September 29, 2009
Interior Castle, part 4
As we continue our journey into the 4th mansions, or 4th floor of our building, we come to the point where Teresa says that the natural and the supernatural start to mix. She begins by talking about the difference between “sweetness in prayer” and “spiritual consolations”. The first of these is something that we attain for ourselves. It is those moments of meditation and discipline where we feel the joy and passion of being close to the Lord. Teresa talks about crying when viewing and meditating on a statue of the Passion, or the joy experienced when doing God’s work and feeling full of His love.
Spiritual consolations however, are those things that come to us from God. This is the joy and passion that overcomes us as a free gift of God, and for no reason of our own works. Teresa compares the two as two fountains. The first gets it’s water through a system of pipes and flows out into it’s basin as long as water is flowing through the pipes. The second fountain is built on the source of the water itself. The flow is ever constant from the source, and its basin fills and overflows of its own accord. This is the state of spiritual consolations, a place where God’s love penetrates our soul and we feel happiness and peace as a gift from Him. Teresa describes it as such:
To the other fountain the water comes direct from its source, which is God, and, when it is His Majesty’s will and He is pleased to grant us some supernatural favour, its coming is accompanied by the greatest peace and quietness and sweetness within ourselves — I cannot say where it arises or how. And that content and delight are not felt, as earthly delights are felt, in the heart — I mean not at the outset, for later the basin becomes completely filled, and then this water begins to overflow all the Mansions and faculties, until it reaches the body. It is for that reason that I said it has its source in God and ends in ourselves — for it is certain, and anyone will know this who has experienced it, that the whole of the outer man enjoys this consolation and sweetness.
Teresa then explains that the path to this is through what she terms the Prayer of Recollection, a type of spiritual praying where we give ourselves to the love of God. It is a type of meditating on God that asks us to quiet our questioning minds, yet not let go of our ability to understand and listen to what God is trying to speak to our hearts. It’s a process of “absorption” into the presence of God, though still not complete union which Teresa talks about later. Then in this state of listening to God we can experience a form of happiness and spiritual consolation that is so powerful that it can affect our physical state. Teresa even goes to far as to caution people who are not able to handle this type of connection, as she has witnessed their health failing from exhaustion.
As I personally reflect on what is being taught in this chapter, I start to understand why Teresa is considered one of the writers in the mystical tradition. She is seeking after a spiritual state that is alien to many people, except perhaps those who have lived in the Charismatic worldview. Like people in the Charismatic world, she is seeking after a deep connection with the Divine, a union that brings about incredible happiness and peace. While Charismatics see this connection as being specifically with the Spirit, Teresa doesn’t make this distinction, and simply asks that people let God flow in them like the overflowing fountain she described before.
I think one of the very positive things that the Mystical tradition, and even the Charismatic tradition, can teach us, is that sometimes we need to experience God in a way that doesn’t involve reasoned understanding. Too often we can find ourselves over-thinking our faith life, and our thoughts become so noisy in our head that we can’t hear what God is really trying to say to us. However, as Teresa states, that path to the heart of the soul, and deep union with Christ, involves receiving the gift of God’s presence. It’s not something that we can attain through our own works, but it is something that we can open ourselves up to receive.
Written and posted by Jamison on September 29, 2009, 8:47 am.
Filed under: General Discussion
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