted in the following: Grace aims above all at the reconstruction in us of the image of God {imago Dei), of our initial form, tending toward God, as a copy of the original. We can see the importance of the biblical notion of "image." By being an image, this structural form can only be 840 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 8« De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 179. 842 Metropolitan Kallistos in the foreword to Ignatius Brianchaninov, On the Prayer of Jesus — The Classic Guide to the Practice of Unceasing Prayer as Found in The Way of a Pilgrim' (Boston, MA: New Seeds Books, 2006), xxii-xxiii. 192 seized by the imagination, and consequently, only the imagination can penetrate the subconscious and structure it in "the image of God,"843 it can also lead hearts astray. St. Gregory of Sinai notes that the intellect itself: [N]aturally possesses an imaginative power and in those who do not keep a strict watch over it it can easily produce, to its own hurt, whatever forms and images it wants to. In this way the recollection of things good or evil can suddenly imprint images on the intellect's perceptive faculty and so induce it to entertain fantasies, thus making whoever this happens to a daydreamer rather than a hesychast. Metropolitan Kallistos states the following regarding imagination: It is not only passionate thoughts that are an obstacle to inner prayer, but all images, whether accompanied by passion or not. According to the teaching of Eastern Christendom, the imagination iphantasid) — the faculty whereby we form mental pictures, more or less vivid according to our capacity — has at best a restricted place in the work of prayer; and many (...) would claim that it really has no place at all.845 Sergius Bulgakov also states that, in general, Orthodox spirituality: [D]oes not encourage that type of imagination which enables man to represent spiritual things to himself and to relive them by means of the senses. The imagery contained in the prayer of the Church and the icons, with those of the Gospel, are sufficient to enable man to enter in spirit into the events commemorated. All man's imagination is sullied by his subjectivity, and what is worse, his sensuality; that is of little use in the truly mystical life.846 As a result, the hesychast masters on the whole have a cautious attitude towards the imagination and fantasy: [G]rave dangers involved in this kind of experience, especially as the very production of these images may be the consequence of demonic or diabolic activity; and they admonish those still in the early stages and not yet possessing spiritual discrimination not to be enticed and led captive by these illusory appearances, whose tumult may well overwhelm the mind. Their advice is to pay no attention to them, but to continue with prayer and invocation, dispelling them with the name of Jesus Christ.847 843 Evdokimov,4gw of the Spiritual Life, 192-193. 844 St. Gregory of Sinai, On Prayer Seven Texts - "On Delusion and Odier Subjects," The Philokalia, vol. 4, 283. 845 Metropolitan Kallistos in the Introduction to The Art of Prayer An Orthodox Anthology, compiled by Chariton of Valamo, Igumen, trans. E. Kadloubovsky and E.M. Palmer; intro. Timothy Ware (London: Faber & Faber, 1997) 24-25. 846 Sergius Bulgakov, The Orthodox Church (London: Centenary, 1935), 169-170. 847 "Fantasy," in the Glossary of The Philokalia, vol. 1, 360-361. 193 In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the disciplines of imagination would be used with great care and under the guidance of one experienced in a life of prayer. De Wit identifies several practices within Christianity that he considers to be disciplines of the imagination. These include practices such as the stations of the cross,848 and lectio divina — spiritual or monastic reading. In his explanation of lectio divina, he notes that, "the practice of this discipline is not concerned with acquiring information, gaining knowledge about the text (i.e. conceptual knowledge ...) but with becoming acquainted with, gaining perceptual knowledge or developing familiarity with a text. The experiential value of the text can then reveal itself to us and transform us."849 He quotes Thijs Ketelaars' (OSB) characterization of lectio divina: The monastic reading, in reading a text, does not aim primarily at the acquiring of information, even though that is also present, but at being born through a text in order to merge together with the text and its author, and by means of the word to come to a truly internal intimacy. In other words, it does not have to do with manipulating or transforming the other or the text but being transformed oneself in a true encounter.850 Metropolitan Kallistos echoes this in noting that the study of words should give place to an immediate dialogue with the living Word Himself.851 "Whenever you read the Gospel," says St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, "Christ himself is speaking to you. And while you read, you are praying and talking with him."852 De Wit also draws attention to cataphatic spirituality, commenting that the spiritual disciplines that work with images — disciplines of the imagination — are a component of 848 The practice of the Stations of the Cross is a Latin practice that infiltrated the Eastern Catholic Church and is currently rejected by it liturgically. 849 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 179-180. 850 Thijs Ketelaars, OSB, "Met U: in zelftucht, trouw en moed." In Benedktus Tijdschrift 47, 1986, 57, as quoted in De Wit, The Spiritual'Path, 180. 851 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1986), 148. 852 St. Tikhon of Zadonsk: in Nadejda Gorodetzky, Saint Tikhon Zadonsky, Inspirer of Dostoevsky (London: SPCK, 1951) 119. 194 cataphatic spirituality^ He notes that this form of spirituality "works with the content of consciousness, that is, with images, symbols and representations, and concepts. It is oriented toward content and proceeds on the basis that human beings need images and concepts in order to come to God."854 Cataphatic or positive spirituality is inherent in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. This form of spirituality maintains that God is manifested in the world and can be found in all things. It sees things as shadows, representations and footprints of the triune God.855 Proceeding by way of affirmation, cataphatic spirituality leads to imperfect knowledge of God. It uses perfections found in creation and from this limited knowledge, reveals something about the infinite perfection of God.856 It is a ladder of 'theophanies' or manifestations of God in creation: God condescends towards human beings in the 'energies' in which He is manifested. On the lower steps, especially, the images or manifestations are formed from material objects found in creation. At each higher step, loftier images or ideas present themselves until one can contemplate God in so far as He manifests Himself in creation.857 De Wit also draws attention to breathing. Though he does not name the Jesus prayer and the role of breathing in its practice, he reflects on breathing in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions - the breathing in of all the negativity of the world, and breathing out all that is positive within oneself over the world.858 Metropolitan Kallistos identifies breathing as one of the three main features included in the method of the Jesus prayer, together with body 853 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 181. 854 W. Jaeger, "Kontemplation — der christliche esoterische Weg." Dialog der Religionen 2,1992, 77, as quoted in De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 181. 855 Harvey D. Egan, "Affirmative Way," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 14-15. 856 Joan L Roccasalvo, The Eastern Catholic Churches — An Introduction to their Worship and Spirituality (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 16. 857 Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 25, 39-40. 858 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 180. 195 posture and inner exploration. As regards breathing, he notes that it is "slowed down, and the words of the Jesus prayer are coordinated with the inhalation and exhalation of the breath. In The Way of a Pilgrim the prayer is also synchronized with the rhythm of the heartbeats."860 Prayer in this way is to be as constant as the act of breathing or the beating of ones heart.861 According to De Wit, the purpose of the disciplines of the imagination is to replace images and representations that prevent one's fundamental humaneness from manifesting itself.862 Constantly bombarded with images in the form of memories, metaphors, and symbols, one's stream of thoughts can either support or impede the development of one's fundamental humaneness. Disciplines of the imagination surgically change one's world of thought and feeling — unwholesome images are removed, and other mental representations that have beneficial experiential value are implanted. In this way, these disciplines of the imagination transform one's egocentric experience of reality.864 The practice of the disciplines of the imagination consists in being mindful of and internalizing new images. This presupposes that replacement images have meaning and value, and that one can learn their significance.865 As part of the process of internalization, new images often need to be kept in mind and repeatedly tasted before their experiential value can 859 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 408-409. See section 3.4.1.2.1 for further elaboration of body posture and inner exploration. 860 warej "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 408-409. See also Ware, "The Power of the Name: The Jesus Prayer in Ortiiodox Spirituality," in Behr-Sigel, The Place of the Heart, 161-162. In the Pilgrim's Tale, the pilgrim offers the following instruction regarding the integration of breathing into the practice of the Jesus Prayer: "Begin to bring the whole Jesus prayer in and out of your heart in harmony with your breathing, as the fathers teach. That is, as you inhale say or imagine 'Lord Jesus Christ,' and as you exhale, 'have mercy on me.' " See The Pilgrim's Tale, 126:1-3. This would seem to be an opposite movement of inhalation and exhalation (breathing in Lord Jesus Christ, and exhaling one's sinful) to that of the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. 861 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 408. 862 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 181. 863 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 182. 864 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 181. 865 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 185-186. 196 be felt. 66 In theistic traditions, replacement images include that of the human being as created in God's image, rather than as evil and beastly; self as servant, subject, bride or slave of God, rather than as the centre of the world; the world as sacred, rather than profane;867 and God as omnipresent and loving — very different from that which is held in one's egocentric representation.868 The Disciplines of Imagination and the Devotional Path The devotional path uses the disciplines of the imagination intensively.869 By practicing devotion to God and surrender of ego — in mind, action and speech — one gives up a preoccupation with ego. One's preoccupation with images that arouse a theocentric or egoless experience of reality makes it possible for one to let go of ego. More room for an egoless or theocentric experience of reality results.870 The images used also guide action and speech, cultivating them in the direction of compassion.871 Because mental images are emotionally charged, the power of imagination is strong. The efficacy in fact of the disciplines of the imagination rests on the reality that one can be bound to an egocentric perspective or an egoless perspective by an emotional charge. If one's desire to liberate oneself from the preoccupation with ego is insufficient, ego may predominate. If it is sufficient, one can master images that evoke an egoless or theocentric experience of reality. These images move one to surrender ego and devote oneself to God.872 This, however, requires focusing on new images with all of one's mental and emotional power. De Wit notes that, for this reason, the cultivation of devotion is seen in many 866 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 186. 867 See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 192-195 in regarding to sacred and profane views of the world. 868 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 184-185. 869 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 188. 870 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 188. 871 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 188. 872 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 186. 197 traditions as a path in itself, as is strongly emphasized in the Song of Songs, the spirituality of St. John of the Cross and St. Theresa of Avila, and Christian bridal mysticism.873 3.4.1.1.3. The Limitations of the Disciplines of Thought De Wit notes that there are limitations in the intellectual disciplines as well as the disciplines of the imagination. He emphasizes that "intellectual study and learning to understand a religious conceptual framework is not the same as following a spiritual path. It is certainly part of it, but if we think that our practice need only go as far as an intellectual discipline, it is as if we see the movement of our finger on a map as the journey itself."874 As regards the disciplines of the imagination, he first notes that mental images are in actuality no more than images — representations of, but not, the original. Second, these disciplines rely on the mental inclination to become captivated by images and view them as reality — albeit egoless or theocentric images. The images that the spiritual traditions offer are likened to an antidote that neutralizes the poison of one's egocentric images. Yet they are still only antidotes and do not free people from perceptual confusion.875 De Wit makes a strong point that "holding a vivid and moving representation of Christ is not the same as the discovery of Christ (...) within us. In that discovery, images are no longer necessary; it goes beyond every representation and is the fruit of a direct vision."876 For this reason, he notes that it is dangerous if the tradition uses only these disciplines. 873 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 186-187. 874 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 188. 875 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 189. 876 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 190. 877 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 190. 198 3.4.1.2. Disciplines of Consciousness According to De Wit, disciplines of consciousness are found in nearly all spiritual traditions. Intended to cultivate mindfulness and discernment — two aspects of consciousness878 — these disciplines enable one to overcome mental agitation and captivity, and clearly see the nature of one's mind and experience by making direct perceptual knowledge possible. Persons practice these disciplines for various reasons. First, our minds are scattered, fragmented, and agitated, denying one the opportunity to pause and examine the movement of one's mind and realize where, who and what one is. Second, our minds have the tendency to be lost in self-created and egocentric mental worlds that obscure our vision.880 People tend to be caught up in a consciousness incapable of distinguishing between illusion and reality, and they live and suffer in diis hazy, imaginary reality.881 The spiritual disciplines overcome agitation and provide clarity in distinct ways. The disciplines of mindfulness undo die narrowing of one's awareness and fixation on one's stream of thoughts.882 They remove perceptual ignorance by making one more conscious of, and mindful or attentive to what is happening.883 Disciplines of mindfulness accomplish this by first decreasing the speed of one's thinking.884 These disciplines are mainly preparatory exercises for the practice of the disciplines of insight.885 The disciplines of insight subsequendy cultivate one's ability to recognize the nature of one's mind and experience of 878 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 198. 879 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 37. 880 De Wit> The Spiritual Path, 198-199. 881 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 37. 882 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 141. 883 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 199. 884 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 141. 885 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 199. 199 reality.886 These disciplines help one to clarify perceptual confusion^1 by making one aware of the way one interprets one's experience.888 The disciplines of consciousness together offer practical ways of handling and rising above agitation and psychological blindness.889 An elaboration of these two disciplines follows. 3.4.1.2.1. Disciplines of Mindfulness The disciplines of mindfulness address the agitation of one's mind, absentmindedness, and the lack of synchronization between one's body and mind. De Wit likens the egocentrically bound mind to an extraordinarily skittish and high-strung wild horse, noting that the presentation of one ego-threatening thought causes the mind to bolt. The person is then carried along by passions, hopes, fears, desires, aversions, honor, blame, profit, and loss. One in this state lacks a steadfastness and overview of one's mental situation.890 Further, absentmindedness points to the lack of synchronization between one's body and mind — when one is lost in thought, one's mind can be in a very different place than one's body. This is a form of brokenness or rupture that makes it impossible to be mindful and aware of one's 891 concrete situation. The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition identifies the brokenness or rupture that De Wit speaks of as disintegration (phtharsis). Michel Evdokimov noted that the starets' discernment diagnoses the serious ontological disease of the person: disintegration.892 Andriy Chirovsky elaborated, noting that, after the Fall, both the body and soul are liable to 886 De witj The Spiritual Path, 141. 887 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 199. 888 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 141. 889 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 200. 890 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 200. 891 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 201. 892 "Le discernement psychique du starets diagnostique la grave maladie ontologique de l'homme dechu: le dedoublement." Evdokimov, Pelerins russes et vagabonds mystiques, 149. 200 corruption or disintegration. In this unnatural, subhuman fallen state, every human being eventually disintegrates completely. The body and soul separate in the moment of physical death. Many lesser or greater moments of disintegration also occur when the body and soul are at war with each other, or even with their own selves.893 Such is the case when the nous is bound by the passions, resulting in truth in the heart warring against the deception of the passions. Experiences of being preoccupied, multi-tasking, daydreaming or attempting to 'be in two places at once' also speak to this reality. The practice of the disciplines of mindfulness clearly aims to address absentmindedness. These disciplines cultivate mindfulness by focusing one's attention, alertness, vigilance, or concentration on a focal point. This focal point can be an object, a representation, a process such as breathing, or a particular action. When one notices that one has been caught up in thoughts, one can choose to either return to and get lost in one's stream of thoughts, or redirect one's attention back to the prescribed focal point. If one chooses the latter, one cultivates mindfulness, which then leads to the fruit of this discipline: freedom.894 The focal point of meditation functions as an anchor for mindfulness. De Wit notes that this can be anything including a candle, an icon, a stick of incense, a thing, a mental representation or an image, a process of movement, breathing, a simple task (such as gardening, sweeping floors, washing up), walking, the repetition of a word, or the entire situation of any one moment. All such focal points serve as anchors for mindfulness, a 893 Andriy Chirovsky, "A Brief Primer on Patristic Greek Anthropology with an Emphasis on the Process of Contemplation and Obstacles to It," THO 6370/76 "Maladies of the Soul": Patristic and Modern Approaches to Psychotherapy (Ottawa, ON: Saint Paul University, Fall 2003). 894 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 201-203. 201 resting place for one's mind. Prayer ropes and the Jesus prayer — more about which will be said shordy — would be such focal points. According to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, watchfulness is a continual fixing and halting of thought at the entrance to the heart. Though blocked, these thoughts are noted, as are the forms the demons take in trying to deceive the intellect. Gradually, continued attention produces inner stability which in turn produces further watchfulness. This gives rise to contemplative insight into spiritual warfare and complete quietude in the intellect.896 The continued practice of watchfulness is able to completely free one, with God's help, from impassioned thoughts, impassioned words and evil actions; guide one to a true, virtuous and holy way of life; lead the person to sure knowledge of the unknowable God; and help one penetrate the Divine and hidden mysteries. It promotes growth of the virtues and is the basis of contemplation.897 According to St. Hesychios of Sinai, there are several types of watchfulness. One type consists in closely scrutinizing every mental image or provocation; a second consists in freeing the heart from all thoughts, and keeping it profoundly silent, still and in prayer; a third consists in continually and humbly calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ for help; and a fourth is to always have the thought of death in one's mind. All of these types of watchfulness act as doorkeepers that bar entry to evil thoughts. 895 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 203-205. 896 St. Hesychios of Sinai, On Watchfulness and Holiness, Texts 6-7, in The Philokalia, vol. 1,163. 897 St. Hesychios of Sinai, On Watchfulness and Holiness, Text 1, in The Philokalia, vol. 1, 162. 898 St. Hesychios of Sinai, On Watchfulness and Holiness, Texts 14-18, in The Philokalia, vol. 1, 164-165. 202 Within the Christian tradition, De Wit notes that a great deal of importance is attached to the disciplines of mindfulness, particularly within apophatic spirituality™ Apophatic spirituality — "separate from words, concepts"900: [Tjs directed at being conscious in a pure, empty way so that the divine can manifest itself. Contents are viewed as obstacles. As long as the consciousness [i.e., mind] holds on to images or concepts, it has not yet arrived at that point where the particular experience of God occurs. Images and contents cloud the divine rather than clarify it.901 De Wit refers to the Philokalia, The Cloud of Unknowing and Evagrius of Pontus as regards apophatic spirituality. Within the Philokalia, he notes that one can find many passages such as: After sunset, having asked the help of the all-merciful and all-powerful Lord Jesus Christ, sit you down on a low stool in your quiet and dimly lit cell, collect your mind from its customary circling and wandering outside, and quietly lead it into the heart by way of breathing.902 The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition emphasizes apophatic spirituality as a way of coming to God. Apophatic theology or negative theology, which proceeds by way of negation, is the 'perfect way' and is characteristic of the Eastern Church. While the cataphatic way comes down towards each person — a ladder of 'theophanies' or manifestations of God in creation — the apophatic way is an ascent towards union: human beings ascend toward God in 'unions' in which He remains incomprehensible by nature. Apophatic theology safe-guards the mystery of God and resists any temptation of substituting idols of God for God Himself. This spirituality leads to concepdess union with the living God Who is unknowable. As a result, it resists following natural ways of thoughts or the formulation of concepts, and fosters a rising of the mind to realities which pass all 899 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 206. 900 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 217. 901 W. Jaeger, "Kontemplation — der christliche esoterische Weg." Dialog der Religio/ien 2,1992, 72, as quoted in De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 218. 902 Writings from the Philokalia: On Prayer of the Heart, trans. E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer (London: Faber and Faber, 1972), 195. 903 Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 25, 39-40. 203 understanding. The apophatic way leads to a presence and fullness which is without measure (rather than an absence or utter emptiness) — it leads to the Persons of the Holy Trinity.904 Disciplines of mindfulness in contemplative psychology include the use of a word to direct one's mindfulness. De Wit quotes from the Cloud of Unknowingva. this light: [TJake but one short word of a single syllable. This is better than two, for the shorter it is the better it accords with the work of the spirit.. .[Tjf any thought should press upon you to ask you what you are seeking, answer him with this word only and with no other He also refers to Evagrius' teaching that one-pointed attention during prayer dispels the cares and doubts that arise.906 This attention, however, requires a certain amount of concentration or mindfulness, without which De Wit notes one can find one's self in a situation such as that described by Evagrius of Pontus: When the devils see that you are really fervent in your prayer they suggest certain matters to your mind, giving you the impression that there are pressing concerns demanding attention. In a little while they stir up your memory of these matters and move your mind to search into them. Then when it meets with failure it becomes saddened and loses heart.907 Within the hesychast tradition of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the use of the Jesus prayer or simply the Name of Jesus is used as a means of focusing one's attention. With one's bodily posture "seated, with the head and shoulders bowed, and the gaze directed toward 904 Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 42-43. 905 The Cloud of Unknowing, trans. Ira Progoff (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1957, rpt. 1983), 76-77, as quoted in De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 206-207. See also The Cloud of Unknowing, Classics of Western Spirituality, ed. by James Walsh (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1981), 192-193: "And it is my belief that a litde word of one syllable is better than of two, and more in accordance widi die work of die Spirit. This is because a spiritual worker in diis exercise should always find himself at die supreme and sovereign point of the Spirit. (...) And dius it bursts upon die ears of almighty God much more than any long psalm mumbled away in an inarticulate fashion. And diis is why it is written diat a short prayer pierces heaven." 906 See Evagrius Ponucus, Chapters On Prayer 34 and 35, in The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, Cistercian Studies Series, Number Four, 60. 907 Evagrius Ponticus, Chapters On Prayer 10, in The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, Cistercian Studies Series, Number Four, 57. 204 the place of the heart or the navel," one focuses on both the prayer and inner exploration.908 The Jesus prayer then helps to lift the whole life: [B]ody and soul, to a level where the senses and imagination no longer seek for outward change or stimulation, where all is subordinated to the one aim of centring the whole attention of body and soul upon God, in the sense that the world is sought and known in the beauty of God, not God in the beauty of the world.909 The Jesus prayer is one way to lead people from discursive to nondiscursive thought and prayer — "indirect" to "direct" knowledge of God or silent contemplation (in Greek, hesychia). 910 When reciting this prayer, specific images are avoided as far as possible. Concentration and full attention is rather placed upon, or within, the words, such that it is a meaningful invocation addressed to another Person. The object of the Jesus prayer is relationship, alertness and living prayer, rather than relaxation or waking slumber.911 There are generally three levels distinguished when saying the Jesus prayer. It begins as oral prayer or 'prayer of the lips'. It then grows more inward, becoming mental prayer or 'prayer of the intellect'. When the intellect 'descends' into the heart and is united with it, it becomes 'prayer of the heart' or 'prayer of the intellect in the heart'. At this level it is no longer something that one thinks or says, but something that one is — one becomes a person who is prayer all the time. The Jesus prayer begins as a series of specific acts of prayer by the person who prays, but aims to establish a state of prayer within him or her that is unceasing — continuing uninterruptedly amidst other activities.912 The Jesus prayer begins as oral prayer, but advances beyond all language and images into 908 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 408-409. See section 3.4.1.2.2 regarding inner exploration associated with the Jesus Prayer. 909 Mother Maria of Normanby, The Jesus Prayer: the Meeting of East and West in the Prayer of the Heart (Filgrave, Newport Pagnell: Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Assumption, 1972), 4. 910 Allen, Spiritual Theology, 150. 911 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 122. 912 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 123-124. 205 the mystery of God. In this way the Jesus prayer gradually enables the soul to rest in God without a constantly varying succession of images, ideas and feelings. Further, the prayer eventually ceases to be the result of one's own efforts, and becomes 'self-acting'. As 'self- acting' prayer, it ceases to be one's own prayer, and becomes to a greater or lesser extent, the prayer of Christ in the person. The transition from oral prayer to prayer of silence, or from 'active' to 'self-acting' prayer, is neither rapid nor easy. While the pilgrim in The Way of a Pilgrim was granted continual 'self-acting' prayer after only a few weeks of practicing the Jesus prayer, his experience is exceptional. More commonly, those who recite the Jesus prayer are occasionally and unexpectedly gifted with moments of 'rapture', when the words of prayer recede and are replaced by a sense of God's presence and love. For the great majority, this experience is only a brief glimpse rather than a continuous state.914 De Wit identifies three aspects of the discipline of mindfulness - peace, simplicity, and purity915 — which together lay the foundation for the practice of the disciplines of insight.916 Peace or stabilitas — a mental steadiness — is the ability to keep one's attention on one thing.917 By way of simplicity, the disciplines of mindfulness disentangle the complexity of "having thoughts about thoughts, emotions about emotions, fantasies about fantasies and thoughts about emotions about fantasies, which then become inextricably mixed up with our sensual 913 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 123. 914 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 124. 915 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 207. 916 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 211. 917 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 207. 206 experience."918 Simplicity starves complicated mental movements, and enables one to become "poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3 NJB).9W Purity, an extension of simplicity, enables one to break free of egocentric emotions — passions — such that one's experience of reality becomes increasingly pure. De Wit notes that this is termed purificatio (cleansing or purification) in the Christian tradition. Purification entails a letting go of one's world of thoughts, and a cultivation of open-mindedness. Refraining from getting caught up in egocentric emotion is significant in this regard. To characterize this aspect of mindfulness, De Wit refers to Evagrius of Pontus' use of the term apatheia which he translates as "free from emotional turbulence," and St. John Cassian's use of "purity of heart." De Wit stresses that the word 'heart' indicates that mindfulness is a matter of the heart. Purity of heart frees one from captivity by egocentric emotions.920 The Jesus prayer, as well as other forms of discipline in the hesychast tradition, are noted by the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition to have degrees of action. As regards the Jesus prayer, it initially acts on the mind, leading it into a state of calm and attention,921 recollectedness, fear of God, remembrance of death, and stillness in thought.922 It later begins to penetrate the heart, and becomes a prayer of feeling. St. Theophan the Recluse and others mention three feelings of particular interest: (1) The sense of 'soreness' in the heart. This would seem to be predominantly penitential - a feeling of compunction, of being 'pricked' to the heart. (2) The sentiment of 'warm tenderness' or umilenie. Here the feeling of compunction, of human unworthiness, is still present, but it is overshadowed by a sense of loving and responsive joy. 918 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 208. 919 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 209. 92° De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 210-211. 921 Brianchaninov, On the Prayer of Jesus, 26-27'. 922 St. Theophan the Recluse, 'The Fruits of Prayer,' in The Art of Prayer, 125. 207 (3) Most important of all is the sense of spiritual warmth — the 'burning of the spirit' within us, the 'flame of grace' kindled in the heart. Closely related to this experience of flame or fire is the vision of Divine Light which many Orthodox saints have received, entering into the mystery of the Transfiguration.. .923 Metropolitan Kallistos notes that references to 'feelings', to 'warmdi' and 'light' are not be understood in an excessively and material sense. The Light seen around and within the saindy person, and the warmth felt in his or her heart are a real, objective light and warmth experienced perceptually through the senses. At the same time, however, they are a spiritual light and warmth (distinct from that normally felt and seen), that can only be experienced by those whose senses have been transformed and refined by Divine grace.924 As the Jesus prayer makes its way deeper, it gradually acts on all the members of the soul and body, expelling sin from every part, and destroying the dominion, influence and poison of the demons.925 This leads to a state of apatheia — freedom from dominance by the passion.926 The development of mindfulness, according to De Wit, is marked by discoveries. First, one discovers that one's stream of thoughts makes it difficult to keep one's attention on the focal point - one is easily lost in thought. Second, thoughts go through one's head involuntarily and almost continuously. Third, the content of one's stream of thoughts is almost uncontrolled by one's will. Fourth, it takes much energy to channel one's stream of thoughts. Fifth, one's thoughts have a stronger grip on the person than he or she does on his or her thoughts. Sixth, one takes the contents of one's thoughts very seriously.927 923 St. Theophan the Recluse, as referred to by Metropolitan Kallistos in the Introduction to The Art of Prayer, 26. 924 Metropolitan Kallistos in the Introduction to The Art of Prayer, 26. 925 Brianchaninov, On the Prayer of Jesus, 26-27'. 926 "Apatheia," The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, 35. David J. Melling notes that, "As a technical term of spiritual psychology, apatheia designates a state of habitual self-control and tranquillity undisturbed by the onslaught of the passions: the passion are not dead, but as prayer and asceticism promote progressive deification, resistance to temptation and to disturbance by die passions grows. Apatheia is not a state of unfeeling insensibility but rather a firm rooting in God attained as the culminating point of repentance." 927 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 211-213. 208 The disciplines of mindfulness effect change within the person in several ways. They initially tame the mind through the development of attention. Next, they facilitate recognition of moments when one wakes from one's thoughts, refocusing one's attention on the focal point of meditation. Moments of freedom result in which one is able to be mentally and physically present in the here and now. The transition from captivity to freedom is an experience of something opening up — the worries of the future silence, preoccupation with the past ceases, and all that remains is the moment. This provides one with a contrast between feeling lost in thought and seeing one's thoughts.928 Freedom is initially experienced as wakeful thoughdessness during which one has no thoughts and is aware of it. This both yields a feeling of space, and allows one to recognize the moment when a thought — as a thought — goes through one's mind. A key point is then discovered: what De Wit calls open-mindedness — the fruit of mindfulness — does not depend on the absence of thoughts or thoughtlessness, but on the absence of captivity by one's thoughts. One begins to understand that either resisting thoughts or losing self in thought are both forms of captivity. With ongoing practice of the disciplines of mindfulness, open- mindedness acquires increasing continuity, thus laying the foundation for the disciplines of insight.929 3.4.1.2.2. Disciplines of Insight The practice of the disciplines of insight consists of a direct, open look at one's mind and experience of reality. By way of openmindedness, one can see the stream of one's experience without distortion. This leads to insight, as well as a non-conceptual form of knowledge — perceptual knowledge. In the Christian tradition, according to De Wit, the 928 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 213-216. 929 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 216. 209 disciplines of insight were originally referred to by the term contemplatio, and together formed the core of apophatic spirituality. He notes that, while the disciplines of insight have faded from sight in the last few centuries as far as the average Western Christian churchgoer and culture are concerned, "Within the traditions of Eastern Christianity, apophatic spirituality with its disciplines of insight has always persisted. Today these disciplines have once again been brought to the attention of the practitioners of the Western Christian contemplative life."930 Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, diorasis (insight)931 is the rediscovery of the true transparency of the mind; it is contemplation.932 Insight is clear-sightedness which enables one to recognize Divine Wisdom operating in the world. Those with insight, being conscious of God's gifts and the greatness of the Giver, 'glorify God'. The Eastern spiritual writers learned from Origen that deification is participation in the glory of Christ which culminates in an experience analogous to that of the Aposdes on Tabor — an experience which corresponds to the highest form of Scriptural spiritual exegesis.934 Origen notes, however, that [A]ll who see are not illuminated by Christ in the same way, but every individual is illuminated to the extent that each one is capable of receiving the power of light. And just as the eyes of our body are not illuminated in the same way, but the higher one climbs and the better the viewpoint from which sun's rising is watched, the more one perceives its brilliance and warmth, so too is it with our mind: the higher it climbs in approaching Christ and the closer it comes to the glory of his light, so much the more magnificendy and brighdy does it shine in his light.935 In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the charism of diorasis is seen as a sign of the Spirit and is composed of two main elements: knowledge of the mysteries of God (theology), and an understanding of the secrets of the heart {kardiognosis). A Divine gift, as 'only (God) is 930 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 219. 931 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 342. 932 St. Athanasius, Vita Antonii 73, PG 26:946A as found in Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The 'Letter to Marcellinus, 84; and Thesaurus Linguae Graecae — A Digital Library of Greek Literature, http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu. 933 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 342. 934 See Homilia in Genesim 1.7 as referred to in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 342. 935 Origen, Spirit and Fire: A Thematic Anthology of His Writings, 246. 210 kardiogndstes (knows men's hearts),' diorasis gives spiritual clarity which enables one to see through the flesh, time, and space (proorasis). Such clear-sightedness is also seen to be a natural reward for purity of soul as is evident in St. Anthony's declaration: "I believe that when a soul is pure in every way and in its natural state, it is able, having become clearsighted, to see more and farther than the demons, since it has the Lord who reveals things to it."938 Diorasis is closely associated with diakrisis — the discernment of spirits — which is also seen as one of the marks of holiness: "So, then, the soul progresses when it comes to the place where it begins to distinguish between visions; and it is proved to be spiritual if it knows how to discern them all."939 According to De Wit, the practice of insight goes beyond every technique. Rather, the very disciplined practice of open-mindedness itself forms the basis for the disciplines of insight — it creates the space in which discernment occurs. Discernment or cliscriminating awareness then leads to insight, which subsequently gives one concrete answers to the question of how the world of phenomena looks when viewed from the perspective of egolessness.9 Open-mindedness penetrates and clarifies one's egocentric experience of reality such that one begins to recognize one's self-created experience of reality as the illusion 936 Evagrius of Pontus, On Evil Thoughts, 27. See Sur lespense'es 27, Sources Chretiennes, no. 438 (Paris: Les Editions duCerf, 1998), 249-251. 937 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 77. 938 St. Athanasius, Vita Antonii 34; PG 26:946A as found in Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The Tetter to Marcellinus, 57; and Thesaurus Tinguae Graecae — A Digital library of Greek Uterature, http://stephanus.dg.uci.edu. See also St. Gregory of Nyssa, De virginitate 10, in Traite de la Virginite, Sources Chretiennes (Paris, 1966), no. 119, 369- 379. 939 Origen, In Numeros 27:11; trans, by A. A. Green, Origen: an Exhortation to Martyrdom, Prayer, and Selected Works (New York, 1979), 261. 940 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 219-220. 211 that it is. Simultaneously, it provides insight into reality and allows an experience of die qualities of one's fundamental humaneness. If one is pressed to speak of a technique employed by the disciplines of insight, De Wit suggests that it is the same as for the disciplines of mindfulness — with a few differences. First, there is a shift in the place that open-mindedness occupies — it is no longer a goal, but a means for rousing the mental discernment that allows one to distinguish between illusion and reality. Second, rather than developing distance from one's stream of thoughts, the disciplines of insight encourage getting a continually closer look at one's stream of thoughts without losing one's open-mindedness. Third, rather than requiring a significant effort, the disciplines of insight require mental relaxation.942 (This third point may stand somewhat in contrast with the Jesus prayer whose object is relationship, alertness and living prayer, rather than relaxation or waking slumber.943) As previously noted when speaking about watchfulness (nepsis), this practice, according to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, involves analyzing thoughts at the entry way of the heart. Evil and impassioned thoughts and words, as well as evil actions are gradually uncovered. The forms the demons take when trying to deceive the intellect are discerned and contemplative insight into spiritual warfare acquired. Further, the way of a true, virtuous and holy way of life is made known; and sure knowledge of the inapprehensible God is given, as is help penetrating the Divine and hidden mysteries.944 De Wit notes that the cultivation of open-mindedness implies that one cannot afford to cling to the fruit of this discipline and other disciplines practiced earlier. To cling would result 941 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 37. 942 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 220-221. 943 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 122. 944 St. Hesychios of Sinai, On Watchfulness and Holiness, Texts 1, 6-7 in The Philokalia, vol. 1,162-163. 212 in one again being captivated and one's discernment undeveloped. He refers to St. John of the Cross in this regard: It makes litde difference whether a bird is tied by a thin thread or by a cord. Even if it is tied by thread, the bird will be held bound just as surely as if it were tied by cord; that is, it will be impeded from flying as long as it does not break the thread. Admittedly the thread is easier to break, but no matter how easily this may be done, the bird will not fly away without first doing so. This is the lot of those who are attached to something: No matter how much virtue they have they will not reach the freedom of the divine • _ 945 union. The disciplines of insight consist of cultivating unconditional open-mindedness as a means rather than a goal, so that discernment can move freely and lead to insight. It is a continual undoing of the mental movement that leads to ego. This opens one to see the world of phenomena as God's world or as God's creation instead of a world that is for or i r 946 against self The disciplines of insight are characterized as cultivating complete mental surrender. [A] gradual process of mentally letting go of who we think we are, a letting go of the dualistic mentality in which ego sees aspects of its experience as possessions, as mine as opposed to not mine. Thus, complete surrender is the mental attitude that no longer possesses (anything): the mind has returned to its nakedness and also sees the world of phenomena in its nakedness. Through this surrender, this mental nakedness, joy in life, tenderness and insight are no longer bound to what we hope to gain or attain nor fear to lose or not attain. But they continue to flourish through this unconditional openrnindedness itself.947 In the Christian tradition, De Wit notes that the "naked mind cannot be known conceptually but only perceptually; it is the Holy Spirit (...); whatever we call the mind in which a completely open discernment is active; it is both the invisible ground and the hidden fruit of 945 St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, in The Collected Works of Saint John of the Cross, trans, by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1991), 143. 946 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 223-224. 947 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 224. 213 the disciplines of insight." From an Eastern Christian approach, the naked mind would be the nous or heart. Within hesychasm, the practice of the Jesus prayer would be included within De Wit's category of the disciplines of insight. The third key element of the Jesus prayer is a discipline of "inner exploration" through which "attention is concentrated upon specific psychosomatic centers, more especially the heart: along with the inhalation of the breath, the intellect is made to 'descend' into the heart, thus bringing about 'prayer of the intellect in the heart.'"949 This allows for exploration of the self, nous, thoughts, habit patterns, passions, virtues, and ultimately, the Divine Energies. The discipline of insight when considered within the East Christian tradition enables one to separate passions, grief and thought. Once aware of stirrings within the heart associated with impassioned thoughts (conceptual images), one is to separate the passions from the conceptual images: "The whole purpose of the monk's warfare against the demons is to separate the passions from conceptual images. Otherwise he will not be able to look on things dispassionately."950 If images or memories that reveal harboured resentment against anyone surface by way of these images, one is to pray for him or her: [A]nd you will prevent the passion from being aroused; for by means of prayer you will separate your grief from the thought of the wrong he has done you. When you have become loving and compassionate towards him, you will wipe the passion completely from your soul. If somebody regards you with resentment, be pleasant to him, be humble and agreeable in his company, and you will deliver him from his passion.951 True insight into oneself, therefore is supposed to lead to a charitable response. 948 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 224-225. 949Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 408-409. 950 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on Love, Century 41, in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 89. 951 St. Maximos the Confessor, Third Century on Love, Century 90, in The Phi/oka/ia, vol. 2, 97. 214 According to De Wit, the disciplines of insight have a double-sided function. First, they lead to perceptual self-knowledge. This is a non-conceptual self-knowledge that enables one to become acquainted with one's self and the qualities of one's stream of thoughts. Through growth in self-knowledge, one becomes less of a mystery to one's self, and that which is internal becomes both less frightening and experientially more known. These disciplines teach the person to know ego, its experience of reality, and its illusory nature.952 Second, the disciplines of insight give one insight into a reality free from the illusion of ego.953 Discernment then enables one to explore the egoless state of open-mindedness itself and to taste fundamental humaneness. In the open space that is gradually discovered, one comes to know that it is possible to live outside the stream of egocentric reality and to cultivate the flourishing within. Theistically, this second function leads to perceptual knowledge of God. The disciplines of insight reveal a Divine reality and encourage one to turn toward it. De Wit notes that these disciplines are consequendy also classified as directing oneself towards God.954 In Christian terms, discernment (diakrisis) leads one to recognize one's pettiness and sinfulness/sin in the light of the Holy Spirit, and then shows (and is) the activity of the Holy Spirit.955 The two functions of the disciplines of insight confirm that non-conceptual self- knowledge and knowledge of God are closely related. This is because the discernment developed in these disciplines functions in two directions — the unmasking of unreality or ego, as well as the revelation of a reality that is egoless or created by God. The moment at which 952 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 227-229. 9» De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 228-229. 954 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 228-229. 955 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 230. 215 unreality is unmasked is the same instance that reality is revealed. This self-knowledge heightens one's awareness that the fruit of contemplative practices are in, but not of us — they are beyond us. In sum, the disciplines of insight teach one to recognize and acknowledge one's blindness, and to open one's eyes. They help the person to clearly see the nature and causes of ego and one's egocentric experience of reality by placing one in the reality of an egoless experience of reality.958 Translated into Eastern Christian terminology, the disciplines of insight reveal both the illusory nature of the passions, and assist one in seeing more clearly through the nous. They help one recognize the passions, mechanisms of temptation, logismoi and passion-bound conceptual images. They reveal philautia by presenting passionless conceptual images. Diakrisis and conceptless, noetic spiritual knowledge are also received. One gains insight into self, and God. The disciplines of insight (diorasis) lead to contemplation and theologia. 3.4.1.3. The Interplay Between the Mental Disciplines De Wit notes that there is an interplay between the mental disciplines such that they are used in various combinations and often in a certain order.959 An example of this can be seen through the use of representations. The disciplines of mindfulness utilize a focal point — a prayer, representation, word or sentence that is repeated silendy - as an anchor. The disciplines of the imagination also use representations, however, their purpose is to evoke a specific experiential value. This points to the possibility of combined disciplines.960 956 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 230-231. 957 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 84-85. 958 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 231. 959 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 232. 960 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 232. 216 De Wit notes that the term prayer is used by many theistic traditions for this "combined" discipline. An example of this in the Christian tradition is the continuously repeated prayer, "Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner," which anchors mindfulness and evokes a specific experiential value. Initially, combined disciplines serve to cultivate mindfulness. Once skilled at this, the experiential value of the mental object becomes more important — one gains insight. The unfolding of this experiential value clarifies one's experience of reality — including one's experience of self and God.961 Many of the spiritual praxes of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition would be combined disciplines. As has been noted by De Wit, the Jesus prayer certainly functions in this manner. 3.4.1.4. The Order of Application of the Mental Disciplines According to De Wit, there is a certain order in the application of the mental disciplines which corresponds to the contemplative development of the practitioner. The intellectual disciplines — study — are practiced throughout the contemplative life. Initially, they function to purify motivations and sharpen one's insight into the how and why of the contemplative way. Later, they furnish the framework for formulating and communicating shifts in one's experience of reality. These intellectual disciplines clear the room for perceptual knowledge.962 In addition to the intellectual disciplines, the first discipline usually encouraged by the traditions is the discipline of mindfulness. The practice of tiiis discipline curbs resdessness and absentmindedness, leaving room for the disciplines of insight to arise. Insight into ego develops — into who and what one is, and how one's mental patterns and ways of acting and speaking create and maintain one's egocentric experience of reality. The fruit is that one gradually sees the illusory character of this egocentric experience of reality. 961 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 232. 962 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 234. 217 However, though one might see one's preoccupations, one is not necessarily free of them. Something further is required. In addition to employing the disciplines of mindfulness, the disciplines of the imagination also make it possible for one to let go of preoccupations with ego. By mastering images in the imagination, emotionally charged mental pictures that link one to an egocentric perspective can intentionally be changed to an egoless perspective. The associated experiential value places one in egoless or theocentric reality itself.963 This leads again to the discipline of insight. However, at this time, insight serves to make the egoless or theocentric reality itself visible. This second function of the disciplines of insight is concerned with pure vision devoid of image or representation. The knowledge realized by die disciplines of insight is a direct, non-conceptual form of knowing or experiencing. De Wit notes that, in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, this is called theoria. The ultimate nature of reality is revealed by this egoless experiential knowing.964 De Wit affirms that no one has ever seen God, because ultimately, "God is not an object for our vision."965 De Wit notes that contemplative psychological knowledge and insight manifests as an ability to carry out contemplative acts in word and deed.966 Having considered De Wit's understanding of psychological knowledge and insight and the mental disciplines in contemplative psychology, we now turn our attention to the disciplines of action and speech. 