christianmystics.com

 

"Jesus came to teach us to hear more honestly and understand more intelligently and deeply the voice of God within ourselves. Do not be too sure of yourself, pray truly, constantly. Do not distrust yourself, but ask for Strength, earnestly and constantly."

Pierre Ceresole

"Even the Devil may be disguised as an angel of light," Paul warned, and it is this verse that is often thrown back into the faces of mystics. "How do you know," the literal-minded amongst us ask, "that the experience you receive is not from the darkness masquerading as light?"

Set aside, for now, the urge to reply with, "And how do you know it is not the darkness that keeps you from believing in the light and even seeks to discredit those who do believe and experience it?"

Those who lob the challenge of the disguised "angel of light" fail to finish reading Paul's words on the subject. He speaks of those who live from such deception and Paul explains, quite clearly, "Their end will correspond to their deeds." In other words, from false insight comes misdeeds and more confusion, as that naturally will be the end result of such deception.

Clearly, Paul is not denying that the individual can and does commune with God within. Again citing Paul, "We have the mind of Christ."

He sounds the same theme in many places, including, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?" Peter points the same direction as he states, "Eternal life is the Seed which God places in the believer, and that Seed is Christ (I Peter 1:2 3)." From Timothy we are told to , "guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us."

Still, let us admit that Paul is issuing a warning that one can't totally dismiss. It is possible that, as an individual or as a group, the wrong path can be taken with great exuberance and gusto. The end of this folly is to drink poisoned kool-aid or to exterminate others based on their ethnic or religious background.

So, if this Truth does exist within each of us, and if we are to avoid the admittedly dangerous pitfalls, how are we to find that which is real?

If the key is to know the fruits of our actions, what is to be the guide? Paul answers as he writes, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."

After all, we have Jesus -- indeed his life and death and continued presence -- as a constantly unfolding lesson in how to listen to the voice of God within ourselves and how, against all odds and sufferings, to pursue it rightly and honestly and lovingly.

Pierre Ceresole explains that because we have two extremes, we must therefore chart a way to walk the middle path. First, we should not be too sure of ourselves, we must not make the mistake of assuming that we have somehow been 'saved' and now are home free, no longer subject to error or a wrong step. We must remain humble, constantly aware of spiritual materialism or spiritual pride.

Think of it this way -- one of the decidedly male traits is to steadfastly refuse to ask directions when lost while driving. Many men will charge onwards a hundred miles out of their way rather than stop and ask, "Where in the world am I???" These drivers plow ahead with great certainty (which finally fades) and brush off any suggestions from passengers that it might help to pull over and ask somebody!

Spiritually, we do the same thing -- male and female -- when we rush on ahead with spiritual matters, puffed with supreme confidence and never stopping to ask, "Am I even on the right road?" In practical terms, it often happens in our day to day life that we climb the ladder of success, only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall.

How to avoid this certainty? Ceresole suggests that to pray truly and constantly is to be receptive to Divine direction and guidance, to be aware that while we are doing our best to follow our spiritual instincts or openings, we must have a way to stay on the road and not wander off. That, traditionally, is the role of the scriptures of various writers and, more pointedly, it is the role of a spiritual community as it provides a gentle environment in which to grow and deepen, to take an occasional "reality check."

At the other end of the spectrum, Ceresole says, we are apt to think we are worthless, that somehow out of all of the creatures in creation, God has decided that we're the one just simply not cut out for the journey. But, in reality (and not in the sad, twisted world of Calvinist thought) we have God "who desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Not some, not those according to some cosmic whim or predetermined players roster, but all men and women. So, how are we to deal with these moments of insecurity, of feeling worthless and alone? The answer is not to ask for a lessening of challenges or a respite, but rather greater Strength to surmount the obstacles.

In short, then, we are able to find that of God which is in each of us by learning from Jesus' life and teachings and to use those lessons to discover that Voice (or presence) within us. To do this, we must strive for humility and prayer on the one hand and proceed with great confidence and strength on the other. As we progress, aided by grace, we see at first as if through a glass darkly, but then more clearly as we come to know the Divine. Further, those around us know and profit from our spiritual quest because our Source is genuine -- it is born of and made up of Love and our actions speak for the Truth of our spiritual quest.

Be prepared -- there are many who say that all of this mystical talk of love and God is worthless, for these are the people who say that one must only profess one's faith with certainty and then walk on in pride. But to this, we must answer with the words of Paul in one of his moments of great clarity -- "So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."