Mystical Theology
Mystical Theology
Mystical Theology
ITSTRUE NATURE
ANDV\UJE
DATE DUE
^g^^gaann as^-
nELr-^
Class of 1924
MYSTICISM: ITS TRUE NATURE
AND VALUE
IMPRIMI POTEST.
JACOBUS AUGUSTINUS,
ARCHIE?. S. ANDR. ET EDIMBURGEN.
MYSTICISM:
ITS TRUE NATURE AND VALUE
WITH A TRANSLATION OF THE "MYSTICAL
THEOLOGY" OF DIONYSIUS, AND OF THE
LETTERS TO CAIUS AND DOROTHEUS
(l, 2 AND 5)
BY
A. B. SHARPE, M.A.
SECOND EDITION,
WITH INTRODUCTION AND APPENDICES.
LONDON
SANDS & COMPANY
15 KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN
AND EDINBURGH
ST. LOUIS MO.
B. HERDER.
The original of tliis bool< is in
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PAGES
Different uses of the word Confusion due
" mystical "
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
SUPERNATURAL MYSTICISM
Origin of the term Mysticism in the Church In
Greek philosophy Dionysius Social conditions
which bring mysticism into prominence Spurious
mysticism 50-60
CONTENTS
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
THE OBJECT OF JIYSTICAL KNOWLEDGE
Mystical " vision," how to be understood How the
soul can seeGod The Beatific Vision Doctrine
of St Thomas St Paul's visions Transiency of
mystical state Spiritual marriage The liDiicn
gloricE St Augustine's classification Uncertainty
of sensibleand imaginary impressions as com-
pared with intellectual vision
All three truly
supernatural 88- 104
CHAPTER V
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MYSTICISM
The object of mystical contemplation perceived by a
natural process, and therefore capable of analysis
No theory on the subject formulated by mystical
writers Three different views (i) existence of a
special mystical faculty. This theory is superfluous.
(2) that allapparently mystical states are merely
automatic, and generally of pathological origin.
This implies the presupposition that genuine
mysticism is impossible. (3) that mystical com-
munications really take place, but are apprehended
by the same psychical process which transmits
automatic suggestion. This practically coincides
of distinguishing, how caused ....
with the view of ecclesiastical authority Difficulty
105-121
CONTENTS
CHAPTER VI
EVIL
PAGES
Affinity of the
problem with mysticism The solution
of mystics often appears unsatisfactory to others
Evil due to created freewill
Independence of the
Divine Will Evil negative Practical character
of mystical solution compared with the philo-
Schopenhauer, Hartmann
sophical or theoretical
and "Ethical" religions Benefits of mysticism in
this respect not restricted to mystics . . . 122-135
CHAPTER VII
IMMANENCE AND TRANSCENDENCE
Terms explained Spinoza, Hegel and Mysticism
The "ground" Immanence and Transcendence
not ontologically distinct 136-145
CHAPTER VIII
PLOTINUS
Philosophy and mysticism of Plotinus Two possible
views of his relation to Christian mysticism 146-158 . .
CHAPTER IX
HERETICAL MYSTICS
Distinction clear between true and spurious mysti-
cism "Pragmatic" test, twofold application
Mysticism, theosophy and theology Intrinsic dis-
tinction between mystical experience and deduc-
tions from it
Doctrines not to be guaranteed by
mystical origin Necessary features of genuine
mysticism The Beghards
Boehme Sweden-
borg Quietism
Distinction between doctrines
and mystical experiences equally applied to
orthodox mystics St Teresa St John of the
Cross Margaret Mary Alacoque. 159-176
. . .
CONTENTS
CHAPTER X
MYSTICISM, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
PAGES
Obstacles to philosophical treatment of mysticism in
its transcendental aspect
Experimental evidence
of mysticism in support of natural theology
The object of mysticism beyond the reach of
explanation per causas Mysticism a form of
religious experience, but not one guaranteed to
Christians
Its relation to " institutional" religion,
and to ordinary religious experience as continuous
with and interpenetrated by it The Imitation
of Christ Mystical experience perhaps occasion-
ally granted to non-mystics 177-192
CHAPTER XI
DIONYSIUS
History of the Dionysian writings Authorship and
character
Can they be considered forgeries
Modern theories, etc 193-206
CHAPTER XII
THE "mystical THEOLOGY" OF DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE
CHAP. PAGES
I. What the Divine Darkness is.
denied of Him.