963 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 234-236. 964 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 236-237. 965 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 237. At another point in his writings, De Wit notes that contemplative psychological knowledge and insight manifests as an ability to carry out contemplative acts in word and deed, rather than as "transcendent" knowledge. (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 231). 966 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 231. 218 3.4.2. Disciplines of Action and Speech According to De Wit, the practice of the disciplines of action and speech "consists in observing guidelines directed at our dealing with the world of phenomena: what to do and to leave undone and when, how, and about what to speak or to remain silent. In other words, they instruct us on how to conduct ourselves. (...) The guidelines on which they are based have to do with almost all aspects of our life."967 These guidelines, as well as their justification, originate in the sacred scriptures of the traditions. In Christianity, a system of rules for life has developed based on central ideas in the Bible, such as the Decalogue, double command of love, and the example of Christ Himself.968 De Wit suggests that contemplative action, with regard to the profane world is directed toward: [C]reating situations in this world that awaken a spiritual perspective as much as possible. For that purpose, contemplative traditions create social situations in the form of the community of believers; here, a particular perspective is awakened and maintained by means of instruction and manners. For that purpose, the traditions also create certain material configurations, such as churches, temples, rites and liturgy, that awaken a particular view and way of life through their meaning or their function.969 The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition has consistendy established communities around its particular liturgical, canonical and spiritual tradition and encouraged its followers to engage in both the active and contemplative life. According to St. Maximos the Confessor, "contemplation without action, theory which is not applied in practice, differs in no way from imagination, from fantasy without any real substance (...); similarly, action, if it is not inspired *" De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 240. ™ De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 240. 969 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 214. 219 by contemplation, is as sterile and rigid as a statue." ° By the active life, however, patristic authors mean inner development — ascetic efforts to acquire the virtues and master the passions — to achieve apatheia (dispassion, freedom from passion, a state of reintegration and spiritual freedom rather than the absence of all feeling).971 Once established in the soul, the virtues, according St. Gregory of Nazianzus, manifest in the following ways which impact one's action and speech: Virtue, when established in the intelligence, [Gregory the Theologian] calls discretion, understanding and wisdom; when in the incensive power, he calls it courage and patience; and when in the faculty of desire, he calls it love, self-restraint and self-control. Justice or right judgment penetrates all three aspects of the soul, enabling them to function in harmony. Through discretion the soul fights against the hostile powers and defends the virtues. Through self-restraint it views things dispassionately. Through love it urges a man to love all men as himself. Through self-control it eliminates every sensual pleasure. Finally, through courage and patience it arms itself against its invisible 972 enemies. Practices in action and speech as De Wit presents it would be engaged in to overcome the passions, or as an outflow of this inner development and ascetical effort. One would engage in 'Christ-like conduct.'973 According to St. Elias the Presbyter, 970 St. Maximos the Confessor, 'Capita theologica et oeconomica, Centuria IV, cap. 88, P.G., XC, 1341-4, as quoted in Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Christian East, 202-203. Maximos also notes that, "He who embodies spiritual knowledge in his practice of the virtues and animates this practice with spiritual knowledge has found the perfect method of accomplishing the divine work. He in whom spiritual knowledge and ascetic practice are not united eidier makes the first an unsubstantial illusion or turns the second into a lifeless idol. For spiritual knowledge not put into practice does not differ in any way from illusion, lacking such practice to give it real substance; and practice uninformed by intelligence is like an idol, since it has no knowledge to animate it." St. Maximos the Confessor, Various Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice, Fourth Century, 88, in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 257. 971 Ware, "Ways of Prayer and Contemplation," 396-398. 972 St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic, A Century of Spiritual Texts, Text 24 in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 18-19. 973 According to Origen, "unceasing prayer can be understood only as the combination of what is usually meant by prayer and the Christ-like conduct of each believer. The entire life of the saint is a single prayer, and what is commonly called prayer is only one aspect of the contemplative life." (See George Mantzaridis, "Spiritual Life in Palamism," in Christian Spirituality — High Middle Ages and Reformation, 216, where he refers to Origen's On Prayer). According to Gregory Palamas, a presupposition for prayer is that one cannot do anything without God. Prayer is an active expression of the whole human existence. One is to make one's whole life a single prayer. Unceasing prayer is "the continuous and living communion of a human being with God." (See George Mantzaridis, "Spiritual Life in Palamism," in Christian Spirituality — High Middle Ages and Reformation, 2\1) 220 Practice where the body is concerned consists of fasting and vigil; where the mouth is concerned it consists of psalmody. But prayer is better than psalmody, and silence is more valuable than speech. In the case of the hands, practice is what they do uncomplainingly; and of the feet, it is what they do as soon as they are urged to do it.974 In texts such as Unseen Warfare, Christians are encouraged to look for opportunities to acquire virtue. For example, to develop the virtue of patience, one would need to encounter people, things and circumstances which might try one's patience. Similarly, to acquire peace while bearing afflictions, one might engage in work which is displeasing — either in itself, because of it being imposed by someone, or because it interferes with the work one likes — without undue resistance. Occasions such as these are opportunities for practicing action and speech aimed at overcoming passions and developing virtue. At the outset of his explorations into the disciplines of action and speech, De Wit notes that the form of ego determines the form of the disciplines of action and speech. The form of ego refers to "egocentric patterns that a person has appropriated to the mental level and on the level of speech and action."976 To contend with these, an appropriate discipline of speech and/or action is required. In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, care is taken to apply the appropriate remedy in a timely manner to address the specific passion troubling a particular soul who has had unique experiences and whose heart responds in a distinct way. As an example, St. John of Damascus notes that the eight passions should be destroyed in the following manner: [U]nchastity by desire for God and longing for the blessings held in store; avarice by compassion for the poor; anger by goodwill and love for all men; worldly dejection by spiritual joy; listlessness by patience, perseverance and offering thanks to God; self- esteem by doing good in secret and by praying constantly with a contrite heart; and 974 St. Elias the Presbyter, A Gnomic Anthology I, Text 4, in The Pbilokalia, vol. 3, 34. 975 Scupoli, Unseen Warfare, 184-185. 976 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 252. 221 pride by not judging or despising anyone (...) and by considering oneself the least of all men.977 While St. John of Damascus identifies specific remedies for each of the evil thoughts, there exist numerous remedies for each of them — remedies that require careful and precise application under the direction of an experienced guide.978 De Wit comments that there is so much variety among the disciplines of action and speech that it is only possible to give an impression of their nature, function and form, as well as how they accompany the mental disciplines. While these disciplines are multifaceted and relative to time and culture, and the situations in which one acts and speaks are extremely varied, he nonetheless considers general contemplative psychological features that these disciplines share.979 According to De Wit, the psychology of contemplative action is "a psychology that regards behavior in terms of its contemplative function."980 Distinguishing between ethical and contemplative action, he notes that the two are not always the same. While many actions are ethically neutral, they are significant as regards spiritual development — such as liturgical acts and other religious practices. Contemplative action is charity — "compassionate or merciful action that awakens and brings to expression the contemplative perspective and way of life."982 Based on insight, charity is able to free persons from the pain of egoism and self- deception.983 977 St. John of Damascus, On the Virtues and the Vices, in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 338. 978 See Larchet, Therapeutique des maladies spirituelks for an extensive presentation of the evil thoughts and remedies for each spiritual malady according to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. 579 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 239. 980 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 216. 981 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 242. 982 De wit) j/je Spiritual Path, 241. See also De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 216. 983 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 241. See also De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 216. 222 De Wit notes that there are two underlying motivations regarding the development of guidelines for action and speech. First, they contribute to local culture by binding action and speech to ethical norms. Second, they bind action and speech to the spiritual path. As an example, refraining from stealing can be associated with the concept of justice, or to the insight that stealing reinforces one's egocentric experience of reality, choking fundamental humaneness.984 The extent to which a guideline facilitates a flourishing of one's fundamental humaneness, as well as its fruit in word and deed, determines its contemplative value.985 According to De Wit, contemplative development is possible because people possess a weak spot that leaves them open to moments of total open-mindedness — to moments of change and conversion. From the perspective of ego, this is a point of uncertainty and uncontrollability. From the contemplative psychological perspective, this is the place of sensitivity and openness through which contemplative development is possible, and from which contemplative action can proceed. Theistically, this point, according to De Wit, "is the passage through which the breath (Hebrew: ruacB) of God animates or inspires life"986 and the heart of one's existence; it is one's vulnerability as well as indestructibility. Contemplative action (charity) is born out of, and is carried out for the sake of the creation and perpetuation of, this space.987 This weak spot allows for an opportunity and occasion for change, metanoia, development and new vision. From a Christian understanding, these moments are moments of grace. 984 De Wit, The Spiritual'Path, 242. 985 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 243. 986 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 232. 987 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 231-232. 223 3.4.2.1. Relation of the Disciplines of Action and Speech to the Mental Disciplines The disciplines of action and speech are closely related to the mental disciplines. Supporting the mental disciplines, word and deed are both the seed and fruit of the flourishing within. As the seed of the flourishing within, one's concrete life situation continually challenges one to adopt an attitude that is either callous and blind, or compassionate and insightful. As the fruit of fundamental humaneness, one's actions and speech reveal the genuineness of one's internal flourishing — one knows a tree by its fruit. As a result, in almost all traditions, the disciplines of action and speech are practiced in conjunction with the mental disciplines.988 The disciplines of action and speech have something particularly in common with the disciplines of imagination. De Wit notes that, Q]ust as the images and representations have experiential value that can lift us up mentally, to follow guidelines also has an experiential value that influences the mind and can change our experience of reality. The situation that we create through our actions and our speech has an experiential value that either awakens our fundamental humaneness or does not awaken it. And that, in turn, can have an effect on our practice of the disciplines of the imagination — which can, in their turn, then influence our action and speech. 3.4.2.2. The Double Function of the Disciplines of Speech and Action According to De Wit, the spiritual traditions prescribe a certain manner of action and speech. This is inspired by a fundamental insight: [T]he restraint of ego is the most effective way to cultivate our fundamental humaneness, loving kindness and insight. Therefore, it is not that ego should be restrained because, according to some theory, it is bad or morally objectionable but because ego chokes our fundamental humaneness. It stands in the way of the flourishing within. The function of the disciplines of action and speech is to teach us to act and to speak in such a way that on the one hand ego is made visible and let go and 9«8 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 243-244. 989 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 244. 224 on the other that our fundamental humaneness is uncovered and supported by them. Both are two ways of characterizing the function of these disciplines.990 The double function of the disciplines of action and speech further means that one can experience them from the perspective of either ego or fundamental humaneness. From the perspective of ego, these disciplines are characterized both as humility and self-acceptance. As humility, they frustrate ego's tendency toward self-exaltation and are experienced as a restriction, limitation, or humiliation. As self-acceptance, they foster a willingness to unconditionally accept what one sees in the mirror and embrace self in friendship for who and what one is. From the perspective of fundamental humaneness, the actions and speech prescribed by these disciplines reveal the way in which one conducts one's self in the state of fulfillment991 - "the state of mind that is free from the egocentric experience of reality."992 Joy in life, compassion, effective action and insight — ultimately freedom, liberation, engagement — characterize these egoless moments. This freedom is "the spontaneity of egokssness, freedom from the impulsiveness ofego."m 3.4.2.3. The Function of the Disciplines of Action and Speech as Mirrors The disciplines of action and speech, by telling one to act and speak as if free of ego, bring one in contact with one's fundamental humaneness. This helps to expose egocentrism such that ego becomes visible. In this way, they function as a mirror that reveals the concrete contours of ego. Both in following and breaching the guidelines of the disciplines, the contours of ego are exposed.994 990 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 244-245. 991 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 246-247. 992 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 247. 993 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 247. 994 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 247-248. 225 3.4.2.4. The Form of the Disciplines of Action and Speech In his reflections on the disciplines of action and speech, De Wit expounds on the form of these disciplines. De Wit distinguishes between universal and specific disciplines. Universal disciplines are those that encode what people in all times and cultures discover continually anew as authentic human action. Specific disciplines are based on culture, spiritual traditions or the person. Culturally bound guidelines prescribe how to let go of patterns in local culture that confirm ego, while identifying and incorporating patterns that are helpful on the spiritual path. Disciplines bound to a specific spiritual tradition, such as the form given to liturgical guidelines within contemplative communities, are specific to a spiritual tradition or community. Individual guidelines or instructions are concerned with the problem of ego on the level of the person - they are specific to the person and given primarily orally in the context of personal guidance. Together, all these guidelines determine the form of the disciplines of action and speech and thus the form of the spiritual way of life. "5 Using the Rule of St. Benedict in the Christian tradition as an example, he notes that St. Benedict laid down Christian universal disciplines: [P]eople are not to kill; not to commit adultery; not to steal; and not to do to another what one does not wish done to oneself; to discipline the body, to give new heart to the poor; to clothe the naked person; to visit a sick person; to be a support in time of trouble; not to repay wrong with wrong, but in fact to suffer patiently wrongs done to oneself; to suffer persecution for justice's sake. For the practice of the discipline of speech, Benedict gives a number of general precepts: not to bear false witness; to comfort one who is saddened; not to bring anger to a head; to utter the truth from heart and mouth, not given to criticizing; not to detract; to guard one's mouth from evil; to have no craving for controversy.996 "5 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 250-252. 996 St. Benedict, "The Tools of Good Works: What Are They?," in The Rule of Benedict: A Guide to Christian Living, trans. Monks of Glenstal Abbey (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1980), 62-77, as recounted in De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 253. 226 Next to these universal disciplines of action and speech are a number of specific disciplines regarding life in the contemplative monastic community itself. These rules govern action regarding such things as sleep, property, daily manual labor, clothing, prayer, and the place and function of the abbot.997 Further, specific rules related to the disciplines of speech are included: [N]ot to love much talking, to listen with pleasure to the holy readings which is for the good of our sanctification, to shun pride, to make peace with an opponent before sunset, not to associate with guests or speak to them at all when not given the task to do 998 SO. Additionally, one chapter is devoted to the discipline of silence.999 These practices aim to remove room for ego to hide or establish itself. The demand to surrender every form of privacy comes up against one's individualistic and narcissistic inclination to safeguard ego and keep the world at a distance.1000 De Wit classifies the disciplines of action as either formal contemplative acts (which refer to "fixed situations, whether predictable or designed,"1001 — including ritual, liturgy and certain contemplative practices), or informal contemplative acts (which refer to "the practice of a particular discipline of action with regard to daily, unpredictable reality."1002) Most actions of daily life, including good deeds specified in the Ten Commandments, fall in the latter category. De Wit notes that some forms of contemplative action fit in both categories. The practice of silent meditation, which involves both following a prescribed formal meditation, and observing the unpredictable movement of one's mind, is such an example.1003 This is the 997 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, ISA. 998 De Wit, The SpiritualPath, 255. 999 De Wit, The SpiritualPath, 254-255. woo De Wit> jhe SpiritualPath, 256. IOOI £)e wit, Contemplative Psychology, 219. 1002 Y)e wit, Contemplative Psychology, 219. 1003 De wit, Contemplative Psychology, 219. 227 case with the practice of the Jesus prayer. De Wit notes that, at the level of absolute truth, the distinction between formal and informal contemplative action ultimately loses its meaning. At that level, all of life is liturgy. Both categories of contemplative action, however, contribute psychologically in diverse yet mutual ways to one's journey on the spiritual path.1004 De Wit identifies a number of disciplines of action and speech that are practiced in and out of the monastic setting — specifically anachomis,wos stabilitas,1006 obedience, silence, generosity, speaking the truth, prayer, liturgy and contemplative action in daily life. According to De Wit, the core of the contemplative life — anachorese — is a withdrawing from the world of ego. This can occur, though not exclusively, in a monastic setting. It is a way of life permeated by the surrender of privacy and extremely litde room for ego.1007 The discipline of stabilitas loci is that of remaining in one place until one has completed a specific spiritual practice or attained a certain realization. The term stabilitas in congregatione is used if the place is a contemplative community. Not having alternatives, ego's mentality of keeping an exit open so as to avoid complete surrender and acceptance, is challenged. Ego is left with no possibility of withdrawing.1008 De Wit notes that something similar applies when one is alone — on a retreat for example — with the movement of one's mind and the mental disciplines. At such times, the mind offers unpredictable moments of resdessness, desire, joy, 1004 £>e wjt) Contemplative Psychology, 219. 1005 Evagmjs of Pontus defines anachoresis as monastic withdrawal as is evident in Praktikos 52: To separate the body from die soul belongs exclusively to him who united them; but to separate the soul from the body belongs to anyone who desires virtue. The life of withdrawal has been called by die fathers a rehearsal for death and flight from die body. (Scojxa jx£v ^wgLaai 4,UX^''/ ^Ovou £aTl TOU auv8r|aavi;oc,- 4IUX11V ^E <*7t° o(b[ia.xo(;, xai xov £ sorrow, confusion and clarity, etc., that attempt to lure one away. By encouraging one to sit with, identify and reflect on one's mental movements, the practice of stabtlitas limits ego and yields self-confidence and strength of mind.1009 The discipline of obedience, both internal and external, functions to make the willfulness of ego visible. Internal obedience is anchored in one's fundamental humaneness and its expression in word and deed; external obedience is grounded in rules formulated in language and concepts. In theistic traditions, obedience is often framed as obedience to God, and the instructions for action and speech viewed as being of Divine origin. Compliance to prohibitions and commands are a means of rediscovering humaneness and making it the basis for one's behaviour. This practice can lead to the discovery of a deeper, underlying internal obedience to the voice of God - to Christ - in us. According to De Wit, one can formulate this in contemplative-psychological terms as being obedient to one's fundamental humaneness. The discipline of silence makes one conscious of the contours of ego as they manifest in communication with others. This discipline removes the possibility of and need for manipulating a situation by means of language for the sake of ego. As a mirror, silence functions to make this need visible. In practicing this discipline, one relinquishes fixed ideas, images and stories attributed to self and one's past, and becomes acquainted with self and others perceptually by experiencing one another.1011 The discipline of generosity forces one to abandon the pursuit of self-interest. This discipline challenges one's egocentric tendency to guard one's own interests. Going against 1009 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 258. 1010 De wit, The Spiritual Path, 258-260. ">» De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 260-261. 229 one's inclination to hold on to time and possessions that one thinks is necessary for one's self, the practice of generosity creates a sense of wealth in one's self and one's surroundings. In giving, one lets go of one's sense of self-preservation, (re)discovers the fundamental wealth of the world, and develops an appreciation for it.1012 The discipline of speaking the truth removes space for ego to protect or exalt itself through lies. It deprives ego of room to brag, advertise self, belittle others, and conceal short comings, awkwardness or mistakes. Speaking the truth functions as a mirror for the manifestation of ego in speech and leads to peace and self-acceptance, as well as to the understanding that in truth one may be as one is.1013 When speaking of prayer, De Wit refers to E. H. van Olst's statement: "We may add that praying is not just something that we do; something also happens to us. The meaning of the words dawns on us litde by little, we are slowly carried away by the words, we are freed of those things which keep us stuck in everyday life." Reflecting on Christian liturgy,1015 De Wit quotes from Antoine Vergote:1016 "Efficacy is intrinsic to the rite: it is presumed to bring forth its effect out of itself. For the celebrant 1012 De Wit, The Spiritual'Path, 261-262. 1013 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 262-263. ion yan oist, E.H. Bijbelen liturgie (Baarn: Ten Have, 1983), 65 as quoted in De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 220. ioi5 Again, as noted earlier in Chapter 1, footnote 171, De Wit's reflections regarding liturgy are based largely on die Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. Although he does consider liturgy from a Christian perspective to a limited extent, his perspective would have been influenced by his upbringing in humanism and Buddhist formation — significantly different from an understanding of the Divine Liturgy in die Eastern Christian tradition. Nonetiieless, his identification of certain ways in which liturgy can be considered as regards its psychological impact on the person may be valuable and worthy of consideration. A comparative analysis between die Eastern Christian Divine Liturgy and liturgy as understood in Buddhism is certainly beyond the scope of this current research project. A brief discussion of sacramental-liturgical practices within die Eastern Christian spiritual tradition will follow shordy in this chapter. ioi6 Antoine Vergote is a priest, psychoanalyst and dieologian. He is a professor at the University of Louvain, who has published several important works on die relationship between psychoanalysis and faith, in particular Interpretation du langage religieux (Ed. du Seuil, 1974), Dette et de'sir (Ed. du Seuil, 1978), Religion, foi, incroyance (Mardaga, Liege, 1983). (See http://www.editionsducerf.fr/html/fiche/ficheauteur.asp?n_aut=273; Internet; accessed 3 March 2007.) 230 [actant] of the rite, reality after carrying the rite out is not the same as before."1017 A change in reality occurs insofar as "the participants in the rite are changed into the actors in a supernatural occurrence. Not that they simulate it, or act as if it happened; they actualize it."1018 Commenting on the content of this personal change in the human being, Vergote notes that: "The person who participates in the execution of a ritual act receives a new covenant, and defines himself with respect to a center which is no longer his subjectivity, and even less his social position, but which transcends the earthly. The rite allows the person to become that which he is in a concealed and expectant way in the heart of his being."1019 De Wit identifies a number of universal liturgical forms: For example, bringing an offering involves letting go of one's own greed as well as cultivating a generous attitude or readiness to make sacrifices. A hymn of praise involves letting go of jealousy as well as directing one's attention to, and appreciating, that which is valuable. Prayers of supplication awaken both one's ability to let go of one's own arrogance or self-abasement, and to open oneself to the sacred. Performing rituals of purification contains the acknowledgment of one's impurity, and at the same time it awakens and restores one's original purity or the purity that is granted us through grace. The liturgical form is operative in this way because it enables the profane to be exposed and let go of, and the sacred to be revealed and accepted.1020 In moments when one fully participates in liturgy, a particular experience of reality is awakened — one in which mercy or care for all that exists arises. Conversely, in moments when one does not fully participate in the liturgy, attentiveness is awakened. This provides one with insight into the mind's preoccupations and self-deception. Through practicing the liturgy, insight into confusion and a different experience of reality develop further. The practice of liturgy in this way provides further direction on one's contemplative way.1021 1017 Vergote. Keligie, geloofen ongeloof(Kapellen: Uitgeverij De Nederlandse Boekhandel, 1984), 280 as quoted in De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 220. 1018 Vergote, Religie, geloofen ongeloof, 280 as quoted in De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 220. 1019 Vergote, Religie, geloofen ongeloof, 283 as quoted in De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 220. 1020 Y)e Wit^ Contemplative Psychology, 226. 1021 De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 227. 231 According to De Wit, the view that considers acts in terms of their contemplative psychological effect is the basis for the practice of contemplative action in daily life. He notes that this view guides one's action, and makes one perform actions based on one's sensitivity to the contemplative psychological effect they contain. According to De Wit, this is characteristic of the inspiration of the New Testament.1022 Spiritual disciplines related to action and speech practiced within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition and hesychasm are numerous. They involve both mystical/ascetical praxes and sacramental/liturgical praxes, and both positive and negative praxes. Practices of the Jesus prayer, silence, self-control, vigilance, humility, and patience are primary for the hesychast.1023 Further ascetical/mystical praxes include wandering/ceaseless pilgrimage, reading from the Gospel, Desert Fathers or Lives of the Saints to others, solitude, the cell, poverty, bodily mortification, fasting, chastity, temperance, manual labour, keeping of the commandments and virtuous living, love, custody or guarding of the heart, discernment of thoughts, discernment of spirits, discernment of visions and dreams, guarding and examining one's conscience, obedience, manifestation of thoughts, hospitality, the common table, reading of spiritual books, and ministry/service towards others. Sacramental/liturgical praxes include participation in the Liturgy of the Hours, Divine Liturgy, Repentance and Confession. Each of these praxes confronts and re-directs the passions, while also fostering the acquisition of Christ-likeness. What follows is a brief description of these praxes according to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition - with the exception of the Jesus prayer, silence and study which have been 1022 £>e wit) Contemplative Psychology, 229. 1023 St. Gregory of Sinai, On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises, Text 99, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, 233. 232 previously noted. While many other spiritual praxes could be both identified and discussed, only those praxes practiced by the strannik in The Way of a Pilgrim will be considered. Wandering is a set of spiritual praxes that involve body, soul and spirit. In Pierre Pascal's writings on Religion of the Russian People™2* he notes that, in Russian spirituality, there are both the practices of the common man, as well as those practiced by those who voluntarily give themselves to asceticism. Included in this latter group are those who embark on pilgrimages — the stranniks. The strannik's state is one of constant wandering and voluntary homelessness that allows him or her to identify with Christ by being in the world, but not of the world, in imitation of Him. Special circumstances — a natural or accidental infirmity that may have made him or her unfit for strenuous work, or an event such as the death of a husband or wife, a fire, or an imperative vision that may have detached him or her from worldly goods — tend to lead the strannik to adopt this way of life. At whatever age, he or she leaves behind earthly ties, duties, cares and loves in order to set one's soul free. He or she then goes off on foot, with stick and knapsack, in the direction of holy places, taking no possessions along, but for a long garment, a hat, and a bag of dry bread crusts. The strannik seeks out a starets who understands hearts and offers counsel and consolation, and then, after staying with the starets for a while, embarks on a continuous, truly never-ending journey,1025 touring hermitages and visiting holy places. The strannik is more or less hospitably received everywhere he or she goes. In return, the strannik either does menial duty, or simply speaks, recounting edifying memories, describing holy places, or relating the exploits of the ascetics. In this way, the strannik gives his or her 1024 Pascal Religion of the Russian People, 39-41. i°25 Vemitski, "The Way of the Pilgrim", 116. 233 hosts food for thought. If the strannik can read, he or she may read from the Gospel, the Desert Fathers or the Lives of the Saints for his or her host's spiritual edification.1026 Solitude, being or wandering alone, is a practice that enables one to grow in dependence on God, and detachment from all else. It provides the opportunity for undivided attention and trust. The experience of solitude requires that one be alone. In this aloneness, however, the presence of the Christian community through the ages — the communion of saints — can be experienced. Rather than being isolation, solitude connects one to God, and a larger community that belongs to Christ. In all of one's actions, even when alone, one can join God and others in the pursuit of God's kingdom.1027 Solitude is often associated with 'the cell' — a simple, designated, personal place that one goes to seek God. It is a place to study Scripture, pray, read spiritual books, and engage in both meditation and contemplation. One's cell is also a place for rest which makes entry into conceptless union with God more possible. Mary Margaret Funk notes that the cell is a place to heal, to be comforted, and to come to wholeness; a place for training oneself to listen, slow down one's thoughts, and discover that one is not one's thoughts; a place to see how one's thoughts roam, moods swing, and feelings prod the imagination; and a place to return to the practice of the Jesus prayer. The praxis of poverty is the severing of one's attachment to the body and things, and entrusting oneself to the care of God.1029 Based on the invitation to sell all one's possessions, give to the poor, and follow Jesus, poverty is the renunciation of contrived styles of power, 1026 Pascal Religion of the Russian People, 39-41. 1027 Allen, Spiritual Theology, 85-86. 1028 Mary Margaret Funk, Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life (New York, NY: Continuum, 2004), 70-74. 1029 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 209. 234 status, or prestige that accompany wealth. The praxis of poverty involves giving up belongings that one both values and is attached to so as to foster dispassion, detachment, trust in God and love of the poor. When in a state of material poverty — with nothing seemingly to give — one is encouraged to give of self to help the needy. Bodily mortification involves praxes that deny the body any pleasure. Some of the ascetic mortifications practiced in Eastern Christian spirituality include being naked or unkempt, sleeping on the ground, walking barefoot, never washing or never washing one's feet, and living in caves or under trees. These are but a few of the numerous ways to mortify the body.1032 St. Hesychios of Sinai wrote: "It is neither customary nor possible to befriend a snake and carry it about in your shirt, or to attain holiness while pampering, serving, and cherishing the body above what is necessary and indispensable."1033 Fasting — bodily abstinence — was considered by the Fathers of the Church as the necessary preparation for real prayer.1034 It is also the outer manifestation of the prayer of the body.1035 Abstinence refers to refraining from eating certain types of food — such as meat, dairy, wine, or leavened bread — for the sake of the spiritual life. "By its beauty, fasting 1030 John J. O'Brien, "Poverty," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 749-750. 1031 St. Diadochus of Photice, On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination: One Hundred Texts, Text 66, in The Philokalia, vol. 1,274-275. 1032 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 223. 1033 St. Hesychios of Sinai, Century One on Temperance, 33 as quoted in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 223. See He'sychius de Batos, Chapitres sur la Vigilance, Philocalie des Peres Neptiques, fascicule 3, intro and trad, par Jacques Touraille (Begrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1981,), 33-34. 1034 St. John Climacus, Scala paradisi 26, in Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent (1982), 239: "The Fathers say that two virtues dominate the active life, namely, fasting and obedience." 1035 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 224. 1036 Funk, Tools Matter, 56. 235 etches the image of eternal life into the body; (...) it teaches us which spiritual food we shall receive at the resurrection."1037 While being gifts from God, chastity and virginity are also considered praxes in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. Both involve maintaining the purity of the body (the first within lawful marriage, and the second through celibacy), as a way of preserving baptismal innocence.1038 The Christian value of widowhood accepted out of love for God is also praised.1039 Requiring great effort to retain, chastity and virginity require practices of custody of the heart, fleeing from opportunities, resisting temptations, fasting, vigils, psalmody, prolonged prayer, manual labor, silence, and the patient bearing of humiliation. A peaceful religious life spent in obedience is also noted.1040 Temperance, or chastity, according to the ascetic authority St. John Climacus, is "the name common to all the virtues".1041 According to St. Maximos the Confessor, the function of temperance is "to control man's irrational part,"1042 and to subjugate the covetousness of the flesh.1043 Temperance moderates bodily appetites, disposing them for development of the whole person, and treating sensual instincts not as ends in themselves, but as means to an end. Mortification, putting to death unbridled passions through discipline, and self-denial would be examples of praxes associated with temperance. 1037 Martyrius Sahdona, Oeuvres spirituelles, Uvre de la perfection 171, in Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, vol. 215, ed. et traduit par Andre de Halleux (Louvain: Secretariat du Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 1960-1965), 75-92, as quoted in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian Hast, 224. 1038 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 219. 1039 St. John Chrysostom, Tetter to a Young Widow and On the Single Marriage (See http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1904.htm; Internet; accessed 12 December 2008); or St. John Chrysostom, Unejeune Veuve, et Sur le Mariage Unique, Sources Chretiennes (Paris, 1968), no. 138. 1040 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 222. 1041 St. John Climacus, Scalaparadisi 15, in Climacus, The ladder of Divine Ascent (1982), 172. 1042 St. Maximos the Confessor, Century on Charity II. 83, The Philokalia, vol. 2, 79. 1043 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 218. 1044 George P. Evans, "Cardinal Virtues," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 117. 236 Manual labour or physical work as a praxis also has tremendous spiritual value — its practice teaches the embodiment of prayer. The steps of the practice of manual labour involve firsdy, doing one thing at a time; secondly, being mindful of the doing of it; and thirdly, shifting one's intention to do it for/with/in Christ. In this way, manual labour becomes an outward sign of inner spiritual work. Ceaseless prayer combined with repetitive work is recommended by the desert tradition.1045 Diogenes Allen further notes that the fatigue that arises as a result of manual labour defuses passions and reminds us of our mortality. It also reminds us that God too works as creator, sustainer, and redeemer, and invites human beings to join Him in the care of the world.1046 Keeping of the commandments and virtuous living is central to all Christian spirituality — East and West. While following the ten commandments is paramount, the commandment of love stands supreme: Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus answered, "...you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' (Mark 12:28-31; 19:19; 22:37-39; Luke 10:27 NRSV) Love is about relationships — with God, others, and ourselves. It as an 'inward relationship' of the utmost universality,1047 that manifests in one's outward speech and actions. St. Peter of Damascus writes, Such are the souls of the saints: they love their enemies more than themselves, (...) they put their neighbours first in all things, even though because of his ill-will he may be their enemy. They do not seek recompense from those whom they love, but because they have themselves received they rejoice in giving to others all that they have, so that they may conform to their Benefactor and imitate His compassion to the best of their 1045 Funk, Tools Matter, 67-70. 1046 Allen, Spiritual Theology, 84. 1047 St. Maximos the Confessor. Letter 2:401D quoted in and trans, by Louth, Maximus the Confessor, 39, 90. 1048 St. Peter of Damascus, How God's Speech is Not Loose Chatter, in The Phibkalia, vol. 3, 176. 237 It is the Christian imperative to follow the commandments and practice the virtues out of purifying fear and love: [TJf we abstain from evil actions not through threat of punishment, but because we hate such actions, then it is from love of the Master that we practice the virtues, fearful lest we should fall away from Him. For when we fear that we may neglect something that has been enjoined, die fear is clean, arising for the sake of die good itself. This fear purifies our souls, being equal in power to perfect love. He who has this fear and keeps the commandments is the 'whole man', in other words, the perfect and complete man. Knowing these things, let us fear God and keep His commandments, so that we may be perfect and entire in the virtues.1049 Custody or guarding of the heart is a praxis and method of defense diat prompdy wards off intruding dioughts,1050 thereby preventing entry of any disturbance into the heart. This requires control over what goes into die heart.1051 The first stage of diis process is recognition of die suggestion or prosbole. The exceptional method against evil thoughts — called anti-rrhesis ('counter-speaking') — involves the recitation of an appropriate Scripture quote in response to a demonic suggestion. Gradually, the Jesus prayer replaced the complicated catalogues of Scriptural quotes developed by Evagrius of Pontus. The discernment of dioughts is the art of arts; discernment of spirits is a bodi a gift of God and a spiritual 'art'. Evagrius of Pontus and others noted that much observation is required to learn how to, [RJecognrze the difference between angelic thoughts, human thoughts, and dioughts that come from demons.' Demons betray themselves through their conduct, through the frequency and die manner of dieir assaults, but especially dirough the thoughts tfiey inspire. Thus one acquires a special 'sense', a spiritual intuition, and one identifies an evil thought 'by the demons' evil smell'. 1049 St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic, A Century of Spiritual Texts, Text 100, in The Philokalia, vol. 2, 36-37. 1050 SpidHk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 243. 1051 Funk, Tools Matter, 53. 1052 SpidHk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 242-244. 1053 SpidHk, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 245-246. 238 Discernment regarding visions and dreams is also an art that requires much attentive watchfulness. According to St. Anthony, whose great discourse lays down the golden rule of this discernment: The assault and appearance of the evil ones (...) is something troubling, with crashing and noise and shouting — the sort of disturbance one might expect from tough youths and robbers. From this come immediately terror of soul, confusion and disorder of thoughts, dejection, enmity toward ascetics, listlessness, grief, memory of relatives, and fear of death; and finally there is craving for evil, contempt for virtue, and instability of character. When, therefore, you are frightened on seeing someone, if the fear is instantly removed, and its place is taken by unspeakable joy and cheerfulness and confidence and renewed strength, and calmness of thought, and by the other things I mentioned before, both bravery and love of God, be of good courage and say your prayers. For the joy and the stability of the soul attest to the holiness of the one who is in your presence. So when Abraham saw the Lord he rejoiced, and John jumped for joy at the voice of Mary the God-bearer. But if, when certain ones appear, a disturbance occurs and noise from outside, and an apparition of a worldly kind, and threat of death, and things I spoke of before, know that the visit is from the wicked.1054 Evagrius of Pontus maintains that peaceful dreams or those that only have signs of the normal needs of nature indicate that thoughts are in order. If dreams, however, are exotic, then likely some action needs attention during one's everyday consciousness.1055 Guarding and examining conscience follows closely with the command to love, and custody of the heart and thoughts. This praxis is absolutely indispensible and is in keeping with the moral life whose first law is to know one's self. Examining one's self is engaged in out of respect for the holiness of God.1057 In Unseen Warfare, this discipline is spoken of in the following manner: Use all means, brother to keep your conscience pure; in thoughts, words and deeds, let it always remain blameless; let it never reproach you and gnaw at you for anything. (...) There are four relationships in which you should keep your conscience blameless: in 1054 VitaAntonii 36; PG 26:946A as found in Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The Letter to Marcellinus, 58-59. loss Evagrius of Pontus, Praktikos, 31 and 33-34. See Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer, Cistercian Studies Series, Number Four; and http://www.ldysinger.com/Evagrius/01_Prak/00a_start.htm; Internet; accessed 12 December 2008. 1056 Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 223. 1057 Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 224. 239 relation to God, to yourself, to your neighbours, and to everything, which is in your hands. (...) Thus, if you 'live honestly', you will have a 'good conscience', imitating St. Paul (Heb. xiii. 18). (...) Self-examination puts everything to the test, both good and bad, right and wrong (...). If you see something right in itself, look whether it was right as regards impulse and intention, right in the mode of putting it into practice and the attitude towards it after its completion (...), - whether it was fitting, timely and in the right place, - whether having done it you had blown your own trumpet (...). If you find something wrong, examine how you happened to do it (...); find the external and internal causes that led to it, how you should have controlled yourself on this occasion so as not to sin, and why you have not done so; then (...) determine sensibly how you should behave in future to avoid sinning in these or similar circumstances (...). At the end of this examination, give thanks to God for all things that were right. (.. .)1058 The spiritual praxis of obedience involves a mystical participation in the sacrificial, self- emptying obedience of Christ.1059 It is the praxis of lending an ear to the expression of another's will, and responding to it.1060 In obedience, one submits one's will to the will of God, the Divine Commandments, a spiritual father or mother, a member of the hierarchy, another person, and/or the teachings of the Church.1061 It requires humbly following what the will of the other has requested, while simultaneously making use of one's own common sense, prayer, and good will. The manifestation of thoughts {exagoreusis) is the relating of one's thoughts and giving an account of one's conscience to a discerning spiritual father or mother. Exagoreusis is a confession of 'thought' rather than of sins, with the intention of coming to knowledge of whether it is good or bad.1063 Nepsis precedes it. Given the vast number of thoughts that one can experience, not all are to be shared with one's spiritual father or mother: "One should 1058 Scupoli, Unseen Warfare, 247-251. 1059 Robin Maas, "Obedience," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 710. 1060 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 283. 1061 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 283-288. 1062 Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 228. 1063 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 246-247. 240 not ask questions about all the thoughts that are [in your mind]; they are fleeting, but [ask] only about the ones that persist and wage war on man."1064 Hospitality is a social praxis that embodies charity. It involves the welcoming of another into one's physical and internal abode, and serving him or her outwardly in charity. Greetings extended to another are to be dictated by the fear of God — one is to refrain from asking questions about things that are of no profit to the soul. Words are also to be as brief as possible, greeting guests by asking how they are and then sitting with them in silence.1065 As one's guests are God, one is to provide food for them and accompany them in a shared 1 1066 meal. The common table is another praxis that involves both action and speech. Eating in common invites people to engage socially, sit upright and face one another, share from common bowls and platters, and commune with one another. Eating with others requires stopping one's work and gathering at a designated time; giving others full and undivided attention; eating mindfully, slowly, with poise and manners; waiting for food to be served; taking what is given; and being grateful. This praxis brings order to one's day, gratitude to the heart, and kindness to one's ways.1067 Facing another at the common table can be the most challenging aspect of this praxis. During these moments, others reflect to us what they need, how one can be helpful, as well as aspects of the self. Others and self also express the desire to be heard and welcomed. The common table keeps people in the here and now — with real people, real problems and real 1064 Barsanuphius, Biblos Barsanuphiou kai Ioannou, Letter 89, ed. by Nicodemus the Hagorite (Venice, 1816), 46, as quoted in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 227-228. 1065 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 214. 1066 funk, Tools Matter, 58. K"57 Funk, Tools Matter, 90-91. 241 joys. It keeps one turned toward others as well as the larger concerns of the church and world, rather than solely toward self.1068 The reading of spiritual texts while others eat in silence is a monastic practice experienced around the common table. This has a calming effect while being quite social — talking is not the only way of sharing. Within silence, levels of experience are shared that can bind a group together in ways that conversations can interfere with. When conversations arise after table reading, there is a text to talk about that furthers the spiritual quest.1069 Ministry is a form of praxis engaged in when one is called to serve others, as Christ, in the name of the Church. According to Funk, one must receive a call to a particular place, or group, or designated institution. This call must be an authorizing one such that the caller has the authority to designate someone, name him or her as minister, and send the person to a particular service. If one is called, he or she is judged to be worthy, qualified, and competent to serve, no longer in one's own name, but in the name of the Church. In light of the desert tradition, there are twelve practices that guide one in ministry: 1) striving to be free from afflictions that diminish one's effectiveness; 2) guarding against vainglory and ascribing all good done to the glory of God rather than to oneself; 3) accepting personal limitations without dejection; 4) submitting in obedience to the authorizing officials of the Church; 5) serving selflessly, wholeheartedly, not counting the cost and without seeking results; 6) accepting the grace of the moment, putting the others' good ahead of one's own, sacrificing, and surrendering the resentment that may rise when one's own needs are not met; 7) moving on when one's part of ministry is completed; 8) refraining from using domination or oppression, striving to be an attentive listener, being in service to the other and not to the 1068 punk, Tools Matter, 90-91. 1069 Funk, Tools Matter, 90-91. 242 self; 9) refraining from accepting gifts in exchange for spiritual works; 10) receiving the gifts intended by the Holy Spirit for one's salvation; 11) accepting mistakes as part of everyday life — forgiving, forgetting and moving on; and 12) holding in prayer each person served.1070 Sacramental/liturgical practices are also inherent in Eastern Christian spirituality and hesychasm. As Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky proclaimed, "[TJhe most important source of the supernatural life is participation in divine services."1071 "Good corporate worship," Peter Galadza noted, "distils a depth of insight proper to reflection on that which is Deepest."1072 Foundational to the Eastern Christian spiritual life is the gathering together with a faith community for prayer, worship, and reception of the Holy Mysteries — the latter of which pre supposes being in communion with the Church, having been received through the rites of baptism, chrismation and Holy Communion. Good Christian worship, having always embodied the incarnational principle — "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" — saturates those present with a flood of sensory experiences that assist one in comprehending the word. In its very essence, it is an icon of Christian reality — a manifestation of everything that constitutes Christianity: joy, peace, illumination, repentance, service, and what all of life can become1013— and a privileged locus for the acquisition of knowledge needed to appropriate realities such as conversion, kenosis and redemption.1074 1070 Funk, Tools Matter, 88-89. 1071 Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, Pastoral Letter, On the Liturgical Life, 1934, as quoted by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar in the Preface and Endorsement from His Beatitude, Lubomyr (Husar), of The Divine Liturgy — An Anthology for Worship, Rev. Peter Galadza, Editor-in-chief (Ottawa, ON: Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, 2004), vii-viii. 1072 peter Galadza, "Going to the Centre to Find the Real: The Centrality of Liturgy in Theological Formation — Inaugural Lecture of the First Titulary of the Kule Family Chair of Eastern Christian Liturgy," Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, vol. 38 (1997) nos. 1-4, 299. 