Christian Mysticism | Page 6

passage from St. John which I read as the text
of this Lecture. The filial relation to God is already claimed, but the
vision is inseparable from likeness to Him, which is a hope, not a
possession, and is only to be won by "purifying ourselves, even as He
is pure."

There is one more fundamental doctrine which we must not omit.
Purification removes the obstacles to our union with God, but our guide
on the upward path, _the true hierophant of the mysteries of God, is
love_[10]. Love has been defined as "interest in its highest power";[11]
while others have said that "it is of the essence of love to be
disinterested." The contradiction is merely a verbal one. The two
definitions mark different starting-points, but the two "ways of love"
should bring us to the same goal. The possibility of disinterested love,
in the ordinary sense, ought never to have been called in question.
"Love is not love" when it asks for a reward. Nor is the love of man to
God any exception. He who tries to be holy in order to be happy will
assuredly be neither. In the words of the Theologia Germanica, "So
long as a man seeketh his own highest good because it is his, he will
never find it." The mystics here are unanimous, though some, like St.
Bernard, doubt whether perfect love of God can ever be attained, pure
and without alloy, while we are in this life.[12] The controversy
between Fenelon and Bossuet on this subject is well known, and few
will deny that Fenelon was mainly in the right. Certainly he had an easy
task in justifying his statements from the writings of the saints. But we
need not trouble ourselves with the "mystic paradox," that it would be
better to be with Christ in hell than without Him in heaven--a statement
which Thomas a Kempis once wrote and then erased in his manuscript.
For wherever Christ is, there is heaven: nor should we regard eternal
happiness as anything distinct from "a true conjunction of the mind
with God.[13]" "God is not without or above law: He could not make
men either sinful or miserable.[14]" To believe otherwise is to suppose
an irrational universe, the one thing which a rational man cannot
believe in.
The mystic, as we have seen, makes it his life's aim to be transformed
into the likeness of Him in whose image he was created.[15] He loves
to figure his path as a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, which must
be climbed step by step. This scala perfectionis is generally divided
into three stages. The first is called the purgative life, the second the
illuminative, while the third, which is really the goal rather than a part
of the journey, is called the unitive life, or state of perfect
contemplation.[16] We find, as we should expect, some differences in

the classification, but this tripartite scheme is generally accepted.
The steps of the upward path constitute the ethical system, the rule of
life, of the mystics. The first stage, the purgative life, we read in the
Theologia Germanica, is brought about by contrition, by confession, by
hearty amendment; and this is the usual language in treatises intended
for monks. But it is really intended to include the civic and social
virtues in this stage.[17] They occupy the lowest place, it is true; but
this only means that they must be acquired by all, though all are not
called to the higher flights of contemplation. Their chief value,
according to Plotinus, is to teach us the meaning of order and limitation
([Greek: taxis] and [Greek: peras]), which are qualities belonging to the
Divine nature. This is a very valuable thought, for it contradicts that
aberration of Mysticism which calls God the Infinite, and thinks of Him
as the Indefinite, dissolving all distinctions in the abyss of bare
indetermination. When Ewald says, "the true mystic never withdraws
himself wilfully from the business of life, no, not even from the
smallest business," he is, at any rate, saying nothing which conflicts
with the principles of Mysticism.[18]
The purgative life necessarily includes self-discipline: does it
necessarily include what is commonly known as asceticism? It would
be easy to answer that asceticism means nothing but training, as men
train for a race, or more broadly still, that it means simply "the
acquisition of some greater power by practice.[19]" But when people
speak of "asceticism," they have in their minds such severe "buffeting"
of the body as was practised by many ancient hermits and mediaeval
monks. Is this an integral part of the mystic's "upward path"? We shall
find reason to conclude that, while a certain degree of austere
simplicity characterises the outward life of nearly all the mystics, and
while an almost