IV. That He who is the supreme cause of all
sensible things is Himself no part of
those things,
v. That He who is the supreme cause of all
intelligible things isHimself no part of
those things 207-223
X CONTENTS
Letter pages
I. To
Caius the Monk The ignorance by
means of which God is known is above
sense-knowledge, not below it.
II. To the Same In what sense God is above
the principle of divinity.
V. To Dorotheus the Deacon The divine
darkness further explained . . 224-229
APPENDIX I
APPENDIX II
xvi MYSTICISM
xxxiv MYSTICISM
xxxvi MYSTICISM
AND VALUE
CHAPTER I
4 MYSTICISM
recall from the past, or some idea that we
have at some time abstracted from our sense
knowledge.
Now we obviously reach the limit of
theoretical knowledge when we come to the
end (which from another point of view is
lo MYSTICISM
the " perfect round " of heavenly beatitude
in the discords of earth his ear catches
echoes of celestial harmonies, and the darkest
places of this world are invested with "clouds
of glory" for those who thus "see into the
life of things."
Thus mysticism has been called "the
attempt to realise the presence of the living
God in the soul and in nature, or, more
generally, the attempt to realise in thought
and feeling the immanence of the temporal
in the eternal, and of the eternal in the
temporal."^
No one can dispute the universal right of
defining terms according to taste and fancy
and those who define or describe mysticism
in this way have a perfect right to do so.
14 MYSTICISM
not indeed mixed with it, and it is and must
be the one thing that in His uncreated being
He cannot resemble ;
yet all creation has the
distant likeness to Him which mere being
imparts ; and in all its parts reflects, however
dimly. His wisdom and beauty. Therefore
that God is may be clearly known from the
" visible things " of creation. But what God is
in Himself, no man can know, unless God Him-
self reveals it to him. To see the reflection
of Divine beauty is one thing : to see God
is another. For all man's natural knowledge
comes from creatures, and by way of sensa-
. tion : and God is the one being that is not
a creature, and of whom sensation can directly
tell us nothing.
This being so, the only direct, immediate or
experimental knowledge of God that man can
attain to must be supernaturally bestowed upon
him. Naturally, man is enclosed within the
iron walls of sense and sensible things, through
1 MYSTICISM
i8 MYSTICISM
20 MYSTICISM
God, the greater is the desire to see Him, and its pain when it
cannot and while there is no remedy for this pain except in
;
for Thy presence alone can satisfy my will and desire.'' The
willcannot be satisfied with anything less than the vision of
God, and therefore the soul prays that He may be pleased to
give Himself to it perfectly in truth, in the consolation of love."
Spiritual Canticle, Explanation of Stanza VI.
TWO IDEAS OF MYSTICISM 21
'
Cf. Schopenhauer. " If something is none of all the things
we know, it is certainly for us, speaking generally, nothing.
But it does not follow from this that it is absolutely nothing,
that from every possible point of view and in every possible
sense must be nothing, but only that we are limited to a
it
Him.
When we have reached this point we have
got rid of everything that our senses tell us
of, and have erected for our contemplation a
purely abstract conception, upon which the
lights of sunset still seem to play, and which
therefore retains something of their charm so
long as the impression lasts, but in itself is
the soul may perceive that which is immaterial, like the soul
itself, without any intermediate sensation.
c
34 MYSTICISM
They are not essential to mystical experi-
kind.
Thirdly, the phenomena of mystical con-
templation cannot be considered capable of
explanation by any theory which excludes the
supernatural. Two such theories have been
suggested. The apparently infused super-
natural object of contemplation has been
thought to be merely an image drawn by
the normal process of the understanding from
past conscious experience ; the supposed divine
illumination is held to be, in fact, the result
of self-delusion. Again, there are certain
'
See Benedict XIV. De Canonis.
38 MYSTICISM
any there are, who are the subjects of these
abnormal experiences, and whose conviction
as to the nature of them is already unshake-
able, and to those experts who from time to
40 MYSTICISM
to be, will be acknowledged and co-ordinated
with other truths in the complete body of
her doctrine. Error, even in its extremest
forms, is not "a lie that is all a lie" it is
beyond it.
God ;
you are to look forward to the super-
natural enjoyment of Him in Eternity, and
there is no limit to the favours which He can
and may bestow on you here and now. But
one thing you may not have, one thing He
shall not do for you and that the one which
42 MYSTICISM
you most desire you shall not have the
briefest or shghtest foretaste here of the
blessedness that is to be yours hereafter ;
God
Himself, though He may do miracles of all
value.