1073 Galadza, "Going to the Centre to Find the Real," 301-303. 1074 Galadza, "Going to the Centre to Find the Real," 299. 243 Primary among sacramental practices in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition is celebration of the Divine Mysteries — the Liturgy. "Nothing less than the ongoing saving work of God's Only-begotten Son," Who He sent to reconcile us to Himself and to one another in Him,1075 the liturgy enables one to unite with the Church and share in its grace.1076 As noted by Robert Taft, The mystery that is Christ is the centre of Christian life, and it is this mystery and nothing else that the Church renews in the liturgy so that we might be drawn into it. Liturgy, then, is much more than an individual expression of faith and devotion. It is first and foremost an activity of God in Christ. (...) Our prayers are worthless, but in the liturgy Christ himself prays in us. (...) His saving offering is eternally active and present before the throne of the Father. By our celebration of the divine mysteries, we are drawn into the saving action of Christ and our personal self-offering is transformed into an act of the Body of Christ through the worship of the body with its head.1077 Through the liturgy, transformation into Christ-likeness is actualized. The daily office is another form of sacramental/liturgical practices of note for purposes of this research project. Occasions for public prayer, the daily offices in the Byzantine rite include Vespers, Compline, Midnight (Nocturn), Matins (Orthtos), and First, Third, Sixth and Ninth Hours. The liturgical day begins with Vespers, which follows immediately on the Ninth Hour that ends the preceding day - read three hours before sunset.1078 Penance, confession, or repentance is a further form of sacramental/liturgical practice. In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, penance or confession is generally seen as a means of spiritual healing from sin — an internal passion and enslavement.1079 Sacramental 1075 Robert F. Taft, SJ, "The Liturgy in the Life of the Church," Logos: A journal of "Eastern Christian Studies, vol. 40 (1999) nos. 1-4, 187. 1076 Theophane the Recluse, Pisma k ra^nym licam [Letters to Various Persons] (Moscow, 1892), 249ff., as quoted in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 312. 1077 Taft, "The Liturgy in the Life of the Church," 188. 1078 Archimandrite Ephrem, "Daily offices, in the Byzantine rite," in The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, 155-156. 1079 External sinful acts are considered manifestations of internal disease caused by sin. 244 confession restores the person to a right relationship with God, self and others. Considered to be a renewal of baptism, it is a contract with God for a second life.1080 Repentance contains several elements. First is recognition of sins, condemnation of faults, and blaming of oneself. Second is the experience of sorrow and tears which accompany an evaluation of one's sins. Third is a resolution for the future. Repentance aims at inner conversion, a practical change in attitude, and spiritual healing. Sacramentally, it involves receiving absolution for one's sins through the authority of an ordained priest.1081 There are also, however, various non-sacramental forms of repentance which include: "1) not condemning others, 2) forgiving trespasses, 3) being humble, 4) tears, 5) prayer, 6) alms and deeds of mercy, 7) conversion to the true faith, 8) illnesses and tribulations, 9) unceasing prayer, 10) declaring one's faith in Christ before a pagan emperor,"1082 11) charity, which by its very essence destroys sins,1083 12) the revelation of thoughts in spiritual direction,1084 13) compunction,1085 and \A) penthos™6 Many of the above noted negative and positive praxes are engaged in by general practitioners of Eastern Christian spirituality and hesychasts in particular. While much more 1080 St. John Climacus, Scala Paradisi 5, in Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent (1982), 121. 1081 See The Divine Liturgy - An Anthology for Worship, Galadza, 23-27 regarding the Rite of Repentance (Confession). 1082 N. Suvorov, From Saint Athanasius and Saint John, on the Different Ways of Finding Salvation, and on Repentance, in Vi^antijskij Vremennik 10 (1903), 55-61; as quoted in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 193. as quoted in Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 193. 1083 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 193. 1084 Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 190-192. 1085 Compunction is the full burden of realizing that one has done wrong and is experiencing God's mercy. One is pierced to the core of the heart - an experience that is sometimes accompanied by the gift of tears. See Funk, Tools Matter, 62. 1086 According to St. Gregory Nyssa, "[MJourning is a sorrowful disposition of the soul which arises from being deprived of some of the things that are pleasant." St. Gregory of Nyssa, "De beatitudinibus," 3, PG 44.1225C-1227B in The Lord's Prayer, The Beatitudes, Ancient Christian Writers, no. 18, trans, by Hilda C. Graef (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1954,1978), 109-110. Christian compunction is mourning for a salvation lost by oneself or through others. The origin of penthos is fear: fear of the loss of one's salvation, the possibility of future sins, or concern for the eternal destiny of others. (Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 194-195). While the beginning of penthos is to know one's self, it is further awakened and maintained through examination of conscience and meditation on the last things. (Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East, 196). 245 could be said of each of die sacramental/liturgical and ascetical/mystical practices of die Eastern Christian spiritual tradition — those here identified as well as many others — it is beyond the scope of this current research project. Further research in this area would, however, be very interesting and valuable. 3.4.2.5. The Application of the Disciplines of Action and Speech De Wit emphasizes that the measure to which one should take up the contemplative disciplines is different for everyone, and the choice of the monastic or lay form of contemplative life is also unique to each person. Application of the disciplines of action and speech depends on a variety of factors. These include: the power of one's motivation to liberate one's self from an egocentric experience of reality and cultivate fundamental humaneness, insight into ego and the function of the spiritual disciplines, the degree of attachment to ego, and one's life situation. De Wit notes that if one has little insight and motivation, it is difficult to take up a contemplative life. If one has little insight but a great deal of motivation, making progress on the spiritual path is possible. If one has much insight, one can progress along the path with a small amount of motivation. If one has both insight and motivation, one can progress more quickly. He suggests that, to a certain degree, insight and motivation can compensate for each other. As well, one's life situation may or may not make it possible to let go of an egocentric experience of reality. Sometimes, one's life situation can force one into a contemplative discipline, without one necessarily being conscious or itv .108 7 To the above mentioned factors identified by De Wit, the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition would add and emphasize several others. First and foremost, it would bear ever in 1087 De wit, jhe Spiritual Path, 262-266. 246 mind the fundamental conviction that salvation lies only in the Lord Jesus Christ.1 Eastern Christian spirituality would also stress mystery, grace, synergeia between the practitioner and God, and the Will of God as well as that of the person — are not mutually exclusive, but grow together into a living synthesis of Life in Christ. The person's level of maturity — chronologically, developmentally, relationally, spiritually and emotionally would be accentuated, as would the presence and composition of both the faith community and spiritual director with whom the person is associated. Finally it would acknowledge the reality of demonic influences working to dissuade the person from growth in Christ-likeness. These elements can have a significant impact on the choice and application of various praxes. 3.4.2.6. The Practice of the Disciplines of Action and Speech De Wit explores whether there are stages of development apparent in the way a practitioner disciplines his or her actions and speech. He notes that many traditions offer disciplines of action and speech in a particular order. In many traditions, the initial emphasis is on taming egocentric behavior and so the disciplines focus on limiting the manifestation of ego in word and deed. These initial disciplines of action and speech are prohibitive in character — they advise against engaging in certain behaviours. By having them run up against the limitations imposed by the disciplines, they intend to make egocentric blindness and emotionality visible, and prevent a deepened engraving of egocentric patterns of behavior. In this way, these disciplines function as a mirror, and wear down ego. Detachment — which contains an element of freedom — results such that one no longer is bound by the impulsiveness of ego.1089 1088 Nicholas Arseniev, Russian Piety (London: The Faith Press, 1964), 120. 1089 De wit, The Spiritual Path, 266-267. 247 De Wit notes that fundamental humaneness flourishes to the degree that one's preoccupation with ego lessens. As a result, in curbing ego, the practice of disciplines directed at cultivating egoless action and speech is possible. In the process, one begins to experience fundamental humaneness more consciously and is inspired to cultivate it.1090 In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, application of negative praxes often precedes that of the positive praxes, and praktike that of physike theoria and theologike theoria. Initially, behaviours that encourage bondage by the passions and are sinful are halted, and the passions re-directed in a Godly direction. Following this recognition of and conversion from one's sinful ways, one begins to recognize and practice positive praxes which foster the development of virtues. However, it must also be said that, depending on the person and his or her spiritual and human journey, sometimes the practice of the virtues precedes and leads to conversion, rather than the refraining from sinful acts. De Wit outlines a shifting emphasis as regards the disciplines of action and speech. First, these disciplines are directed at acquiring insight into and refraining from egocentric behavior. Second, disciplines directed at doing "good works" are added.1091 One keeps observances, however, "no longer out of fear of hell, but out of love for Christ, good habit and delight in virtue."1092 Third, one begins to take this egoless state of mind as a starting point for all action. The more one grounds in the practice of the disciplines of action and speech, the greater the possibility of acting and speaking on that basis. A shift in focus then occurs: from an external discipline of following the prohibitions and commands to the internal discipline of remaining in this open state of mind throughout one's acting and 1090 De Wit> The Spiritual Path, 267. 1091 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 268. 1092 J5J3 j9go - The Rule of St. Benedict — In Latin and English with Notes, "Humility," Chapter 7, verse 67, ed. by Timothy Fry et al. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1981), 201-202. 248 speaking. One learns to act and speak directly out of one's fundamental humaneness rather than out of ego. One's behavior becomes impelled by fundamental humaneness and no longer by an ethics of duty. All action becomes contemplative action.1093 De Wit emphasized that there is no guarantee that the practice of the disciplines of action and speech will have the intended effect. All actions — even those prescribed in the disciplines — can be either contemplative or profane actions. The decisive factor is not that one performs these actions, but does so with insight into their contemplative function and with the motivation of letting go of ego and manifesting fundamental humaneness.1094 De Wit refers to Meister Eckhart who notes that, We ought not to think of building holiness upon action; we ought to build it upon a way of being, for it is not what we do that makes us holy, but we ought to make holy what we do. However holy the works may be, they do not, as works, make us at all holy; but, as we are holy and have being, to that extent we make all our works holy, be it eating, sleeping, keeping vigil or whatever it may be. It does not matter what men may do whose being is mean; nothing will come of it. Take good heed: we ought to do everything we can to be good; it does not matter so much what we may do, or what kind of works ours may be. What matters is the ground on which the works are Actions and praxes, important as they are, are only part of the equation of holiness. They are secondary to grace — the movement of God in each person's life. 3.5. Role of the Teacher According to De Wit, the very existence of a tradition depends on its ability to transmit its insights and knowledge, skills and methods. This involves not only the transmission of a particular viewpoint or insight, but communicative and behavioral skills and methods designed to turn the person away from negative causes, and cultivate positive forces. As 1093 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 268-269. io94 De wit> jhe Spiritual Path, 270-271. 1095 Meister Eckhart, The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises, and Defense, in Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. and intro. Edmund Colledge, osa, and Bernard McGinn (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1981), 250-251. 249 contemplative traditions are embodied by their practitioners; transmission of the tradition is most important in the relationship between the spiritual teacher and student. Guidance of a person through the states or stages of the contemplative way makes up the know-how that is transmitted by the tradition. This transmission is particularly significant from a psychological perspective.1096 What follows is a discussion of the role of the teacher in contemplative psychology and in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. De Wit speaks of a mentor in the spiritual traditions as one who "minds our business, someone who is concerned with our mental growth."1097 He notes that these are, within the Christian tradition, abbas and magisters — pastors and elders.1098 In monastic Christianity, these mentors occupy a very personal place1099 — the relationship is all-encompassing and personal such that he or she knows one's self and ego well and can therefore provide personal instruction. These instructions are transmitted verbally as well as through the mentor's exemplification of a certain way of being.1100 In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the starets — elder — is spoken of in a way akin to De Wit's description of the mentor. The role of the starets was foreshadowed in the New Testament by Saint Paul who initiated people into the Christian life, was directly involved in their subsequent struggles, cared and suffered for them as a parent throughout the long process of development during which Christ was being 'formed' within them, preached the 1096 De Wit> Contemplative Psychology, 117, 122. 1097 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 21 A. 1098 De wit; The Spiritual Path, 273. 1099 De wit> The Spiritual Path, 275. noo De wit) The Spiritual Path, 21 A. 250 word to them, bore their burdens, made their joys and sorrows his own, shared himself with them, and identified his own life with theirs.1101 According to Dostoevsky, a starets is one who takes your soul, your will, into his soul and his will.1102 He or she is one who is ready to take upon him or herself the task and difficulties of caring for a soul desirous of salvation.1103 The starets is a person of inward peace and attentiveness to the Holy Spirit; someone wise in the experience of Divine truth and blessed with the grace of fatherhood or motherhood in the Spirit. He or she has a charism of guiding others on the Way. What the starets offers spiritual children is a personal relationship, and not mainly moral instructions or a rule of life.1104 The personal relationship between the starets — spiritual elder1105 — and his or her child in God is of crucial importance for any 1101 Ware, The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, viii-ix. 1102 "What then, is an elder? An elder is a man who takes your soul and your will into his soul and will. Having chosen your elder, you renounce your will and yield it to him in complete submission and complete self- abnegation. This novitiate, this terrible discipline is accepted voluntarily by the man who consecrates himself to this life in the hope fha after a long novitiate he will attain to such a degree of self-mastery and self-conquest that at last he will, after a life of obedience, achieve complete freedom, that is to say, freedom from himself, and so escape the fate of those who have lived their whole lives without finding themselves in themselves. The invention, that is to say, the institution of elders, is not based on any dieory, but has evolved in the East from a practice that today goes back over a thousand years. The obligations due to an elder have nothing to do with the ordinary 'obedience', which has always existed in our Russian monasteries. The elder's disciples must always be ready to make confession to him, and there must be an indissoluble bond between the elder and his followers." Feodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamaspv, vol. i, trans, by David Magarshack (Harmmondsworth: Penguin, 1958), 28. 1103 Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 285. 1104 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 95. 1105 As noted by Ware, The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, vii-ix, there are two forms of apostolic succession within the life of the Church. "First there is the visible succession of the hierarchy, the unbroken series of bishops (...). Alongside this, largely hidden, existing on a 'charismatic' rather than an official level, there is secondly the apostolic succession of the spiritual fathers and mothers is each generation of the Church - the succession of the saints, stretching from apostolic age to our own day (...). Both types of succession are essential for the true functioning of the Body of Christ, and it is through their interaction that the life of the Church on earth is accomplished." 251 understanding of Eastern Christian spirituality.1106 It is a fundamental element in the tradition of hesychasm,1107 and provides the true key to nineteenth-century Russian Church life.1108 As the relationship between the starets and his or her spiritual child is always personal, the starets is only able to help those specifically sent by the Spirit and can only help another if the other seriously desires to change his or her way of life, and open his or her heart to the starets in loving trust. Within the relationship, the starets waits upon the will and voice of the Holy Spirit, comes to understand the distinctive character of each person through attentive watchfulness and listening, transmits the unique will of God to each aspirant, and leads him or her to spiritual maturity such that the aspirant can make personal decisions for oneself. The starets assists his or her disciple by revealing one's true face to each aspirant; revealing one's pattern of life - one's walking, eating, sitting, looking; and speaking both words of counsel and those that are creative and life-giving. All of this is possible only because of the personal love that the starets has for each of his or her spiritual children. Spiritual direction is considered to be "the art of arts and science of sciences"1110 in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. A duty of the gnostic, 'the one who knows,' spiritual direction is the discernment of spirits {diakrisis) put into practice. Among the spiritual fathers, there were degrees of diakrisis: "The diakritikos (discerning person) could at the same time be dioratikos, one who had the gift of insight, even of kardiognosis (knowledge of the heart)."1111 1106 ware> The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, vii. 1107 Dimitri Brady, "Starets," in The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, 460-461. 1108 Ware, The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, xi. 1109 Ware, The Orthodox Way (1995), 95-97. 1110 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 2.16, as quoted by Ware, The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, xxvi. 1111 Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 91. 252 The gift of discernment joined to that of 'prophecy,' being able to speak in the name of God, makes the perfect spiritual father.1112 According to St. John Climacus and St. Symeon the New Theologian, the spiritual father or mother is described as doctor, counselor, intercessor, mediator, and sponsor. As a spiritual healer or physician (iatros), the starets applies healing for the disease of sinfulness and the entire inner life of the aspirant. As counselor (sumboulos), he or she heals by words, advice, counsel, and silence. The word of the starets is a word of power, saving and regenerating; his or her silence heals by virtue of presence. As intercessor (presbeutes), the starets heals by prayer. St. John Climacus noted: "A shepherd is pre-eminendy he that is able to seek out and set aright his lost, rational sheep by means of guilelessness, zeal, and prayer."1113 As mediator (mesites), the starets not only prays for his or her spiritual children, but through intercession, reconciles them to God.1114 The starets mediation works in both a Godward direction, such that through his or her intercession he or she represents one's children before the throne of heaven; and in a manward direction such that he or she represents God to one's children so that his or her instructions have the value of the word of God.1115 As a sponsor [anadochos), a starets assumes responsibility for another — bearing the burden of one's spiritual children's temptations and 1112 Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, 97. 1113 St. John Climacus, Ad Pastorem 1 (To the Shepherd), PG 88: 1165B (sometimes treated as the thirty-first step in the Eadder of Divine Ascent). English translation by Archimandrite Lazarus (Moore), The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Boston, MA: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978), 231. liu "This does not lose sight of the fact that, in the full and strict sense, there is only one mediator between God and man —Jesus Christ the Theanthropos (cf. 1 Tim 2:5); the mediation of the spiritual father is secondary to that of Christ and dependent upon it." (See Ware, The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, xv). 1115 Metropolitan Kallistos notes that, "Since the spiritual father is the intermediary who has free access to the royal presence and so is able to introduce others to the Great King, it follows that no one should dare to assume the ministry of eldership unless he possesses personal experience of God. This is the basic and essential qualification of the spiritual father: direct inspiration by the Holy Spirit." (See Ware, The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, xvi). 253 guilt. The starets lays down his or her soul on behalf of the soul of one's neighbour in all .. 1116 matters. According to De Wit, the goal of spiritual guidance in contemplative traditions is the same: [Wjhere there is growth, there can also be stagnation or lopsided growth; where there is growth, there is also the chance that the development will be hindered. The task of the mentor is to aid the practitioner in avoiding these obstacles where possible. There are many aspects to this and most spiritual traditions have access to an extensive contemplative psychological knowledge about the kinds of obstacles that can arise and about the disciplines that can help us to overcome them. For the most part, this knowledge is passed on orally in the contact between master and student, whereas some of it is committed to writing.1117 De Wit directs his exploration to two general themes: the nature and development of the relationship of trust between mentor and student, and the way in which the mentor can help the student in dealing with obstacles along the spiritual path. An elaboration of each of these themes follows. According to De Wit, the mentor's most important task is to provide the student with instructions tailored to that particular student's needs.1118 Spiritual in nature, this relationship between student and mentor challenges one's egocentric mentality which strives for safety and security and does not want any mentor — let alone a competent one.1119 Discerning one's mentor is here critical.1120 This requires getting to know one another well and growing to trust each other's ability. St. John Climacus exhorts people to choose a guide wisely so that "there is no mistaking the sailor for the helmsman, the patient for the doctor, the passionate 1116 ware> The Spiritual Father in Saint John Climacus and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, xii-xxvii. "17 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 275. 1118 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 275. 1119 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 281. 1120 See De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 276-282 for De Wit's cautions and tendencies to be aware of regarding selection of a mentor. 1121 De Wit> The Spiritual Path, 278. 254 for the dispassionate man, the sea for the harbour — with the resulting shipwreck of our soul. But having once entered the stadium of holy living and obedience, we can no longer start criticizing the umpire, even if we should notice some faults in him."1122 Expressed in Christian terms, the process of guidance, according to De Wit, [A]ims at creating room for the activity of the Holy Spirit, so that the student's egocentric experience of reality can be made transparent, and the Spirit's activity can be discovered in and work from the person's own heart. Therefore, in a very fundamental sense, guidance is also an expression of charity and of true care; and at the same time, guidance is an expression of insight into the psychology of the worldly person. As guides, we can give this kind of insight only if we ourselves are experienced in viewing our own egocentric experience of reality from the perspective of the open space of our fundamental humaneness. Our own egocentricity — our profane acting, speaking and thinking — then becomes, in a certain sense, an instrument, a valuable source of knowledge.1123 De Wit emphasizes that, for guidance to begin, a student must offer a point of application. As well, he or she must be prepared to allow the mentor to see what becomes visible as cracks appear in ego's fortification.1124 For this to be possible, De Wit notes that a number of things related to conversion must have occurred beforehand. What follow is an explanation of these factors. According to De Wit, moments of conversion are double-sided. These moments present as instances of freedom that simultaneously make one aware that one is being held captive. In Christian terms, one here becomes a sinner-in-the-process-of-conversion. In this 1122 St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 4: Obedience, in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, 92. The Way of a Pilgrim presents a model of a wholesome starets who exercises his role with the pilgrim lovingly and with wisdom. The relationship is healing and facilitates a further development of the strannik's relationship with God, himself, others and creation. It also helps him to become all that he is called to be. Such a healthy relationship between a starets and directee is not always, however, the case. Though it is a relationship of trust (with its accompanying imbalance of power), it is fraught with many potential traps, abuses of power, transferences and projections. The health of the relationship depends on the maturity and development (human, spiritual, intellectual) of both the director and directee. 1123 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 285. 1124 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 285. 255 state, the person senses that another attitude in life exists, the profane world begins to lose its self-evident quality, and the psychology of ego begins to collapse.1125 Tremendous doubt often results from moments of conversion. This doubt is a very critical attitude toward self, others, the world and religiosity arising from the awareness that one is fooling one's self. Restlessness on the emotional level, a critical attitude on the intellectual level, and a desire not to become further misguided, results. One also begins to see one's profane mentality and is stunned by it. "Sinner" is accentuated more than conversion in "sinner-in-the-process-of-conversion." According to De Wit, a mentor's counsel during this phase would be to stop, take a break, slow down, spiritually catch one's breath, put one's self in a situation of external stability, and simply be.1126 Once external stability, the simple removal of disruptive external situations, has been acquired, room for further development arises. One here discovers that one's resdessness and fear of life are created and maintained through one's own mind. Relating to someone whom one can trustingly speak about self as well as the restlessness and fear within, and who knows the spiritual path personally, is essential at this time. This mentor, who becomes a spiritual friend, will affirm that the discovery of one's inner restlessness is valuable, necessary, and manageable. One's mentor encourages work with and on internal obstacles. As one discovers these obstacles through one's practice of the disciplines, internal stability takes . 1127 root. Internal stability, which is a mental steadfastness that can accommodate the turbulent movements of one's mind, is a fruit of one's contemplative practice. It accompanies a mental 1125 De wit> The Spiritual Path, 285-286. 1126 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 286-288. 1127 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 288-289. 256 shift from being a .rz#/z Through honesty with oneself, one begins to feel more joyful, and have increasing clarity. Ego is exposed, and one comes to recognize that the self is the creator of one's egocentric experience of reality. Internal stability leads to a more intimate attitude in life. This internal stability has several characteristics. The first is honesty with regard to one's world of thoughts and innermost feelings. This honesty with self leads one to the discovery of hidden emotions. The second is self-acceptance such that one gradually befriends oneself as one is. This creates room for surrendering or revealing one's profane mentality to self and God. The third is discernment or diakrisis which enables one to see what comes from one's profane mind, versus from the Holy Spirit. Diakrisis provides a sense of direction as one searches for ways to enable one's fundamental humaneness to flourish. The fourth is faith — a sense of trust in the Way.1129 The characteristics of internal stability make a further attitude toward one's surroundings arise. One gradually discovers that the emotions themselves contain the obstacles, and not one's surroundings, others and objects toward which one's egocentric emotions are directed. Certain situations no longer need to be avoided — one discovers that, in working with one's mind directly, it is possible to work with, see through and free oneself from egocentric emotions and representations directly. The discipline practiced is that of immediately recognizing and letting go of egocentric tendencies and stepping back into egolessness. In this way, everyday situations become fertile soil for one's practices.1130 1128 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 290-291. 1129 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 291-292. 1130 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 292. 257 While certain situations continue to trigger egocentric emotions, they can now be overcome through reflecting on the egocentric emotions and movement of the mind by way of spiritual disciplines. This results in an uncovering of ego as well as one's fundamental humaneness. Uncovering one's fundamental humaneness becomes a concrete mental skill by which one leaves egocentric emotions and ideas behind. The world of phenomena then no longer appears ego-bound, but is revealed in its original nakedness. In and through this process, a sense of the fundamental sacredness of the world begins to form.1131 As one's internal stability develops, the relationship to one's mentor shifts from the kind of trust one has in a good friend, to devotion and admiration. De Wit notes that, in the spiritual sense, admiration evokes trust, surrender and a readiness to reveal one's self. This manifests as simplicity in conversation, and complete nakedness — both of which make true contact with the mentor possible. De Wit asserts that, In this contact, we also see the extent of the insight and care that the mentor employs in working with the manifestations of our ego. Our mentor exemplifies this for us. We gradually see the degree to which the mentor lives from the perspective of fundamental humaneness and is its embodiment. Then we begin to realize that our admiration for the mentor is none other than our dedication to and longing for our own true humaneness. When internal stability develops, one gradually gains skill working with ego and internal obstacles along the spiritual path. As well, one acquires familiarity with the movements of one's mind and adeptness in the disciplines that one practices. This, however, can become routine and result in a new kind of disbelief or uncertainty: whether or not there is a Path at all, and whether one will ever reach one's goal. Despair or akedia can arise in these moments. De Wit notes that, in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, akedia is viewed as a great sin 1131 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 292-293. 1132 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 295. 258 and existential problem for the practitioner. This total despair is complete openness that is not yet recognized as such. To arrive at recognition, persevering in one's discipline is essential.1133 According to De Wit, the Path itself and one's ambition to make progress along it here become the hidden obstacles. The converse of subtle ambition is the experience of despair. When one lets go of ambition, resting in complete openness becomes possible, and internal stability deepens into a stability within or hidden stability. Theistically, this stability is very close to hidden interaction with God, to the hidden activity of the Holy Spirit within us. While internal and external stability are relevant to progress along the Way — to working with one's profane side and rising above it — stability within or hidden stability is a state of being. De Wit notes that many traditions use the term sacredness or holiness for this state. In this state and without noticing, life outside ego and every spiritual path, is possible, since the path, according to De Wit, exists only as long as (and because) ego functions. In this state of being or stability within, one is in a blinding light that initially appears as darkness. De Wit notes that for St. John of the Cross this darkness was the light of the Holy Spirit.1134 In terms of contemplative psychology, stability within is resting in the state of complete clarity and openness. When one learns to rest in it, unconditional, unsolicited joy in life, courage in life and compassion are made manifest. He notes that many traditions speak of stability within as an internal mentor that becomes one's guide. Without the interference of ego, one can understand the wordless speech of this mentor. Further, one discovers that there is 1133 De Wit> The Spiritual Path, 295-297. 1134 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 297-298. 259 no difference between one's external and internal mentor — both are none other than the manifestation of one's own fundamental humaneness1135 — in Christian terms: Christ within. De Wit asserts that, from the final perspective of the stability within, the Path, ego, and all contemplative psychology are illusions. Precisely, however, because of this truth, one can and should value the spiritual traditions: through their psychological insight, and out of compassion, they have developed powerful and effective spiritual disciplines to free persons from these illusions.1136 From an Eastern Christian perspective, however, the 'what' of the praxes, when they flow out of one's relationship with God, actually deepen one's relationship with the 'Who' - Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The path is not an illusion, but the Person of Christ. Spiritual praxes are a means of facilitating conceptless union with the Divine. Based on the framework De Wit proposes and the Eastern Christian elements that have been identified, it is clear that the Eastern Christian spiritual path is a journey toward God and one's true self. Kinesis (movement) (torn genesis to stasis (birth to fullness of being), frames the path. This journey occurs in the context of both a personal faith relationship with God and a sacramental faith community. Created according to the image and likeness of God and gifted with free will, one can choose to cooperate freely with God (synergeia) so as to grow in likeness to Christ. In so doing, one lets go of the "old man" (bound by the passions, philautia, ignorance, confusion and sin), and grows progressively in the "new man" (free to be one's true self). In this movement (kinesis), the cardinal virtues, wisdom, insight, and contemplation are acquired. 1135 De \jpjt) The Spiritual'Path, 298-299. mf> De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 299. 260 Along the spiritual path, various spiritual states can be experienced: praktike, physike, and theoria or conceptless union with God. Ascetical/mystical and sacramental/liturgical praxes — both positive and negative — support movements between these states. A spiritual elder — if one is blessed with one — might accompany and guide the person through spiritual development toward deepened relationship with one self, God, others and the world. 3.6. Schema of Contemplative Psychology From the key elements noted above, visual schemas can be formulated. What follows are several diagrams: Figure 1: A General Framework of Contemplative Psychology, depicting an overall framework of contemplative psychology including key concepts employed by De Wit.1137 Figure 2: An Eastern Christian Contemplative Psychology, outlining a potential Eastern Christian interpretation of contemplative psychology utilizing terminology and disciplines specific to the tradition. While much further research could be pursued to elaborate on and clarify both of these schematics, they provide an initial attempt to simplify and summarize the key points highlighted in contemplative psychology from both perspectives. Further to Figures 1 and 2 are three additional diagrams that elaborate on the process of formation of ego or philautia, and the breaking free from the passions as one grows in Christ- likeness. They also depict the two-way movement of challenging passions while fostering virtues that occurs in the process of conversion of heart. Figure 3: Bondage and Healing, illustrates how the human heart (created according to the image and likeness of God), becomes wounded through fractured relationships and then imprisoned by the passions. It further delineates how God's energies penetrate one's stony, imprisoned heart, presenting 1137 -j^g schema itself has been reviewed by De Wit and he has given his acknowledgement to it. (e-mail communication 24 March 2003 and 12 April 2008). 261 truth and love amidst lies and pain. With both Truth and die lies swirling in the heart vying for dominance, one's inner world is left in tension. If one, in co-operation with God, chooses Truth and orients one's will and the powers of the soul towards it, Truth and the virtues become stronger, leaving no room nor access for sin. The imprisoning wall is then gradually dismanded, and one is free to receive love, become more Christ-like, and externalize this conversion of heart in one's words and actions. Figure 4: The Passion-bound Heart, depicts the imprisoning of the heart by philautia, and the passions that flow out of it. Figure 5: The Virtuous Heart, portrays the fruit born in the heart when the virtues are fostered. Having completed a discussion of key elements of contemplative psychology — including understandings of the person and experience of reality, the spiritual path or way, mind and knowledge, spiritual practices or disciplines, and the role of the teacher — as well as Eastern Christian perspectives regarding many of these elements, we now turn our attention toward utilizing the formulated Eastern Christian Contemplative Psychology as a heuristic tool to re read The Way of a Pilgrim. 262 s*s*l CO • • 2 E 8 S §• g CC *»8 ,Sl8gl (U I! E o = a.2£>.<5 2i£l •3/ a OTT CTJ at; 5W«-JO g c ro tfL > ,c 5 o f '5> •a C/J to in 3 g E 3A j m PU ^ per s (0 UJ c ane n icov e I— /n UJ 7n in T3 3 hi s urn ; mz UoJ 'aT ££§* o i- ^, E ro i o nsc i g -Q o f Ohr WAR I TRA T o to If o ^ u ej ^ io ro ~ «>i3£ g"g S O o .2 «J !? i y a Q. > (0 S =3 CUILUI I O a . o o tu eve a a. < \ionth i o CTCto uj | (0 LU il 0} ,_; r\i es s rai n es t ro c a. a: a 8 H oc i! o 4> ...^ ' o *g £(0 = => UJ ^ S il O o o o q iimii K H 263 OS 11 ;i# Per : M heos E„ to e s-» »—4 O « If ? °9 *—» 9 ! >•§•.•& M +3 o 0> -S ~ I-I ? I«V£ II. I 5s" 3 o q^i S! — U 11 8 8 If! If ff «= c « "a » 9 • •S o Q= ; llll 111 1(0 ':• -c ! ~> "5 O i r~ ^„.._._,_. J po w " !Q lit I ...... j "c E o s ...... _;___ ._'.:. n nega l u |, — i_ 111 I % % S> > 8=2 rth) t o s i t h Go d ( 1 fill 1 ilil! £i ;i s (b i lipw i ^ 31 : 13 Hill !!! ! gene s ations l I o 1 W > >. o i ill ill 18 Ill 1.E §g£ Is UsJ- is?; i.|8 18 Sfes i at cc •^ s : £* *.S IIS ------j •iii ill, l! Hi » g •S sag yi 1 £* : .59 ^ -, « II '••«* i1 s; s pi ! 03 sO i 4ISS55I llff6 Figure 3: Bondage and Healing of the Human Heart Figure 3.1: Prior to the Fall, man and woman (created according to the image and likeness of God) were in perfect communion and relationship with God, self and each other. Figure 3.2: After the Fall, human beings became liable to corruption or disintegration (phtharsis), and sin. People were left to freely choose between good and evil. As a result of sinful choices, man and woman suffered fractured relation ships with God, self and others. Figure 3.3: Fractured relationships, breaches of trust, sin, lies, distorted think ing and dysfunctional behaviour are experienced within and between persons and God. These elements are perpetuated through successive generations. «« V Figure 3.4: Within the context of fractured relationships, repeated experiences of hurt, loss, grief and fractured trust result in the development of distorted conceptual images and lies within the person's heart and mind. The person begins to allow philautia (false self-love) to form. *HiLA\yf& Figure 3.5: Distorted conceptual images of God, self, others and world further develop and are stored in one's imagination, body and memory. Distrust and grief heighten, and evil thoughts plague the person. Philau tia engulfs the heart, closing the person off from life-giving relationships based in God and in Truth. Experiences are interpreted in such as way as to reinforce one's distorted conceptual images and the lies. pHluSftfc 265 Figure 3: Bondage and Healing of the Human Heart (Cont'd) Figure 3.6: The person's heart and mind become bound by philau tia. Self-will then leads to a coupling with evil thoughts. Bondage of the powers of the soul by philautia (the mother of all the passions) occurs, leading to the growth of the passions within - gluttony, fornication, love of money, discontent, anger, despon dency, vainglory, pride. These manifest in one's words, and actions, and further fractures in relationships result. One's distorted conceptual images and the lies within are reinforced and become fixed. See Figure 4: The Passion-bound Heart. Figure 3.7: Despite the heart having been hardened under the grip of philautia and the passions, experiences of Truth and of God present to the person. The person's belief in and adherence to fixed lies and conceptual images result in a rejection of Truth. Figure 3.8: God's Energies and Truth, however, chisel away at philautia, and penetrate one's heart and mind. This challenges one's distorted conceptual images, experiences of life, as well as the lies harboured in one's memory, body and imagination. Lies and Truth vie for dominance, creat ing tension in the person - one is left to choose between them. If one, in co-operation with God, chooses Truth and orients one's will and the powers of the soul toward it, Truth and the virtues become stronger. No room nor access for sin, evil thoughts, or the passions remains; the lies and distorted conceptual images loose their grip and philautia melts away. The powers of the soul become re-oriented TRUTH toward virtuousness and Christ-likeness - a movement that fosters healing of relationships with God, self, others and creation, and manifests in one's words and speech. Figure 3.9: As Truth in-fills the heart and mind, lies and evil thoughts are rejected by the person. No longer entertained, their access to the person dwindles; the passions have no place to take root. Virtuousness and Christ-likeness manifest in the person's heart and mind and outpour in one's action and speech. Relationships with self, God, others and the world become grounded in love and Truth. See Figure 5: The Virtuous Heart. 266 s o >—». TV ^uic-r> c o 'S ° 2 c (9 O £ I CU 'Z V hi M *\ ^< u s w c 'S O e o a v[/) Q 267 s. 268 CHAPTER 4: RE-READING THE WAY OF A PILGRIM This chapter will be an application of contemplative psychology (largely in its Eastern Christian formulation), as a heuristic tool to The Way of a Pilgrim, with the aim of iUumining the psychological insights embedded in this Eastern Christian text. More specifically, it will be an exploration of the ways in which the pilgrim's experience of reality (his conceptual images) shifts throughout his life and along his contemplative journey as he progresses from ego to humaneness in De Wit's terminology, or from being disintegrated to deified, in the Eastern Christian perspective. Rather than overburden the text with explicit references to the writings of De Wit, this chapter will make the assumption that the reader has assimilated the material from Chapter 3 and can make the implicit connections. The terminology will largely be in its Eastern Christian form rather than in De Wit's formulation so as not to unnecessarily impose foreign constructs upon a venerable tradition that has its own forms and language well established, and which would be in no small measure violated by an imposition of such outside categorizations. Central to this study will be an analysis of how the pilgrim's engagement in spiritual disciplines of thought, word and action throughout his life — as depicted by his practice of the Jesus prayer, reading the Bible, ascetic watchfulness, meditation, and the whole uninterrupted practice of the presence of God to which the Philokalia is the guide — facilitate his spiritual maturation and transformation. The intent of these disciplines is to bring the pilgrim to his ultimate goal of unceasing prayer and intimate communion with God, creation, self and others. Shifts in the pilgrim's experience of reality resulting from him living out a Christian way of life, particularly those that indicate a movement from perceptual or conceptual confusion or ignorance to perceptual, conceptual and Divine knowledge, will be noted. It is anticipated that 269 the pilgrim's shifting experience of reality gradually enables him to actualize in himself personal love and knowledge of God, his own existence as a human being, his capacity to cooperate with God in fulfilling the innermost purposes of creation, and his ability to love and serve his neighbour and creation.1138 While analyzing the changes in the person of the strannik, this author would like to re iterate that I am aware that the strannik is a literary character. At the same time, however, because of the care taken by the various spiritual authorities in editing the work, the pilgrim is more than simply a fictional figure.1139 Therefore, the changes in the person of the strannik will be approached as reflections of what one might expect to see in a real person growing spiritual throughout life, as well as by pursuing the spiritual path of hesychasm. In providing a re-reading of The Way of a Pilgrim utilizing contemplative psychology in its Eastern Christian formulation, this chapter will first introduce what is known of the strannik's background, his life experiences prior to his formal pilgrimage, and his concept of humanity. Second, it will map his pilgrimage throughout the Russian Empire after the loss of his wife and having set out as a strannik. Third, it will outline his internal pilgrimage of transformation as presented in the First, Second, Third and Fourth Meetings with his spiritual elder. Particular attention will be given to his shifting experience of reality as depicted through changes in his relationships with himself, God, others and the world; his thoughts, words and actions; spiritual maturation; and development of both informal and formal contemplative structures throughout the course of his life, and during his wanderings as a strannik. 1138 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 428. 1139 See Section 2.8 of this dissertation. 270 4.1. The Strannik's Life Prior to His Formal Pilgrimage From the opening lines of The Way of a Pilgrim, the reader is provided with some initial and succinct autobiographical detail of the character of the pilgrim: "By the mercy of God I am a Christian; by my deeds, a great sinner; and by vocation a homeless pilgrim, a man of mean estate."1140 Much of the additional information of the character and early life of the pilgrim is recounted in the third meeting of the pilgrim with his spiritual elder on 20 December 1859.1141 Further details are gleaned from other accounts shared by the pilgrim during his first, second and fourth meetings held respectively on 6 November,1142 13 December,1143 and 23 December,1144 1859. What follows is a brief description of the strannik's life prior to commencing on his formal pilgrimage. This will provide some insight into life experiences that coloured his perceptions of reality and formulated ego within him. It will also illumine aspects of his early spiritual development, thereby making his spiritual maturation through his formal pilgrimage more apparent. By the pilgrim's account, he was born in a village of the Orel province and had a peasant upbringing. Following the death of his parents when he was two years of age, he and his ten year-old brother were taken in and raised by their elderly grandparents.1145 He attended all the nm The Pilgrim's Tale, A9. 1141 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:3. 1142 The Pilgrim's Tale, 67:31. 1143 The Pilgrim's Tale, 68:3. 1144 The Pilgrim's Tale, 140:25. 1145 It can be speculated that the pilgrim would have experienced potential trauma due to the loss of both of his parents at age 2, and die subsequent move to his grandparents. This may have left a painful memory, and contributed to his perception of reality as well as formulation of ego. As the circumstances surrounding his parents' death are unknown, it is not possible even to hypothesize how the experience might have affected him. Nonetheless, from what we understand today, his normal development would have likely been impacted, and grief been born in his heart. Attachments to others would potentially have been compromised as a result of the loss of his primary trust bond with his mother and father. It may, therefore, have been more difficult for him to trust others and enter into intimate relationships. This would have been die soil in which ego would have taken root. It also may account for his later challenges relating to people along his journeys. 271 services at the church and prayed frequently at home with diem. The pilgrim spent much time witii his grandfather. It was he who taught him to read, while a scrivener from the local administration who frequendy stayed at his grandfather's inn taught him to write. Though it was unusual for a peasant to learn to read and write, his grandfather deemed it to be important for him, particularly when he realized that his grandson, on account of a widiered arm, would be unsuited for work on the land later in life. The pilgrim recounted his grandfadier's words: "God has now disclosed to you reading and writing. You'll become a somebody, so thank the Lord for this and pray often." The pilgrim's grandmother died when he was seventeen years of age. Shordy thereafter, his grandfather insisted that the pilgrim marry, and he arranged a marriage for him with a decent and good young woman. They lived a happy and devout life together with his grandfather and inherited everything from him when he died one year later. The pilgrim and his wife, however, were soon afterward left destitute. Jealous of his having received his grandfather's inheritance, die pilgrim's brother burned the inn down and stole all of his money. Narrowly escaping the fire, the pilgrim and his wife were left with nothing1148 but the family Bible and their night clothes. Needing to begin again, he and his wife borrowed funds to build a small hut and lived thereafter as cotters. His twenty-three year old wife, however, took ill with a high fever two years later, and on the ninth Likewise, being raised by elderly grandparents may have also coloured his perception of reality. Having been raised from age 2 to 19 by his grandparents may have impacted his perception and conceptual images of men and women, productivity, life and himself. This may, therefore, have also contributed to ego. 1146 The Pilgrim's Tale, 103:11-13. 1147 This experience would have likely further traumatized the pilgrim and contributed to the formulation of ego. His and his wife's near-death experience may well have triggered memories of the death of his own parents. ins -phe pOVerty of being left with nothing is reminiscent of him having lost everything when his parents died. Much may potentially have been triggered by this event. This was not the first time that the pilgrim had to begin life anew. Ego would likely have further formed. 272 day of her illness and after having received communion, died.1149 The pilgrim, approximately nineteen years of age,1150 was then left alone and with nothing - unable to support himself except through begging for alms. Stricken with grief, he sold their hut for twenty rubles and distributed both his and his wife's clothing among the poor. Then, with his permanent discharge passport, Bible, and a pouch of dried crusts in hand, he went where his eyes pointed him - off first to Kyiv.1151 Various aspects of the pilgrim's physical state are revealed throughout the narratives. He notes having a withered left arm, a deformity that resulted from of an incident during which his brother pushed him off a stove. The pilgrim was seven years of age at the time, and his injured left arm eventually withered away. Due to this infirmity, he was unable to feed himself or do manual labour.1152 It is also noted that he had rheumatism in his back and legs.11 3 He wore an old rag of a cap upon his head, and worn-out shoes on his cloth-wrapped feet. l He drank only water — not tea nor vodka — not because of temperance, but because he had been sick for a long time1156 and any strong drink caused him harm.1157 1149 Death was becoming a common experience for the pilgrim. The loss of his wife, however, would have been a further trauma for him. As she was his primary support and intimate other, her loss may well have triggered issues related to die loss of his mother. Ego could have become more developed and firmly fixed as a result. 1150 At the end of the Third Meeting with his spiritual elder, on December 20, 1859, he notes that he is uiirty three years of age, and has been wandering non-stop from place to place for fourteen years since his departure for Kyiv following the death of his wife. This would have made him nineteen or twenty at the outset of his pilgrimage. (See The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:9-16). 1151 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:9-13. 