Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism - 12

The title of the chapter I have just finished reading is "The Characteristics of Mysticism."

Some underlined phrases:

Jacopene da Todi: "Blessed are the cleane of hart for they shall see God. O sight to be wished, desired and longed for..." One wants a clean windshield to properly see the road.

--"...all mystics, says Saint-Martin, "speak the same language, for they come from the same country." And that language is the language of love.

"RULES: 1) True mysticism is active and practical... 2) transcendental and spiritual...heart is always set upon the changeless One. 3) This one is...Reality...personal Object of Love 4) Living union with this One...arrived at by an arduous...process 5) True Mysticism is never self-seeking." This last one is the hardest. It is so tempting to seek the fruits of the search: peace, holiness, purity; it is so scary to seek the One, not knowing what the outcome might be.

"inaccurately called 'ecstasy,' but is better named the Unitive State"

"The jewels of mystic literature glow with this intimate and impassioned love of the Absolute; which transcends the dogmatic language in which it is clothed and becomes applicable to to mystics of every race and creed. There is little difference in this between the extremes of Eastern and Western thought: between A Kempis the Christian and Jalalu'd Din the Moslem saint."

"...fundamentally a science of the heart."

"The mystic's outlook, indeed, is the lover's outlook."

"St. Bernard...'He alone is God who can never be sought in vain: not even when He cannot be found."

"...sought only for the heart of God, therein to hide myself." --Jacob Boehme

A Year With Thomas Merton - November 19

Being a Teacher

Finishing William of Conche's Philosophia Mundi. Beautiful little chapter on the Teacher. I was very moved by it. I usually ignore this element in my own vocation, but obviously I am a writer, a student, and a teacher, as well as a contemplative of sorts, and my solitude, etc., is that of a writer and teacher, not a pure hermit. And the great thing is, or should be, love of truth. I know there is nothing more precious than the bond of charity created by communicating and sharing the truth. This really is my whole life.

Yesterday Aidan Nally came up to me by the woodshed and said, "Father, it seems the wars have ceased."

Later I conjectured he was referring to the cessation of atmospheric nuclear testing announced by Kennedy.

Today (a blacker day than usual and there have been many) Aidan Nally met me out by the greenhouse just before dinner and uttered some prophecies of doom according to something he had seen on TV. None of it was clear. Probably the Russians trying to make up for their loss of face over Cuba. Something on Germany? Berlin?

The problem is not to lose one's sense of perspective and seriousness. It is always "the end" and each time it gets closer. The students at the Oxford Union drank up their best wine in the Cuban crisis. They will not have any for this one, whatever it is--if it is a crisis, and not something imagined by Aidan. But Aidan's imagination is as good as any paper--only a little foggy.

November 13 and 17, 1962, IV.264-66