CHAPTER II
SUPERNATURAL MYSTICISM
5a MYSTICISM
aptitude for its acquisition. Thus the early
Christian Church conceived itself to hold the
position of a body of mystics with regard to
^
Cf. Harnack, jl/mz',!) and Expansion of Christianity, vol. i.
SUPERNATURAL MYSTICISM 55
CHAPTER III
St Teresa, Castle, "Sweetness in devotion
4. i. 4. . . .
i
Such criticism as that of Mr Inge (" Christian Mysticism,"
pp. Ill, 112)would be perfectly just if mystical contemplation
were held to be a merely natural process. All the human mind
can do towards attaining it is merely negative, and in the
E
66 MYSTICISM
cognition i.e., in the acquisition of anything
that may rightly be called knowledge, however
complex, recondite or elementary there must
always be a preponderating element of mental
activity. There must be not merely sensa-
tion and intelligent consciousness, but "apper-
ception " the active direction of the mind to
the body.
We do not reason in order to ascertain
whether we feel heat or cold, pain or pleasure ;
70 MYSTICISM
towards either procuring them or determining
their special character. Mysticism is there-
fore to be conceived as the raptus or
ecstasis of St Paul and St Thomas :
^
it
it is divine is unshakeable.^
It must, however, be clearly understood that
this subjective certitude is not to be taken
for a proof that the experience so certified is
74 MYSTICISM
The reason of this is to be found in another
feature of genuine mysticism, namely, the
'
Gerson, Myst. TheoL, Cons. xxx. " Mystica theologia
acquiritur per scholam vehemens
affectus et per exercitium
moralium virtutum, disponentium animam ad purgationem."
THE NATURE OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE 77
^
See Inge, "Christian Mysticism," Appendix C.
THE NATURE OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE 81
8s MYSTICISM
to take into consideration ; and the Platonic
elements in the earlier mysticism came into
it in no other way than this. But mysticism
is not itself either Platonic or Aristotelian
on its natural side it is simply human, and
falls into its inevitable place in the order of
things which all systems of philosophy seek
to analyse and explain.^ Mysticism is always
recognisably the same thing, whether we meet
it in a Platonic or a scholastic dress.
What, then, may be called the normal
course of mysticism proceeds first by way of
devout preparation in the discharge of ordi-
nary Christian duties and the use of ordinary
means of grace ; next, it leads the soul into
'
Eckhart said to have drawn his philosophy mainly from
is
84 MYSTICISM
90 MYSTICISM
92 MYSTICISM
of the Church and the statements of Scripture
as to the beatific vision hereafter which
practically amounts to rejection of Christianity-
altogether.^
94 MYSTICISM
beatific vision of God is both immediate
and intellectual.
'
Cf. Blosius, Spiritual Mirror^ xi. i. " This mystical denuded
later.
position for that union is, not that the soul should understand,
imagine anything on the subject of the nature of
taste, feel or
God, or any other thing whatever, but only that pureness and
love which is perfect resignation, and complete detachment
from all things for God alone."
THE OBJECT OF MYSTICAL KNOWLEDGE 99
'
" Non banc vulgarem et conspicuam omni carni, nee quasi
eodem genere grandior erat, etc." (i. c.)
loo MYSTICISM
ence is here remarkably significant.) Julian
of Norwich speaks of the "gracious light of
Himself," by which God wills that we should
have understanding.
St Augustine^ distinguishes three kinds of
vision corporal, "spiritual," which is here the
same as " imaginary," and intellectual. Of the
first kind was the vision of Balthasar in the
as well as supernatural.
CHAPTER V
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MYSTICISM
act?
The subject is necessarily a somewhat
obscure one, comparatively little being certainly
known as to the nature of the mind's action,
and of its relation to that of the senses. But
some quite overwhelming evidence, such as
does not seem to be either forthcoming or
even conceivable, would be necessary to prove
that either the mind or the body or both
together can, under any circumstances in this
world, act otherwise than according to the
accustomed methods and principles, which in
point.
and will.
of divine communications.
2. Directly opposed to this view is another,
'
W. James, Varieties of Religious Experience Delacroix,
;
II MYSTICISM
It seems hardly possible to deny that most
of the characteristic features of the states
1 See Benedict XIV., Heroic Sanctity^ and see ch. i. pp. 35, 36.
H
114 MYSTICISM
is to be assumed that no personal God exists ;
'
Cf. Maher, Psychology, p. 357.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MYSTICISM 117
both cases.