1152 fjjg rea(jer is not; advised of the circumstances surrounding the pilgrim's brother pushing him off of the stove and his arm being injured. One does not know if it was accidental or purposeful, but only that it occurred. Given diat the pilgrim's arm withered, his arm would have had to have been significantly injured, and the pilgrim left in much pain. This would likely have been a furdier trauma for him. Becoming disabled at such a young age (7) would have been potentially overwhelming — and not just for him, but for his grandparents and his brother as well. The grief and difficulty he would have had coping with his disability may have been quite significant. This too, could have potentially contributed to ego, his self-concept, concept of others, and that of God. 1153 The Pilgrim's Tale, 67:12-13. 1154 The Pilgrim's Tale, 70:15-16. 1155 The Pilgrim's Tale, 116:10-15. ii56 iijg pilgrim's long-standing illness, pain and disability may well have contributed to his perception of life, his self-concept and ego. Ill, disabled, and in pain, simple activities of daily living may have presented significant 273 The pilgrim speaks of several relationships prior to the commencement of his pilgrimage. Of particular import were his parents, grandparents, brother, wife, the Bible, a scrivener, God, and the Church. While little is said of his parents or his grandmother — die mistress of the house — it is assumed that he had great affection for diem. His grandmother must have taken care of many things for bodi him and his grandfather, as his grandfadier, upon her death, commented: "how can we make do without a woman?" His grandfather is described as a well-to-do, honest old man who attended church regularly, read the Bible often, and was kind to the travelers who stopped at the inn he owned on the main road of town. It was he who taught the pilgrim to read using the Bible, and when he became hard of seeing, had the pilgrim read from it while he listened and corrected him. His grandfadier also instructed him in die ways of Christian living, teaching him how to pray and taking him to all the services at the church. Wanting to ensure that the pilgrim had someone to assist and care for him following his wife's (and eventually his own death) his grandfadier, over-ruling the pilgrim's objection, had him marry. Bidding farewell to his grandson prior to his own death, he counseled: My house and the entire inheritance are yours. Live according to your conscience; do not deceive anyone; and pray all the more so to God. Everything comes from him. Do not hope in anything but God. Go to church, read the Bible, and remember me and the old lady. The money is yours too, a thousand rubles. Take care not to spend it to no purpose, but don't be miserly either. Give to the poor and to God's church.1159 challenges. He was not able to function independently, take care of himself, nor provide for another. This certainly could have impacted ego and coloured his oudook on life. "57 The Pilgrim's Tale, 133:26-29. 1158 The Pilgrim's Tale, 103:19. i'59 The Pilgrim's Tale, 103. 274 These words appear to have impressed themselves deeply upon the pilgrim, as did the image of his grandfather as a man of God, provider, guardian, Godfather, teacher, spiritual guide, and authority — something he likely aspired to. The pilgrim's brother, who was eight years his senior and who had been playful as a youngster, is described as having gradually ruined himself. It does not appear that the two were very close, as the pilgrim spent most of his time with his grandfather. As an adolescent, his brother began to run about the village, drink excessively and carouse, thereby causing ceaseless worry and concern to his grandfather. Upon being left out of his grandfather's inheritance due to his reckless living, he became envious of and angry toward the pilgrim. The pilgrim noted that the enemy "helped him to such an extent that he even intended to kill"1160 his younger brother. His vengeance escalated, leading him to steal the pilgrim's money, and attempt to kill both the pilgrim and his wife by setting fire to the inn. He then left them without a trace, by all accounts drinking and bragging about what he had done. His brother's choices and their sinful effects on him seem to have etched themselves deeply in his mind and heart.1161 His brother's example and life choices left the pilgrim with an image of someone bound by passions: anger, envy, drunkenness, murderousness, self-centeredness, and self-ruin — something that he, no doubt, did not wish to become. The pilgrim's wife is a further relationship of significance. Described as a decent and good young woman, she was twenty years of age at the time of their marriage. She would have 1160 jfa pngrim's Tale, 103:34-35. 1161 The pilgrim's brother — violent, threatening and aggressive toward him — may well have had a significant impact on the pilgrim. His brother's aggression certainly resulted in him being dependent on his grandfather for protection, and his grandparents for self-care. The abusiveness may have also left him with profound emotional scars, compromised self-esteem, poor social skills, and fundamental fractures of trust. This may have potentially impacted his ability to relate to himself, God, and others (evidenced by his inability to make decisions or initiate choices — such as finding a wife for example — on his own). One can imagine that his grandfather was unable to be constantly with him, thus leaving him vulnerable to his brother's whims. This, however, is more in the area of speculation as the text itself does not record such interactions. 275 become mistress of the house following her marriage to the pilgrim, and responsible for taking care of both the pilgrim and his grandfather, just as his grandmother had. She was skilled with her hands, a master at weaving, spinning, and sewing. Following the loss of the inn, she worked hard sewing day and night, and feeding the pilgrim. She had a profound love for the Bible, and deep gratitude that they had it to comfort them in their time of grief. She was desirous of hearing its words read to her as she worked. The pilgrim's wife was a woman of prayer, joining her husband every morning in the reading of the Akathist of the Mother of God, and every night in the performing of a thousand prostrations so as not to be tempted. She took pleasure in prayer, though apparently without understanding it. The pilgrim's deep affection for his wife is evident in the intensity of grief he experienced upon her death when he recounted having been overcome with pain at the loss of her companionship.1162 She was his spouse, provider, caregiver, comforter, helper, and sister in Christ — someone he had come to profoundly trust. The pilgrim's relationship with the Bible — his constant companion since childhood,1163 and first and last treasure of his life1164 - is also noteworthy. During his upbringing, his grandfather often read, and later taught him how to read, from it. He often read Scripture to his grandparents — particularly Psalm 50 (51) Have mercy on me, o God — while they made prostrations or knelt in prayer. In his farewell directives to his grandson, his grandfather encouraged him to continue reading the Bible and, following his grandfather's death, the pilgrim assumed ownership of the family heirloom, which he held very dear. When the inn burned down, he and his wife took it alone with them, and commented, 'Glory be to God, at ii62 The pngrim's Tale, 105. 11,53 The Pilgrim's Tale, 70:20-21. 1164 The Pilgrim's Tale, 70:23. 276 least the Bible was spared; there is something to comfort us in our grief.' As his wife worked to support them, the pilgrim would read it to her,1166 and when he left on his pilgrimage to Kyiv after losing everyone and everything of importance to him, he immediately picked up his beloved Bible.1167 Together with a pouch of dried bread crusts, the Bible was his 1 • 1168 sole possession. The pilgrim also speaks of a scrivener who taught him how to write. Enthralled by how beautifully the scrivener wrote, the pilgrim would watch him and follow his example. He willingly received the scrivener's instructions, gifts of paper and ink, and assistance sharpening his quill. The gift of writing that the scrivener gave him, according to his grandfather, would enable him to "become a somebody."1169 The pilgrim imaged the scrivener — authority, teacher, and guide — as someone who empowered him, giving him a sense of dignity, ability and purpose. The pilgrim's relationship with the Church and its sacraments appears to have been life long. In the first line of the text, he emphasizes that he is a Christian1170— presumably fully received into the Church through Baptism, Chrismation and Holy Communion. The reader is told that his grandfather took him to Church on feast days1171 and to all the services at the Church,1172 as would have been in keeping with his obligation to raise his grandsons in the faith. He would, therefore, have been immersed in the riches of the Church's sacramental/liturgical life. Prior to his death, the strannik 's grandfather exhorted him to both 1165 The Pilgrim's Tale, 104:6-7. ii66 ji,e Pilgrim's Tale, 104:20. 1167 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:10. "«» The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:5-7. 1169 The Pilgrim's Tale, 103:12. mo The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:3. i"i The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:18-19. »72 The Pilgrim's Tale, 103:13. 277 attend and give to God's Church.1173 These were, it seems, of primary importance to him - and he hoped, to his grandson. Upon the death of his wife, the pilgrim made special note that she had received communion before her falling asleep in the Lord1174 — something which one would assume was important to him for the sake of her salvation. The pilgrim also participated in liturgical services and the Divine Liturgy as often as he could during his years of wandering, viewing these as the pinnacle of his spiritual experiences. The pilgrim's engagement in the Church's ascetical practices is also suggested. Through Church attendance, he would have been regularly exposed to preachers who would have expounded on the Word of God and taught him Christian morals, values and practices. They would have also, together with his grandfather, guided him in the ways of prayer and the Christian ascetical/mystical life. Though the text does not specifically indicate it, these instructions would have guided his thoughts, words and actions. Formal contemplative structures would have been the norm for him, as would have been engagement in both negative and positive praxes - for example, the keeping of the commandments, practice of the virtues, observing of fasts, almsgiving, bodily mortification, prayer, lighting of candles, and burying of the dead. The pilgrim's relationship with God prior to his departure on his pilgrimage appears to have been more formal than personal (though one cannot say for certain what experiences the strannik might have had that are not related in the story). It also seems to have been more rooted in obedience to what the Church, priests and his grandfather expected of him rather than in his own understanding of, or personal relationship with, both the Divine and the Church. His grandfather encouraged him upon his death to pray all the more so to God from 1173 The Pilgrim's Tale, 103:25-31. 1174 The Pilgrim's Tale, 104:36-37. 278 Whom everything comes, and not to hope in anything but God.1175 This suggests that his grandfather may have wanted the pilgrim to recognize that God, and not he, anyone or anything else was to be his source of provision for all things. The pilgrim's early prayer life also appears to have been more structured than relational. While he regularly read from the Word, likely received the sacraments, and practiced a life of prayer, his knowledge of interior prayer even up until his wife's falling asleep in Christ, appears to have been limited: [W]e had no idea about die interior prayer done in one's heart and had never even heard about it, but prayed only simply with the tongue and like dimwits turning somersaults, made prostrations without knowing why, still the desire for prayer was there and the long, external prayer done without understanding did not appear difficult but was performed with pleasure.1176 Though his conceptual and perceptual knowledge of prayer appears to have been as yet under developed, he engaged in it with pleasure and ease.1177 As regards spiritual maturity, it would seem that the pilgrim was in a stage of praktike prior to his departure on his pilgrimage (though, again, one cannot discount the possibility that he may have had other spiritual experiences that are not related to the reader). It is evident that he followed his grandfather's requests and a Christian way of life as best as he could - living according to his conscience, being truthful and honest, praying and reading the Bible, going to Church and giving to the poor. It would seem that those guiding him in the spiritual life were either only able to direct him insofar as they themselves had journeyed spiritually — that is, into the stage of praktike — or that he was only able to understand praktike up until that point in his spiritual life. As he suggests nothing in the text oiphysike theoria or theoria, it would 1175 The Pilgrim's Tale, 103:27-28. 1176 The Pilgrim's Tale, 104. 1177 The Pilgrim's Tale, 104:30-31. 279 seem that these stages of the spiritual life were as yet unknown to him when he embarked on his pilgrimage. One would postulate that the pilgrim's early life experiences shaped his initial concept of humanity and how he perceived himself, others and God. Several factors would have contributed to this concept. First, his concept of humanity would have been strongly influenced by the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition and its understanding of God, humankind, the fall, sin, Christ, redemption, deification and Gospel-living. Having been raised by his grandparents amidst an Eastern Christian community, its theology, liturgical life, and spirituality would have been the lens through which he would have viewed all of life. The parables and words of the frequendy read and heard Bible would have filled his mind, memory, and imagination, colouring his view of humanity and God. Second, having spent most of his time during his childhood and youth with his grandfather,1178 he would have been gready influenced by his grandfather's ways, values, love, honesty, care, kindness, commitment, virtuousness, selflessness, fear of God, and goodness. His grandfather's example would have gready affected the pilgrim's concept of humanity: his regard for travelers, the poor, his grandchildren, and his own wife would have provided him with understandings of the value of the human being and helped him develop eyes to see Christ in each person. The blessings the pilgrim received from his grandfather throughout his life and upon his death would have validated and encouraged him in his own goodness, dignity, worth and Christian way of life. The image of his grandfather would have stood in stark contrast to that of his brother, who willfully chose to live a life contrary to Christian morals and values. His brother would 1178 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:18. 280 have left him with an image of someone who had "ruined himself'1179 — someone bound by philautia and die passions. His brother is of the likeness of homo animimalis — something that the pilgrim himself could have chosen freely if he had wished. It is evident, however, that the pilgrim elected to live a life of virtue resembling that of his grandfather — a man of God — over a life of the passions, having witnessed where each would lead. At the beginning of his pilgrimage, the pilgrim was not so bound by the passions as was his brother. He appears to be an example of homo viator— in the state of passage moving toward Christ-likeness. The pilgrim's concept of humanity would have also been influenced by both loves and losses. His affections for his grandparents, wife, brother, and presumably his parents, seem to have been profound. The loss of each also seems to have significandy affected if not traumatized him, with the loss of his wife being most striking. After her rather sudden death, he noted he was unable to do anything: [S]uch sadness on account of my wife beset me that I did not know where I might end up. If I went into our hut and saw her clothes or some littie frock, I would howl and fall down senseless! Since I could no longer bear my anguish living at home, I sold the hut for twenty rubles. Whatever clothes of mine or my wife's were there, I distributed them all among the poor. Her death would have potentially triggered any unresolved grief, emotions, perceptions or memories that he might have held following the loss of his mother, grandmother, father and grandfather, as well as the loss of relationship with his brother. The death of his wife left him in anguish and need of separating himself from memories and grief. As she appears to have been the only one left to whom he was attached, he would have found himself completely alone following her death, with only the Bible as his companion and comfort. 1179 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:21. 1,80 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:3-8. 281 The pilgrim would have formulated (though undisclosed to the reader) conceptual images based on his life experiences — conceptual images of himself, others, God, authority, Church, the world, love, virtue, and Gospel-living — which would likely shift based on subsequent life experiences. The losses that he experienced would have left an impression in his mind, emotions and memories — his inner world — and formulated ego within him. Grief, anguish, pain, aloneness — these appear to have been the lens, the experience of reality, through which he looked as he embarked on his journey. It is interesting to note, however, that, as soon as he made up his mind to go off to Kyiv to pray to the Servants of God and ask them for help in his pain, he felt relieved and reached Kyiv comforted.1181 His sense of relief, perhaps, speaks of his understanding and belief in the communion of saints — that he would truly never be alone. From what is stated in and inferred from the text, this appears to have been the pilgrim's background, inner state, and spiritual maturity prior to him having set out on his formal pilgrimage — at least as he recounts it to his spiritual elder during his third meeting fourteen years after having begun his journey. In the first, second and fourth meetings, he relates some of the details of his pilgrimage. The incidents he shares, however, are few relative to the great number of experiences he had lived. He suggests to his spiritual elder that if he wanted to tell him in order of all his experiences, he would not be finished talking for a long period of *J_ 1182 time. 4.2. The Strannik's Formal Pilgrimage The strannik 's formal pilgrimage commenced following the death of his wife when he was nineteen or twenty years of age and continued through age thirty-three. At the end of the 118i The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:13-15. "82 The Pilgrim's Tale, 132:35-37. 282 narratives, there is nothing indicating that the strannik's pilgrimage was completed, so it is assumed he continued onward. As regards his travels, the strannik relates to his spiritual elder instructive encounters he has amidst his lengthy journey1183 over years of non-stop wanderings.1184 Insights into his spiritual growth are also recalled. His journey involved making rounds of many churches and monasteries, and then gradually wandering more and more through steppes and forests. He makes mention in the narratives of various districts1185 such as Kyiv,1186 Siberia,1187 Irkutsk,1188 Odessa,1189 Constantinople,1190 Tobolsk,1191 Belgorod,1192 St. Petersburg,1193 and Ka2an,1194 some of which he indicates he has been to. His expressed hope was to one day reach holy Jerusalem.1195 The strannik remarks that he does not know if the Lord will favor him to reach it; however, if it is God's will, it will be time to rest his sinful bones there.1196 In his final meeting with his spiritual elder dated 1859, he indicates that he was intent on leaving for Jerusalem after Holy Liturgy on the third day of the feast of Christ's nativity, together with an old stone-deaf man who wished to take some presents for the Lord's tomb.1197 What follows is an examination of the transformations that occur within the pilgrim 1183 The Pilgrim's Tale, 107:34-35. 1184 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:15-16. 1185 See Map 1: The Russian Empire in the 1800s in which geographical locations to which the pilgrim travelled are highlighted. 1186 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:12. 1187 The Pilgrim's Tale, 68:19. lias The piigrim's Tale, 84:29,100:25. 1189 The Pilgrim's Tale, 101:7. 1190 The Pilgrim's Tale, 101:9. 1191 The Pilgrim's Tale, 108:31, 125:11. 1192 The Pilgrim's Tale, 111:34. 1193 The Pilgrim's Tale, 115:32. 1194 The Pilgrim's Tale, 137:14. 1195 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105: 16-19. 1196 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105. 1197 The Pilgrim's Tale, 106:19-107:27. 283 over the course of his life, particularly amidst the incidents along his formal pilgrimage as recounted to his spiritual elder. 284 £»* s/i oO 00 Sri (A s 06 0) a 285 4.3. Transformations in the Strannik Throughout the pilgrim's life, many transformative shifts occur within him. These shifts are reflected in the stories that he recounts and the reflections that he shares — transformations in his motivations, emotions, uioughts, words, actions, relationships, roles, self-perception, and spiritual maturity. This Chapter will follow the stories that the pilgrim recounts in the order in which he presents them. As such, this portion of the thesis will be divided into the First, Second, Third and Fourth Meetings between the strannik with his spiritual elder. Key events will be related, and shifts that are evident highlighted. While a full examination of all the shifts in the pilgrim would be enlightening, it is beyond the scope of this current research project. For purposes here, only key shifts will be discussed, with the aim of determining if contemplative psychology might be used as a heuristic tool to open up the psychological insights embedded in this spiritual classic. While it also would be interesting to note the transformations in other characters in the narrative or consider the strannik's psychological shifts from perspectives other than contemplative psychology, this research project, as previously noted, will focus on the "closed universe" of the text, the life of die pilgrim himself, and insights and categories as presented by contemplative psychology and more specifically its Eastern Christian formulation. 4.3.1. The First Meeting At the start of the strannik's formal pilgrimage, as recounted in his First Meeting with his spiritual elder, the pilgrim provides a brief self-description with respect to God, his freedom of choice, his vocation, and his possessions.1198 He indicates diat by God's mercy he is a ii98 Billy, The Way of the Pilgrim: Complete Text and Reader's Guide, 15-16. 286 Christian, by his own deeds a great sinner, by vocation a homeless pilgrim, and by description a man of mean estate who wanders from place to place.1199 His belongings are few: in addition to his discharge passport,1200 he carries only a pouch of dried bread crusts over his shoulders and a Bible in his breast pocket.1201 From this depiction, it is evident that the pilgrim's self-understanding is firmly rooted in his Christian identity. It is also apparent that he is aware of his reliance on God's grace and synergeia, as well as his own free will and potential for sin. His commitment to and the seriousness with which he considers his pilgrim way of life is unmistakable in his referring to it as his vocation — his call. The strannik 's few possessions — notably the Word of God — as well as his self-description as "a man of mean estate" reveal his identification with and desire to emulate the humiliated, kenotic Christ written of in Philippians 2.1202 It also speaks of his recognition that austerity is a necessary element of a pilgrim's way. The pilgrim goes on to recount how his yearning and quest for unceasing prayer came about. He noted that, on the twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity Sunday1203 (likely in the year 1845) he went to church: 1199 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:3-7. 1200 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105. 1201 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:5-7. 1202 Thg phrase "a man of mean estate" identifies the pilgrim with the humiliated, kenotic Christ written of in Philippians 2. Commenting on Philippians 2, Biblical commentator Matthew Henry identifies Christ's two estates — first of humiliation and second of exaltation. His estate of humiliation is considered to be his "mean estate": "(1.) His estate of humiliation. He not only took upon him the likeness and fashion of a man, but the form of a servant, that is, a man of mean estate. He was not only God's servant whom he had chosen, but he came to minister to men (...). He took upon him the form of a servant. (...) His whole life was a life of humiliation, meanness, poverty, and disgrace; he had nowhere to lay his head, lived upon alms, was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, did not appear with external pomp, or any marks of distinction from other men. This was the humiliation of his life. But the lowest step of his humiliation was his dying the death of the cross. He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. (...). (2.) His exaltation: (...) His exaltation was the reward of his humiliation. Because he humbled himself, God exalted him..." (Henry, Matthew, "Commentary on Philippians 2," in Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706); See http://www.ccel.org; Internet; accessed 24 January 2008). 1203 "jn tne Russian popular tradition, the day of Pentecost is called Trinity Sunday or the Day of the Holy Trinity." See note 1, The Pilgrim's Tale, 219. 287 [T]o pray at the liturgy. They were reading the Epistle, from the Letter to the Thessalonians, pericope 273, where it says "Pray without ceasing" These words planted themselves firmly in my mind, and I began to wonder how anyone could pray without ceasing when merely to stay alive demanded so much of each individual. I checked in the Bible and found the same thing: it is necessary to pray without ceasing, to pray at every moment in the spirit, and to raise one's hands in prayer in every place....1204 Though probably not the first time that the pilgrim had heard these words at a liturgy nor read them himself, they impress themselves firmly in his mind on that particular day. This one moment shifts his attention, focus, thoughts, actions and motivation, and sets the stage for all that follows. The strannik responds to this Gospel imperative by practicing disciplines of thought, word and action. He initially begins to think deeply and read about the Biblical directive: "I thought and thought but could find no answer." Unable to understand, he begins to read the Bible. He notes, [TJhere too in many places I found the divine precept that it was necessary to pray unceasingly — always, at all times, in every place, not only when a person is busy working, not only when a person keeps vigil, but even in one's sleep..../ am sleeping but my heart is awake. This greatly astonished me and I could not understand how it was possible to accomplish. Powerful desire and curiosity were aroused in me to learn what this meant and what methods might be appropriate; day and night my mind was restless.1206 Following this experience, his pilgrimage becomes a passionate quest for the meaning of, as well as guidance in, ways to live out the Gospel imperative to pray unceasingly. All else becomes inconsequential. With desire and curiosity aroused in him and his heart yearning to know the meaning of unceasing prayer, his praxis of reading the Bible takes on a new purpose; his intellect (dianoia) questions the meaning of unceasing prayer and how to do it;1207 and his 1204 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:8-17. 1205 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:18-21. 1206 The Pilgrim's Tale, 57:37-58:9. 1207 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:20-21. 288 frustration with his own ignorance compels him to pursue teachers who might clarify his confusion. He begins to exercise intellectual disciplines of thought. In search of an answer to his question, the strannik first seeks out a cleric,1208 and then a parish priest.1209 Dissatisfied with their answers — which either lacked clear direction or encouraged him to do that which he had practiced throughout his life and which he knew from experience did not satisfy him — he ponders: What am I to do? I thought. Where can I find someone to explain this to me? Let me visit the churches that are famous for their good preachers, for surely there I'll hear something that makes sense to me.1210 He then begins wandering from church to church, listening to sermons on prayer.1211 He seeks out good preachers — persons in positions of religious authority such as the bishop in a cathedral church,1212 a learned preacher in the church of the Theological Academy,1213 and an archpriest in a certain town who was esteemed, old, devout and strict1214 — who might provide him with instruction on how to pray unceasingly. One gets the impression of a man walking from one place to the next — hopeful, eager, attentive and enthusiastic - in his search for understanding.1215 His earnest desire for prayer is so strong that it interferes with his sleep at night1216 and causes him to think continually, reflect, read the Bible every moment for consolation, and travel great distances in search of a learned teacher.1217 His hunger for answers supersedes even his need for food which pales in 1208 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:18-24. 1209 J/,,, piigtim's Tale, 49:25-50:6. 1210 The Pilgrim's Tale, 50:7-10. 1211 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:9-10. 1212 The Pilgrim's Tale, 50:11-52: 3. 1213 The Pilgrim's Tale, 52:4-53:17. 1214 The Pilgrim's Tale, 53:18-55:12. 1215 The Pilgrim's Tale, 53: 31-32. 1216 The Pilgrim's Tale, 56:14-15. 1217 The Pilgrim's Tale, 56:11-56:15; 57:14-17. 289 comparison to both his thirst for spiritual instruction regarding how he might be saved, and his yearning regarding how to pray unceasingly. After listening to various sermons delivered by these learned men, however, the pilgrim notes that he found himself grieved and dissatisfied, as not a single one of them imparts any satisfactory instructions regarding unceasing prayer.1219 Their words lead him to search Scripture to either verify what they had said, or convince himself that what was said did not happen in the order that it was presented. He refutes their arguments based on his reading of Scripture, and determines that the sermons were not Biblically founded.1220 In summarizing their teachings, he expresses that, The only thing that was said concerned preparation for prayer through works of faith, through ascetic feats, and the virtues whose literal accomplishment is beyond the powers of a sinful person. (...) it did not teach me how to pray unceasingly or what such prayer meant.1221 To make matters worse, his reading of Scripture also does not provide him with the desired knowledge.1222 These realities leave him feeling frightened, despondent, bewildered and troubled.1223 The practice of conceptual disciplines of thought does not satisfy the longing of his heart. His inner world is still restless. Though the strannik remained without any understanding of how to pray unceasingly, he elects to stop listening to sermons. Instead, he makes up his mind to search, with the help of God, for an experienced and knowledgeable interlocutor to explain unceasing prayer to him.1 4 When he hears of a nobleman who was saving himself, he does not walk, but runs with 1218 The ?ugrim>s Tale, 56:21-22; 57:26-28. 1219 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:10-12. 1220 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:20-22. 1221 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:12-58:17. 1222 The pugrim's Tale, 58:17-20. 1223 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:15-58:23. 1224 The Pilgrim's Tale, 55:13-18. 290 quickened pace to the village to seek him out. He disappointedly, however, is unable to understand the nobleman's words,1226 and those of a kindly superior of a monastery only further confuse him.1227 The pilgrim grieves at his lack of comprehension1228 — his conceptual ignorance and confusion. Comments from several of these authorities may have challenged the pilgrim's knowledge, self-confidence and self-perception — his conceptual self-images. Being called a "boor" by a parish priest and told that he had no place reading the Bible1229 may have raised self-doubt and frustration and instilled in him a negative conceptual self-image. Such an image suggested by a religious authority would have stood in sharp contrast to that acquired from his grandfather's acknowledgement of him as a "somebody" who could read — and read the Bible, no less. Then, after he listens to a bishop's sermon, he perceives that nothing had been prepared for prayer within him, despite his having lived according to his grandfather's - and the Church's — prescriptions throughout his life. Based on the bishop's words, he comments that he did not see himself having any hope of living out the "preliminary labors" required for unceasing prayer: that is, acquiring faith, purifying one's mind of all evil thoughts, laying aside all cares of life, making one's heart a temple of the Holy Spirit, driving out passions, taming the flesh, living virtuously and ascetically, and praying undistractedly. He was ill-equipped, hopeless, discouraged and filled with self-doubt as a result. Comments by a nobleman intimating that he could not comprehend explanations of unceasing prayer because they were too lofty for him1230 may also have left him questioning his own intellectual abilities.1231 Yet his '225 The Pilgrim's Tale, 55:25-27. 1226 The Pilgrim's Tale, 55:21 -56:11. 1227 The Pilgrim's Tale, 56:17-57:16. 1228 The Pilgrim's Tale, 57:15-16. 1229 The Pilgrim's Tale, 50:4-6. 1230 The Pilgrim's Tale, 56:6. 291 insight as well as his motivation to understand unceasing prayer were strong — they were effective driving forces within him. Encounters with these learned spiritual authorities would have also challenged the pilgrim's existing conceptual images of Church leaders. Initially, he appears to have assumed that they must know how to pray unceasingly. His regard for them, fostered through his upbringing, seems to have been quite high. In his experience, however, and after having taken time to think about, review, reflect upon and study their words regarding unceasing prayer, he found that these teachers based their understanding of prayer neither on experience nor Scripture. He finds even the bishop's sermon to be "entirely without sound foundation and was spoken from inexperience."1232 Those who he thought would be able to guide him did not live up to his expectations nor his conceptual image of them. His trust in them was compromised, and he appears disillusioned and discouraged — even frightened. Further, his inability to find clear teachings on how to pray unceasingly in the Bible was disheartening to him. The Bible was his ultimate friend, guide and teacher and he believed contained all the answers. Yet, it provided him with little direction as to how to live out the very directive found within it. This may have left him feeling vulnerable and directionless. Only God, in Whom alone his grandfather insisted he hope, remained. This combination of events and realizations leaves him not knowing where to go next, and grieving over his lack of comprehension. He had sought, but had not found. From what he recounts, he had not been in such a state of utter spiritual poverty since he had initially embarked on his journey. It is at this point in the pilgrim's narration — discouraged and having 1231 The Pilgrim's Tale, 55:36-56:9. 1232 The j>ugrim's Tale, 51:34-36. 1233 The Pilgrim's Tale, 57:14-16. 292 exhausted all of his own ideas as to where to find an answer to his question - that a certain old man, who from appearances looked like a cleric, catches up with him one day toward evening time.1234 This old man breaks into his world, initiating conversation and interaction with him. This monk invites the strannik to journey with him to his monastery where his community could extend him hospitality. The strannik recalled that, for whatever reason, he had been reluctant to accompany him and states, "My peace does not depend on lodgings but on spiritual instruction, and I am not chasing after food. I have lots of dried crusts in my pouch."1235 Perhaps the strannik anticipated he would be disappointed again by a religious figure, or perhaps the evil one was attempting to interfere with an opportunity to find truth and draw near to God through such a monk's instruction. Regardless, the strannik eventually has the grace to accept the invitation. The remainder of the First Meeting revolves around the strannik's interactions and relationship with the monk, a figure (not unlike his grandfather) who listens to him, encourages him, attends to his spiritual needs, supports him, guides him in the ways of prayer and relationship with God, and blesses him. In an effort to acquaint himself with the pilgrim, the monk asks him about the kind of instruction he is searching for, and what he is perplexed about.1236 He actively listens to the pilgrim's heart and thoughts, meets him where he was in his quest, and acknowledges the causes of his frustrations. He then goes on to affirm him and his perceptions. Having heard the pilgrim's story, the monk makes the sign of the cross and expresses his gratitude to God for the irresistible attraction to knowledge of unceasing interior prayer which 1234 The Pilgrim's Tale, 57:18-22. 1235 The Pilgrim's Tale, 57:23-28. 1236 jfc Pilgrim's Tale, 57:29-30. 293 had been revealed to the pilgrim. He then proceeds to reassure the pilgrim that he is being tested regarding the assent of his will and the opening of his understanding,1237 to verify the strannik's perception that many teachers lack knowledge of the inner logic of the Spirit and prayer itself,1238 and to confirm that his interpretations of Scripture and insights regarding prayer are accurate.1239 All of these gestures lay a solid foundation of trust. The pilgrim, in and through his own reflection, reading and study, as well as through the words of the monk, comes to understand that prayer first and foremost is about a relationship with God. It requires faith which is pure gift from God, and must be asked and prayed for.1240 True prayer is not accessible by one's own means, such as by solely cleansing one's mind of thoughts, repudiating the cares of life, or engaging in ascetical feats. Because the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth1241 and humans have wicked intentions, one ought to first pray so that one's irrepressible mind may be cleansed of thoughts — one's own efforts to purify the mind of thoughts do not lead to prayer.1242 Likewise, it is God alone Who can purify a person's heart, renew his or her spirit,1243 and help to mortify fleshly desires through continence.1244 As St. Paul bemoaned, with our minds we are slaves to the law of God, but with the flesh, we are slaves to the law of sin.1245 Prayer and hence contemplation is essentially unattainable without faith and synergeia. 1237 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:25-30. 1238 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:30-60:14. 1239 The Pilgrim's Tale, 59:27-60:12. 1240 The Pilgrim's Tale, 51:4-10. 1241 Genesis 8:21 NRSV. 1242 The Pilgrim's Tale, 51:10-18. 1243 Ez. 11:19 NRSV. 1244 The Pilgrim's Tale, 51:19-29. 1245 Romans 7:25 NRSV. 294 The pilgrim comes to know that prayer is found by poverty of spirit and practical experience in mysterious simplicity, and not by the wisdom of this world, by superficial inquisitiveness, through the natural intellect1247 (dianoid), or means leading to the perfection of prayer such as diligence, attentiveness, warmth of heart, purity of thought, reconciliation with one's enemies, humility, contrition, and the like (despite these being absolutely necessary).1248 Prayer rather gives rise to every act of asceticism and virtue; preparatory means and ascetics feats do not produce prayer in and of themselves.1249 The strannik learns that the work of prayer is to be before all else: [T]he work of prayer must be before all works because without it no other good work can be accomplished.... Without prayer it is impossible to find the path to the Lord, to understand the truth, to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires, to illuminate the heart with the Light of Christ, and to be savingly united with God. None of this can be accomplished without preliminary frequent prayer. (...) both perfection arid righteousness of prayer are beyond our own capabilities, for, as even the holy aposde Paul says, we do not know how or for what we pray. Consequendy, only frequency and regularity are left to the portion of our ability as means to acquire prayerful purity, which is the mother of every spiritual blessing.... 'Possess the mother and she will produce a child for you,' says holy Isaac the Syrian. Learn first of all to obtain prayer and you will easily accomplish all the virtues. But those who have litde practical experience and are unfamiliar with the mystical teachings of the holy fathers have no clear knowledge and litde to say about it. Without prayer, spiritual praxes bear litde fruit, no good work can be accomplished, the spiritual path can not be found, the virtues can not be acquired, and fundamentally, relationship with God is wanting. The strannik listens attentively to the monk's words and teaching, oblivious to the distance they have travelled, and comes to recognize that he is in the presence of a wise and 1246 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:30-34. 1247 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:30-31, 59:3. i2ts The Pilgrim's Tale, 59:8-11. 1249 The Pilgrim's Tale, 59:20-23. 1250 ^e Pilgrim's Tale, 59:35-60:14. 295 trusted elder — one whom he does not want to lose. Rather, he hopes to learn from him unceasing interior prayer of the heart.1251 Recognizing the gift, the strannik asks the monk to teach him how to pray. The monk lovingly accepts his request and, upon arriving at the monastery, invites him into his cell, the invitation suggesting that he is willing to become a teacher and guide for the pilgrim. Once in his cell, the monk proceeds to first explain the Jesus prayer to the pilgrim. He provides the pilgrim with the following description of the Jesus prayer: The unceasing interior Jesus prayer is an uninterrupted, never dying invocation of the divine name Jesus Christ with the mind and the heart, all the while imagining his ongoing presence and asking for his pardon, during all occupations, in every place, at all times, even in sleep.... The prayer is expressed in the following words: L/>rd Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. Those who acquire the habit of this invocation will experience great consolation and will always say this prayer. As a result they will be unable to live without the prayer, which of its own accord will speak itself in them.1252 The monk also offers the pilgrim instructions on how to pray the Jesus prayer and demonstrates it to him by example: Sit in silence and alone. Bend your head. Close your eyes. Breathe ever more quiedy. With the imagination look inside your heart. Carry your intellect, that is your thought, out of your head and into your heart. As you breathe say quiedy with your lips or in your intellect alone: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.'... Try to drive away your thoughts. Keep restful patience and repeat this process very frequently.1253 This prayer, however simple, involves a combination of disciplines of body, mind, intellect, heart, imagination, thoughts, breathing, speech and action. Practiced with attentiveness, patience, repetition and frequency, and in silence and solitude, one would experience unceasing prayer, great consolation, and relationship with Christ Himself. 1251 The Pilgrim's Tale, 60:15-21. 1252 The Pilgrim's Tale, 60:27-37. 1253 The Pilgrim's Tale, 61:25-32. 296 The pilgrim is overcome with joy at the monk's explanation of unceasing prayer as well as his own ability to understand it.1254 He welcomes and attentively listens to everything that the monk shares and explains about prayer, absorbing with his memory all that the monk says and demonstrates, and tries to remember everything in as much detail as possible.1255 A fervid eagerness to learn interior prayer as diligendy as possible rises in him and he asks God for help . j 1256 to do so. The monk then introduces the strannik to the Philokalia, a book which, [Cjontains the complete and detailed science of unceasing interior prayer, expounded by twenty-five holy fathers. So sublime and profitable is this book that it is revered as the chief and primary guide to the contemplative spiritual life and, as Saint Nikiphoros expresses, 'it leads to salvation without labor and fasts'. This collection of writings on the interior prayer of the heart offered the pilgrim something that he had not as yet been exposed to — something that learned teachers, and even the Bible, had not revealed to him. After listening carefully to all that the monk read from the Philokalia, the pilgrim attempts to place it in relation to the Bible. The pilgrim comes to learn that, while the Philokalia is not more sublime nor holier than the Bible, it contains lucid explanations of what the Bible holds mystically and what cannot be easily grasped by one's short-sighted mind.1258 This would have clarified any conceptual confusion that might have arisen in him regarding the primacy of the Word. In this way, the Bible, his trusted companion and friend, is re-affirmed in its place of high regard, and any faith in it that may have wavered due to its lack of directives regarding unceasing prayer, was restored. 1254 The Pilgrim's Tale, 61:1-2. 1255 The Pilgrim's Tale, 62:1-3. 1256 The Pilgrim's Tale, 62:10-12. 1257 The pugrim's Tale, 61:3-9. 1258 The Pilgrim's Tale, 61:11-13. 297 Rather than searching the Bible and refuting all that his newly found teacher spoke, the pilgrim receives and absorbs everything whole-heartedly. He freely asks questions, and the responses provided by the monk serve to both lift his conceptual confusion and afford him new conceptual insights and knowledge. Introduction to the Jesus prayer and the Philokalia give him a new focus in his spiritual journey and development, as well as the hope that, with experience, he will come to not only understanding but experiencing unceasing prayer of the heart — he will be able to pray unceasingly. The monk and the pilgrim remained together in the monk's cell, talking the whole night until Orthos. Then, after giving the pilgrim a blessing, the monk sends him away with directives to return to him with frank confession, as taking up the interior work of prayer without the verification of a guide would be improper and fruidess.1259 In this, the monk confirms his willingness to assume the role of the strannik 's starets. The pilgrim then makes his way to the Church to ask God for help to learn interior prayer. The Church — wherein the pilgrim could meet with Christ in His sacramental presence — was a cornerstone for him in his spiritual journey, and the dwelling in which he could dialogue intimately and personally with the Divine. In order to visit the monk regularly for confession, the strannik sets off to find lodgings nearby. To his good fortune, God shows him a convenient setup1260 whereby he takes a job all summer guarding a peasant's kitchen garden. A peaceful thatched hut in the garden becomes his quarters. There he begins to learn interior prayer; and from there he regularly visits the elder. He can practice spiritual disciplines including obedience, solitude, silence, rising early and going to bed late, the cell, the Jesus prayer, study of Scripture, wandering, manual labour, 1259 The Pilgrim's Tale, 62:6-10. 1260 The pugrim's Tale, 62:18. 298 custody of thoughts, confession, and revelation of thoughts to his spiritual guide — disciplines of consciousness, imagination, mindfulness, insight, action, and speech. From the outset of their relationship, the person of the monk seems to be a healing presence for the pilgrim. Being called a "dear brother" by the monk on their first meeting would have resonated with the pilgrim's need for connectedness to family as well as others in Christ. Calling the strannik a "brother" also put him on equal footing, as both were brothers on the journey of faith. The monk's attentiveness to, respect for, and encouragement of him serve to reassure him in ways that his grandfather had. This reaffirms his positive early conceptual image of himself, casting out any self-doubt or questions regarding his intellectual abilities. The monk's display of love, kindness, generosity, openness and regard facilitate trust. Heard and accepted by the monk, the pilgrim likely felt empowered, reassured, validated, and blessed. His faith in spiritual teachers and authorities may have also been restored by the monk's knowledge of unceasing prayer and his ability to teach him about it. Simultaneously, his introducing the strannik to the Vhilokalia as the authority regarding unceasing prayer communicates to the pilgrim that he humbly does not have all the answers, but rather can only point him in a direction. In the next part of his account to his spiritual elder during his First Meeting, the strannik related his progress in acquiring unceasing prayer of the heart. In his first week, he intendy sets about learning unceasing prayer exacdy as the monk had explained it to him. Initially it seems to go quite well. Then, however, he feels "a heavy burden, laziness, boredom, overpowering sleep, and various thoughts close in on [him] like a storm cloud."1262 Distressed, he seeks out his starets who greets him amiably, and then advises him that his experience was 1261 The Pilgrim's Tale, 57:30. 1262 The ^ugrim's Tale, 62:24-28. 299 that of the dark world warring against him in an attempt to hinder him and turn him away from learning the prayer.1263 He tells the pilgrim that he is still being tested in regard to humility,1264 and reads to him a passage from St. Nikiphoros the Monk.1265 He counsels him to begin saying the Jesus prayer aloud three thousand times a day on the prayer rope that he gave him.1266 The number of repetitions gradually increases to six thousand once he is able to pray comfortably, easily and without compulsion,1267 then to twelve thousand times a day,1268 and finally unceasingly.1269 From his practice of the Jesus prayer, the pilgrim comes to develop a relationship with the prayer itself. After praying it as his starets had directed him, he becomes so accustomed to it that if he stops saying the prayer even briefly, he feels that something is missing, that he has lost something. When he starts praying it again, it becomes easy and gratifying. He has no desire to speak with anyone when he meets others, and only wants to be alone to pray.1271 The prayer for him becomes easy, and he prays with pleasure and delight.1272 Initially, he feels a, [Fjatigue or a type of numbness of the tongue and some sort of constriction in the jaw, a pleasant and then light and fine pain in the roof of [his] mouth; further [he] felt a small pain in the thumb of [his] left hand with which pie] counted [his] beads, and an inflammation of the entire hand which extended right up to [his] elbow and produced a rather pleasant sensation.1273 One day early in the morning the prayer seemingly, 1263 The Pilgrim's Tale, 62:31-34. 1264 The piigim>s Tale, 62:37. 1265 The Pilgrim's Tale, 63:4-14. 1266 The Pilgrim's Tale, 63:15-25. 1267 The Pilgrim's Tale, 63:30-33. 1268 The Pilgrim's Tale, 64:15. 1269 The Pilgrim's Tale, 65:28-33. 1270 The Pilgrim's Tale, 64:2-5. 1271 The Pilgrim's Tale, 64:5-8. 1272 The Pilgrim's Tale, 64:31. 1273 The Pilgrim's Tale, 64:22-27. 300 [Rjoused [him] from sleep. After waking up, [he] felt [his] lips twitching by themselves and [his] tongue was moving unceasingly. [He] wanted to control it but was unable to do so. [He] started to recite [his] morning prayers but [his] tongue said them clumsily, and [his] whole desire was struggling of its own accord to perform the Jesus prayer. When [he] began the prayer, how easy and delightful it became. [His] tongue and mouth themselves, so it seemed, pronounced the words without any urging from [him]. [He] spent the whole day in joy, cut off as it were from everything else. It was like being in another world. The strannik spends the whole summer praying the Jesus prayer without ceasing: [He] was very peaceful. [He] often dreamed in [his] sleep that [he] was saying the prayer. During the day, if [he] happened to meet anyone, all without exception were as dear to [him] as if they were [his] relatives, though [he] did not concern [himself] with them. [His] very thoughts completely calmed down by themselves and [he] thought about nothing at all except the prayer. [His] mind tended to listen to it and from time to time [his] heart began of its own accord to sense a warmth and a certain pleasure. When [he] happened to go to church, the lengthy service seemed short and no longer wore down [his] strength as before. [His] solitary hut seemed to [him] a magnificent palace. And [he] did not know how to thank God for sending [him], great sinner that [he is], so salutary an elder and instructor.1275 The strannik's relationship with the Jesus prayer grows such that it is no longer solely a spiritual discipline of speech which he practices, but a relationship. Lived in his heart, this relationship colours all else in his internal and external world — during his waking and sleeping. It shifts his conceptual images. As the prayer becomes self-activating, it evokes joy, peace and gratitude in him, calms his thoughts, focuses his mind, activates his heart, strengthens him physically, fills him with gratitude and new vision, gives him a different perspective of time, and impacts how he views and relates to others: rather than being strangers, everyone seems as a relative. This relationship with the prayer leads to nepsis and insight, calms his thoughts, emotions and heart, alters his conceptual images, and shifts him from a spiritual state of praktike to that oiphysike theoria. 1274 The Pilgrim's Tale, 64:32-65:5. 1275 The Pilgrim's Tale, 65:35-66:10. 301 The experience of meeting the monk appears to have supported the strannik's relationship with and trust in God. Having been unable, by his own resources, to find someone to teach him how to pray unceasingly, the pilgrim was despondent. Then, after having made up his mind to search, with die help of God, for an experienced and knowledgeable interlocutor to teach him about prayer, he again was left without any clarity. Finally, the monk had found him. As a result, his faith and trust appears to have been strengthened. God, Whom he alone had trusted, has in fact answered his prayers. The monk's subsequent affirmation that God had been with him all the while, testing his will and openness of understanding, further reinforced the pilgrim's trust in God, as did his re-assurance of God's ongoing presence in his life. Just as his grandfather had prior to his death, the monk encourages him to rely solely on God — to entrust himself humbly to God's will, to expect assistance from Him, and to believe that He would not abandon him, but would guide him on the right path.1276 The trust in God that both the monk and his grandfadier had spoken of would have quickly come to mind, and been foundational in his own personal development of trust in God. Choices and actions on both the monk's and strannik's part supported the spiritual direction relationship. First, the monk was willing to assume the role of a spiritual guide, while the strannik was desirous of and willing to enter into a spiritual direction relationship. Second, there was trust between them. Third, the monk was available to the pilgrim. Fourth, honesty and openness between the strannik and the monk supports the relationship and lays a solid foundation for effective spiritual guidance. Fifth, the strannik's obedience to the monk further reinforces this dynamic. Sixth, the monk was ever attentive to the pilgrim's experience in 1276 Tie Pilgrim's Tale, 65:29-33. 