It may be added that this distinction
'
See Benedict XIV., De Canon, passim.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MYSTICISM 119
EVIL
'
Cf. Blessed Angela of Foligno. " I felt myself in such
fulness of charity, and I understood with such joy in that power
and will and justice of God, that I understood not only those
things about which had asked, but I was satisfied as to the
I
salvation offered to every creature, and about the devil and the
"
124 MYSTICISM
damned and all things. But all this I cannot explain in words."
(In Catholic Mysticism, by A. Thorold.)
of Norwich, ch. xxxii.
Cf. also Julian
" One point of our
things and I shall make all things well for this is the great
deed that our Lord God shall do in which deed He shall ;
save His word in all things, and He shall make well all that
is not well. But what the deed shall be and how it shall be
done, there is no creature beneath Christ that knoweth it, nor
shall know it till it be done.'
;
EVIL 185
EVIL 127
EVIL 131
the mind darkened and dry, but is set at peace, freed from
is
all trouble and filled with light, merely by hearing the words,
'
Be not troubled.' These deliver it from all pain, although
before, if the whole world and all its learned men had united to
persuade it there was no cause for grief, it could not, in spite of
their efforts, have got rid of its sadness." (Castle, vi. 3.) "Souls
that have reached the state I speak of care nothing" for
. . .
their own pain or glory ; if they are anxious not to stay long in
purgatory, it is more on account of its keeping them from the
presence of God than because of its torments." {lb. vi. 7.)
I was damned, I could not possibly grieve nor labour less, nor
;
132 MYSTICISM
EVIL 133
1 Sutmna, I. viii.
3, and cf. St John of the Cross, Ascent, ii. 5,
138 MYSTICISM
from all creatures : He cannot be expressed
in terms of anything but Himself, or brought
under any category which has any other
content there is no " formula " for God, no
class to which He may be said to belong.
If God is considered as intelligent, wise,
beautiful or powerful, He is still none of
those things in the same sense in which they
can be predicated of creatures, who can only
be intelligent, wise or beautiful by participa-
tion, as their very existence is only participa-
tion in the being of God. The speculative
knowledge that God exists is the recogni-
seen and all that sees " into the " intangible and
invisible" presence of Him who is "beyond all
only can fill it in His infinity. For this abyss belongs only to
the divine abyss, of which it is written 'Abyssus abyssum
invocat.' " And compare the German Theology, ch. i. :
" He
is the substance of all things."
IMMANENCE AND TRANSCENDENCE 143
misunderstanding.
It will be clear enough, however, from what
has been said that the terms "immanent" and
" transcendent," as applied to the divine nature,
PLOTINUS
' iKiivo St} S ^vxh SidiKeL Kal S 0fis v<} jrap^xei Kal iixireabv airov
txvos Kivet, oiiroi Sel Oavfid^eiv el roLa6rT)u duva/j-iv ^x^' '^\kov Trpos avro
Kal ava,KaKoiiJ.iVov in TrdcTT/s ttXoj'tjs, I'ca irpjs avrb Avairaia-atTO.
Enn. vi. 7.
^ oi diajxa, aWa (SXX05 t/xSttos tov ide'iv, ^Ktrratris Kal fiirXuirts Kal
ivlSocns aiiToO Kal l<pe<ns irpds aiprjn . . , iJ,i}Si /car' iirurTrnxifv t) inJceins
iKeivov firjS^ Kara vtS-qaiVj itxrirep ra dXXa votjTdf dXXa Kara TrapQVfftav
PLOTINUS 153
iS6 MYSTICISM
As has been already remarked, the theory
now popular of automatism furnishes a much
needed explanation of the close resemblance
borne to supernatural mysticism by the various
kinds of mysticism which, on Christian prin-
ciples, cannot be accepted as supernatural in
IS8 MYSTICISM
or console.^
HERETICAL MYSTICS
'
Cf. Hartmann, "Philosophy of the Unconscious" {The
Unc. in the Human Mind, ch. ix.).