302 prayer and was able to recognize his spiritual need, and was aware of the practices that would best address his need. Seventh, the monk had a love for and commitment to the pilgrim: greeting him amiably; offering him wisdom, guidance and reassurance; gifting him with a prayer rope for the journey; and seeking him out when he had not seen him for too long a period of time. Eighth, the monk continues to encourage, affirm and move the pilgrim forward in his progress in the spiritual life. Ninth, the pilgrim is glad to receive instruction and follows all of the directions that the monk gives him. Tenth, the monk continually orients the pilgrim away from himself and toward God, the Philokalia, the Bible and the Jesus prayer. Eleventh, the monk helps the strannik understand the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual effects of the Jesus prayer — notably, a burning sensation in the heart; purification of the pas sions; clarity of mind and purity of heart.1277 Twelfth, the monk paints for him the effects of an inclination and facility for prayer: a foretaste of celestial sweetness on earth.1278 All of these components support the relationship between the monk and the strannik, and contribute to the strannik's spiritual development and maturity. The pilgrim, however, apparently does not benefit for long from the instruction of his wise elder and guide, as he passes away at the end of the summer. Prior to his falling asleep in Christ, the pilgrim tearfully bids his starets farewell, thanks him for his fatherly teaching, and as a blessing asks to have for himself the prayer rope with which he prayed.1280 Summer as well comes to a close, the garden is harvested, and the peasant settles accounts with him. With no place to live, two rubles in his pocket from his summer's work, and a pouch of dried crusts, he 1277 Billy, The Way of a Pilgrim, 31. 1278 The Pilgrim's Tale, 65:26-27. 1279 The Pilgrim's Tale, 66:11-13. 1280 The pugrim's Tale, 66:13-16. 303 begins again wandering from place to place. Without an elder to guide him, he decides to purchase an old and worn copy of the Philokalia so that he can learn about interior prayer from it. This he puts in his breast pocket, along with his Bible.1282 His lived experience has changed him and he is left with new knowledge, understanding, insight, and conceptual images of God, prayer, himself, spiritual authorities and his starets. From this point, he will go on practicing disciplines of thought in his study of the Philokalia — disciplines which will continue to clarify his confusion and replace his ignorance with knowledge. The Jesus prayer becomes his companion amidst his wanderings, and comes to be more sweet and precious to him than anything on earth.1283 He no longer walks with difficulties as before, is treated lovingly and well by most of the people he meets, and is cheered on his way by the prayer: I sometimes walk seventy or more kilometers a day and I do not feel that I am walking; I only feel that I am saying the prayer. When a powerful cold chills me to the bone, I begin all the more intensely to say the prayer — and soon I am warmed all over. If hunger begins to overwhelm me, I begin invoking all the more often the name of Jesus Christ and I forget that I wanted to eat. When I become ill, when rheumatism begins in my back and legs, I pay attention to the prayer and no longer feel the pain. If someone insults or injures me, I only recall how sweet is the Jesus prayer, and then and there both insult and anger pass and I forget everything. I have become like some sort of half- conscious person; I have no worries about anything; nothing occupies me. I would not look at any vain thing and would rather be alone. Only by habit do I wish for one thing, to say the prayer without ceasing; and when I am occupied with it, I am very happy. Who knows what is happening with me?1285 The strannik 's practice of the Jesus prayer is already having a transformative effect on him. He experiences this effect physically such that he is strengthened, has better endurance, feels warmed when cold, and does not suffer pain as before. Passions of anger, love of money, and 1281 The Pilgrim's Tale, 66:17-24. 1282 The Pilgrim's Tale, 66:24-67:4. 1283 The Pilgrim's Tale, 67:4-5. 1284 The Pilgrim's Tale, 66:22-24. 1285 The Pilgrim's Tale, 67:6-21. 304 gluttony also no longer hinder him. While, by his accounts, he has not yet attained unceasing, self-activating spiritual prayer in the heart, he clearly understood what praying unceasingly meant.1286 This conceptual and perceptual knowledge of unceasing prayer transforms his inner state from one of despondency, fear, bewilderment and distress, to that of joy, delight, pleasure and gladness; and facilitates spiritual development. 4.3.2. Second Meeting In the second meeting, "The Pilgrim's Tale on the occasion of his second meeting, 13 December 1859," the pilgrim relates to his spiritual elder his intent to make his way to Siberia to visit the relics of Bishop Innokentii of Irkutsk. He hopes to walk in areas that are quieter and more conducive to prayer and reading. Along his journey, he notes that he encounters many strange events and incidents. What follows is an examination of the transformations in the pilgrim's experience of reality amidst some of these experiences. The strannik, at the beginning of this second meeting, identifies several spiritual practices that he strongly desires to engage in so as to draw from them instruction for the salvation of his soul. These praxes include wandering, silence, solitude, the Jesus prayer, and study of the Philokalia. Alone in silence he hoped to study the writings of the Fathers and focus on the prayer of the heart.1288 These combined disciplines would work on his intellect, imagination, and heart, providing him with a personal experience of prayer and an opportunity to acquire both conceptual and perceptual knowledge and insight. As the pilgrim presents it, the practice of the Jesus prayer at the start of this second tale has begun to evoke internal movements in both his mind and heart. Describing it as his 1286 The Pilgrim's Tale, 67:27-30. 1287 The Pilgrim's Tale, 68:19-22. 1288 The Pilgrim's Tale, 68:9-15. 305 traveling companion, he notes that it encourages and consoles him on all his paths, in all his encounters and in every situation. On its own accord, it has also begun to move into his heart: I felt diat die prayer somehow was beginning to move into my heart by itself. That is, it seemed diat as it beat normally my heart began to form the words of die prayer inside itself with every heartbeat; for example, at the first beat, Lord; at the second, Jesus; at the third, Christ; and so on. It also provides him a window through which to hear his heart speak: I stopped saying the prayer vocally and began to listen carefully to my heart speaking. So too I seemed to be looking into my heart with my eyes, and I remembered how my late elder used to explain this to me. Then I began to sense such agreeable pain in my heart...1291 Such access to his heart through the Jesus prayer draws him into greater intimacy with Christ in his dioughts: Then I began to sense (...) such love for Jesus Christ in my thoughts that it seemed that if I were to catch sight of him somewhere I would throw myself at his feet and not let him out of my arms, sweedy kissing and tearfully thanking him because on account of his Name he bestows such consolation on his unworthy and sinful creature in accordance with his mercy and love. This practice of nepsis, by way of the Jesus prayer, gives the pilgrim insight as well as perceptual knowledge of himself and Christ. The prayer further evokes certain physical sensations: "Furthermore, a kind of blessed warming arose in my heart, and this warmth spread diroughout my breast."1293 What he experiences as a result of the practice of the Jesus prayer leads him to further engage in disciplines of thought (study) so as to verify his experience and come to a greater understanding of his experience: 1289 The Pilgrim's Tale, 68:6-9. 1290 The Pilgrim's Tale, 68:24-69:1. 1291 The Pilgrim's Tale, 69:2-6. 1292 The Pilgrim's Tale, 69:5-11. 1293 The Pilgrim's Tale, 69:11-13. 306 This experience in particular led me to an assiduous reading of the Philokalia in order to verify my feelings, but equally to study a further lesson on the interior prayer of the heart. Without such verification I was afraid of succumbing to its charm, or of taking natural movements for ones of grace and becoming puffed up because I had acquired this prayer so rapidly. I had heard such a warning from my late elder. For this reason I walked more by night and I spent the days for the most part sitting under trees in the forest and reading the Philokalia..}294 In this, the pilgrim practices custody of the heart, which leads him to engage in spiritual disciplines of thought. Rather than turning to the Bible for verification as he had done previously, he turns to the Philokalia for clarification of his experience. The practice of the Jesus prayer also leads to disciplines of consciousness — mindfulness — and then insight regarding his heart. This leads him back to disciplines of thought (study) by which he can verify and come to a greater understanding of his experience. His study of the Philokalia reveals many wise and unknown things to him.1295 In reading it, he notes that he "tasted such sweetness the likes of which until then I had not even been able to imagine. It is true that when I was reading, certain passages were beyond the grasp of my dull mind, but they were made clear to me by the effects of the prayer of the heart."'296 The study of the Philokalia — the practice of intellectual disciplines — worked together with the disciplines of imagination to clarify his conceptual ignorance regarding prayer of the heart, and to dispel conceptual confusion in his mind. His conceptual ignorance and confusion is also clarified through dreams of his late elder: "In addition, I now and then saw my late elder in my dreams and he explained many things to me and above all inclined my widess soul toward humility."1297 Dreams worked with his memory and imagination to evoke further changes within him. His late elder continued to 1294 The ^ugrim's Tak, 69:13-22. 1295 jhe pugrim's Ta/e, 69:23-24. 1296 Tfo pilgrims Ta/e, 69:24-28. 1297 The Pilgrim's Tale, 69:28-31. 307 instruct and form him spiritually. Together, these disciplines and their effects make him blissfully happy.1298 He wanders in this way for two summer months. His delight, however, does not persist for long before he encounters difficulties and temptations on his journey. He tells his spiritual elder of being robbed by two soldiers who, after knocking him unconscious, steal his Bible and Philokalia. Though physically injured in the assault, he is significantly more pained by and overcome with grief at the loss of his precious books — his first and last treasures, guides, teachers and consolations. These are so dear to him that he comments that it would have been better had they killed him outright than for him to live without his spiritual nourishment.1299 Dreams again of his late starets are an enormous consolation to him. Strained to the breaking point and exhausted from his calamity, he falls asleep and dreams he is in his elder's cell bemoaning his misfortune. His late starets comforts, reassures and teaches him by saying: This is a lesson for you on indifference toward earthly things, so that you may more easily advance toward heaven. It has been allowed to happen to you so that you do not fall into spiritual voluptuousness. God wants Christians to renounce their own will, desire, and every predilection completely and to surrender themselves entirely to his divine will. He arranges every event for the benefit and salvation of the individual, for he mils that all men and women be saved. Thus, take courage and believe that with the testing the Lord will also provide the way out And soon you will be consoled much more than you now are grieving.1300 These words invite the pilgrim to greater conversion, teach him of apatheia, and transforms the strannik's internal state from one of distress to that of peace and joy. Further, it strengthens him in his journey of faith and life of prayer: At these words I woke up and I felt increased vitality and my soul seemed full of light and peace. "Let the Lord's will be done," I said and making the sign of the cross I stood up and went on my way. The prayer once again began to function in my heart as before 1298 The Pilgrim's Tale, 69:32. 1299 The Pilgrim's Tale, 71:1-26. 1300 The Pilgrim's Tale, 70:32-71:4. 308 and for three days I traveled in peace. His late starets, through a dream, supports him in his spiritual development and maturity. To the pilgrim's great delight, his precious books are eventually returned to him.1 ° The strannik suddenly comes upon a convoy of convicts, among whom are the soldiers who had stolen his books. After he promises to give them a ruble if they tell him where his books are, they agree to disclose to him the whereabouts of his belongings. Upon retrieving his Bible and Philokalia from the captain who is in charge of the convoy, the pilgrim cries with tears of joy and his heart beats sweetly with delight.1303 When he starts reading from the Philokalia, he does so with great joy, noting that it is as if he is seeing his own father who has been in a distant land, or a friend risen from the dead.1304 These books are as relatives to him; his relationships with them are profound. His strong feelings of grief reflect the value of these possessions to him; their loss would have potentially triggered memories and feelings of unresolved grief from earlier in his life. The pilgrim is delighted to spend time with the captain of the convoy and to serve him supper, listening attentively all the while to his story of his relationship with and commitment to reading the Bible. Reading the Bible had been transformative for the captain - breaking a pattern of drunkenness and building a life of blessings. In kind, the pilgrim relates a story of a man whose life had been turned around through the practice of the Jesus prayer. 1301 The Pilgrim's Tale, 71:5-9. 1302 The Pilgrim's Tale, 70:1-76:17. 1303 The Pilgrim's Tale, 72:8-14. 1304 The pilgrim's Tale, 75:25-28. 309 During their conversation, the captain questions the strannik about the Gospels and the Jesus prayer, including which was greater.1305 Having previously discussed this with his late starets, the strannik proceeds to advise the captain that: "The Gospel and the Jesus prayer are one and the same thing," (...) "For the divine name of Jesus Christ contains in itself all Gospel truths. The holy fathers say that the Jesus prayer is an abridgment of the entire Gospel."1306 After he parts from the captain, the pilgrim wanders once again. Within a short distance, however, he recalls the promise he had made to the convicted soldiers. Having been given a ruble by the captain prior to them bidding one another farewell, he has the means to give them what he had promised. His thoughts, however, are filled with questions: Should he give it to them or not? Practicing custody of heart and thoughts, he notes: One thought said: "They beat you and robbed you, and in any case they will not be able to make use of it since they are under arrest." But another thought brought forth something different: "Remember what is written in the Bible: If jour enemy is hungry, feed him. And Christ himself said: ljoveyour enemies.... If someone wants jour tunic, give him your cloak as mll.xm These Words of Christ are ingrained within his memory and imagination. They affect his actions such that he is convinced that he needs to turn back. These Words also clear up his conceptual and perceptual ignorance and confusion such that he knows what he needs to do: to have sympathy, love and forgive; to return to the convicts; and to keep his promise. Far from being filled with compassion, however, the pilgrim appears to be somewhat hesitant to even interact with them. As such, his contact with them is brief and abrupt: "I ran up to them quickly, shoved my ruble into their hands and said: 'Repent and pray. Jesus Christ loves all people. He will not abandon you.' I parted from them and went to the other side on 1305 The Pilgrim's Tale, 75:13-14. 1306 The vugrim's Ta/e, 75:15-18. 1307 The Pilgrim's Tale, 76:6-12. 310 my own way."1308 One can imagine that this experience may have evoked unresolved issues and grief both carried in the pilgrim's heart and etched in his mind. Interacting with the soldiers may have triggered memories of his own brother's attempts to kill him, and his having stolen everything from him with the exception of the Bible. These two men had also nearly killed him, but had taken from him his beloved Bible and Philokalia. This experience may have been both traumatic and cathartic for the pilgrim in light of his relationship with his own brother. Perhaps it was a means through which to access and heal from the relational fracture and unresolved grief. In choosing to interact with the soldiers, he engages with his grief and affects a different outcome. He is no longer a victim at the hands of a perpetrator. In facing them, blessing them, encouraging them in their relationship with God, and then seeing justice done, something likely shifts internally within him, though not disclosed to the reader. He chooses to "go his own way," and the soldiers get what they deserve — both justice and mercy. This would have altered the pilgrim's conceptual image of both himself and his brother, thereby affecting how he views others and himself. God Himself sees that justice and mercy are done. Reunited with the Vhilokalia, the strannik notes that he spends much time diligendy reading from it. "The Discourse on Innermost Activity" by St. Theoliptos of Philadelphia in the second part of the Philokalia is the first passage he reads. This passage contains instructions on engaging in three different things at one time: "While seated in the refectory," he says, "give food to your body, reading to your ears, and prayer to your mind." But the recollection of yesterday evening expertly and in fact solved the meaning for me. Here too the mystery was revealed to me that the mind and the heart are not one and the same thing. 1308 The Pilgrim's Tale, 76:14-17. 1309 The Pilgrim's Tale, 75:28-37. 311 These simultaneous activities require interplay between body, mind and heart, as well as spiritual praxes of fasting, study and prayer. In this, the pilgrim becomes aware of the distinction between and unity of the components of the person. This, in some measure, addresses a thought that had beleaguered him at the outset of his journey: "I began to wonder how anyone could pray without ceasing when merely to stay alive demanded so much of each individual."1310 The strannik draws much knowledge from his study of the Philokalia, and his heart burns hot for union with God by means of interior prayer which he struggles to learn under the guidance and verification of the Philokalia. l The strannik's understanding of the Bible — his conceptual and perceptual knowledge — is also becoming clearer: It was not as before, when a great deal of it appeared incomprehensible to me and often left me bewildered. Since the holy fathers say that the Philokalia is the key for opening the mysteries of Sacred Scripture, under its guidance I began partly to understand the hidden meaning of God's Word. I was beginning to have an inkling about such things as "the interior secret person of the heart," "true prayer," and "worship in the spirit," "the kingdom is within us," "the Spirit intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings," come before me, abide in me, give me jour heart and to put on Christ, "the betrothal of the Spirit in our hearts," "the cry from the heart Abba, Father!' and others besides.1312 The pilgrim is perhaps coming to know his true self— his humaneness. When he begins praying with his heart with all of this in his mind, he notes that, [Everything surrounding me took on a delightful form: the trees, the grass, the birds, the earth, the air, and the light. All things seemed to be saying to me that they existed for humanity's sake, that they were testifying to God's love for humankind, that they all were praying and singing the glory of God. And I understood from this what the Philokalia calls the knowledge of the speech of all creatures, and I saw here how it was possible to converse with God's creation.1313 This is the first time that he indicates experiencing Scripture and creation in this way, indicative 1310 The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:12-14. 1311 The Pilgrim's Tale, 76:23-26. 1312 The Pilgrim's Tale, 76:29-77:3, 1313 The Pilgrim's Tale, 77:4-11. 312 of a shift in his spiritual development towardphysike theoria. The pilgrim returns to his life of wandering, only to find himself in a forsaken place. For three days, he does not find a single village in which to fill his pouch with bread. Without food and very low in spirits at the thought that he might die of hunger, he perhaps identifies with Christ in the desert. As soon, however, as he begins to pray with his heart, his low spirits pass. He then sets all of his hope in the will of God and becomes cheerful and at peace. The strannik soon thereafter catches sight of a watchdog who leads him to a skinny and pale middle-aged forester who is guarding the wooded area. This gendeman feeds the pilgrim, invites him to stay for the summer, provides him with a mud hut for his lodgings, and offers him fellowship at a common table where they can share bread brought weekly by the town's folk and water from a tiny brook that never runs dry.1314 Having come to know something of himself, he is lead into relationship — communion. The mercy of God has again provided for the strannik's needs - both physical, and spiritual - thereby bolstering his faith in God's providence. He is overjoyed and does not know how to thank God for his exceeding provision and kindness. What he has fretted about and desired, namely a quiet place to pray and study — he now unexpectedly receives. For the next four months he is able to avail himself of silence and peacefulness so conducive to an attentive reading of the Philokalia. He can learn and acquire unceasing prayer of the heart.1315 From the outset of their relationship, the forester is both very willing to share his story with the pilgrim, and is receptive to the pilgrim's support and help. The pilgrim - considering the forester his "brother" — feels sorry for him and attempts to encourage him in his faith, recognizing that the dark world has overcome him. The strannik — who, to some degree, has 1314 The Pilgrim's Tale, 77:12-78:12. 1315 The Pilgrim's Tale, 78:16-22. 313 discerning eyes — is aware that he needs to become wiser and fortify himself against the soul's enemy with the Word of God as much as possible if he is to be able to help. He reads to the forester from die Philokalia and explains to him how to begin and continue the Jesus prayer without ceasing.1316 This is the first intimation of the strannik assuming the role of a starets himself — lovingly caring for his "brother" in the same way that his own starets had done for him. He attentively listens to him, spends time with him, reads to him from the Philokalia, and teaches him about unceasing prayer of the heart. He then prays for wisdom and the discernment of spirits — diakrisis and diorasis. After taking leave of the forester, the pilgrim locks himself in the old earthen hut. This space that so approximates a grave, seems to him a magnificent imperial palace filled with every comfort and diversion. This is his cell, his desert place. There he enters into silence and intently devotes himself to reading the Philokalia in search of understanding. Despite reading the entire Philokalia in order, however, he can not understand everything, nor bring together into a whole what he wants to know about interior prayer. Again, he engages in intellectual disciplines of thought — studying and thinking continually about how to learn unceasing, self- activating prayer of the heart. He is distressed that his mind and understanding are insufficient, and that no one is available to explain things to him. He proceeds to pray the Jesus prayer continually until his thoughts calm and he falls asleep.1317 By way of the Jesus prayer, the pilgrim continually practices nepsis and custody of his thoughts and heart. During his sleep, the strannik dreams again of his late starets who explains the Philokalia to him and teaches him the order in which to read it.1318 In his dream, the starets also marks the 1316 The Pilgrim's Tale, 78:30-80:33. 1317 The Pilgrim's Tale, 80:36-81:22. 1318 "The uneducated person who wishes to learn interior prayer from the Philokalia must read it in die following 314 strannik 's copy of the Philokalia with a black line alongside one particular article from which he has read so that the pilgrim can easily find the passages to which he referred.1319 The strannik listens intendy to everything that the starets says, trying to remember it as firmly and with as much detail as possible. On waking, he further tries to memorize all that he has seen and that the elder has said to him in his dream. Likewise, he questions whether or not the soul of his late starets has appeared to him, or if his own thoughts contrived it.1320 Intellectual disciplines, as well as those of imagination, mindfulness and insight, were operative. At daybreak and in this bewildered state, he rises from bed. To his surprise, he finds the Philokalia opened to the very spot the elder had shown him in his dream. The article his starets had spoken of is underlined in charcoal just as he had dreamed. He further realizes that the book had not been on the table the night prior, but was rather by the head of his bed. Though starded by these circumstances, all of them convince him — conceptually and perceptually — that his starets of blessed memory enjoys God's favour. He then proceeds to read the Philokalia exacdy as his elder has directed him. Reading the Philokalia enkindles within him the desire and zeal to experience everything he has read. He understands plainly "what interior prayer meant, how to attain it and what comes of it, how it delights the soul and heart, and how to discern whether or not this sweetness is from God, from nature or whether it is a deception."1321 He sets about searching for the place of the heart — closing his eyes and gazing into his heart with his mind, that is, with order: first, read the book by Nikiphoros the Monk, in part 2; second, die second book by Gregory of Sinai, except for die brief chapters; diird, Symeon die New Theologian's 'On the Three Modes of Prayer,' and 'A Discourse on Faith'; fourth, die book by Kallistos and Ignatios. These fadiers' works contain the full explanation, directions, and doctrine concerning the interior prayer of the heart. Anyone can understand them. If, however, you desire an even clearer instruction on prayer, look in part 4 for the 'Abbreviated Description of the Mode of Prayer' by his Holiness Kallistos, Patriarch of Constantinople." The Pilgrim's Tale, 81:32-82:6. 1319 The Pilgrim's Tale, 82:9-12. 1320 The Pilgrim's Tale, 82:13-19. 1321 The Pilgrim's Tale, 82:34-37. 315 his imagination. He desires to visualize his heart in the left half of his chest, and then listens attentively to its beating. The pilgrim occupies himself like this initially for half an hour several times a day.1322 At first he perceives only darkness. Then, gradually, he begins to picture his heart and identify its movements. In unison with the rhythm of his heart, he soon thereafter begins to bring into and draw out of it the Jesus prayer, such that when he inhales he visualizes the words Lord Jesus Christ in his heart with his mind's eye; when he exhales, he visualizes the words have mercy on me. At first he does this for one or two hours at a time; then eventually comes to spend almost the entire day in this exercise. Through the Jesus prayer, he practices combined disciplines of imagination, mindfulness (nepsis), insight, speech and action. The pilgrim notes the effect of practicing the unceasing prayer of the heart: When something burdensome weighed me down, or when sloth or doubt befell me, I immediately began to read those passages in the Philokalia that give instructions on the work of the heart, and my inclination and zeal for prayer returned once again. After about three weeks I started to feel a pain in my heart and then a most pleasant warmth, consolation, and calm. This so stirred me and made me all the more eager to practice the prayer with diligence that all my thoughts were occupied by it and I felt great joy. From this time on I began to feel various and periodical sensations in my heart and mind. At times it was as if something delightful was boiling in my heart; at other times there was such lightness, freedom, and comfort in it that I was completely transformed and carried off into ecstasy. Sometimes I felt love for Jesus Christ and all of God's creation. Sometimes sweet tears of thanksgiving flowed on their own to the Lord for the mercy he showed me, a wretched sinner. Sometimes my hitherto foolish understanding became so clear that I easily understood and contemplated things I previously was unable even to think up. Sometimes the heart's sweet warmth spilled over my entire being and I tenderly felt the omnipresent Godhead by me. I sensed within myself the greatest happiness from invoking the name of Jesus Christ, and I realized what he meant when he said: The kingdom of God is within you.1324 In this reflection, the pilgrim describes spiritual stages not only of physike theoria, but also of theoria itself whereby he acquires gnosis. This clarifies both perceptual ignorance and confusion, 1322 The Pilgrim's Tale, 83:1-6. 1323 The Pilgrim's Tale, 83:6-16. 1324 The Pilgrim's Tale, 83:16-84:2. 316 and grants him spiritual (noetic) knowledge. By experiencing these and similar sweet consolations, the strannik observes that the fruits of the prayer of the heart are made manifest in three ways: in the spirit, in the feelings, and in revelations: [Tjn the spirit there is the sweetness of divine love, interior rest, rapture of the mind, purity of thought, and sweet recollection of God. In the feelings one senses a pleasant warming of the heart, the filling of all one's members with sweetness, a joyful bubbling in the heart, lightness, courage, pleasantness of life, and insensitivity to pain and sorrow. In revelations there is the illumination of the intellect, understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, knowledge of the speech of created things, renunciation of vanities, knowledge of the sweetness of the inner life, and confidence in the nearness of God and his love for us.1325 The prayer of the heart grants him conceptual, perceptual, and Divine knowledge; virtue; peace; purity of thought; and trust in God. It allows him entry into deeper relationships with all. The strannik spends about five months in solitude, devoted to prayer and the enjoyment of these sensations. He notes that he gradually grew so accustomed to the prayer of the heart that he practiced it without ceasing. As his time in the mud hut draws to a close, he describes that, [T]he prayer arose and was uttered in my mind and heart by itself, without any effort on my part. Not only in a watchful state but also in my sleep the prayer carried on in precisely the same way. Nothing interrupted it or stopped it for the briefest moment, no matter what I was doing. My soul thanked the Lord and my heart melted away in unceasing gladness.1326 The strannik has achieved self-activating prayer of the heart and experiences hoth. physike theoria and theologike theoria. 1325 jhe vugrim>s Tale, 84:2-14. 1326 The Pilgrim's Tale, 84:15-23. 317 As he leaves the forest at the end of the summer and continues to make his way towards Irkutsk, the prayer of the heart is his consolation and joy.1327 He notes that, At every encounter and in every situation, wherever I was, whatever I did, and however I occupied myself, the prayer never stopped delighting me. It hindered nothing and was not diminished by anything. If I work at something and the prayer acts in my heart of its own accord, the task goes all the more quickly; and if I listen to something attentively or am reading, even then the prayer does not cease. It seems that at one and the same time I feel the one and the other thing, precisely as if I were split in two or as if I had two souls in one body. My God! How mysterious we humans are. May jour works be exalted, 0 Lord; with wisdom you have made them allP2% The remainder of the second tale recounts several of the many further incidents that occur to the pilgrim on his journey to Irkutsk. The first such event involves him being jumped at by a huge wolf that snatches his late staret's prayer rope (which he always held) out of his hands. The rope somehow gets wrapped around the wolfs neck. Managing to set the creature free from the prayer rope and the bush in which it was entangled, the strannik is left with torn rope. He thanks God and makes his way to a village. In an inn in the village, the pilgrim engages in conversation with a teacher and a scrivener. The former provides the strannik with some understanding of his dream of his late starets, while he was in the mud hut, while the latter seems to be quite dismissive and taunting of him and his faith. The strannik takes his interactions with both men in stride, but certainly attends much more to the teacher. Humbly prostrating himself at his feet, he listens thoughtfully to his words, attends to his explanation of his dream, and inquires about his insights regarding interior prayer. The pilgrim also willingly shares with the teacher his love of unceasing prayer and introduces him to the Phi/oka/ia, for which the teacher appears 1327 The Pilgrim's Tale, 84:29-30. 1328 The Pilgrim's Tale, 84:30-85:3. 318 grateful. As they part, the strannik 's internal disposition toward and prayer for each of the men differs: "I thanked God for the conversation with the teacher and I prayed that the Lord might dispose the scrivener to read the Philokalia, even if only once, so that he might come to understand and be saved."1330 He is aware of the different spiritual needs of each and prays accordingly. He harbors neither resentment nor ill-will toward the scrivener, but only wishes that his soul might be saved. Another series of events occurs one springtime when the strannik is passing through a village and happens to stop at a priest's house. He spends three days with him — the priest watching him closely1331 — after which the priest asks that he stay for the summer to both supervise labourers who are constructing a new stone church, and sit in the chapel to collect offerings for the construction. The priest says to the strannik: Stay with me and I'll offer you some pay. I need someone conscientious. (...) I have been unable to find a trustworthy person (...) I see that you would be capable of this and that, given your inclinations, living there would suit you just fine. You could sit alone in the chapel and pray to God; there is a small private room for the church warden. Please stay, at least for the summer until the church is finished.1332 The strannik reluctantly agrees and takes up residence in the chapel. This is his first formal engagement in ministry. There he prays, reads from the Bible and the Philokalia, responds to conversations that others strike up with him, and occasionally reads something to those who come when they ask.1333 One of the frequent visitors of the chapel is a peasant girl named Akulka who often comes to pray, though in a garbled way. She has been taught to pray by her church-going 1329 The Pilgrim's Tale, 85:7-88:26. 1330 The Pilgrim's Tale, 88:26-29. 1331 The Pilgrim's Tale, 88:35. 1332 The Pilgrim's Tale, 88:36-89:7. 1333 The Pilgrim's Tale, 88:29-89:16. 319 mother; her father conversely is one of the priestless Old Ritualists. Feeling sorry for her, the strannik "advised her to recite her prayers correctly in keeping with the tradition of Holy Church, and then (...) explained to her the Our Father and the Rejoice, Theotokos Virgin."1™ He also instructs her to pray the Jesus prayer as often as possible. The girl listens attentively to him and follows his advice. She gradually grows accustomed to the prayer, experiences a pleasant sensation when she prays, and desires to devote herself continually to it. The strannik rejoices and encourages her to pray all the more. Akulka has become his first spiritual daughter. While at the chapel, many others seek out the strannik for his advice and direction, and to share with him their everyday worries. He notes that it is clear that some of them think of him as a sorcerer. One day, Akulka visits him in distress. She questions him as to what she ought to do in light of her father's intent to marry her off against her will to an Old Ritualist. Rather than supporting her in her desire to run away, the strannik counsels her to pray that God might ruin her father's plan by his own designs and preserve her from sin and heresy.1335 The girl obediendy complies. The end of the summer draws near and the pilgrim — despite the priest's rebuttal and urgings — makes up his mind to leave the chapel. Attempting to coax the pilgrim to stay, the priest challenges him saying: What prevents you from praying here? You have no other task but to sit in the chapel, and you have bread already made for you. Please, pray there both day and night. My brother, live with God! You fit this place. You don't pratde nonsense with the parishioners; in fact, you bring in an income for the church of God and you collect it faithfully. This is more pleasing in God's sight than is your solitary prayer. What is there for you in solitude? It is more pleasant to pray with people. God created us not so that we would know only ourselves but so that people would help each other and lead one 1334 The Pilgrim's Tale, 89:23-26. 1335 The Pilgrim's Tale, 90:1-18. 320 another to salvation as each one is able. Look at the saints and universal doctors. Day and night they interceded and took pains for the church, and they preached everywhere. They did not sit in their solitude and hide themselves from people.1336 The strannik, however, is insistent that he needs to continue on his solitary journey for the good of his salvation: God gives to each person (...) the proper gift. There have been many preachers and there have been many hermits. Those who found within themselves any sort of inclination toward any goal obeyed their inclination and said that it was God who pointed out their path of salvation. (...) [M]any of the saints (...) fled into solitary desert places so that they would not be disturbed and harmed in the midst of others (...) If saints were on their guard lest they be harmed by associating with men and women, (...) what else remains for a powerless sinner to do?1337 Eventually, with the blessing of the priest, he takes his leave from the chapel. From his discussions with the priest and his time at the chapel, one gets a further image of the strannik. One learns that he is trustworthy, prayerful, sincere, charitable, sensitive and cautiously responsive to the needs of others, and sought after. In his discussions with others, he offers advice and refrains from idle, nonsensical and meaningless chatter. He freely offers his gift of reading to others — reading from spiritually authoritative texts. He is an asset to the Church and honest in his ministry. One also gets a sense, however, that he is somewhat stubborn, guarded and principled; blunt, distant and non-engaging; non-disclosing regarding his own life; unappreciative of being perceived of as a sorcerer; and intensely committed to a solitary way of life. The strannik appears to value solitude more than stability or food, and seems more concerned about his own call and salvation than that of others. He also is concerned about being disturbed and harmed by others, perhaps perceiving that he does not have the strength necessary to protect himself from injury and grief caused in relationships. This may be all the more so as he has 1336 The pugrim's Tale, 90:25-91:2. 1337 The Pilgrim's Tale, 91:3-20. 321 lost all those he has intimately loved. Based on his life experiences (and ego), he may perceive relationships to be a tremendous source of pain — something to be avoided. After taking leave of the priest and the chapel, the strannik travels to a nearby hamlet where he waits overnight to reverence the Sacred Mysteries that he suggests be brought for a desperately sick peasant man staying in the lodgings. While he is there, Akulka suddenly appears, informing him that she has run away to avoid a betrothal ceremony. She begs his assistance, requesting that he take her to a monastery. Again he refuses to help her and redirects her homeward. He suggests that, under saving pretense, she pretend that she has some sort of illness. While they are sitting talking, four peasants suddenly approach them, seize the girl and throw her in a cart, bind the pilgrim's hands and accuse him of seducing her. Both the strannik and Akulka are taken back to the village, where the pilgrim is thrown in jail and a trial before an intoxicated judge is set. The priest from the village, as a spiritual father, consoles and reassures the pilgrim that he will vouch that he is not the type of person they think he is. At the trial, however, the staggering magistrate determines that the pilgrim will receive a thrashing, be driven out of the village, and told that in no uncertain terms is he ever to set foot in the village again. The next morning, the pilgrim is flogged and then released. In response, he thanks God that he has been worthy to suffer for His name. He had been humiliated and falsely accused — in likeness to Christ. He states that, This consoled me and intensified the unceasing prayer of the heart. None of these events grieved me in the slightest; it was as though they had happened to someone else and I merely watched them. Even when they were flogging me I had the strength to endure it. The prayer that delighted my heart did not permit me to notice anything 322 The pilgrim then learns from the girl's mother that the groom has called off the marriage because Akulka had run away from him. That evening, the strannik again dreams of his late starets who offers him consolation, direction and explanation. He encourages him to read various passages of the Philokalia that speak of submitting to ignominy and enduring temptation for the sake of those who are drawing spiritual benefit from one's guidance, being vigilant and not growing weary when tested by God, relying on God's help in times of trial, and teaching others of unceasing prayer. Of particular note regarding the latter are passages from both St. Gregory Palamas and Kallistos Antelikudis who say, Not only should we ourselves pray unceasingly in the name of Jesus Christ, in keeping with the divine command, but we must also teach and reveal this to others, to everyone in general — to monks and seculars, to the wise and the simple, to men and women and children — and we must arouse in everyone zeal for unceasing prayer. [M]ental activity concerning the Lord, that is, interior prayer, contemplative knowledge, and methods for raising the soul on high should not be retained only in our own mind; we must rather take notes and pass these things on in writing and exposition for common use and because of love. Indeed, the word of God speaks of this, that a brother helped by a brother is like a strong and lofty city.1340 The dream of his late starets impacts him in multiple ways. First, it strengthens his relationship with God, his starets of late memory, and himself; reinforces for him that God is always with him, even in trials and tribulations; impresses upon him that his teacher and guide is with him and will continue to clarify his confusion and inform him; and reassures him that he has been found worthy by both God and his starets. Second, it invites him into relationships with others, while also abating his fears about being tempted amidst his engagement with 1338 jfa vugrim>s Ta/e, 93:16-21. 1339 St. Gregory of Palamas, as quoted in The Pilgrim's Tale, 94:11-17. 1340 Kallistos Antelikudis, as quoted in The Pilgrim's Tale, 94:17-23. 323 them. He learns that he will suffer and endure temptations for the sake of others; that the more zealous in prayer he becomes, the more likely he will be tempted; that he will not be tempted beyond his strength; that God is greater than any temptation; that he is to teach others and pass on what he has learned; that he is to help his brothers; and that he is to both avoid vainglory and be prudent with whom he shares Divine teaching. Third, it clarifies any conceptual and perceptual ignorance and confusion he has regarding temptation. Fourth, his conceptual images shift regarding how he views others and himself. Fifth, it impacts his view of his own ministry. Flis starets of late memory calls him to serve others in the name of the Church — to be a starets. He has spiritually matured, not only in the ways of praktike, physike theoria and theologike theoria, but also from being a spiritual pupil to being a guide. His starets — whom he knew had won God's favour — commissions him to teach others about unceasing prayer and contemplative knowledge or mental activity concerning the Lord. He calls on the pilgrim to help his brothers — men, women, children, the wise and the simple, monks and seculars — in love. Relationships are no longer to be avoided, but sought after, so that he can help others for the sake of their salvation. Strengthened in his soul by the dream and filled with great joy in his heart, he continues on his journey, affirmed and renewed in zeal, and clear in direction and purpose. Sometime later, another event of significance occurs. The pilgrim notes that one day, namely, the 24th of March — the day dedicated to the commemoration of the holy Annunciation of the most pure Mother of God — he feels "an insurmountable desire to receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ."1341 This yearning — initiated and inspired by the Spirit — leads him to seek out the nearest Church; it also fortifies him in the face of incredible physical 1341 The Pilgrim's Tale, 94:29-30. 324 hardship he will endure so as to satisfy the craving of his heart. God initiates and the pilgrim responds — an activity so reflective of synergeia. After travelling to the nearest Church thirty kilometers away — through foul weather including rain, snow, strong wind and cold, and having broken through ice up to his waist when crossing a small stream — he, cold and soaking wet, attends Orthros and Divine Liturgy. The pilgrim notes that he held out even through the service, and that God made him worthy to receive communion.1342 He is acutely aware that God alone can prepare him to enter into union with the Divine — all he can do is humbly receive such an incredible gift, unworthy as he is. Having partaken of the Divine Mysteries, the pilgrim requests permission to stay in the guard hut through the next day so that he can taste of the spiritual fruits of the sacrament without hindrance. After receiving permission from the church sexton, he remains in the unheated hut until morning. While lying in the bunk in solitude as though resting in the bosom of Abraham, he is both oblivious to his physical state and also able to experience ineffable joy and sweetness of the heart.1343 He notes that, "The prayer was forcefully active. Love for the Lord Jesus Christ and the Mother of God swirled like delightful waves in my heart and seemed to immerse my soul in consoling rapture." Such sacramental union with God appears to have been a pinnacle spiritual experience for the pilgrim — one by which he communes with the Living God. It is also a clear depiction of synergeia, a source of spiritual joy, and a means through which to progress toward theoria. Though not specifically stated in the text, the pilgrim's request of the sexton reveals that 1342 The Pilgrim's Tale, 95:3-4. 1343 The Pilgrim's Tale, 95:7-10. 1344 The Pilgrim's Tale, 95:11-13. 325 the strannik is sensitive to the need for a tranquil milieu following receipt of the Divine Mysteries so as to make it possible for him to more fully experience union with the Divine. Previous experience must have revealed to him the effect of receiving the Holy Mysteries, as well as the delight that he might experience if he practices silence and attentiveness to the movement of the Spirit in his heart. As a result, he chooses to purposefully practice stillness and nepsis — disciplines of consciousness. At night, and after having attended to his heart throughout the day, the pilgrim suddenly feels a powerful aching in his legs and recalls that they are damp. He disregards this realization, however, and begins all the more diligently to pay heed to his heart with prayer. In so doing, he no longer feels the pain, and it is not until the next day that the pilgrim comes to realize that his legs are paralyzed and limp.1345 Kicked out of the guardhouse and helpless, he is left to sit on the church porch where he is dismissed by passersby. Finally, a peasant barters with him, offering to cure the strannik of his ailment in exchange for teaching his son how to write. The pilgrim agrees. The peasant thereafter goes about gathering rotted bones, and slowly baking them until a thick, reddish, oily liquid is obtained. The pilgrim applies the ointment on his legs five times a day and within a week, his legs have become as strong as before. Old bones give his bones new life. He thanks God and thinks: What divine wisdom there is in creation! Dry, putrid bones, almost entirely turned into earth, preserve in themselves such vital force, color, smell, and power of acting on living bodies; it is as though they communicate life to dead bodies. This is a pledge of the future resurrection of the body. How I would like to show this to that forester with whom I lived, in view of his doubts about the general resurrection.1347 1345 The Pilgrim's Tale, 94:13-19. 1346 jhe Pilgrim's Tale, 95:25-97:6. 1347 The Pilgrim's Tale, 96:27-33. 326 Through this experience, the pilgrim comes to realize that wisdom is not only to be found in Scripture, the Philokalia, or the words of his starets, but also in creation and life experiences — all of which begin now to speak to him in theological ways. Having been healed, he begins to teach the peasant's son to write as he had promised. Rather than teaching him using the Bible — as he had done in his own youth — the pilgrim teaches the boy using the Jesus prayer. In copying it, the boy learns quickly.1348 This act would have likely triggered memories of instruction when he had learned to read and write. Now, however, the pilgrim teaches with the words of his starets in mind and heart: teach them — men, women and children — about unceasing prayer of the heart. This is his first opportunity to do so since his being commissioned into ministry. The strannik later has the occasion of teaching an apparently Catholic steward and his wife about the Philokalia. A steward, known to the peasant's son, one day sought the pilgrim out. Finding the pilgrim reading the Philokalia, he asks what his understanding of it is. The strannik corrects the steward's erroneous impression of the Philokalia and the Jesus prayer — his conceptual ignorance and confusion — and teaches him instead that, Simple Greek monks did not write it, but the ancient, great, and most holy men whom even your church honors, such as Anthony the Great, Makarios the Great, Mark the Ascetic, John Chrysostom, and others. And the Indian and Bukharan monks adopted the method of the heart for interior prayer from them; only they spoiled it and perverted it themselves, as my own elder has told me. In the Philokalia, however, all the instructions about die practice of the prayer of the heart are drawn from the Word of God—from the Holy Bible. Just as Jesus Christ, who instructed us to say the Our Father, li4iThe Pilgrim's Tale, 96:34-97:4. At this point in the story, there appear several episodes (in addition to this account with the peasant's son), in which die Jesus prayer and related spiritual praxes are approached by some of die peasants in an almost fetishistic manner (i.e. as though they have supernatural powers in and of themselves — likened to "lucky charms"). This is certainly not the correct understanding of the Jesus prayer, nor other spiritual practices/disciplines in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. They are viewed rather as expressions of one's relationship with God and means of fostering it. One should view die upcoming episodes of the people's reaction to the healing of the steward's wife, the old woman's interpretation of how the Jesus prayer protected her from harm, and the captain's use of the Jesus prayer to manage his godson's behaviour with this in mind. The pilgrim's understanding of the Jesus prayer is, of course, very different and not fetishistic in nature. 327 commanded unceasing prayer as well, when he said: Seek me with all your heart; abide in me as I abide in you; pray without ceasing; everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But die holy famers, by introducing the witness of the holy king David in the Psalter, Taste and see that the hard is good, explain it in this way: the Christian must search by every means and acquire delight in prayer and search for consolation in it without ceasing, and not simply say the Our father once a day.... Here, I'll read for you how these holy fathers censure those who do not try to gain and learn the sweet prayer of the heart. They write that such people commit a sin in three ways. First, such people show themselves to contradict the divinely inspired scriptures. Second, they do not suppose that there is a higher and more perfect state for the soul, and are satisfied with external acts of virtue; they cannot have a hunger and thirst for righteousness and so are deprived of blessedness and happiness in the Lord. Third, by thinking about themselves on the basis of their external virtues they frequendy fall into deception or pride and thereby make vain their salvation.1349 In so doing, the strannik begins teaching about the unceasing prayer of the heart, the Philokalia and its place relative to Scripture, and encourages the steward in the ways of salvation. The steward, enlightened by the pilgrim's words and the quotes from the Philokalia, requests of the pilgrim that he read the Philokalia to him and his wife. The strannik agrees. On one occasion when he is with the steward and his wife, the steward's wife begins to choke on a fish bone that has lodged in her throat. A doctor thirty kilometers away is sent for and the pilgrim goes home. During the night, while in a light sleep, he hears the voice of his elder, though sees no one. The voice says: Your master cured you but there you are, unable to help the steward's wife? God has instructed us to share our neighbors' suffering." "I would gladly help but with what? I do not know any remedies." "Well, here is what you are to do. From the very beginning of her life she has had an aversion to lamp oil. Not only can she not use it, she is even unable to bear the odor without feeling nauseous. So, give her a spoonful of the oil to drink. It will make her vomit and the bone will be disgorged; the wound which the bone scratched in her throat will be coated with the oil, and she will recover." "And how will I give her the oil if she has an aversion to it? She won't drink it." "You are to order the steward to hold her by the head and then pour it into her mouth all at once, with force if _ 1350 necessary. 1349 The Pilgrim's Tale, 97:21-98:11. 1350 The Pilgrim's Tale, 99:3-18. 328 He immediately goes to the steward when he wakes up and relates to him his experience of his elder. They do as the strannik has been instructed, and die woman is cured. When the doctor hears the strannik's accounts of how both he and the woman had been healed, he dismisses the strannik's experiences as being the power of nature, rather than the hand of God.1351 The starets' communication with the pilgrim on this occasion reveals a further shift. In their interaction, the pilgrim is aware that he is only in a light sleep and not dreaming. The starets relates knowledge regarding another person, rather than of Scripture, the Phihkalia or the ways of unceasing prayer. Something is revealed to him from early in the woman's life that is personal and unique to her, and known only to her and her husband.1352 The pilgrim also engages in dialogue with the starets - the starets asks him a question and the pilgrim responds by expressing his willingness to help, if only he knew how. After being given instruction, the pilgrim clarifies certain points which were unclear to him, and the starets offers responses that clarify his confusion. In this way he is guided to miraculously heal the woman with specific knowledge that he could only have acquired via God Himself. Following this event, word spreads quickly throughout the region that he is a prophet, doctor, and sorcerer — he is mistakenly perceived by superstitious folk as having supernatural powers. People start to come to him unremittingly with their affairs and circumstances, bringing him gifts, honouring him, and indulging his needs.1353 He recalls his staretf warning, however, and fears that he might fall into vainglory and pride. As a result, he leaves the place secredy one night, his memory and imagination clearly mindful of Christ's example in Scripture. 1351 The Pilgrim's Tale, 99:19-27. 1352 The Pilgrim's Tale, 99:30-32. 1353 The Pilgrim's Tale, 100:3-9. 329 The strannik again embarks on a solitary journey, making his way toward Irkutsk. Upon leaving, he feels as though a mountain has been taken off his shoulders: The prayer consoled me more and more so that sometimes my heart bubbled up out of measureless love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and from this sweet bubbling it was as if consoling streams spilled over throughout my entire being. The memory of Jesus Christ was so imprinted on my mind that, when I reflected on the events of the Gospel, I saw them as if they were before my eyes. I was moved and wept for joy. Sometimes I felt such gladness in my heart that I was unable even to relate it. It happened that for three days running I did not enter into human habitations and in my ecstasy I felt as if I were the only person on earth—alone, a wretched sinner, before the merciful God who loves humankind. This solitude comforted me and when I was alone the prayerful sweetness was much more tangible than when I was in a crowd.1354 His relationship with the Jesus prayer continues to deepen his personal relationship with Christ. His memory and imagination, as applied to his mindfulness of Scripture, supports his relationship with Christ. These in fact lead him to a state of ecstasy — alone before the merciful God. He has experienced theologike theoria and true gnosis — spiritual knowledge. The second tale concludes with the strannik's arrival in Irkutsk. There, after venerating the relics of Bishop Innokentdi and hopeful that he will not be in such a populous place for very long, he meets and stays with a local merchant who promises to pay for his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When he hears this, the pilgrim rejoices and thanks both his benefactor for his kindness and God for showing him — "a wretched sinner who has done nothing good for himself or for other people, and like a freeloader has devoured the bread of strangers in my idleness"1355 — His exceeding Fatherly love and concern. Despite what he has given to others and sacrificed of himself, he sees it as nothing before the bountiful love of God. He waits there to make his way to Odessa before setting off for Jerusalem — if God will so grant it.1356 1354 The Pilgrim's Tale, 100:11-24. 1355 The Pilgrim's Tale, 101:14-17. 1356 The Pilgrim's Tale, 100:28-101:22. 330 During the course of the first tale, the pilgrim walks many miles searching for the ability to pray unceasingly before he finds his starets. His wandering in this second tale takes on a different focus: it is a means through which to both integrate all he has learned from his starets and continue searching for knowledge of self-activating prayer of the heart and a relationship with Christ. Wandering about, he longs for a place where he can stop, study both Scripture and the Vhilokalia, and practice the Jesus prayer. From travelling great distances physically on an external landscape, he shifts to journeying through the internal terrain of his mind and heart. As he spends time in the mud hut, his external wandering ceases and his internal wandering into his own heart begins. His search at that point is for knowledge of self- activating prayer. He comes to know some of the contours of his own heart, and recognizes the movements of his thoughts. He also comes to understand the Vhilokalia and Scripture in a new way, and commits much to memory. After experiencing self-activating prayer of the heart and departing from his cell, he again travels. The pilgrim gradually comes to wander through the landscape of other people's lives as is evident both in his time in the chapel and his experiences thereafter. While not initially open to relating to others and unfamiliar with hearing their hearts, the dream of his late starets changes him. His wanderings thereafter take on a new focus and direction. Being commissioned to guide others in the ways of unceasing prayer and contemplative knowledge, he comes to wander with new purpose into the wilderness of the hearts and souls of the people he meets along the way, in the hope of guiding them on the path of unceasing prayer and salvation. This becomes the priority that guides where his external journeys will take him. Along the way, he also is privileged with being alone with his own heart and in concealed ecstasy with the merciful God. 331 4.3.3. Third Meeting The Third Meeting — "The Pilgrim's Tale on die occasion of his third and farewell meeting, 20 December 1859," is different in its presentation from the First, Second and Fourth Meetings. As noted previously, it is a meeting between the pilgrim and his spiritual father in which he aims to bid his spiritual father farewell and thank him for his Christian love.1357 On the occasion of meeting with the pilgrim, his spiritual father requests that he share his origins, and life prior to his pilgrimage.1358 Agreeable to doing so, the strannik provides him with autobiographical details,13 as well as an account of the beginnings of his formal pilgrimage fourteen years earlier.1360 The content of what is recounted has been discussed earlier in section 4.1 of this thesis. In this meeting, the strannik practices several spiritual disciplines. The most obvious spiritual praxes he engages in are disciplines of speech whereby, in obedience, he discloses aspects of his personal life and journey to his spiritual elder. Amidst his compliance with his spiritual director's request, he practices disciplines of revelation of thoughts, custody of the heart, attentiveness, compassion, and prudence. Also quite likely, though not stated direcdy, the pilgrim simultaneously practices the Jesus prayer while relating the details of his life — a practice that he has grown accustomed to. Shifts in the pilgrim's level of trust in a spiritual guide are unmistakable in this third meeting. While through earlier periods of his life he was disillusioned by spiritual authorities who were unable to tell him how one prays unceasingly, he is evidently quite trusting of and connected with this particular spiritual elder. The pilgrim appears quite obedient to, and open 1357 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:4-6. 1358 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:7-9. 1359 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:10-104:37. 1360 The Pilgrim's Tale, 105:1-15. 332 and honest with his spiritual elder, revealing to him without hesitation what he has been asked. He does not seem to withhold anything of himself or his life story from this elder. While being thorough in what he relates, he also, however, is brief — not going into great detail about any one thing, but communicating only what he feels would be good to disclose. He appears to be prudent, charitable, non-judgmental and honouring of those of whom he speaks. The pilgrim in this meeting practices the virtue of gratitude as well, noting that he wishes to thank his spiritual father for his Christian love. We will now continue with an exploration of the remainder of the pilgrim's accounts. 4.3.4. Fourth Meeting The fourth tale, "The Pilgrim's Tale on the occasion of a fourth and unexpected meeting," is an unexpected encounter between the strannik and his spiritual elder, during which he continues to recount to his spiritual father additional events he has along his journey leading up to his arrival in Irkutsk, and prior to his departure for Odessa and Jerusalem. His plans to leave Irkutsk for Odessa have changed due to his agreement to travel to Odessa with a deaf older man. The strannik proceeds to describe further incidents that had occurred along his earlier travels. This forms the content of the fourth tale. From the first statements of the fourth meeting, the pilgrim's trust in Divine Providence is quite apparent. The words, "It is good for me to cleave to God, to place the hope of my salvation in the Lord" open the tale. The pilgrim then recalls the Russian proverb: "man proposes, but God disposes,"1362 and notes to his spiritual father that his recent experiences suggest that the proverb is correct. He goes on to indicate that his plans to depart for Irkutsk have changed due to unforeseen circumstances, and as a result, he has remained in Irkutsk for 1361 Psalm 72:28 (LXX trans.), as noted in The Pilgrim's Tale, 106:4-5. 1362 jhe pern's Tale, 106:6-7. 333 three more days. He further states that, "Such are the unexpected events one meets with on life's path. But all the while God and his Holy Providence govern our deeds and intentions, as it is written: Both the willing and the doing are God's iPork."na This change of events seemingly has litde effect on him — it rouses no anger, nor frustration, but only trust that God's hand is guiding him. His heart is growing ever more malleable in die hands of God. While setting out for Odessa, he encounters a person who is familiar to him, bodi having been pilgrims at one point. This gendeman has been working as a labourer for a family in Irkutsk for two years. When he learns that the pilgrim is making his way to Jerusalem, he asks him to consider accepting a travelling companion — a stone deaf old gendeman who is the father of the master of the house where he works. The strannik initially declines stating, "God be with you and widi him, (...) but you must know that in keeping widi my own ways I never travel with companions. I am used to wandering always alone."1364 Then, appealing to the pilgrim's compassion and sympathies, and calling him "brodier," the labourer urges him to agree to it, to set his mind to it for die glory of God and for love of his neighbour.1365 When the pilgrim meets the family and sees that diey are honest people, he agrees to their proposal and makes arrangements for them to set out on their journey on the third day of the feast of Christ's nativity, if God so willed, after Holy Liturgy.1366 The pilgrim's spiritual father is glad to have the occasion to meet with him again and listens attentively and widi pleasure to his accounts. Prior to relating any one specific incident to his spiritual father, the strannik first makes a commentary on thoughts, memory and imagination. He states: 1363 The Pilgrim's Tale, 107:27-30. 1364 Jhe Pilgrim's Tale, 106:22-24. 1365 The Pilgrim's Tale, 107:18-20. 1366 The pngrim's Tale, 107:23-27. 334 I have already forgotten many things because I tried especially to remember only what guided and aroused my lazy soul to prayer. All the rest I rarely called to mind; or, to say it better, I tried to forget what happened, in keeping with the instruction of the holy apostle Paul: I strive toward the honor of the sublime vocation, forgetting what is behind and pressing onward to what lies ahead. My late elder of blessed memory used to say that obstacles to the prayer of the heart attack from two sides, from the left and from the right. That is, if the enemy does not succeed in turning us away from prayer by means of vain thoughts and sinful imaginings, he will bring to mind edifying memories or introduce beautiful thoughts, by some such means, but only in order to distract us from prayer, which he finds insufferable. This is known as right-handed theft, by which the soul, disdaining conversation with God, turns toward satisfying conversation with itself or with creatures. For this reason my elder begged me not to welcome even the most beautiful thoughts during prayer, and if I happened to notice, as the day passed, that I was spending more time in edifying reflections and conversation than in essential, free- of-images prayer of the heart, I was to deem this too to be intemperance or self- interested spiritual avarice. This is especially true for novices, whose time spent in prayer must exceed by a significant amount the time that is spent practicing the other works of a devout life. Still one cannot forget everything! Other things have so engraved themselves on my memory that, even though I haven't thought of them for a long time, I can recall them vividly.1367 This commentary provides some insight into the pilgrim's spiritual practices — particularly disciplines of mindfulness such as custody and discernment of thoughts, and discernment of spirits. Here he emphasizes his efforts to commit to memory only that which guides him in prayer. He notes his attempts to focus on imageless prayer — free of vain thoughts and sinful imaginings, as well as edifying memories and beautiful thoughts. He also maintains that beginners in the way of prayer need to spend more time in prayer than in devout practices. This commentary additionally reveals his earnest attempts to practice and embody the wisdom of his late starets in that he quotes his words and Words of Scripture from memory. The strannik then goes on to share with his spiritual father several vivid memories of experiences impressed in him. The first experience occurred when he was travelling through the province of Tobolsk. Running out of bread, he enters one house to beg for some more. The owner and mistress of the house give him some warm loaves, freshly baked, in a nice new 1367 The Pilgrim's Tale, 108:2-28. 335 firm bag. After thanking them, he stops at the entrance to a grocer's and requests some salt. The grocer responds by giving him a litde bag full. He rejoices in spirit and thanks God for showing him such good people who have provided him with food for die week.1368 This incident reveals that the pilgrim not only recognizes God's direct providence in his life, but also His working through good people to provide for him. The next experience that the strannik relates at some length is one which occurs while he was with a pious Christian family. After walking about five kilometers further, he comes across a small wooden church in which he briefly prays. He then meets up with two young children, a boy and a girl, who lead him by the hand to their mother and the family home — a saintly woman and a well-kept and orderly manor house surrounded by a beautiful garden. Masha, their mother and lady of the house greets the pilgrim warmly, addresses him as a God- pleasing person, and insists that he sit down and have something to eat and drink. Further, she insists he meet her husband (a judge in the district court), stay with them overnight, pray with them at liturgy the next day, dine with them and their guests (sisters and brothers in Christ), tell her about himself, and engage with her in spiritual conversation. In response, he stays to wait for the master of the house and briefly recounts his travels to her, noting that he is going to Irkutsk. As her mother, a nun of the great habit, resides in a convent there, she requests that he deliver a letter and book to her.1369 Agreeing to have dinner, the strannik joins Masha and four other women at table. Masha interacts with die others as though they are sisters to her. When asked, she verified that they are just diat - despite their being the cook, the coachman's wife, the chatelaine and her chambermaid. He is astounded and thanks God for showing him such God-pleasing 1368 The pngrim>s Tak, 108:31-109:8. 1369 The Pilgrim's Tale, 109:9-110:37. 336 people.1370 In the dynamic between them, he witnesses and is struck by great love shown towards one's sisters and brother in Christ, which suggests that he has not previously experienced such a lived reality. This would have affected his conceptual image of relationships. The prayer moves relentlessly within him during his interactions with this family and their associates. On the first occasion, during dinner with Masha and the women, he senses the powerful movement of prayer in his heart, however, is unable to excuse himself from their company. Masha insists that she accompany him into the garden, rather than allowing him time alone. As there is nothing else he can do, he begs her to tell him about her life and piety. His motivation for listening, however — rather than moving out of a desire to hear her story, heart or life — is to allow himself space to attend to the prayer rising within him. It is his only way to preserve his silence and avoid speaking.1371 Masha relates her personal background to the pilgrim,1372 explaining that her mother is the great-granddaughter of Bishop Ioasaf whose reliquiae are on display in Belgorod. As a newborn, her husband of noble birth had been left orphaned, and taken in by her own mother and raised as a member of the family. Masha was born a year later, and the two of them grew up and were schooled together. When they were of age, her mother married her to her fondling son and handed the village over to them. Prior to going off to live in a cell she had constructed, she gave them her paternal blessing1373 and instructed them, [T]o live in a Christian manner, to pray to God and above all to strive to fulfill the chief commandment of God, which is to love one's neighbors, to feed and assist the poor brothers and sisters of Christ in simplicity and meekness, to raise children in the fear of 1370 The Pilgrim's Tale, 111:1-13. 1371 The Pilgrim's Tale, 111:15-31. 1372 The Piigrim >s Tale, 111:32-l 12:19. 1373 The Pilgrim's Tale, 112:9. 337 God, and to treat our servants as if they were our sisters and brothers.1374 She told the strannik that they respect her wishes and have been trying to live them out faithfully since, even to the point of running a hospice for beggars.1375 Masha's story of her mother may have brought to mind and heart many memories in the strannik despite nothing being directly stated in the text. The blessing and instructions of Masha's mother — not dissimilar from those which the strannik had received from both his own grandfather and starets — may have evoked joy within him when he heard such familiar and Godly words, as well as sorrow at the loss of his beloved guides. Because their words and directives were so akin to those of Masha's saintly mother, it may have impressed upon him or reinforced the notion that his guides were saindy themselves — thereby further shifting his conceptual images of them. If the pilgrim had unresolved grief related to his life's losses, the story she related may have evoked additional feelings. Hearing that her husband's parents had died leaving him orphaned may have triggered feelings associated with the loss of his own parents, grandparents, and wife, thereby drawing to mind memories of himself having been left orphaned and alone. Awareness that Masha's husband has had and continues to have close companionship with his sister and wife may have left him reflecting on his own losses, aloneness, and fractured relationship with his own brother. Much pain may have surfaced in the pilgrim's inner world upon hearing her story. Upon his arrival, Masha's husband warmly receives the pilgrim as friend and brother — in fact a 'dearest bother.' It is likely that the strannik easily identified with this gentleman, whose life had started off not all that differendy from his own. They both shared common interests: both were avid readers, treasured holy books, wrote very well, were committed to learning, and 1374 The Pilgrim's Tale, 112:9-14. 1375 The Pilgrim's Tale, 112:15-19. 338 read fervently from the writings of the saints. The prayer again arose in his heart while spending time with Masha and her husband and listening to her read an exposition on the Lord's Prayer. The strannik notes that, As I listened to the reading I paid attention to the prayer arising in my heart. The further the reading went the more the prayer developed and delighted me. Suddenly I saw something flash quickly in the air before my eyes, perhaps my deceased elder. I started and so as to hide this I said, "Excuse me, I dozed off a little!" Then and there I felt as if my elder's spirit penetrated my own or set it light. I sensed some sort of light in my mind and a multitude of thoughts about prayer. I was just crossing myself and setting my will to drive off these thoughts when the lady came to the end of the book and her husband asked me if I had liked the reading. Our conversation began again.1377 If it was his deceased elder's spirit making itself known to him, illuminating his mind and providing thoughts about prayer, it took very little for the pilgrim to recognize it. There was neither audible voice nor image of the starets, but only a "flash of something" — perhaps in the pilgrim's imagination. It is conceivable that experiencing both the spirit of his elder as well as the way in which his own mind opened up were familiar to him based on previous experiences. Still, however, in keeping with the instructions of his late elder and the disciplines of custody of thoughts and heart, he distrusts and attempts to drive it away: the evil one might be playing with his imagination and attempting to deceive him. Immediately thereafter, the pilgrim suggests that he has come across a speculative, mystical explanation of the Lord's Prayer in his reading of the holy Fathers. Remembering it by heart, he proceeds to expound upon each line of the prayer based on the writing of St. Maximos the Confessor. He then reads from St. Peter of Damascus who stated that, It is more necessary to learn to call on the name of God than it is to breathe — at all times, in every place, and in every occupation. The apostle writes pray unceasingly; that is, he teaches us to have the remembrance of God at all times, in every place, and in every kind of circumstance. If you are doing anything you must have in your memory 1376 The Pilgrim's Tale, 112:23-113:15. 1377 The Pilgrim's Tale, 113:21-32. 339 the Creator of all things; if you see light, remember the One who has bestowed this on you; if you see the sky, the sea, and all things that are found in them, marvel and glorify the One who created them; if you put some article of clothing on yourself, recall whose gift this is and thank the One who provides for your life. To say it briefly, let every action be for you a reason for remembering and glorifying God. In this way you will be praying unceasingly, and because of this your soul will always be glad! Through his facility with the writings contained in the Philokalia, he is able to teach the couple with authority. By relating their teachings in his own words and reading from their writings he has become the living word — a living icon of the Fathers. The strannik then introduces Masha and her husband to the Philokalia and unceasing prayer, for which they are extraordinarily grateful. The pilgrim's actions and words evoke changes in the couple's thoughts, words and actions in regard to unceasing prayer and the way of the heart, and clarify their ignorance and confusion. So inspired is the gendeman that he immediately wishes to buy the Philokalia for himself, and copies out the passage from St. Peter of Damascus that the pilgrim had read.1379 A significant experience between the pilgrim, the master of the house and his wife occurs one evening when, after dinner, Masha brings the strannik a white shirt and stockings. He refuses to accept the stockings as he is unaccustomed to them, so in their place, she takes her old caftan and cuts it into two foot-wrappings. Her husband then instructs the pilgrim to change his undergarments, after which time, the couple proceed to wrap the pilgrim's feet with the cloth strips and put a new pair of shoes on them. The strannik is initially reluctant to yield to Masha and her husband, but accepts their directives to sit down, be quiet, and allow them to wash his feet as Christ had washed His disciple's feet.1380 There is nothing for the strannik to 1378 St. Peter of Damascus, as quoted in The Pilgrim's Tale, 115:11-25. 1379 The Pilgrim's Tale, 114:7-116:2. 1380 John 13:1-17 NRSV. 340 do, and he starts to cry; they weep as well. The pilgrim humbly receives love, care, and identification with the disciples of Christ. His conceptual self-image shifts to that of a disciple who no longer will go and do as he pleases, but rather will be led where he would rather not go- When alone with the master of the house, the latter questions the strannik further about his upbringing. The pilgrim insists: I have told my background to both you and your wife with complete honesty and a pure heart, and I never thought to lie or deceive you. And why should I? What I say to you is not my own but what I heard from my own elder who was full of divine wisdom, and what I read with attentiveness in the holy fathers.1382 Here he reveals that it is no longer he, but his elder, the Fathers, and wisdom who speak in him: But more than all this, interior prayer gives light to my ignorance. I did not acquire this prayer by myself; rather the mercy of God and my elder's instruction have come to dwell in my heart. Anyone can do all that. You need only to sink deeply into your heart in ever-increasing silence and invoke more and more the enlightening name of Jesus Christ, and at once you will sense an inner light. You will understand everything; you will see even some of the mysteries of the kingdom of God in this light. This is already a profound and illuminating mystery — when individuals recognize their ability to go deep within themselves, to see themselves from the inside, to take delight in self-knowledge, to take pity on themselves and to weep sweedy over their own fall and their depraved In this, the pilgrim asserts that it is interior unceasing prayer that has clarified his confusion and given light and understanding to his ignorance. The source of his knowledge, however, is God and instruction from his elder which he receives in the depth of his heart. Through the name of Jesus, he has acquired true gnosis — spiritual knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and true self-knowledge. The master of the house apologizes for probing 1381 The Pilgrim's Tale, 116:6-24. 1382 The Pilgrim's Tale, 116:34-117:1. 1383 The Pilgrim's Tale, 117:1-13. 341 the pilgrim regarding his identity, and then relates to him the impetus for his question: the strannik 's likeness to a beggar who had come to the hospice a couple of years earlier. The beggar's story was that of homeless wanderer who concealed his true identity until his death. He arrived at the hospice practically naked and barefooted. He spoke little and simply, as though he was a peasant. In truth, however, he was actually a well educated and articulate man — a prince who had earlier lived a life of decadence, depravity, and murderousness. After being tormented by the voices and images of those whom he had hurt or killed, he gave up everything, became a poor pilgrim, and lived a life of repentance. He found tranquility and peace, and then fell asleep in the Lord while residing in the hospice.1384 Being likened to a prince, the strannik's self-image may have further shifted. He is being compared to a 'somebody' — a 'somebody' of noble birth who died a peaceful death as a prayerful and humble pilgrim. By being likened to a prince — his simple disposition, prayerfulness, articulacy and ability to read and write — the strannik is equated with 'a somebody' (not for what he does, but for the person that he is becoming). His grandfather's prophetic words were coming to pass. The prince, however, is also emblematic of the Royal Son — Christ — toward Whose likeness the pilgrim truly aspired. During further conversation with the lord, the strannik asks questions about the hospice: "I think, good sir, that your hospice must cause you cares and anxieties, am I right? To be sure many of our brother and sister pilgrims wander because they have nothing to do or because they are lazy, and some even steal on the road, as I have happened to see."138 These questions reveal surprising judgments toward other wandering pilgrims that the strannik appears to hold. The lord's response, however, would have challenged his conceptual image of these souls: "84 The Pilgrim's Tale, 117:29-120:24. 1385 The Pilgrim's Tale, 120:27-31. 342 There have not been many such cases," he answered. "For the most part it is real pilgrims who happen along. We shower even greater kindness on the rogues and keep them with us. After living among our good beggar brothers and sisters in Christ, they often amend themselves and leave the hospice humble and meek people.. .1386 He proceeds to tell of a local townsman who had been so depraved that everyone resolutely drove him away and would not offer him even a crust of bread. Masha and he welcomed the man warmly and invited him to live with them under the strict conditions that he immediately lie down and go to sleep if he had had any alcohol to drink. Likewise, if he caused the slightest trouble, he would be reported and driven out. The man agreed. The lord went on to describe a beautiful account of the conversion of this townsman's heart and reclaiming of his life. The couple's wise care and love of strangers — welcoming yet firm, boundaried and expectant of change — cultivated conversion of heart and change of behaviour in those who came to stay with them (at least those who were desirous of transformation). This response challenges the strannik's thinking regarding other pilgrims and evokes a blessing from him: "What wisdom is made perfect under the guidance of love, I thought and exclaimed, 'Blessed be God who reveals his mercy in the sheepfold under your protection!' "1387 He quickly recognizes the lord's and his wife's gift in ministering to others — their spiritual mother- and fatherhood. After having conversed through much of the night, the pilgrim joins the pious family at Orthros and then Divine Liturgy. The strannik, the lord, and one of his boys position themselves in the sanctuary while Masha and her little girl stand by a window peering into the sanctuary. He is evidendy moved by how they pray, noting "My God, how they prayed on their knees, what tears of joy they shed! So radiant did their faces become that I, too, joyfully "86 The Pilgrim's Tale, 120:32-121:2. 1387 jhe pugrim's Tale, 121:27-29. 343 cried my eyes out as I gazed on them." This image of pure heartfelt prayer certainly impresses itself upon the pilgrim and shifts his image of true prayer. Following the service, forty beggars — cripples, invalids, and children — join the lord and lady together with the priest and servants for dinner. The pilgrim attends as well, rather than entering into a solitary, tranquil state as he has done previously after receiving the Holy Mysteries. At dinner, he is struck by how peaceful and silent the experience is. As he is aware that the Lives of the Saints are often read during mealtimes in monasteries, he suggests to the couple that they might wish to introduce such a practice. Receptive to the idea, the lord determines that both he and his wife will read, followed by the priest, and then others. Hearing this, the priest begins to comment that he has no time to read: I love to listen, but as for reading, well, with all due respect I have absolutely no free time. I run back home and don't know which way to turn, what with all the troubles and cares I have. First one thing, then another has to be done. A bunch of kids, and animals galore! The whole day long is spent in useless things; I don't even have time for reading and study! And as for what I learned in the seminary, well I've long since forgotten it The pilgrim's shudder in response to the priest's comment is quite striking and reveals a judgment against the priest — he, a spiritual authority, embodies the attitude of which the pilgrim has only just recently spoken: [W]e exchange truth for trinkets and we think: 'I would gladly devote myself to spiritual things or prayer, but there is no time. The troubles and cares of life leave no time for such an undertaking.' Yet what is more important and necessary? The salvation and eternal life of the soul or the transitory life of the body on which we spend so much effort, more than cattle on perishable food? It is this that I spoke about, and it leads people either to prudence or foolishness.1390 In light of the priest's words, the pilgrim likely judged the priest to be foolish. Recognizing 1388 The pngrim's Tale, 121:1-3. 1389 The Pilgrim's Tale, 122:17-24. 1390 The Pilgrim's Tale, 117:20-28. 344 this, the lord - a judge in the district court - takes the pilgrim's hand and lovingly re-directs him saying: Father is saying this out of humility. He is always belittling himself, but he is really the most kindly man and leads a God-pleasing life. He has been a widower for twenty years and is bringing up a whole family of grandchildren. And besides this, he holds services quite often.1391 In this, the lord exemplifies mercy rather than judgment, and encourages the pilgrim to do likewise. Ironically, this wise and loving man who literally holds a position of judgment and lordship challenges the strannik 's impassioned and judgmental thoughts. He also provides him with a new conceptual image of God, as well as of the kind of person the strannik is called to become in imitation of the Lord — Christ, the compassionate One Who alone is a merciful Judge. The lord's words call to mind St. Nikitas Stithatos' assertion from the Pbi/oka/ia: The nature of things is betrayed by the inner disposition of the soul, that is, people reach conclusions about others based on what they themselves are." (...) "The person who has attained true prayer and love does not differentiate things. Such a person does not distinguish the righteous from the sinner but loves everyone equally and does not condemn them, just as God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the righteous and the unrighteous.1392 On hearing St. Nikitas' words, silence returns, and judgment fades. Words from the Philokalia — his teacher — are so impressed within him that they arise immediately from memory as counter-speech against evil thoughts, and clarify his confusion and ignorance regarding the love, mercy and judgment of God. Having neither solitude nor quiet for forty-eight hours, the need for prayerful outpourings is strong within the strannik's heart. He notes that he "felt as if some sort of flood was struggling to burst forth and stream through all his limbs, but as [he] held it back, an 1391 The Pilgrim's Tale, 122:26-30. 1392 The Pilgrim's Tale, 122:31-123:3. 345 intense though comforting pain in [his] heart resulted that demanded silent privacy and satisfaction in prayer."1393 In and through this, he comes to several realizations: I came to realize why true practitioners of self-activating prayer flee from people and hide themselves in obscurity. I likewise understood why Saint Hesychios called even the most spiritual and useful conversation empty talk if it was immoderate, just as Saint Ephrem the Syrian says: "Good speech is silver (like unto silver), but silence is pure gold."1394 The pilgrim exercises disciplines of thought and reflects on all of this. Time spent with this pious family shifts the strannik's conceptual images in numerous ways. As a family, they are gendefolk, exemplary in love and kindness. They are compassionate, wise, virtuous, peaceful, prayerful, God-pleasing, reverent, learned, community-oriented and true to the Gospel. Masha herself leaves the strannik amazed, such that he wonders if he is speaking with a human being or if he is experiencing some sort of apparition.1395 The lord and master of the house - a judge - leaves him filled widi admiration and respect. Their children are angelic, and their behaviour and obedience remarkable. They play freely, and love and desire to be around both poor sisters and brothers of Christ, and pilgrims. As a family, they respect the wisdom of their elders, warmly welcome and willingly accept those who come to them for assistance, and care for those who are sick and dying — physically and spiritually. The family, along with their servants, eat, attend liturgical services, pray together, and encourage, by way of example, good and holy living — anything else is not tolerated. The lord and master of the house, together with his wife Masha, are images of the good shepherd. Merciful, firm, and loving, they care for souls who are desirous of salvation and 1393 The Pilgrim's Tale, 123:21-24. 1394 The Pilgrim's Tale, 123:24-29. 1395 The Pilgrim's Tale, 110:27-29. 346 willing to amend their ways. As father and mother in the Spirit, diey develop personal relationships with those in die hospice and care for them as if they are their own. They attentively listen and watch, then lead others toward spiritual maturity so that they can make personal decisions for themselves. Living, eating, sitting, and speaking with them, their lives model holiness, and, as a result, those around them are transformed. Even their liturgical prayer extends outward into loving service of others. They are seen as doctors, counselors, intercessors, mediators and sponsors. Masha and her husband both encourage others in the way of conversion — first by befriending each; then by facilitating external stability; and finally by fostering internal stability including honesty, self-acceptance, discernment and faith. The lord and his wife are startsi in the world and amidst relationships — their sanctity stretches beyond that lived only in the silence of their hearts and outward into the world. The pilgrim's conceptual self-image is challenged amidst his interactions with this pious family. Welcomed as a brother in Christ, considered a God-pleasing person, treated as a disciple of Christ, compared to a prince, and respected for his knowledge and experience of unceasing prayer and the Philokalia, he is seen both for who he is and for who he is becoming. This would have instilled confidence in him, validated him in having reached a certain age of spiritual maturity, and confirmed for him that he is ready for a new level responsibility. The spirit of his starets, in rightful succession, commissions him for ministry. Having penetrated the strannik 's spirit, he sets it alight, illumines his mind and fills him with thoughts of prayer. The couple, by washing the strannik's feet, confirms his call to service. The pilgrim's spiritual experience and knowledge are no longer to be reserved for his own growth, but are to be shared with others. He is to be Christ in die world — a starets among the people. The next incident that the pilgrim relates to his spiritual elder revolves around his 347 relationship with a blind beggar who has been residing at the hospice. The pilgrim has seen him moving his tongue non-stop and wonders if he is praying unceasingly. He eventually speaks with the beggar and questions him about it. The blind man confirms that he has been saying the Jesus prayer for some time and cannot be without it day or night. He goes on to expound upon how he had read an excerpt from a book of unknown tide that had taught him about it — even reciting from memory a quote contained therein. The pilgrim, recognizing the passage from the Philokalia, reads the particular passage to him. The blind man's interest, desire and passion for knowledge of unceasing prayer of the heart peak all the more.1396 The blind man's enthusiasm for learning unceasing prayer of the heart as outlined in the Philokalia would have reminded the strannik of his own early yearnings toward learning about prayer, and his excitement at being introduced to a book that could teach him about prayer of the heart. This would have rekindled his fervor related to unceasing prayer. Identification with the blind man affects the pilgrim so much that he is willing to give up his solitary journey and accept a travelling companion. Without hesitation, he advises the blind beggar that they will journey together to Tobolsk, reading along the way everything from the Philokalia pertaining to prayer of the heart including the method for finding the place of the heart and • 1397 entering it. The dynamic between the pilgrim and the blind man marks a significant shift in the pilgrim's inner disposition. He has eyes to see and a heart to understand the desire of another for prayer. Having the spirit of his starets within him, he assumes the role of starets for the blind man — journeying with him, introducing him to the secret science of the Fathers as found in the Philokalia, and sharing with him teachings from his own starets. The blind man looks to 1396 The Pilgrim's Tale, 123:34-125:9. 1397 The Pilgrim's Tale, 125:5-22. 348 him for answers, questioning him so extensively about prayer that the strannik's mind is insufficient to respond. At the limit of his discursive reasoning and knowledge, he, as his own starets before him, can only humbly point to the Philokalia - their ultimate guide in the way of prayer of the heart.1398 It is perhaps in his guiding of the blind man that one most clearly sees the flow of and interplay between the spiritual disciplines. While engaging in the discipline of action — wandering with frequent stops so that they can sit and read from the Philokalia - the strannik first introduces the blind mind to spiritual disciplines of thought. Drawing on the intellectual discipline of studying the Philokalia, he attempts to offer both clarity to the blind man's confusion, and knowledge to his ignorance. Then, he employs disciplines of imagination to introduce the method of prayer of the heart. He directs the blind man to form an image of his heart and direct his eyes as though he is looking at it. He is then to engage in the discipline of mindfulness, listening attentively to the beating of his heart so as to bring his mind out of his head and down into his heart. Once he has mastered this, the strannik instructs him to again engage in intellectual disciplines as well as those of speech, fitting the words of the prayer to every beat of his heart, all the while practicing the discipline of mindfulness. As well, his breathing is to be in harmony with his heart's beat. Employing the discipline of imagination and speech, he is then to introduce the Jesus prayer. The discipline of action coupled with mindfulness will bring the prayer into harmony with his body, mind and heart. Practicing the prayer on his lips connected with his breathing and the beating of his heart (while also remaining fixed on an image of his heart in his mind), enable him to focus his attention on his inner world. The strannik reassures the blind man that, with the help of God, he will in this 1398 The Pilgrim's Tale, 125:34-128:29. 349 way attain self-activating, delightful, interior prayer of the heart. The strannik demonstrates growing discernment. After instructing the blind man in the methods of prayer of the heart, he cautions him against paying attention to any ideas or visions that might appear in his mind, so as not to fall into temptation. When the blind man soon thereafter exclaims, "What a pity! The church is already burning! There, the belfry has fallen,"1400 the pilgrim rebukes him, saying, "Stop imagining empty things! You are being tempted. You must turn aside all thoughts as quickly as possible. How can you possibly see what is happening in the town? We are nineteen kilometers from it!"1401 Upon arriving at the town, they discover that a church with a belfry has in fact burned down, and, by the pilgrim's rough calculations, has done so at the same time that the blind man had indicated. Despite this, and while encouraging him to believe what he will, the pilgrim maintains the need for one to be cautious about images and visions: [Bjeware of taking every oracular vision for immediate revelations of grace, because they frequently occur even naturally in the order of things...1402 I heard my deceased elder say that even people who do not pray, but who either have the ability or are sick, see light streaming from every article in the darkest of rooms; they distinguish objects, sense their double, and penetrate the thoughts of other people. But what proceeds directly from the grace of God in the prayer of the heart gives so much delight that no tongue is able to express it. It cannot be matched by any material thing; it is even beyond compare. Everything perceptible is base in comparison with the sweet sensations of grace in the heart.1403 Upon seeing the humility of the blind man, as well as the movement and growth of prayer in his heart, the pilgrim rejoices with all his soul, fervently thanking God for granting him to see so blessed a servant of His. After arriving at Tobolsk and taking the blind man to the »" The Pilgrim's Tale, 126:11-36. woo The Pilgrim's Tale, 127:17-18. 1401 The Pilgrim's Tale, 127:18-21. 1402 We Pilgrim's Tale, 128:2-12. 1403 The Pilgrim's Tale, 128:13-21. 350 almshouse, he affectionately bids him farewell. He is grateful to have had the occasion to relate with and minister to such a God-pleasing soul. Over the following month, he notes that he wandered without hurrying, and deeply felt how edifying and instructive good, living examples are. He reflects much on his own internal disposition and the experience of God-pleasing people whom he had encountered. One gets the impression that everything in him slowed down in such a way that he was open to new insights and knowledge. During this time, he reads the Philokalia often and confirms that everything he said to the blind man regarding prayer is in keeping with the writings of the Fathers1406 (in a similar manner to the way he verified the teachings of spiritual authorities with Scripture earlier in his journey). In this way, he accepts the role of a spiritual authority and claims responsibility for both his words, and the spiritual formation of others. He further notes that the blind man's instructive example kindled fervor, gratitude, and love for the Lord Jesus within him.1407 Serving others bore fruit in his own heart. All of these experiences seem to be part of the grace he receives in ministering to others as a starets. The prayer of the heart continues to move within the pilgrim, granting him deeper insights and revealing further spiritual maturity. He notes that, The prayer of the heart caused me so much delight that I supposed there was no one on earth happier than I. I was at a loss to think how there could be a greater and better delight in the kingdom of heaven. Not only did I feel this inside my soul, but also everything external presented itself to me in ravishing guise. Everything drew me to love and give thanks to God. People, trees, plants, animals— all of them were to me like kinsfolk, on all of them I found the imprint of the name of Jesus Christ. I sometimes felt such lightness that I seemed to have no body and was not walking but rather floating joyously through the air. Sometimes I entered completely within myself and clearly saw all my internal organs, and I marveled profoundly at the most wise composition of the 1404 The Pilgrim's Tale, 128:22-29. 1405 The Pilgrim's Tale, 128:29-31. u°6 The Pilgrim's Tale, 128:31-32. 1407 The Pilgrim's Tale, 128:32-33. 351 human body. Sometimes I felt such gladness that I thought I had been made tsar. In the midst of such consolations I wished that God would let me die as soon as possible so that I might be poured out in thankfulness at his footstool in the world of spirits.1408 The prayer of the heart has led the pilgrim to both physike theoria and theologike' theoria. Conceptless union with God is his greatest desire, and he is granted, once again, a rich taste of celestial sweetness. Amidst these seeming spiritual gifts and experiences, the pilgrim continues to discern their value and whether he is being imprudent in delighting in them: "Perhaps I took immoderate delight in these sensations? Or was the divine will permitting me this extravagance?" Even in the fullness of his spiritual experiences, he practices custody of the heart and thoughts — despite having tasted theologike theoria, he continues to engage in praktike. The pilgrim seems to experience premonitions as well — spiritual knowledge perhaps — that readies his heart for what he will next experience along his journey: "For some time I had felt a sort of trembling and even fear in my heart. Would I again have some misfortunes or disasters, as happened after meeting that girl to whom I taught the Jesus prayer in the chapel?"1410 Due to his praxis of mindfulness and attentiveness — prayer of the heart — this spiritual knowledge seems to have been more accessible to him. Thoughts of suffering on account of others, however, also come to mind: "Thoughts loomed over me like a storm cloud and I recalled the words of Saint John of Karpathos, who said that the master will often submit to dishonor and suffer disasters and temptations for the sake of those who profited spiritually from him."1411 Doubling his prayer, he fights against these thoughts, thereby completely dispelling them. Encouraged, he thinks: "May God's will 1408 The Pilgrim's Tale, 128:33-129:12. 1409 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:13-14. 1410 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:14-17. 1411 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:18-21. 352 be done. I am ready to suffer whatever the Lord Jesus Christ will send me on account of my wickedness and my arrogant disposition."1412 Despite the encouragement, the pilgrim is afraid of suffering for the sake of others. This fear is dissipated, however, when the pilgrim is further reminded that God — by His mysterious guidance — prepares those brought into his path in advance: "And those to whom I not long ago revealed the secret of entry into the heart and interior prayer had been made ready immediately by the mysterious teaching of God even before my meeting with them."1413 His awareness and reassurance of God's presence, as well as his trust in God's will, calms him and he once again goes on his way with consolation and prayer, rejoicing even more than before.1414 The next experience recounted by the pilgrim — his stay at a post station1415 — reveals further internal shifts. Having wandered in the rain for a couple of days along muddy roads, he comes across a solitary house inhabited by a drunk, belligerent man donning a soldier's greatcoat who identifies himself as a postmaster. After scrutinizing the pilgrim, checking his passport several times, and ensuring that all of the strannik's documents are valid, the postmaster offers him food and shelter for the night. Despite the pilgrim being witness to quarrelling, rapprochement and a scuffle between the postmaster and his cook (an intoxicated young woman who heaped abuse on the old man), the strannik remains dispassionate and seemingly non-judgmental. Following supper, the postmaster goes off to sleep and the pilgrim asks of the woman where he might rest. She makes a bed for him on a bench under the front window where he stretches out. Shortly thereafter, she lights a fire, and then lies down beside and begins 1412 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:23-25. 1413 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:26-29. 1414 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:29-30. 1415 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:30-132:34. 353 caressing him. Strong feelings of lust arise in the pilgrim and he does not know what to do. He attempts to awaken the prayer, but it "stayed put and wouldn't run."1416 Moments before a ruinous fall, the whole window above them is smashed and showers glass down upon them. The pilgrim, scared to death, shoves the woman away and onto the middle of the floor. He jumps up and then falls on his knees crying out to God at the thought that the earth has yawned beneath him to swallow him up. Soon thereafter, two post drivers carry a blood-covered military courier into the house. Despite having severely cut his head on a sharpened stake outside of the house, he insists on carrying on with his mission. He re-commences his journey after washing the wound and drinking a glass of alcohol. The intoxicated cook seems to fare far worse, with few signs of life in her except for her infrequent and heavy breathing. The pilgrim begins to pray, asks for mercy, lays his elder's prayer rope on her head, and starts invoking the name of Jesus. She soon gets up and starts pacing from corner to corner like a madcap before she finally goes out of the house. The pilgrim feels his strength weaken,1417 and then drops off to sleep. He shordy thereafter hears a voice inside of him say: You faint-hearted man! Learn to recognize the ways of divine providence in human affairs. How many miracles, how many instructive lessons you can observe in present events. Take heart and trust in the omnipresent divine love of our Lord Jesus Christ! Read more closely the seventh and twelfth chapters of Gregory of Sinai and be consoled. Upon waking up, he finds the indicated chapters in the Philokalia, and reads the following: Those who are defeated against their will because of weakness shall be forgiven right away by the One who knows our intentions and human hearts. If temptation occurs, it is for experience and the crown, for assistance comes quickly from the God who permits it, 1416 The Pilgrim's Tale, 130:33. 1417 Perhaps an oblique reference to Christ healing the woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. See Mark 5:25-34 NRSV. 1418 The Pilgrim's Tale, 131:31-37. 354 and by these things our models are known. This revives him such that he, after taking leave of the postmaster, prays with faith, hope, and thanksgiving to the Fadier of mercies who did not let him perish in his sins. The pilgrim experiences a number of reactions to this situation. Initially he reacts with fear that he might fall into sin and lose his eternal salvation. Despondency and grief then torment him. Pity for the woman follows, lest she die in such a wretched state. All of his anxiety, however, is allayed through attentiveness to the voice within him, and his reading of the Philokalia. His concern over the potential loss of his salvation is alleviated by the knowledge that God knows the intention of his heart, and temptations are permitted for experience and so that he might obtain the crown. This shifts his conceptual image of salvation and temptation. He determines that he is worthy of being tested so as to receive the gift of eternal life. The aforementioned passage from the Philokalia also convinces him that everydiing that happens in life proceeds through providence and is brought to a useful end. The "useful end" was made apparent to him when, about six years later, he stops to pray at a Church in a women's convent. There he meets a humble nun who tells him she has been at the monastery for five years. She had been brought to the monastery after suffering fright and madness. The nun went on to relate how she had been working at a station house when, one night, as she was sleeping, a horse broke in the window. Only at die monastery was she healed. On hearing her account, he gets the point, leaves quickly, and rejoices, glorifying God who orders all things for the good. This doubdessly shifted his conceptual image of bodi God and of the woman, and challenged judgments, opinions, beliefs and thoughts within him. 1419 The Pilgrim's Tale, 132:2-7. H20 The Pilgrim's Tale, 132:14-34. 355 The pilgrim next relates to his spiritual elder an account of meeting a young, thin, sickly and awkward priest at a.pogost.U21 This kind priest celebrates liturgy slowly, reverently, and with much feeling, which delighted the pilgrim.1422 Immediately following the service, he invites his parishioners to his home for breakfast, stating, "I have just taught you love by my words; now I shall teach you love by my deeds."1423 He proceeds to offer them food, drink and Words from the Gospel. The priest's sermon "On the Means of Acquiring Love for God," his example of love, hospitality and service, and his instructions regarding interior spiritual enlightenment all please the pilgrim. A "true pastor of his church,"1424 this priest's demeanor stands in stark contrast to the images of spiritual authorities that the strannik had acquired earlier in his journey, thereby possibly further shifting his experience of reality and conceptual images. Here is a true man of God in the Church, pastoring the people. Here is a man who is a living liturgy — one who lives and teaches love by sacrament, word and deed. The priest's remarks regarding the inner life and attentive prayer - interior spiritual enlightenment - intrigue the pilgrim.1425 When the strannik asks the priest how one attains it, he provides the pilgrim with practical, simple, yet wise and profound instructions on how to become an attentive and introspective person. He outlines intellectual disciplines of studying Scripture, mindfulness in keeping one's whole attention and meditation on one text of Sacred Scripture, and insight within which the "light of understanding will be revealed."1426 In like manner, he notes that pure, right and enjoyable interior spiritual enlightenment can be attained 1421 A pogost is a church and a few houses for the clergy. See The Pilgrim's Tale, 133:2-3. 1422 The Pilgrim's Tale, 133:35-36. 1423 The Pilgrim's Tale, 133:15-16. 1424 The Pilgrim's Tale, 134:24-25. 1425 The Pilgrim's Tale, 134:1-25. H26 jhe j>ug1im's Tale, 134:16-17. 356 through a short prayer consisting of few, but powerful, words repeated over and over for a long time. These instructions both deepen the pilgrim's understanding of the inner life and interior prayer, and provide him with an example of how to instruct others — simply, practically and wisely. In the priest's kitchen sits an old woman whispering the Jesus prayer. "For the glory of God and in praise of the gracious power of the Jesus prayer,"1427 the pilgrim questions her about her experience of it. Addressing the strannik as "dear father" — a title usually reserved for the clergy - she advises him that she cannot exist without it, as it has delivered her from ruin and death.1428 She proceeds to tell him a story from her youth.1429 Early in her life, she had vowed to remain a virgin, visit holy places and pray to God. A friend and elder female pilgrim had taught her to say the Jesus prayer unceasingly and to firmly believe that no misfortune would occur on account of it. After five years of journeying safely, a dispatch rider — who had encountered her on the road — approached and started to make advances toward her. Initially he offered her five rubles, however, after she rebuffed his offer, he became angry and threatened to kill her. She begged him to first allow her to take off her dress. Slipping it off, she waved it across her head. The rider's horse, to whom the man was tied by the reins, took fright and dragged him at top speed across the countryside. When the rider (who had sustained a fractured skull and multiple lacerations), was later found at the gates of a nearby town, it was the young woman who identified him. Having found his wallet, she provided it to the town governor who soon returned it to her as a reward. 