L
i62 MYSTICISM
i66 MYSTICISM
gone. Thus visions experienced by persons
in a state of alcoholism, nervous or brain
disease, or artificially produced anaesthesia, are
I70 MYSTICISM
with true mysticism he has none whatever
he may be thought to claim a revelation as
the authority for his system, but to mystical
theology the experimental, know-
ineffable
^
"Tous les matins, lorsque je m'^veille, il me semble trouver
mon Dieu present, auquel mon coeur s'unit comme k son
principe et k sa seule plenitude ce qui me donne une soif si
;
autre preparation que celle que mon Dieu fait en moi. ... II
me semble quelquefois que mon esprit s'^loigne de moi, pour
s'aller unir etperdre dans rimmense grandeur de son Dieu. . . .
177 M
178 MYSTICISM
therefore able to consider it directly, as repre-
consider the -
transcendental aspects of the
MYSTICISM, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION 179
authority.
i82 MYSTICISM
Something has already been said on this
1 88 MYSTICISM
rest. It is one thing to see the finger-posts
'
E.g.., Suarez, De Oral., i. 2. 11 and cf. Devine, Manual of
;
DIONYSIUS
196 MYSTICISM
authors, more especially of Proclus, is very
close ; moreover, extracts from Proclus's work
De Subsistentia Malorum appear, as has been
pointed out by Professors Stiglmayer and
Koch, in the treatise of Dionysius, De Divinis
Nominibus.
3. No mention is made of the Dionysian
writings by any author earlier than the sixth
century: nor are they mentioned by Eusebius or
St Jerome in their catalogues of ecclesiastical
authors. The writings in which they were
thought to have been referred to before that
period have now been proved to be of much
more recent date.
DIONYSIUS 199
attributed to them.
In the first place, it would probably be un-
fair to regard them simply as a forgery. As
Monsignor Darboy has remarked, no possible
motive can be assigned for a forgery of this
202 MYSTICISM
But in any case, the work is of a character
which cannot be affected by the authority
attributed to its author, as, for example, a
historical work professedly written by a con-
temporary would be. The Dionysian books
must stand on their own merits, no matter
by whom or at what time they were written
what they say is true or false for all times
altogether without.
The other extant works of Dionysius are
the Divine Names, the Celestial Hierarchy,
the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and six letters
of all Unvailing
whereunto is added the
Mystical Divinity of Dionysius the Areopagite,
spoken of Acts xvii. 34.
The most recent, and the most accessible
CHAPTER XII
Chapter I
2o8 MYSTICISM
one of ignorance, darkness and silence; as Moses
was commanded to separate himself from all impurity
before entering the Divine presence, so those who
would now enter that presence must separate them-
selves from all created things.
hardly be described in the terms here used, and they only could
have been the "philosophers" in question. The distinction
drawn by some between the words by which the two classes
are designated (d/Jip'o' = not fully instructed, and (iAii/(rTai = not
formally admitted) is perhaps fanciful, but is probably the true
explanation of the classification intended. The impotence of
the natural faculties in mystical contemplation is here stated as
a first principle of mystical theology. Compare St John of the
Cross, Asc. ii. 4 "It is clearly necessary for the soul aiming
:
intelligence.
1
Chapter 1
ai4 MYSTICISM
see that which is above sight or knowledge,
by means of that very fact that we see not
and know not. For this is truly to see and
know, to praise Him who is above nature in
" In every soul God dwells and is substantially present ... the
soul, when it has driven away from itself all that is contrary to
the Divine Will, becomes transformed in God by love."
;
Chapter III
existence, high and low alike yet He is more truly life than a
:
Chapter IV
That He who is the supreme cause of all sensible things is
> Neither one nor, etc. See Letter II. to Caius, where the
sense is explained in which this statement is to be understood.
There is a sense in which God is His own nature ; i.e., as it is
To the Same
Summary.
God is above and beyond that divinity and
goodness which we know, which we seek to imitate,
and of which we are made partakers, as being their
source and fountain head.
Letter V
To Dorotheus the Deacon
Summary. Since God transcends all things, both sensible
and intelligible, He can be known only by separation
from the senses and the intellect. Thus the inaccess-
ible light in which He dwells is darkness by reason of
its excess.
kind.
The reality of the object of mystical con-
templation thus appears to be of the same
character as that of the ordinary objects of
thought. The mystic who contemplates God
in his own soul is performing an action psycho-
logically identical with that which he pei'forms
when he looks into a shop window, or notices
the faces of the passers-by in the street, or when
he recalls the appearance of someone whom he
knows well. It is in every case primarily an
intelligible or conceptual object that he con-
templates, and not primarily a sensible one.
The only difference is that the conceptual object
consciousness.
2. The late Canon Kingsley., "When I
stage of sleep.
given by mystics.
APPENDIX II
NOTES