1427 The Pilgrim's Tale, 135:6-7. 1428 The Pilgrim's Tale, 135:4-5. While the simple peasant woman's story appears to accent the magical or even fetishistic, the point of the story is that she believed that the Jesus prayer made a difference in her life, and this is the way that the pilgrim responded to her account. 1429 The Pilgrim's Tale, 135:10-137:9. 357 The young woman gave thanks to God for rescuing her and was convinced of the power and preserving nature of the Jesus prayer. Her experience of the Jesus prayer emboldened her and instilled in her a strong desire to go to Jerusalem. Unbeknownst to her, the rider's wallet contained ample means to finance her travels to Jerusalem, and upon discovering the monies, she embarked on her journey. She noted that since that time, she had always said the prayer and was consoled by it. After listening to her story, the pilgrim seeks out the reverent priest's blessing and goes on his way delighted — edified by die examples he has been shown. The priest has shown him an example of provision and shepherding love, while the older woman has revealed to him confidence and trust in the Jesus prayer and in God's providence. Both of these examples leave him rejoicing, further shifting his conceptual images and deepening his understanding. This bolsters his insight into the contemplative function of the Jesus prayer. The final account related by the pilgrim to his spiritual elder is that of his encounter with a retired naval captain.1430 Having met when travelling through Kazan province in a Tatar setdement, the captain relates to the strannik a story about his godson. Retired from service and sick with gout, the captain had moved into his wife's farm. She, however, left him with only his eight year old godson to care for him. While clever and capable of doing all the household chores, the boy's incessant mischief, extraordinary playfulness and continual running about, noise making, shouting, playing and romping thoroughly disturbed the captain and interfered with his spiritual reading - particularly that of St. Gregory Palamas on the Jesus prayer. 1430 The Pilgrim's Tale, 137:14-140:5. 358 As restraints, threats and punishment were ineffective in managing his godson's behaviour, the captain decided to try a different method: he had him sit on a bench and ordered him to say the Jesus prayer unceasingly. Initially, the boy resisted. To reinforce his orders, the captain then put a birch rod beside him while he read quiedy or listened to the boy say the words. If the boy stopped saying the prayer, he would show the boy the birch rod, and his godson would start praying again. After a period of time, the captain no longer needed the rod as the boy carried out his orders willingly and diligendy. A complete change in his godson's character occurred such that he became placid and taciturn. He made greater progress in his household tasks, and as a result, the captain gave him more freedom. The boy grew so used to the prayer that he said it almost always and during every activity, and related to the captain that he had an irresistible desire to say the prayer all the time. According to the boy, the prayer felt nice and cheered him. The captain, by his insistence that his godson learn self-control, boundaries, and discipline through the praxis of the Jesus prayer (without anger, however, utilizing the threat of discipline by way of a birch rod — never actually exercised), facilitated the godson's personal and spiritual development and fostered his relationship with himself, God and the captain. When the boy was twelve years of age, war broke out in Crimea. The captain and his godson moved to his daughter's home in Kazan, where the boy was lodged with other serfs whose joking, laughter and noise-making prevented him from saying the prayer. Complaining to the captain of his boredom and the noise, he eventually decided to make his own way back to Crimea. The captain shordy thereafter received word that his godson had been found dead in his empty house on the day after Easter. With his hands folded devoutiy on his breast, a peaked cap under his head, and wearing the same thin frock-coat that he wore around the 359 house, he was found lying on the floor of the captain's room. The captain's servants buried his godson in his garden.1431 The captain related to the strannik his extreme surprise that his godson had reached the farm so quickly. Between February 26th and April 4th, he had crossed nearly three thousand kilometers (close to one hundred kilometers a day while wearing only thin clothing, and having no passport nor cash with him). The captain was convinced that only God's special providence and care for him had made such a journey possible, and that his godson had tasted the fruit of prayer. He grieved that, even in his old age, he had still not reached his godson's measure. The image of the captain and his godson likely evoked memories from earlier in the pilgrim's own life. His grandfather, like the captain with his godson, had spent much time with him, and taught him about prayer. While his grandfather did not know the practice of the Jesus prayer, he insisted on the pilgrim reading the Bible, and continually corrected him — not dissimilar to the captain teaching his godson to pray using the Jesus prayer and showing him the birch rod if he needed to re-direct him. Both the captain and his grandfather wanted to impress on these young hearts the importance of prayer, despite neither of them having knowledge of prayer beyond its oral praxis. Conversely, both the boy and the pilgrim had come to know prayer of the heart — a gift that, despite the means by which it was taught, they both valued more than anything else. The pilgrim, aware of the captain's desire for prayer and love of the Jesus prayer, suggests that he read from the Philokalia in addition to St. Gregory Palamas' work. He proposes that he will find in the Philokalia directions not only in the ways of the oral Jesus 1431 This is perhaps an oblique reference to Christ being buried in the garden. See John 19:41-42 NRSV. 360 prayer, but also the full and perfect study of how to attain the spiritual Jesus prayer in one's mind and heart. He explains that the Philokalia will explain to him how to taste the prayer's sweetest fruits. The captain takes the strannik's advice with pleasure and promises to obtain a copy of the Philokalia for himself. By instructing the captain in the ways of prayer of the heart, the pilgrim perhaps vicariously shared with his own grandfather the wonders that he had come to know in learning to pray, not only with his lips, but with the fullness of his heart. The efficacy of the Jesus prayer is revealed in the captain's depiction of the change of character of his godson. "What marvelous signs of God's power there are in the power of prayer! And how wise and instructive was what had happened to the boy."1432 From a lively and rambunctious eight year old boy, he became a peaceful and quiet person who longed to pray unceasingly. He became desirous of it alone, diverting away from all that kept him from it. The prayer seemed to have enabled him to defy time and the elements. It also led him to rest his bones in his father's house, and to be entombed in a garden in the likeness of his Lord, Whose name was ever on his lips — there to await the Resurrection. The pilgrim notes that, through this account, he learned again, [H]ow the very power of prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed clearly and vividly even in those who perform it unconsciously, and how frequency and duration of prayer are the reliable and shortest route to the acquisition of the blessed fruits of _ 1433 prayer. The birch rod provided the pilgrim with an image of God's hand working in the lives of His faithful. He recognizes that the birch rod taught the boy prayer while also serving as a means of consolation. Reflecting on the rod, he questions: Are these not the birch rods of God — our griefs and misfortunes encountered on the path of prayer? For what are we afraid of and put out of countenance by when the hand H32 jhe pugrim's Tale, 140:6-8. 1433 The Pilgrim's Tale, 137:15-19. 361 of our Heavenly Father shows them to us, a hand full of boundless love, and when these birch rods teach us to learn prayer more diligently and lead us to indescribable consolation? This would have shifted the strannik 's conceptual image of grief (from that of pain to that of consolation), and granted him perceptual knowledge of the sanctifying nature of suffering. After relating these accounts to his spiritual father, the pilgrim apologizes for chattering. He recalls how the "holy fathers call even spiritual conversation idle talk if it lasts too long."1436 Noting that it is time for him to call upon his fellow traveler to Jerusalem, he asks that his spiritual father pray for him — that the Lord in his great mercy order his journey for the good. His spiritual father blesses him saying: "With all my soul I wish, beloved brother, that the abundandy loving grace of God may spread as a canopy over your path and accompany you as the angel Raphael went with Tobias!"1437 His eyes looking toward Jerusalem, his trust resting in God alone, his attention focused on the Jesus prayer, his heart seeking interior spiritual enlightenment, his mind open to learning all the more about interior prayer of the heart, his hands holding his beloved Bible and Philokalia, his lips praising God, his memory pondering things in his heart, and his being ready to suffer for the sake of others, the pilgrim embarks on the next stretch of his journey, departing from both his spiritual father and his reader. 1434 The Pilgrim's Tale, 140:6-15. 1435 This account of the captain enforcing the praying of the Jesus prayer with the threat of striking the boy with the birch rod (even though this discipline was never actually exercised), raises questions as to whether or not the captain's approach was abusive — as it might be considered today. One might think that the captain was abusing his authority over the 8 year old. Certainly teaching one to pray to and love God by way of threats is not perceived in our day and age as a healthy form of spirituality. This can be said despite the pilgrim being able to find the spiritual lesson in the account — that of God's hand working in the lives of His faithful through the grief and misfortunes of life. 1436 jfo Pilgrim's Tale, 140:17-18. 1437 The Pilgrim's Tale, 140:21-23. 362 4.4. The Last One Knows of the Strannik At the end of the third narrative (20 December 18591438), the pilgrim — who remains nameless throughout the tales — is noted to be thirty-three years of age.1439 He has come to the full measure of the life of Christ. The reader has learned that the pilgrim can read and write well, speak correctly, and discuss things in a manner that is not in keeping with a typical peasant upbringing.1440 He is honest, pure of heart, prudent, and never considers lying to anyone. He takes delight in self-knowledge and is seasoned in exploring the terrain of his heart. Salvation and eternal life are priorities for him. He has experienced prayer of the heart, and each oipraktike, physike theoria, and theoria. The pilgrim suggests that he is uncertain whether or not he will reach Jerusalem. He conjectures diat, if it is die Lord's will, it may be time for his sinful bones to be buried there. At the end of the fourth narrative (23 December 18591442), the reader learns that the pilgrim is "of medium build, with a body made lean by self-control and an austere life. He had a handsome face, expressive eyes, and a broad and thick beard. He showed abundant love toward all and was affable with humility,"1443 suggesting that he was approaching the end of his spiritual journey, if not his physical one: kenotic Christ-likeness — the whole aim of his vocation as expressed in his initial self-description. 4.5. General Shifts in the Strannik In this chapter's concluding section, general shifts in the pilgrim's experience of reality will be expounded upon. This will include consideration of the transformations in his 1438 The Pilgrim's Tale, 102:3. 1439 -phe age 0f 33 years that the pilgrim gives at the end of the third narrative is associated with the date of December 20th, 1859. 1440 The Pilgrim's Tale, 116:29-33. 1441 The Pilgrim's Tale, 117:9-25. 1442 The Pilgrim's Tale, 140:25. 1443 The Pilgrim's Tale, 140. 363 thoughts, words, actions, and spiritual development as he engaged in various spiritual practices throughout the course of his life. Shifts in the strannik's relationships with God, himself, others and creation are also of particular interest. To come to an understanding of the shifts within him, a number of areas will be emphasized. These include the pilgrim's view of life, the types of stories he related, the concept of humanity he maintained, the spiritual path he walked, the spiritual disciplines he practiced, the efforts he made to restrain the passions and foster the virtues, the conceptual image of evil that he acquired, the inner world that formulated within him, the blessings he received and offered, the intellectual, spiritual and perceptual knowledge and insight he gained, the shifts in his physical, emotional and spiritual self that he experienced, the roles he assumed, and the perception of himself, God, others and creations that he came to hold. The pilgrim's early life is laden with a combination of grief, loss and struggle1444; loving care by his grandparents; encounters with various people as they came to and went from his grandfather's inn, and Eastern Christian Church life in a peasant town. These experiences may well have coloured his perception of reality, and out of them ego, memories and perceptions would have been formulated. By the time the strannik embarked on his formal pilgrimage, he notes that he perceived life as being difficult. Alone and grief-stricken, he was far from peaceful, and his life no where near easy. On that occasion, he wondered how anyone could pray unceasingly when merely to stay alive demanded so much of a person.1445 This revealed his perception of reality: daily living was hard, demanding, and all consuming. As the strannik, however, came to experience unceasing prayer of the heart, his perception of life shifted 1444 He had lost his parents at age 2, the use of his arm at age 7, his grandmother at age 17 and grandfather at age 18, all of his belongings at age 18 at the hand of his brother, and then his wife suddenly to illness when he was 19. 14« The Pilgrim's Tale, 49:12-14. 364 completely: life became far less difficult physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually. He no longer felt physical pain, he was peaceful, others greeted him amiably, and he grew relationally with himself, others, creation, and, most importantly, the person of Christ. Though the strannik's spiritual journey began at the outset of his life (with him participating in the sacramental/liturgical life of the Church, reading scripture and engaging in Christian living), his spiritual life intensified once he set out on his formal pilgrimage and sought to understand and achieve unceasing prayer. This resulted in a shift in his spiritual journey: his focus turned to acquiring unceasing prayer and union with God. While he was keenly aware that prayer was more than praxis alone (more than the engagement in works of mercy, charity, almsgiving, service and asceticism), he initially did not know how to pray always. From his upbringing and knowledge of Scripture, he was conscious of the reality that prayer is about faith and relationship with God, is to be found by poverty of spirit and practical experience in mysterious simplicity, and begins with one humbly asking for and seeking growth in faith, yet he did not know how to acquire it. Gratefully, his faith led to him being found first by God, and then by his starets who taught him the Jesus prayer and introduced him to the Philokalia. In this way, unceasing prayer came to be known to him. The pilgrim's motivations also shifted throughout the accounts he relates. Initially, fidelity to his grandfather's teachings and wishes seemed to motivate him. At the outset of his formal pilgrimage, this shifted such that he was motivated by the need to leave behind the grief and pain caused by the loss of his wife. Directionless and purposeless, he set out where his eyes led him, and then on to Kyiv. Gradually, the biblical imperative to pray unceasingly captured his attention and came to direct his path. It led him to seek out people who might 1446 The Pilgrim's Tale, 58:30-34. 365 instruct him in the ways of unceasing prayer. After meeting his starets and learning the Jesus prayer, prayer of the heart became the driving force and motivation that directed his thoughts and actions. Upon the death of his starets, his yearning to understand the prayer of the heart animated him. Eventually his relationship with God and a desire to grow in Christ-likeness became his primary focus. This led to him accepting his call to teach others the ways of prayer of the heart and introduce them to the Philokalia. The path of the pilgrim shifted throughout his life. Initially, he grew under the tutelage of his grandfather; in relationship with his grandparents, brother, townsfolk and travelers; in relationship with his wife; and within the context of the village and Church community. From the narratives, it does not appear as though he travelled much in his early years. His world was focused around life in the peasant village and at the inn. As he embarked on his formal pilgrimage, however, this changed and his path took him across vast terrain. Once he came to learn the Jesus prayer, the landscape upon which he wandered shifted to that of his own mind and heart. This led him to journey anew on the external landscape of creation — seeing it with eyes capable of recognizing God in all. As he matured further spiritually, he came to wander on a spiritual landscape where he encountered the Divine. Following a dream of his starets and a settling of his starets' spirit on his own, he accepted the call to guide others. From then on, he wandered into and introduced others to the mysterious landscapes of their own hearts. The strannik regularly engaged in ascetical/mystical and sacramental/liturgical spiritual disciplines throughout his life, practicing both positive and negative praxes. All of these disciplines flowed out of his relationship with God and transformed his thoughts, words and actions. Several spiritual disciplines were of paramount importance to the pilgrim, including participation in the Divine Liturgy, and the reading of scripture. Later in his life, the practice of 366 the Jesus prayer, and the study of Scripture and the Vhilokalia became prominent. While he engaged in many of these disciplines autonomously, he did not disregard involvement in the praying Christian community.1447 Liturgy — communion with the Living God and the people of God — was a pinnacle experience for the pilgrim. He had participated in the Divine Liturgy throughout his early life, his call as a strannik and seeker of unceasing prayer was revealed within the context of Divine Liturgy, he entered into intimate communion with the Divine through the Eucharist, and he experienced something of the heavenly Liturgy while participating in it. He came to treasure the spiritual fruits of the sacrament: the ability to rest as though in the bosom of Abraham, the immersing of his soul in consoling rapture, the rising of feelings of ineffable joy, delight and sweetness of heart,1448 and the bubbling up of love for the Lord Jesus Christ and the Mother of God in his being. Divine Liturgy was clearly an experience of synergeia, and a means through which to progress toward theoria — conceptless union with God. The practice of the Jesus prayer, though unknown to him in his youth, was also of great significance to him. It was a means through which he came to know God, himself and others intimately. Emphasizing that, "It is more necessary to learn to call on the name of God than it is to breathe — at all times, in every place, and in every occupation," 449 this prayer of the heart became self-activating, moving of its own accord within him even while he engaged in other activities. The practice of the Jesus prayer affected the pilgrim in his spirit, feelings and revelation. In the spirit, he experienced the sweetness of Divine love, interior rest, rapture of 1447 i^g strannik's life of wandering seems to largely have been a non-social experience, despite him having recounted many experiences of spending time with others. This highlights a challenge of being in the world, but not of it. 1448 The pugrim's Tale, 95:7-13. 1449 St. Peter of Damascus, as quoted in The Pilgrim's Tale, 115:11-25. 367 his mind, purity of thought, and sweet recollection of God. In his feelings, he sensed a warmth and joyful bubbling in his heart, the filling of all his members with sweetness, lightness, courage, pleasantness of life, and insensitivity to pain and sorrow. In revelations, he experienced the illumination of his intellect, understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, knowledge of the speech of created things and of the sweetness of the inner life, renunciation of vanities, and confidence in the nearness of God and his love.1450 Through practice of the prayer and relationship with Christ to Whom the prayer is directed, he was gradually transformed into prayer itself. He became Christ-like. In like manner, the pilgrim's reading of the Bible early in his life, and his later study of both Scripture and the Philokalia, were integral to his spiritual development. The words of Scripture and the Philokalia moved from his lips, to his intellect, through his imagination, and into his memory and heart. He then grew more mindful of the images, words and teachings they contained, gleaning from them many new insights, and much knowledge. These were internalized so thoroughly that he came to embody them — he eventually became a living icon of the Incarnate Word and a spiritual authority akin to the Fathers of the Church. This process took a lifetime. The strannik practiced many spiritual disciplines throughout his life. Early in his life, he read the Bible, fasted, gave alms, and participated in the ascetical/mystical and sacramental/liturgical life. As he matured spiritually, he continued these practices, while also learning and practicing the Jesus prayer. Further, he studied the Philokalia and Bible, and practiced disciplines of silence, solitude, manual labour, wandering, self-control, vigilance, humility, patience, custody of the heart, discernment of spirits, discernment of visions and U50 The Pilgrim's Tale, 84:2-14. 368 dreams, the cell, poverty, repentance, obedience, revelation of thoughts, hospitality, chastity, fasting, bodily mortification, the common table and ministry. All of these took on deeper meaning as he spiritually matured and grew in Christ-likeness. During his more formal pilgrimage, the strannik 's continual practice of certain disciplines is of note. He relied on the intellectual disciplines to discern the truth and to ensure diat the words he spoke were in keeping with the tradition. He employed disciplines of imagination to more deeply impress the Words of Scripture and the Fathers in his mind, memory and heart. Disciplines of rnindfulness (nepsis) as well as of insight enabled him to discern thoughts and spirits, gain perceptual and conceptual knowledge, grow in self-knowledge and awareness of others, and enter into concepdess union with God. Disciplines of speech (be they silence, attentive listening or teaching), enabled him to both attend to the movement of the Spirit within himself and share his experience of prayer with others. Through disciplines of action he expressed his growing love for others and a willingness to introduce them to the secret science of the Fathers. His actions became that of a starets. While the pilgrim's grandparents had provided him with both internal and external stability for die first two decades of his life following the death of his parents, the pilgrim lacked both of these again following the loss of his wife and prior to setting out on his formal pilgrimage. Even the hut that he and his wife had acquired offered him no stability. He was anguished and in turmoil. His heart setded (he found some internal stability), however, after deciding to embark on his journey. Once he met his starets, he gained external stability in and through the relationship, as well as his lodgings in the summer garden. After learning the Jesus prayer, his internal stability increased. This continued as he grew in his relationship with the Jesus prayer, Scripture, the Philokalia, the person of Christ, and himself. Further occasions 369 along his pilgrimage offered him some degree of external stability that allowed him to grow in spiritual knowledge - such as his time in the mud hut, the chapel, the Church and the hospice. The pilgrim's inner world shifted from that of the 'old' to the 'new man' over the course of his lifetime. Through baptism and participation in the sacraments, the pilgrim in his youth was ongoingly turning from the 'old' to the 'new man'. His life experiences, however, would have potentially offered many opportunities for the 'old man,' ego and philautia to take hold. While the strannik does not identify any occasions of acting sinfully prior to his formal pilgrimage, he, like all human beings, was certainly subject to sin. What is known is that, at the outset of his formal pilgrimage, he appeared bound by fear and grief: the 'old man.' Later accounts which he shared with his spiritual father reveal that anger, akedia, despondency, judgment, and lust roamed in his mind and heart. As homo viator (in the state of passage moving toward deification and union with God), he came to discover passions (ego) as well as his true, Christ-like or humane self. By the end of his narration, the strannik more closely approximated homo spiritualis — the spiritual man — having, with the help of God, taken off philautia and the passions and put on the virtues. His ultimate indicators of Christ-likeness were humility and love which he acquired by the time he departed from both his reader and his spiritual father. In choosing time and again to live as a God-pleasing person in keeping with the Gospel and in imitation of Christ, the pilgrim oriented his will toward God throughout his life. In so doing, he was eventually granted a taste of the celestial sweetness, and experienced not only praktike, but physike theoria and theologike theoria. From being a dimwit in the ways of prayer, the pilgrim gradually came to understand unceasing prayer of the heart, and in so doing acquired knowledge of and an intimate relationship with the Person of Christ, the strannik himself, and 370 all of Creation. He was able to draw near to God and attain knowledge of Him both through creation and through ecstatic union. His spiritual path led the strannik to conceptual and perceptual knowledge, deepened relationships, Godly wisdom, discernment, virtuousness and true contemplation; the pilgrim's journey led him to both love and compassion as well as insight and wisdom. The strannik certainly practiced both formal and informal contemplative structures. Formal contemplative structures were quite evident in his youth: he prayed regularly, went to the Church often, received the sacraments routinely, gave to the poor, and read the Bible. All was done, however, without awareness of unceasing prayer. Gradually the practice of the Jesus prayer became an informal contemplative structure in his life. This prayer became the backdrop of all that he engaged in including formal contemplative structures such such as his participation in sacramental/liturgical acts. While he continued to practice earlier contemplative structures, they took on new meaning and depth. His reading of the Philokalia further supported his understanding of unceasing prayer and his reading of Scripture, opening both up to him in profound ways. The strannik's experience of God shifted throughout his journey. Early in his life, he had known God through the eyes of his grandfather's faith and that of his life in the Church. By age thirty-three, the strannik's level of trust in God and reliance on Him alone had been tested and tried. God had always answered his prayer and been with him throughout his journey. In and through the practice of the Jesus prayer, his personal relationship with Christ further developed. The strannik came to know God as a personal, loving, and protective God Who provides for all of his needs. He was also, however, aware that God permits his faithful to be tested and tried, and deals justly with the actions of the unrepentant. He blesses those who 371 love Him and chides those who turn away, beckoning them back through His Word and the Name. The pilgrim recognized that God's mercy towards those who amend dieir ways is unsurpassed, and that He desires to be known and to reveal Himself to those Who seek Him. His conceptual image of God was of a personal God Who hears, listens to, attends to and journeys alongside each person uniquely. At every moment of life, God mysteriously reveals Himself as and when He chooses. As regards die pilgrim's concept of humanity, he was very aware of the uniqueness of the person. He recognized that not all people are capable of acquiring self-knowledge: some have minds that can be refined while others do not.1451 Likewise, he was aware that the inclination of the human heart is evil1452 - an inclination that he recognized in himself and others.1453 Conscious of free will, he distinguished between those who oriented their will toward Christ- likeness and away from sinfulness, and those who willfully choose not to do so. He maintained, however, that with God's help, people are able to seek the Lord, call upon him, find Him and be shown mercy. Then, leaving behind their works of sin, they can return to the Lord: to the fulfilling of His commands.1454 He maintained that human beings can enter into an authentic relationship with God, themselves, one another, and all of creation, and live God- pleasing lives of love, compassion, truth, harmony, peace and union with the Divine, in this life and the life hereafter. The strannik 's relationship with himself shifted significandy from his earlier life unid age thrity-three. While litde is related about his early self-perception, one can speculate that his self-worth may have been rather low — he was not a 'somebody' until he could read. He 1451 The Pilgrim's Tale, 117:10-28. 1452 The Pilgrim's Tale, 51:12-14. 1453 The Pilgrim's Tale, 129:25. 1454 The Pilgrim's Tale, 55:3-12. 372 appeared to lack self-confidence, was affected by numerous traumas, and seemed to have difficulties relating to others. At the end of the narration, however, he no longer seems grief- stricken, but relates his life story in a personal, yet straightforward manner — approximating apatheia. His self-confidence was apparent, as was his comfort with his current way of life. The pilgrim acquired a significant degree of self-knowledge and self-acceptance after having gained facility probing the depths of his mind and heart. While he demonstrated trust in himself, he also maintained a healthy degree of distrust, continually verifying all that he shared with others so as to ensure that he was in keeping with the truth of tradition and Scripture. His deepest desire was to be true, loving, humble and Christ-like. The strannik had relationships with numerous people throughout his life. His relationships with his parents were regrettably short-lived. The reader is not told about the quality of the relationships, nor their impact on the strannik's life. His grandparents offered him stability, love and care, as well as human and spiritual formation. The pilgrim's brother seems to have been a source of much unease, injury and trauma. He experienced love, acceptance and care from his wife, though, his relationship with her was cut short by her sudden death. God and the Church were constants throughout his life, as was his beloved Bible. Following the loss of his wife, the strannik was confronted with the harsh realities of life: lack of acceptance by and assistance from others. As he wandered, he had the opportunity to encounter many different people. His relationships with them were largely focused on issues of faith, though he also met some who caused him further injury (the soldiers for example). From his experiences, he came to see the potential for people to be hurtful, dismissive, self-centered, dishonest, impatient and insincere; 373 or conversely, giving, honest, God-pleasing, loving, sincere, and prayerful. His experiences with the pious family did much to shift his perceptions of relationships. Based on his early life experience, the pilgrim initially viewed family as merely biological. While the absence of his biological father and mother during his upbringing likely affected his view of his primary bond with his parents, the closeness he had with his grandparents and the way in which they had supported him and his brother in the face of their tragic loss would have emphasized the import of his family ties. Through his experience of the pious judge's family, their servants, and those who stayed in the hospice, he acquired a new image of brother and sisterhood in Christ — all were members of the one body of Christ, and were to be accepted, loved, served, respected and cared for as one would one's own kin. His view of family became ecclesial rather than merely biological. Initially, the strannik had great respect for ecclesiastical authorities. However, as he sought to understand unceasingly prayer, these spiritual authorities failed to guide him. Their responses either confused him or revealed their own lack of understanding and experience of prayer. After meeting his starets, however, some of his faith in spiritual authorities was restored. This man's experience in the ways of prayer and the secret science of the Fathers, as well as his wisdom, love, and humility, inspired the pilgrim. Through their face-to-face interactions while he was alive and then through dreams, dialogues, flashes, and the imparting of the starets' spirit on him after his death, the strannik grew to trust spiritual authorities once more. Further to his experience of his starets, his encounter with a learned teacher and with a frail priest (a true shepherd of his flock), seem to have re-established his faith in spiritual authorities. 374 Throughout his spiritual development, the strannik assumed various roles. Initially a pupil being formed in the spiritual life, he eventually became a Christ-figure, disciple, teacher, healer, and starets. In several incidents, his experiences parallel those of Christ. His time in the mud hut was not dissimilar to Christ's time in the desert. The pilgrim had recognized the need to grow in wisdom and fortify himself with the Word of God as much as possible so as to be able to deal with the soul's enemy.1455 Being flogged unjusdy for the sake of the peasant girl, praying for the postmaster's cook, and healing the steward's wife further associated him with Christ. His experience of the foot washing identified him as a disciple of Christ. After his starets' spirit rested on him, he began to minister to others — becoming a starets himself. He came to be a spiritual authority, reliant on the voice of God within him, the Jesus prayer, the Philokalia and the Bible. He shifted from being a godson, to a pupil, to homo viator, to finally a starets. Initially, he received blessings from others, and then began extending blessings to those he met — initially himself, then the thieves, and finally the others he met along the way. The pilgrim's relationship with creation also changed. While little is known of his association with creation during his youth, his perception of it certainly changed as he embarked on his formal pilgrimage. A cold, rough landscape to begin with, it was a place of vulnerability where one could be robbed, hurt, or attacked. As the pilgrim grew in prayer of the heart, however, he began to see God's fingerprint in and through creation: it became revelatory of Divine Energies. He came to recognize that creation contained streams of life- giving water, possessed incredible healing power, sheltered him, and provided the space within which he came to know himself, God, and others. It was also the canopy under which he i«5 Jhe Pilgrim's Tale, 79:35-37. 375 taught others of the prayer of the heart and the Philokalia. Creation became beautiful, life- giving, and healing. The beauty of creation stood in stark contrast to the 'dark world'. He came to know evil as something that interfered with and threatened his own life, as well as the lives and sanctity of others (regardless of intellect or social status). The pilgrim became aware that the dark world is permitted to test people with confusion, laziness, apathy, lust, anger, hate, murderousness, drunkenness, fear, doubt, and malice. It suggests destructive thoughts and actions that can interfere with one's relationship with God, self, others, and the world. Its power, however, he knew, paled in comparison to that of God who permitted it to be for the strengthening of the soul. The stories which the pilgrim related to his spiritual elder provide a window into the pilgrim's inner world. The particular incidents, experiences and stories he recounted impressed themselves on his memory and both coloured and transformed his experience of reality (his conceptual images). Some were of people bound by philautia and egocentrism who ruined themselves and sought to ruin the lives of others.1456 Others were of those who had initially ruined their lives and then were converted after seeking a Christ-like path, of those whose faith was weakened by the 'dark world', or of those resistant to, struggling with, or ignorant of faith due to their intellectual abilities. Contrasting accounts were of God-pleasing people who embodied what life could be like if one were to choose Gospel-living, or of prayerful people whom the Lord had protected from dreadful fates. All of these revealed something of the pilgrim's inner world. 1456 The Pilgrim's Tale, 70:4-19, 71:10-25. 376 While reasons for the strannik recounting these particular stories rather than others are not stated explicitly in the text itself, some interpretation is possible. He is, of course, revealing his innermost self to his starets. Perhaps these instances reflected key moments of personal and spiritual growth or the formulation of ego and philautia. Perhaps they were inherent in his working through unresolved grief, led to shifts in his conceptual images, clarified his confusion, served as spiritual awakenings, resulted in new experiences in prayer, or provided him with new insights. What is evident is that they reveal his insights into 1) the nature of the passions, evil, and wickedness affecting human beings, 2) the cause of the homo animalis state and philautia 3) the nature of Christ-likeness and deification, and 4) how one arrives at Christ- likeness and deification. These stories expose something of his inner world and the re-framing of reality. The pilgrim's shifts in his thoughts reveal a progression from conceptual and perceptual ignorance and confusion to conceptual and perceptual insight and knowledge. Prior to his formal pilgrimage, he notes that he had no understanding of prayer - he was conceptually ignorant and confused. At the outset of his journey, ignorance and confusion were apparent, with him grieving over his lack of comprehension regarding unceasing prayer. Later, however, he rejoiced at understanding and personally experiencing prayer of the heart. He came to conceptual and perceptual knowledge and insight regarding prayer. As the pilgrim grew in discursive reasoning (dianoia) as well as spiritual knowledge (gnosis), he gained insight and knowledge into himself, creation, others, and God. Through prayer, study, and nepsis, his understanding of things with both his mind and heart extended beyond his previous level of comprehension. The pilgrim's speech was gradually transformed over the course of time. In his early life, 377 one gets the impression that the pilgrim spoke little. He is only noted to have read the Bible aloud. Early in his pilgrimage, he simply asked questions, and then reflected on and critiqued in silence the teaching on unceasing prayer that he received. Only when he met his starets did he engage in dialogue and the revelation of thoughts. Following the death of his starets, he wandered largely in silence, though he listened to and shared stories of prayer with those he met along the way. As he became more acquainted with the Philokalia, he read passages from it to others, quoted passages from it verbatim, and then began to make the words of the Fathers his own. His speech also became less judgmental, abrupt, and dismissive; he patiently listened to others in a heartfelt, attentive, and compassionate manner. More and more he relied on the disciplines of speech to teach others about unceasing prayer, and to introduce them to the Philokalia, the Jesus prayer, and ultimately God. The pilgrim's actions became more prayerful and compassionate throughout the narration. In his youth, his actions appear to have been in response to his grandfather's directions or participation in Church life. After the loss of his arm, he could apparently do little, other than read from the Bible and engage with people who came to the inn. Even in relation to his wife, he could only but read to her. Once on his formal pilgrimage, his actions revolved primarily around wandering and reading the Scriptures. After meeting his starets, however, he came to practice the Jesus prayer with his body, lips, mind and heart. In addition to wandering, reading, studying and practicing prayer of the heart, he engaged in work such as in the garden or the chapel. His stance toward others gradually became more open and compassionate. While he initially appeared desirous of wandering alone and remaining solitary, he eventually accepted and embraced having others travel with him, during which time he taught them the ways of prayer. 378 Overall, when read through the lens of contemplative psychology, the story of The Way of a Vilgrim reveals numerous shifts in the pilgrim's thoughts, words, actions, and relationships with himself, God, others and the world throughout his life. As he deepened in his relationship with God and eventually came to practice hesychasm, passions and grief that had had a hold on him lost their grip, and virtues both flourished in his heart and manifested themselves in his actions. Essential to this transformation was his awareness of his thoughts as well as his growth in conceptual and perceptual knowledge. As he matured spiritually, he experienced praktike, physike theoria, and theologike theoria and entered into conceptless union with God. He grew in wisdom and love as he became more Christ-like — deified. As he matured spiritually and his relationship with Jesus deepened, the strannik became a living icon of Christ and a spiritual authority akin to the Fathers of the Church. 379 5. CONCLUSION Having utilized the framework of contemplative psychology to re-read The Way of a Pi/grim, this concluding chapter will sum up the contents and findings of this thesis and suggest areas of further research. After revisiting Bernard McGinn's invitation and the guiding research hypothesis of this dissertation, points of convergence and divergence between these two conversation partners will be identified. The fruit of the dialogue between The Way of a Pilgrim and contemplative psychology will then be highlighted. Finally, areas of further research and investigation will be proposed. 5.1. McGinn's Invitation and Research Hypothesis Revisited The context for this research project was Bernard McGinn's invitation to bring religious traditions into dialogue with contemporary human experience so as to facilitate a shaping of future studies in spirituality. For the purposes of this doctoral dissertation, the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, more particularly hesychasm, was selected as the religious tradition of interest, while psychology was chosen as the contemporary human experience and dialogue partner to this spiritual tradition. In order to bring these two dialogue partners together, a particular text from the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition — The Way of a Pilgrim (a spiritual classic which recounts a pilgrim's experiences as he practices hesychasm) — was re-read through the lens of contemplative psychology. This distinctive form of psychology developed by psychologist Han F. de Wit is focused primarily on spiritual development. As noted, it is [A] psychology that endeavors to understand that which comprises spiritual development and, on the basis of that understanding, it tries to guide the individual on the contemplative way. This type of psychology therefore not only explores the value of contemplative knowledge and the use of those contemplative disciplines that lead to such knowledge, but it also discusses the nature of effective spiritual guidance. It provides a psychological understanding of the role of mercy, compassion and, last but not least, it 380 explores the nature of contemplative action in daily life and in the liturgy.1457 Furthermore, it is a form of psychology that studies egocentrism and ways of transforming it.1458 The aim of contemplative psychology is to expose the psychological insights embedded in spiritual traditions, as well as within the texts unique to those traditions. The focus of this project was to expose the psychological insights contained within The Way of a Pilgrim. Given the cherished position that this spiritual classic holds in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, not only would an application of contemplative psychology expose the psychological insights embedded in the text (particularly as regards the pilgrim's spiritual development), but it would also reveal those inherent in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition itself and the means by which it guides practitioners along the way of contemplation. Arising from questions as to how the psychological know-how embedded within this spiritual classic might be revealed, the hypothesis of this thesis posited that an application of contemplative psychology (particularly in its Eastern Christian formulation) as a heuristic tool to The Way of a Pilgrim would illumine the psychological insights and methods that clarify and guide the stratmik's spiritual development over the course of his lifetime. It was surmised that, through the use of contemplative psychology, the inner structures and patterns of maturation intrinsic to the spiritual experience of the strannik would be exposed, as would be the psychological insights that the tradition employs in guiding the pilgrim along the spiritual path. In the course of this project, it was secondarily hypothesized that three further outcomes were possible: the development of an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology, the prospect of deepening dialogue between Eastern Christian Spirituality and other world 1457 Qe WJ^ Contemplative Psychology, 1-2. 1458 Han F. de Wit, The Spiritual Path: An Introduction to the Psychology of the Spiritual Traditions, trans, of De verborgen bloeihy HenryJansen & Lucia Hofiand-Jansen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1999), 57-58. 381 religions as regards their psychological aspects, and the establishment of dialogue between contemplative psychology and academic psychology, thereby contributing to the development of a broad and profound universal psychology. While these secondary hypotheses were not the focus of this research project, it was felt that this project might at least partially pave the way for these additional outcomes to be actualized. To carry out its task of iUurnining the psychological insights inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim, this research project was divided into four main chapters. Chapter one initiated a dialogue between psychology and spirituality, and then between Eastern Christian spirituality and contemplative psychology. It also situated contemplative psychology within the field of psychology, and hesychasm within that of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. Further, the methodology for the thesis was outlined. Chapter two presented an overview of The Way of a Pilgrim as well as current research on the text, including its authorship, structure, history, literary analysis and inter-textuality. Chapter three utilized contemplative psychology as a framework to discuss understandings of the person, spiritual development, spiritual praxes, and the role of the spiritual father (starets) from the perspective of both contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian anthropology and spirituality. The chapter closed with proposed schematic frameworks of both contemplative psychology generally and an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology more specifically. Diagrams attempting to depict spiritual development from an Eastern Christian spiritual perspective were also presented. Chapter four was a re-reading of The Way of a Pilgrim utilizing contemplative psychology (predominantly in its Eastern Christian formulation) as a heuristic tool with the intent of exposing how the pilgrim changes as he journeys, interacts with others, and deepens in his spiritual walk throughout the course of his lifetime. Transformations in his thoughts, words, and actions 382 were noted as he engaged in various spiritual practices or disciplines. These changes were most evident in his relationships with God, himself, others and creation. 5.2. Points of Convergence and Divergence Between the Dialogue Partners Over the course of this doctoral dissertation, contemplative psychology was put in dialogue with Eastern Christian spirituality and The Way of a Pilgrim. In so doing, several points of convergence and divergence between these dialogue partners — particularly contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality — were made manifest. The following section will highlight some of these points. Overall, it must be said that De Wit's framework of contemplative psychology is commendable in its intent, thoroughness and comprehensiveness. His well thought-out epistemology and methodology made it possible to illumine psychological insights specific to Eastern Christian spirituality. Based on his understanding of various theistic and non-theistic traditions and insights into spiritual development that they contain, De Wit succeeded in identifying key elements of spiritual and psychological transformation from a more universal perspective. He then organized these to form the framework of contemplative psychology. So as to respect the psychological insights and terminology specific to particular traditions, his framework invites practitioners from various faith backgrounds to identify concepts unique to each perspective, and then to develop a contemplative psychology that exposes the insights inherent in them. In so doing, he offers an admirable means of uncovering and identifying psychological insights embedded in a range of contemplative traditions. De Wit's framework functioned as a guide to identifying key elements of Eastern Christian spirituality and anthropology. This process and investigation — which led to the 383 formulation of an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology — made evident points of convergence and divergence between the two dialogue partners. Two of De Wit's objectives — presenting a common framework so as to facilitate the identification of contemplative psychologies specific to various traditions, and furthering dialogue between different traditions — were in this way realized through this research project. What follows is a summary of some of the most evident points of commonality and difference between Eastern Christian spirituality and the framework of contemplative psychology presented by De Wit. While much could be said in this regard, only salient points will be emphasized. I would refer the reader to Chapter three of this thesis for a more expansive dialogue between these two dialogue partners. De Wit's framework of contemplative psychology contains several key elements that appear to be in common with Eastern Christian spirituality, and specifically hesychasm. Both contemplative psychology and the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition consider what happens psychologically to people in their thoughts, words and deeds when they embark upon a spiritual way of life. First-person in nature, contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality explore the totality of human experience and focus on the inner life of the person. Both approaches emphasize anthropological components of the person, spiritual development, movement from a carnal to a spiritual state of being, spiritual practices that facilitate change, and the importance of the mentor. The belief that people have some degree of freedom to change by growing in self-knowledge is maintained by both contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality. Each perspective also encourages the person to become aware of and examine his or her thoughts and experiences, as well as re-orient one's thinking in life- 384 giving rather than death-dealing directions. These are some of the key over-arching points of convergence between the two dialogue partners. In De Wit's presentation of contemplative traditions, some distinctions between the two dialogue partners also began to emerge. Before discussing these, it should be noted that, when presenting contemplative psychology in this thesis, I emphasized Christian concepts. These were concepts identified either by De Wit or myself which corresponded to various key elements outlined in contemplative psychology. This may have given the impression that De Wit's writings are Christian in intent and presentation when such is not the case. One could have equally well, however, utilized Buddhist or Jewish concepts that De Wit identifies when presenting his elements. While the underlying framework would be the same, a contemplative psychology particular to either of these traditions — with concepts and terminology specific to them — would have emerged. That being said, one key point of divergence between Eastern Christian spirituality and contemplative psychology lies in the fact that De Wit includes both theistic and non-theistic perspectives in his understanding of contemplative traditions. Eastern Christianity, however, considers contemplative traditions to be those that foster union with God. I would suggest that the differences between theistic and non-theistic perspectives are the greatest source of tension between the two dialogue partners. This can make formulating an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology based on constructs proposed by contemplative psychology somewhat challenging. De Wit's reliance on salient concepts and elements from various traditions (Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Christian to name a few) accounts for this connundrun. One case in point is his central concept of 'ego' which is clearly a Buddhist concept. He suggests, according to his 'translation rule,' that ego is akin to original sin. This 385 may or may not be the case, and the concept in itself may or may not be accepted by many of the spiritual traiditons. If one were developing a contemplative psychology specific to a non- Christian tradition, De Wit's use of Christian constructs (such as body-soul-spirit) in his framework would be potentially equally challenging. As a result, not all aspects of Eastern Christian spirituality correlate with De Wit's framework despite the presence of multiple points of convergence. De Wit certainly acknowledges this at the outset of his writings. How to keep contemplative psychology religiously 'neutral' as regards its framework when its elements are based on thesistic (or non-theistic) constructs is a question worthy of much consideration. If contemplative psychology as a true psychology (a psychology about the human mind) does not offer a spiritual path itself and is not itself a contemplative tradition, the relationship between contemplative psychology and a theistic or nontheistic contemplative path needs to be clarified. This certainly is an area that begs further research. Likewise, means by which to keep a clear distinction between theology (with its ontological statements) and contemplative psychology need to be identified. Again, this is an area of further research. Understandings of contemplation and the purpose of the spiritual journey are quite different in theistic and non-theistic viewpoints. In contemplative psychology, contemplation is considered to be a construct of the mind and is associated with development of mindfulness and insight. In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, contemplation is about a personal relationship with the Divine — it is union with God. In this distinction lies the essential difference between Buddhism and hesychasm. Rogich speaks of this differentiation as follows: For the Buddhist nothingness appears to be what attracts the mystic's attention, a kind of ontological category, if you will; whereas in hesychasm nothingness is more of a condition out of which further experience is had. For most of the Christian apophatic tradition, including Palamism, nothingness is a passage to the revelation of the living 386 God, beyond die Void. For hesychasm die personal God never disappears in one's experience of die Void. By die grace of die Holy Spirit, die mystic enters into die Emptiness, only to "see" the holy Trinity, a journey of becoming "in likeness" to Jesus Christ. (...) The persons of the holy Trinity are die object of contemplation, not the nodiingness, formlessness or divine darkness.1459 This perhaps highlights one of the essential points of divergence between a dieistic and non- dieistic perspective. As stated clearly by De Wit, contemplative psychology is inherendy anthropocentric while many of the spiritual traditions are theocentric. Such is the case with Eastern Christian spirituality which is both theocentric and dieanthropocentric. It is evident diat die Eastern Christian spiritual tradition revolves fundamentally around bodi an understanding of die person as being created according to die image and likeness of God, and die belief diat persons come to know their true, fully human selves through growth in Christ-likeness. Transformation of the person is oriented towards growth in relationship with, likeness to, and union widi Christ. All of die psychological insights inherent in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition revolve around an understanding of die Divine and of die human person in relation to God. Andiropologically, contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality each acknowledge die importance of identifying and understanding botii die components of die person and states widiin which one can exist. Terms such as soma, sarx, pneuma, soul, and heart, imagination, memory, and emotions are commonly used by die two dialogue partners when speaking of elements of the person. They also both distinguish between die carnal (ego or philautid) and spiritual (humane or Christ-like) states in which people live and experience reality. Direct first-person knowledge - knowing one's self — is central to contemplative 1459 Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 216-217. 387 psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality. As such, both dialogue partners examine the internal landscape of the mind and heart, including thoughts, emotions, expectations, memories, dreams, images and the like. Both contemplative psychology and the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition speak of two opposing movements that exist in the person: those associated with the building up and maintaining of the carnal state (ego ot philautid), and those related to moments of openness or grace through which this state is exposed and dismantled. Terms such as ego andphilautia (and hence original sin), as well as humaneness and Christ-likeness, are, however, understood differendy. Further research regarding the meaning of such terms and concepts is clearly warranted. The shift from the carnal to the spiritual state — conversion, transformation, or metanoia — is expressed by both dialogue partners through use of the metaphor of the path or way. The understanding and purpose of the path, however, is different from the respective perspectives of contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality. A summary of the differences follows. According to contemplative psychology, the path is a means toward self-knowledge and is directed at opening a mental space in which humaneness can flourish.1460 Human transformation is concerned with "an internal and existential process, with a turning around of a way of life (...), with a fundamental revision of one's own experience of reality."1461 It is a change of mind that shifts one away from ego and toward egolessness. Progress along the path is related to the development of a basic attitude in life as well as the creation or discovery of a certain mental space or openness. This mental space both gives insight (clarity of mind 1460 De Wit, "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," 36. 1461 De Wit, The Spiritual Path, 155. 388 and perceptual knowledge) and ennobles one's self and fellow beings. Such a transformation is brought about by human effort and disciplined spiritual practices. Its fruit — growth in insight, compassion, courage, joy and clarity of mind — is evident in one's thoughts, words, actions and relationships. The progress one makes on the way (rather than the final goal) is the source of inspiration along the path. According to De Wit, the litmus test of the insight and know-how of a spiritual practitioner is his or her ability to create formal and informal contemplative structures. From an Eastern Christian perspective, the way is union with the living God, and growth of Christ in the soul throughout ones life. Human transformation involves a change or conversion of mind and heart, a turning away from sin and the passions, and a movement toward Christ and Truth. In and through Christ (and in the context of the Church community), one is gifted with and grows in love, wisdom and virtuousness: Christ-likeness. This theomorphosis is brought about within a synergistic relationship with God (whereby God initiates and the human person cooperates with the Divine will), and within the ascetical/mystical and sacramental/liturgical life of the Church. As one grows in Christ- likeness, changes become evident in one's thinking, speech and deeds, as well as in relationships with self, God, others and the world. Within the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, the fruit of theomorphosis is love, Christ- likeness, and true gnosis: spiritual knowledge and contemplation of God. This leads to the person being fully alive. St. Iranaeus of Lyons maintained that, "The glory of God is the person fully alive and the life of man is the vision of God."1462 Alive in Christ and the Holy Spirit, the person's life becomes transformative for those around him or her. St. Seraphim of 1462 St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus Haereses, IV, 20, 7. 389 Sarov's expression, "Acquire the Holy Spirit and thousands around you will be saved,"1463 speaks to this. For Eastern Christians, the path is the Person of Christ - The Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the beginning of the path — its reason and motivation; its middle — inspiring the journey; and its end — its final goal. The path is not solely the 'what' of the spiritual praxes, but rather the Person of Christ. The 'what' of the path — the complex of spiritual disciplines — supports and flows out of one's relationship with the Divine. Spiritual development and hence path language refers to growth in relationship with the Person of Christ, in and through Whom one's mind, heart, actions, speech and relationships are transformed. Stages of spiritual development as well as the employment of spiritual disciplines are inherent in spiritual transformation. In contemplative psychology, this development occurs through human effort. In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, this transformative process occurs within the synergistic relationship between the person and the Divine, and amidst the ecclesial community. It leads from glory to glory toward concepdess union with God. Both contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality speak of developmental and methodological aspects of spiritual development. In the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, developmental stages or states include praktike, physike theoria and theologike theoria. Methodologically, spiritual disciplines are engaged in to facilitate elimination of the carnal "old man" and fostering of the spiritual "new man." Various praxes are employed at particular moments to promote spiritual growth. (Again, it is worth noting that the very 1463 St. Seraphim of Sarov, Conversation of St. Seraphim of Sarov with Nicholas Motovilov (See http://www. orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/wonderful.aspx; Internet accessed 12 March 2005). 390 consideration of how a single person from a community progresses along the contemplative way in itself risks becoming over-individualized and utilitarian). While the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition does not explicidy refer to categories of the mental domain, or domains of speech and action, the spiritual praxes that it employs in the ascetical/mystical and sacramental/liturgical traditions fit in these domains. Eastern Christian spirituality refers to praxes as either negative (praxes focused on removing sin and the passions) or positive (praxes aimed at fostering the virtues). Elements of each of these praxes fall within one or more of the aforementioned domains, and the praxes themselves can be classified as disciplines of thought, speech or action or combined disciplines. Outwardly many of the spiritual disciplines practiced in contemplative psychology and Eastern Christian spirituality appear to have similar components, however, the reason for their use and their effect is at times significantly different. In contemplative psychology, the spiritual disciplines are engaged in to cultivate perceptivity, attentiveness, alertness or consciousness. Growth in compassion, insight, and knowledge is sought through their use. While this holds true in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, engagement in spiritual praxes has further elements. Flowing out of and fostering relationship and union with God, spiritual praxes aim to remove sin (rebellion against God and its after-effects), re-orient the powers of the soul away from philautia and the passions, foster virtuousness or Christ-likeness, and facilitate growth in theoria — union with God. Whereas from the perspective of contemplative psychology, sin seems to be identified with ignorance (conceptual and perceptual), from the Christian point of view, sin is always something more than just a question of ignorance. It is an issue of the abuse of freedom and involves the will. 391 The importance and personal relationship of a teacher, guide or mentor is a further element of the spiritual journey that is emphasized by both contemplative psychology and the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. From the perspective of contemplative psychology, the teacher is someone concerned with one's personal and mental growth. From an Eastern Christian point of view, the starets is a person called by God to take the soul and will of the other into his or her own soul and will. Concerned with one's relationship with God, self, others and the world, a starets assumes the roles of physician of the soul, counselor, intercessor, mediator and sponsor. In light of the points of divergence noted, one particular caution would need to be born in mind when utilizing contemplative psychology as a framework to unpack psychological insights within the theistic Eastern Christian spiritual tradition. This issue is that of syncretism: a process by which elements of one religious tradition are assimilated into another, resulting in a change in the fundamental tenets of both perspectives. In building his framework and methodology, De Wit borrows from various traditions. While this may have some intra/inter Christian and interreligious benefits,1464 it also risks syncretism, thereby potentially compromising respect for the nuances and distinctions in the terminology, concepts and practices of various traditions. Terminology specific to each tradition leads to the elaboration of a contemplative psychology specific to each tradition — something that De Wit encourages be done. As previously noted, however, these formulated contemplative psychologies and the terms associated with them will not, however, always be synonymous, nor even analogous, with one another. "Translation rules" between terms or concepts do not necessarily hold true when H64 Intra/inter Christian and interreligious benefits might include finding common points of dialogue based on spiritual practices engaged in from various perspectives. 392 words are more closely examined. Such would be die case with terms such as original sin and ego, ego and philautia, perceptual knowledge and gnosis, or meditation, contemplation and theoria — terms which are not necessarily synonymous despite some elements of them being seemingly related.1465 Even words or concepts such as love, joy, insight, wisdom, or evil do not automatically have the same meaning in various traditions. Likewise practices such as "liturgy" signify different things in various traditions — even within Christian circles. Hence, caution needs be taken when comparing terminology, concepts and practices. Those thoughtful in their approach to the spiritual and psychological will require that terms and concepts be more clearly defined. These are the people who will make meaningful progress in dialogue while respecting the uniqueness of each tradition. At the same time, while caution would need to be exercised so as to avoid syncretism, advances in the areas of intra/inter Christian and interreligious dialogue, as well as dialogue with various psychological approaches, aspects of human experience or particular people requires discourse and openness. Such dialogue enables various approaches to inform, illumine and be challenged by the other. Left isolated from one another, perspectives risk growing narrow and fixed. Respectful dialogue conversely stands to benefit the multitude. 5.3. Fruit of the Dialogue Between The Way of a Pilgrim and Contemplative Psychology In the course of this doctoral research, several tasks were accomplished. First, it was determined that the use of contemplative psychology as a framework and means of identifying the psychological insight inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim was appropriate. Second, a possible H65 por a discussion of the mysticism of world religions and hesychasm, see Rogich, Becoming Uncreated, 214-217. For a presentation of meditation in Buddhism see William R. Stimson, "The Last Word on Learning Buddhism," Cross Currents 52: 2 (Summer 2002), 254-263. 393 contemplative psychology specific to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition was proposed. Third, the ways in which the pilgrim changes in his thoughts, words, actions, spiritual maturity and relationships throughout the narrations was elucidated. A brief elaboration of each of these follows. First, it was determined that the utilization of contemplative psychology as a framework and means of identifying the psychological insight inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim was appropriate. Sufficient points of convergence between De Wit's framework and methodology and the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition existed to warrant its application — particularly if, while outlining a framework of contemplative psychology, the Christian elements and interpretation that De Wit offers were isolated, an Eastern Christian understanding was presented, and an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology was formulated. Second, a contemplative psychology particular to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition was formulated. Based on De Wit's framework and the Christian concepts that he identified, elements of a potential Eastern Christian contemplative psychology were highlighted. This led to the development of an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology which included concepts, terms and praxes specific to the tradition's anthropology, theology and spirituality. Understandings of the person, synergeia, the spiritual path, spiritual praxes and the role of the spiritual father or mother were inherent in the framework. Formulation of a contemplative psychology from an Eastern Christian perspective laid the groundwork for an analysis of The Way of a Pilgrim that was considerate of the tradition, respectful of mystery, and illuminating of the psychological transformations that occurred in the person of the pilgrim. Third, shifts in the pilgrim's thoughts, words, actions, spiritual maturity and relationships over the course of his lifetime were exposed. The strannik began his life in a Christian family, 394 raised by his grandparents in the ways of the Christian faith. After having lost all of the people in his life to whom he was intimately connected (his parents, grandparents, wife, and brother), he embarked on a journey — a formal pilgrimage. He began his wanderings as a Christian man of mean estate who was keenly aware of his own sinfulness. He was also fundamentally conscious that relationship with God, synergeia, and the acquisition of faith were indispensable. After having sought these things first and foremost, and practicing various spiritual praxes, unceasing prayer and contemplation eventually came to be revealed to him. Looking through the lens of contemplative psychology, it was apparent that many shifts occurred in the pilgrim. These were most evident in his overall outlook on life, motivations, view of humanity, thoughts, words, action, spiritual maturity, spiritual praxes and relationships. What follows is a summary of these shifts. The hardships and grief that the strannik experienced early in his life (losing his parents at age 2, the use of his arm at age 7, his grandmother at age 17, his grandfather at age 18, all his belongings and his home at age 19, and then his wife at age 19 or 20), would have impacted his outlook on life. This oudook, however, changed as he wandered and learned the prayer of the heart. He notes that he gradually came to see and experience life as less difficult. Despite having started his journey grief-stricken, alone and in physical discomfort, he gradually became peaceful, felt less physical pain, was generally greeted amiably by others, and developed deeper relationships with himself, God and others. His view of creation also changed as he saw it with renewed vision. The pilgrim's motivation in the spiritual life shifted throughout his life. Initially, he aimed to be obedient to whatever his grandfather expected of and told him. Gradually, however, he grew to have an increasing desire for relationship with God and Christ-likeness. 395 After having embarked on his formal pilgrimage, he oriented his will toward becoming a "new," spiritual man, and focused his thoughts and actions in this direction. With God's help, he sought to re-orient the powers of his soul away fromphilautia and the passions. Instead, in imitation of Christ, he aspired to grow in humility and love, which he is noted to have attained by the conclusion of the narration. Inspired by and flowing out of his relationship with God, the pilgrim practiced various ascetical/mystical and sacramental/liturgical spiritual disciplines that allowed him to enter into communion with the Divine and facilitated his spiritual development. The practice of these disciplines changed over the course of his lifetime. Initially, he engaged in Christian living under the guidance of his grandfather — attending Church services, reading Scripture, and living a Christian way of life. Once married, he practiced the spiritual disciplines with his wife — despite noting that he had litde understanding of prayer. After engaging in his formal pilgrimage, the strannik practiced spiritual disciplines more intensely. His practice of the spiritual disciplines throughout his life seem to have restrained the passions within him and fostered the development of virtues, resulting in a transformation in his thinking, speaking and acting. Some disciplines that were of particular import to the pilgrim included participation in the Divine Liturgy, the practice of the Jesus prayer, the study of Scripture and the Philokalia, wandering, silence, ministry, poverty, obedience and the custody of his thoughts and heart. As he grew in Christ-likeness, these praxes took on renewed meaning: they enabled him to grow in his personal relationship with Christ — the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The pilgrim's spiritual growth over the course of his life made it possible for him to understand various aspects of the contemplative life. During his upbringing and prior to 396 embarking on his formal pilgrimage, it is evident that he lived in the stage oipraktike (focusing on eliminating the passions, practicing die virtues, attending Church services, and living a Christian way of life). He notes having experiences of physike (the contemplation of nature) only after the loss of his wife, embarking on his formal pilgrimage, and learning the Jesus prayer. Experiences of theologike theoria (concepdess union with God) were given him after he had grown in contemplation. As he gained spiritual knowledge, insight and practical experience, he came to a greater understanding, appreciation, vision and love of himself, God, others and creation. This enabled him to see the world and those around him in a new way. This led him to share his experience, knowledge and insight with others. Along his journey, the strannik took on many roles. Initially, he was a grandson, pupil, brother and husband. As he wandered and grew in spiritual maturity, he became a Christ- figure, disciple, teacher, healer and starets. While early in his life he received guidance, teaching and blessings from others (his grandfather, Church authorities, Scripture), the pilgrim eventually came to extend these to those he met. Likewise, though he initially sought out spiritual authorities to show him the ways of unceasing prayer, he came to be sought after for spiritual guidance. Despite having been ignorant of the writings of the Fathers of the Church at prior to setting out on his journey, he gradually came to speak in like manner to them. Similarly, while he only read from the Bible in his youth, the pilgrim ultimately became an icon of the kenotic Christ depicted therein. The strannik's spiritual path led him away from ignorance and confusion and toward conceptual and perceptual knowledge — knowledge in his mind and heart. He notes that early in his life, he had litde knowledge and understanding of both prayer and the spiritual life. However, as he grew in prayer of the heart, he acquired both conceptual and perceptual 397 knowledge and insight. Discernment, custody of the heart and thoughts, true contemplation, love, compassion, insight and wisdom were also given him. Some of the insight and wisdom he gained related to God, himself, and creation. He also, however, acquired insight into 1) the nature of the passions, evil, and wickedness affecting human beings, 2) the cause of philautia, 3) the nature of Christ-likeness and deification, and 4) the causes of the Christ-likeness and deification. Rather than keeping this knowledge to himself, the strannik shared it with others just as his starets of late memory had done with him. The pilgrim depicts his experiences and encounters with many people - from his family members to strangers he met along his travels. These relationships were all instrumental in his life as they formulated (as well as challenged and shifted), his conceptual images of himself, God, others, creation and reality. Conceptually, he eventually came to see himself as a God- pleasing person, a brother in Christ, a disciple, and perhaps even a spiritual authority. Through his encounters with others, he came to understand that people have choices as to how they wish to live their lives. He distinguished between those who were desirous and capable of living a Gospel way of life, and those who were not. The strannik also recognized that God honours free will, blesses those who seek Him, and protects those who are faithful to Him. He does, however, permit his faithful to be tested for the sake of their own spiritual growth. Each of the relationships helped him to recognize aspects of his own inner world and reframe reality. As the strannik grew in his relationship with God, as well as in insight, knowledge and personal experience of the spiritual life, his inner transformation bore fruit in his actions and speech. While he appears to have been quite pleasant in his youth, he notes having become quite grief-stricken following the loss of his wife. One can imagine that this grief was 398 expressed through his words and action. As he wandered, however, his words became less judgmental, abrupt and dismissive; he listened more humbly, attentively and compassionately; and his actions were more kind, loving, helpful and other-oriented. Having walked alone after the loss of his wife, the pilgrim gradually came to invite others to walk with him. As he journeyed, he went where the Spirit led him, assisted and taught others the ways of prayer and Gospel-living, and encouraged, supported and blessed others in his words and deeds. In this way, he grew in Christ-likeness and became an icon of the spiritual person: relational, virtuous, courageous, just, charitable, humble, peaceful, joyful, wise, self-controlled, mindful and filled with Divine knowledge and insight. Use of contemplative psychology to both formulate an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology, as well as to illumine the psychological insights in The Way of a Pilgrim proved to be a fruitful endeavour. De Wit's framework guided the identification of key aspects of the Eastern Christian tradition that are essential in the process of spiritual and psychological transformation. It encouraged definition and clarification of terminology, concepts, practices and insights particular to the tradition. While the proposed Eastern Christian contemplative psychology is far from exhaustive regarding the insights embedded in the tradition (as mystery eludes articulation and conceptualization), it lays a foundation for further development and research, and offers a contribution to continued dialogue with contemplative psychology, as well as with other spiritual traditions and psychological perspectives. 5.4. Areas of Further Research and Investigation This research project reveals numerous areas of further study and investigation. These might include additional examination of the closed universe of the text of The Way of a Pilgrim, the impact of The Way of a Pilgrim on its readers, a formulation of a more fully developed 399 Eastern Christian contemplative psychology, further study of the psychological insights inherent in other aspects of the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, clarification regarding terminology and concepts specific to Eastern Christianity concerning the psychological insights inherent in the tradition, or elucidation of the points of convergence and divergence between Eastern Christian spirituality and contemplative psychology, other religions and academic psychology. An elaboration of each of these areas follows. Further study of The Way of a Pilgrim would be extremely valuable. One such study might entail analysis of the closed universe of the text from a literary perspective, allowing for source- critical and other approaches, especially if such literary analysis would be sensitive to the theological and ascetical/mystical realities which form the Sit^-im-Leben of such a classic spiritual text. Such research might be able to untangle where literary creativity encounters the reality of hesychast experience. In regard to exploring additional psychological insights inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim, more detailed analysis of the text utilizing contemplative psychology would be beneficial. A meticulous examination of how the strannik changes based on the practice of any one specific spiritual discipline — such as his reading of the Philokalia or Scripture, or his practice of the Jesus prayer — would also be valuable. A comprehensive exploration of the pilgrim's relationship with his starets (and his own transformation into a spiritual guide) would also be worthy of more extensive research.1466 Consideration of The Way of a Pilgrim from perspectives other than contemplative psychology may also be beneficial. Some possible options might include re-reading the text This would add to Billy's current research as found in The Way of the Pilgrim: Complete Text and Tkeader's Guide. 400 through the lens of object relations theory, cognitive behavioural therapy, Michael Washburn's transpersonal perspective,1468 or other theories of spiritual development such as those proposed by James Fowler. From my exploration of various approaches by which to examine this spiritual classic, the application of thematic analysis as developed by Augustine Meier and Micheline Boivin would be a very fruitful exercise.1470 This latter approach would provide a means to identify key themes that one might wish to explore in The Way of a Pilgrim as well as to more specifically identify changes occurring in the pilgrim. This particular approach — effective in case-study analysis from a psychological perspective - would lend itself very well to a psychological examination of this spiritual text. At the same time, it would also respect the terminology, theology and spirituality of the Eastern Christian tradition. Research regarding The Way of a Pilgrim need not be limited solely to the closed universe of the text, but may be extended to the lives of its readers. Qualitative research employing contemplative psychology to examine ways in which reading the text affects its readers personally, spiritually and relationally would be quite beneficial. This might include an examination of readers' responses to evocative statements1471 inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim, as well as ways in which these statements awaken particular sensitivities in the reader, transmit the 1467 See Michael St. Clair, Object Relations and Self Psychology — An Introduction (Scarborough, ON: Nelson/Thomson Learning, 2000). 1468 See Michael Washburn, Transpersonal Psychology in Psychoanalytic Perspective (Suny Series in the Philosophy of Psychology, 1999), The Ego and the Dynamic Ground: A Transpersonal Theory of Human Development (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995), and Embodied Spirituality in a Sacred World (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003). 1469 James Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning (HarperCollins, 1995). 1470 see Meier, Augustine. "The Thematic Analytic Research Method and its Application," in In Search of Mealing — Collected Papers from the Annual Conference of the Society for Pastoral Counselling Research, ed. Augustine Meier (Ottawa, ON: The Society for Pastoral Counselling Research, 2003), 224-240; Meier, Augustine and Boivin, Micheline. "The Achievement of Greater Selfhood: The Application of Theme-Analysis to a Case Study," Psychotherapy Research 10 (1) 2000, 57-77; Augustine Meier; Micheline Boivin, and Molisa Meier, "Theme-Analysis: Procedures and Application for Psychotherapy Research," Qualitative Research in Psychology, 5 (4) 2008, 289-310. 1471 According to De Wit, evocative language is language which "awakens or evokes a particular state; it creates a particular experience of reality... The evocative use of language often takes the form of poetry or stories." (See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology, 131). 401 heartbeat of the living Eastern Christian contemplative tradition, and affect people in their own thoughts, words, actions, relationships and experiences of reality. Given the cherished position of The Way of a Pilgrim in the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition, and the effectiveness of utilizing contemplative psychology to open up the psychological insights inherent in the text, this writer is of the opinion that applying an Eastern Christian contemplative psychological framework to other aspects of Eastern Christian spirituality would be suitable and beneficial — with the proviso that mystery at all times be respected and honoured. Categorizing the psychological and transformative aspects of the human journey does risk reducing mystery, grace and the Divine to human constructs (which is fundamentally contrary to the generally apophatic Eastern Christian tradition). God's initiative and action in the lives of His people is far beyond that which the mind and heart can even begin to grasp, let alone conceptualize and articulate. If mystery, however, is safe guarded, constructs such as those proposed in this Eastern Christian psychological framework can be cautiously utilized and will likely bear significant fruit. As regards additional study of Eastern Christian spirituality, I would suggest that applying the framework of contemplative psychology to various other aspects of the tradition would be very worthwhile. This might include research into any number of liturgical/sacramental practices (Liturgy, Liturgy of the Hours, Icons, Reconciliation, Chrismation) and ascetical/mystical practices (both positive and negative praxes) to determine the psychological impact of these praxes in the lives of the faithful — their thoughts, words, actions, relationships and spiritual development. Ways in which they support a re-orientation of the powers of the soul away from philautia and the passions and toward development of the virtues would be of particular value. Applying the framework of contemplative psychology to 402 other writings and texts particular to the Eastern Christian tradition would be a further area of research that would be potentially very fruitful. A major contribution of this research project has been the formulation of an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology that specifically explores hesychast spirituality. It would be an invaluable life-time undertaking to formulate contemplative psychologies for other expressions of Eastern Christianity and for the various Western Christian traditions. This would make it possible to illumine points of convergence and divergence within Christianity itself. This would perhaps make it easier for people from different Christian traditions to speak together utili2ing a common framework. Healing across divides might in this way be facilitated. Such research might aid dialogue and unity between the various Christian Churches and spiritual traditions, increasing respect for and understanding of one another. As De Wit's framework in this doctoral thesis was presented from a predominantly Christian perspective (from which an Eastern Christian contemplative psychology was developed), it would be a very worthwhile undertaking to present his work from other theistic and non-theistic perspectives and then develop correlating contemplative psychologies based on each. Such research might facilitate dialogue between various traditions regarding the psychological insights they employ when guiding people in the ways of spiritual and personal transformation and development. Comparative analysis between theistic and non-theistic contemplative traditions might be further advanced if their contemplative psychologies were identified. This writer would envision that the identification of contemplative psychologies specific to the many great religions might be conducive to the quest for peace among the nations. Such research, which 403 would build upon common ground among the great traditions, might enable communities to better understand, communicate with, and respect one another. Comparative research among various contemplative traditions might be broad in scope, or more specific to particular components, concepts or praxes (for example, the Eastern Christian Divine Liturgy and the Buddhist service, between ego and original sin, or between the Jesus prayer and mantras from other traditions). The meaning of various anthropological and theological concepts and terms from diverse contemplative perspectives could also be further clarified and compared, such as ego, mind, heart, insight, knowledge, love and grace. Application of tradition-specific frameworks of contemplative psychology to various writings within the Christian corpus of spiritual texts or practices — both Eastern and Western — as well as of various contemplative traditions, would be invaluable. This might reveal the psychological insights inherent in many different works and from various perspectives. A comparison of the contemplative psychologies inherent in selected primary texts of the great traditions might reveal building blocks necessary in bridging the gulf between peoples and beliefs, thereby facilitating peace. This research project also points to further study into contemplative psychology itself. As previously mentioned, the question of how to keep contemplative psychology religiously 'neutral' as regards its framework — particularly when its elements are based on theistic (or non-theistic) constructs — begs further consideration. Likewise, means by which to keep a clear distinction between theology (and its ontological statements) and contemplative psychology needs to be further explored. As only certain aspects of contemplative psychology were drawn upon in this research project, it would be interesting to consider additional components of De Wit's framework, 404 theory, and methodology — including elements such as descriptive, prescriptive and evocative language for example.1472 Many of these elements of De Wit's thoughts are found in his work Contemplative Psychology. Having isolated some of the psychological insights inherent in The Way of a Pilgrim and Eastern Christian spirituality, discourse with psychologists from various schools might be more possible. Such dialogue might advance discussions regarding the contribution that Eastern Christian spirituality can make to a universal psychology, and further reveal ways in which academic psychology and Eastern Christianity can inform and illumine one another. Many areas of further investigation and research are evident in both the study of psychology and spirituality specifically, let alone religious traditions and the numerous areas of contemporary human experience more generally. Fields of research, a multiplicity of paths, and much uncharted territory lie ahead. Exploration in many of these areas will contribute to the shaping of future studies in spirituality. Pilgrims — theologians — desirous of walking the mysterious terrain of the human heart, mind, and experience, as well as attempting to understand the ways of transformation (open to being transformed themselves in the process) are needed to continue to advance research. This journey into mystery, however, is not to be taken lighdy, nor from outside the realm of faith. Evagrius of Pontus' statement: "If you are a theologian, you will pray truly. And if you pray truly, you are a theologian"1473sums up a key maxim of Eastern Christian spirituality in this regard. This journey into the land of spirituality requires more than a mere desire for clarity within one's dianoia or discursive reasoning. Such a desire would be similar to profane humanism which hesychasm rejects: 1472 See De Wit, Contemplative Psychology. 1473 Evagrius of Pontus, On Prayer, Text 61, The Philokalia, vol. 1, 62. 405 [H]esychasm not only rejects the profane humanism which divinizes the human being as an autonomous being, as well as all those concomitant ideological structures whose aim is to establish the just society in terms of this-worldly categories alone; it also rejects the belief (...) that the Christian life can be reduced to love and service to one's fellow beings, especially in some collective form. This is to say that of Christ's two commandments, love of God and love of neighbour, it gives priority to the first and affirms that the love or service of humanity, or indeed any desirable activity on the level of this world, can be effective, both as a means of salvation and as a truly constructive expression of charity and compassion, only if it springs from a prior love of God actualized in the most literal sense of the word. To act in ignorance of this love and apart from its existential actualization is to divorce what one tries to do from its empowering source and so to fall into a kind of idolatry — the idolatry that consists precisely in valuing things apart from God as if they were self-created and self- l • 1474 subsistent. From an Eastern Christian hesychast perspective, exploration of the spiritual domain need be born out of faith, synergeia, and relationship with God — God initiating and the human person responding. From this comes true gnosis. As Sherrard so eloquendy states: [H]esychasts will consider that the way for them, as for any other person, best to serve, at least initially, fellow humans and all other created beings, will be to bring the love and knowledge of God to birth within themselves; for until that has been achieved, their outward actions, instead of being the necessary expression of this love and knowledge, will be tarnished both with self-love and with the idolatry of which we have spoken. This will make it clear why hesychasm is and must be first of all a way of contemplation. For it is only though the contemplative life in all it aspects — ascetic watchfulness, prayer, meditation, the whole uninterrupted practice of the presence of God to which the Philokalia is the guide — that humans can actualize in themselves the personal love and knowledge of God on which depend not only their own authentic existence as human beings but also their capacity to cooperate with God in fulfilling the innermost purposes of creation.1475 In faith, one can further journey along the spiritual path, together with Him Who is The Way, The Truth and The Life, sharing with others the insights, gnosis, and love that have been received as gift. 1474 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 427-428. 1475 Sherrard, "The Revival of Hesychast Spirituality," 428. 406 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 6.1 The Way of a Pilgrim 6.1.1 Primary Literature Otkrovennye rasskasy strannika dukhovnomu ottsu svoemu (Minsk, Belarus': University Press, 1995). Recits d'unpelerin russe, traduits et presences par Jean Laloy (Paris: Seuil, 1978). The Way of a Pilgrim: Annotated and Explained, Skylight Illuminations Series, trans. & annot. Gleb Pokrovsky, foreword Andrew Harvey (Woodstock, Vt.: Skylight Paths Pub., 2001). Billy, Dennis J. CSsR, The Way of the Pilgrim: Complete Text and Reader's Guide (Liguori, Mo.: Liguori Publications, 2000). The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Shambhala Classics Series, trans. Olga Savin, foreword Thomas Hopko (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc. 2001). The Pilgrim's Tale, ed. and intro. Aleksei Pentkovsky, trans. T. Allan Smith, preface Jaroslav Pelikan (New York: Paulist Press, 1999). The Way of a Pilgrim, trans. R. M. French; foreword Dr. Andrew Walker; intro. Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh (London: Triangle, SPCK, 1995). The Way of a Pilgrim: and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, adapted to modern American English usage from trans. R.M. French, manuscript ed. Faith Annette Sand, designed by Greg Endries (Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House, 1993). The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. Helen Bacovcin, foreword Walter Ciszek (New York, NY: Doubleday & Company, Incorporated, 1992). The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. French, R. M. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991). The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. French, R. M. (Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House, 1989). 6.1.2 Secondary Literature Behr-Sigel, Elisabeth. "The Way of the Pilgrim," in The Place of the Heart: An Introduction to Orthodox Spirituality, trans. Steven Bigham, with a contribution "The Power of the Name; The Jesus Prayer in Orthodox Spirituality" by Bishop Kallistos [Timothy Ware] of Diokleia (Torrance, CA: Oakwood Publications, 1992), 113- 120. 407 Cunningham, Lawrence S. "Book Review: The Way of a Pilgrim, trans. Helen Bacovcin," Commonweal120 (March 26, 1993), 26. Fedotov, George P. The Way of a Pilgrim and Other Classics (Dover Publications, Incorporated, June 2003). . "The Pilgrim," in A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, compiled and ed. G. P. Fedotov (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1948), 280-282. Gatter Payne, Margaret. "Book Review: The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. R. M. French," ~LutheranQuarterly,no . 8 (spring 1994), 103-105. Hardesty, Nancy A. "The Way of a Pilgrim," in The Essential Guide to the Most Influential Spiritual Writings of the Christian Tradition, ed. Frank N. Magill and Ian P. McGreal (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988), 442-445. Hodgson, Peter. "More on the Matter of Skaz: The Formalist Model," in From Los Angeles to Kiev: Papers on the Occasion of the Ninth International Congress ofSlavists, Kiev (September 1983), ed. Vladimir Markov and Dean S. Worth (Columbia, OH: Slavica, 1983), 119-154. Ipatova, S. A. ' "Otkrovennye rasskazy strannika dukhovnomu svoemu ottsu": paradigma siuzeta', Khristianstpo i russkaia literatura (Sankt Peterburg: 'Nauka', 2002). Kornbluth, Doron, (ed.). Jewish Matters: A Pocketbook of Knowledge and Inspiration (Israel: Targum/Feldheim, July 1999). Leiter, Robert. Book Review: Jewish Matters - '"The Way of a Pilgrim' for the 90s," Jewish World Review 21 Teves, 5760 (Dec. 30, 1999), http://www.targum.com/reviews/ JewishMattersreview.html; Internet; accessed 27 April 2004). Louth, Andrew. "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tale" St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 46, no. 4 (2002), 400-403. Meyendorff, John. St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality, authorized trans. Adele Fiske (New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974), 166-168. Muto, Susan. "The Way of Ceaseless Prayer," in Steps Along the Way — The Path of Spiritual Reading (Denville, NJ: Dimension Books, 1975), 134-167. Nouwen, Henri, J.M. "Prayer - Unceasing," in The Way of the Heart (New York, NY: Ballatine Publishing Group, 1991), 66-68. Rochcau, Vsevolod. Etude analytique des "Recits du pelerin russe," dans Plamia (Meudon, France) no. 45 (sept. 1976). . Lecture de la Philocalie, no. 48 (oct. 1977). 408 Salinger, Jerome D. Franny and Zooey (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1991). Seltzer, Richard. The Name of Hero (see http://www.samizdat.com/lierol5.html; Internet; accessed 26 February 2003). Shannon, William H. "Contemplation, Contemplative Prayer," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 209-214. Solignac, Aime. "Pelerin Russe (Recits d'un)," Dictionnaire de Spiritualite 12, cols. 885-887. Sonderer, Cherry. "Book Review: The Pilgrim's Tale" Anglican Theological Review 82, no. 4 (Fall 2000), 831-833. Stanton, Leonard J. "Three Levels of Authorship in The Way of a Pilgrim" St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 33, no. 3 (1989), 221-234. The Study of Spirituality — The Eastern Tradition from the Tenth to the Twentieth Century: Russian, ed. Cheslyn Jones, Geoffrey Wainwright, Edward Yarnold (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 272-273. Titunik, I. R. "The Problem of Skaz (Critique and Theory)," in Papers in Slavonic Philology I: In Honor of James Terrell, ed. Benjamin A. Stoltz (Ann Arbor: Department of Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan, 1977), 276-301. Vernitski, Anat. '"The Way of the Pilgrim': Literary Reading of a Religious Text," Slavonica 9, no. 2 (November 2003), 113-122. Walters, Kerry. A Retreat with brother Lawrence and the Russian Pilgrim — Praying Ceaselessly (Cincinnati Ohio: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2000). 6.2 Contemplative Psychology 6.2.1 Primary Literature: Wit, Han F. de. Le Lotus et la Rose. Le bouddhisme dialogue avec /' Occident (Kunchab, Belgium, 2002). . "The Case for Contemplative Psychology," Shambhala Sun 9, no. 4 (March 2001), 34- 37. . De Verborgen Bloei: Over de psychologische achtergronden van spiritualiteit (Kampen: Kok Agora, 1994 and 2001). . Buddhistischer und westlicher Geist: Buddhismus im Gesprdech mit der westlichen Kultur (Peterberg: Verlag Via Nova, 2001). 409 . Contemplatieve Psychologie (Kampen: Agora, 1987 and 2000). . The Spiritual Path: An Introduction to the Psychology of the Spiritual Traditions, trans, of De verborgen bloei by Henry Jansen & Lucia Hofland-Jansen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1999). . Die Verborgene Bliiete: Ueber die psychologischen Hintergruende der Spiritualitaet (Petersberg: Verlag Via Nova, 1998). . De ljotus en de Roos: Boeddhisme in dialoog met psychologie, godsdienst en ethiek (Kampen: Kok Agora & Kapellen: Pelckmans, 1998). . Contemplative Psychology, trans, of Contemplatieve psychologie by Marie Louise Baird (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1991). . "On the Methodology of Clarifying Confusion," Current Issues in Theoretical Psychology, ed. W. M.J. Baker, et. al. (North Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers BV, 1987), 37-47. . "On Contemplative Psychology," Current Issues in the Psychology of Religion, ed. J.A. van BeLzen and J. M. van der Lans (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1986), 82-89. 6.2.2 Secondary Literature: Broadus, Judith. "Book Review: The Spiritual Path: An Introduction to the Psychology of the Spiritual Traditions" [journal on-line]; available from http://www.aap-psychosynthesis.org/AAP NewsSurnrnerOO.html; Internet; accessed 6 November 2002. Dardenne, Myriam, OCSO. "Contemplative Psychology: Building a Framework," Christian Spirituality Bulletin 1, no. 2 (Fall 1993), 20-23. Killen, David P. "Book Review: Contemplative Psychology," Buddhist-Christian Studies 13 (1993), 280-282. Reich, K. Helmut. "Review Article: Spiritual Development: Han F. de Wit's and Stanislav Grofs Differing Approaches," Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 36, no. 3 (September 2001), 509-520. Schneiders, Sandra M. "Contemplative Psychology: Mediating the Discussion," Christian Spirituality Bulletin 1, no. 2 (Fall 1993), 19-20. Van Bragt, Jan. "Book Review: Contemplative Psychology," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 20 (March 1993), 83-86; available from http://www.nanzan-u.ac.)p/SHUBUNKEN/ publications/jjrs/pdf/391.pdf; Internet; accessed 11 March 2003. 410 6.3 Psychology and Spirituality Allen, Diogenes. Spiritual'Theology - The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 1997). Bouyer, Louis. A History of Christian Spirituality, vols. 1-3 (NY: A Crossroad Book, The Seabury Press, 1963). Byrne, Richard, OCSO. "Journey (Growth and Development in Spiritual Life)" in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, ed. Michael Downey (Collegeville, MI: A Michael Glazier Book, The Liturgical Press, 1993), 565-577. Callahan, Annice. "Heart," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality (1993), 468-469. Christian Spirituality I: Origins to the Twelfth Century, World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, vol. 16, ed. Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff in collaboration with Jean Leclercq (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1985). Christian Spirituality II: High Middle Ages and Reformation, World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, vol. 17, ed. Jill Raitt in collaboration with Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1987). Christian Spirituality III: Post-Reformation and Modern, World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, vol. 18, ed. Louis Dupre and Don E. Saliers in collaboration with John Meyendorff (New York : Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989). Colman, Andrew M. "Psychology" in Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001), 600. Cornelison, Robert T. "Losing Oneself to Gain Oneself: Rethinking God in a Narcissistic Age," Union Seminary Quarterly Review 52, no. 3-4 (1998), 67-84. Cunningham, Lawrence S. "Holiness," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality (1993), 479- 488. A Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Gordon S. Wakefield (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1983). Dorenkemper, Mark J. "Person (in Theology)," in New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), 168-170. Dunn, James D. G. "Fruit of the Spirit," A Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Gordon S. Wakefield (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1983), 166-167. Evoy, John Joseph. A Psychological Handbook for Spiritual Directors (Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 1988). Farnsworth, Kirk E. Integrating Psychology and Theology: Elbows Together but Hearts Apart 411 (Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1981). Fowler, James. Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning (HarperCollins, 1995). Fragomeni, Richard N. "Conversion," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 230-235. Gillespie, Kevin, S.J. Psychology and American Catholicism: From Confession to Therapy? (New York: Crossroad, 2001). Jones, Cheslyn; Wainwright, Geoffrey; Yarnold, Edward; The Study of Spirituality (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1986), 273. Jones, Stanton L. A Constructive Relationship for Religion with the Science and Profession of Psychology: Perhaps the Boldest Model Yet, in E. P. Shafranske, ed., Religion and the Clinical Practice of Psychology (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1996), 113-147. Malony, H. Newton. "Christianity and Psychology," in Encyclopedia of Psychology, vol. 2, ed. in chief Alan E. Kazdin, (American Psychological Association, Oxford University Press, 2000), 78. May, Gerald G. The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004). . Care of Mind, Care of Spirit: Psychiatric Dimensions of Spiritual Direction (New York, NY: HarperCollins Pub, 1992). . The Awakened Heart: Uving Beyond Addiction ([S.l.]: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991). . Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions ([S.l.]: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988). . Will and Spirit: A Contemplative Psychology (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1982). . Simply Sane ([S.l.]: Paulist, 1977). McDargh, H. John. "Psychology, Relationship and Contribution to Spirituality," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality (1993), 792-800. McGinn, Bernard. "Spirituality Confronts its Future," Spiritus — A Journal of Christian Spirituality 5, no. 1 (Spring 2005), 88-96. Meier, Augustine. "The Thematic Analytic Research Method and its Application," in In Search of Healing — Collected Papers from the Annual Conference of the Society for Pastoral Counselling Research, ed. Augustine Meier (Ottawa, ON: The Society for Pastoral Counselling Research, 2003), 224-240. 412 Meier, Augustine and Boivin, Micheline. "The Achievement of Greater Selfhood: The Application of Theme-Analysis to a Case Study," Psychotherapy Research 10 (1) 2000, 57-17. Meier, Augustine; Boivin, Micheline; and Meier, Molisa. "Theme-Analysis: Procedures and Application for Psychotherapy Research," Qualitative Research in Psychology, 5 (4) 2008, 289- 310. Moon, Gary W. "Spiritual Direction: Meaning, Purpose, and Implications for Mental Health Professionals," Journal of Psychology and Theology 30, no. 4 (2002), 264-275; See http:// www.biola.edu/jpt/downloads/30-264.pdf; Internet; accessed 20 July 2005. Peter, Carl J. "Sanctification," in The New Dictionary of Theology (1987), 931-933. Rahner, Karl and Vorgrimler, Herbert. "Dreams," Dictionary of Theology (NY: Crossroad, 1981), 137. Ross, Susan A. "Body," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 93-100. St. Clair, Michael. Object Relations and Self Psychology - An Introduction (Scarborough, ON: Nelson/Thomson Learning, 2000). Sappington, A. A. "Psychology for the Practice of the Presence of God: Putting Psychology at the Service of the Church," Journal of Psychology and Christianity 13 (1994), 5-16. Schneiders, Sandra M. "The Study of Christian Spirituality: Contours and Dynamics of a Discipline," Journal ofthe Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, 6/1 (Spring 1998), 3-12. Scott, P., Bergin, Allen E. (ed.). Handbook of Psychotherapy and Religious Diversity (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999). Shannon, William H. "Contemplation, Contemplative Prayer," in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 209-214. Traditions of Spiritual Guidance, collected from The Way and ed. Lavinia Byrne (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1990). Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism — A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness, (New York, NY: Meridian Books, 1974). . 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