“Admire and adore the Author of the telescopic universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend.” (John Adams)

Today, I begin a series of posts in which I reflect on the meaning of a favorite quote. I can’t think of a better place to begin than the one above, from John Adams. In many ways, it summarizes my deepest held beliefs and values.

It increasingly has been important for me to acknowledge the uncertainty of my beliefs. In some ways, psychological science suggests that mystery is an inseparable aspect of human experience. That is, no matter how we try, and no matter our confidence, there seem to be psychological barriers to comprehending reality. For example, perceptual mistakes, cognitive biases, and memory distortions pervade our attempts to understand. For an excellent introduction to some of this research, Dan Ariely’s TED talk is an excellent place to begin. Similarly, Christianity emphasizes the notion of “faith.” The stories of the Bible often portray followers as struggling to understand. Paul insightfully writes, in 1 Corrinthians 13:12, that “now we see through a glass dimly. . . now I know in part, but then I will know, even as I am fully known.”

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I end my recent series of posts on Frederick Bauerschmidt’s book “Why the Mystics Matter Now” by discussing what is maybe the most difficult teacher we face: Death. Perhaps because of the fairly early death of my mom when I was 14, this is a topic that has greatly troubled me personally. It is a topic that has caused me great anxiety, possibly being the core psychological insecurity behind much of my religious and spiritual quest.

I find in Bauerschmidt’s writing the best portray of my personal feelings toward death that I have ever read before. He writes:

“Perhaps. . . the fundamental human desire. . . [is] to in some way to evade that which is most certain about our lives: the fact that they will end. . . But why would this be a difficult thought to face? Perhaps it is because death involves a massive ‘undoing’ of the self. Death involves a ‘dispiriting’ and decomposition of the body in which the fundamental structures of our lives as living beings break down. It severs us from those human ties – parenthood, friendship, vocation – that gives us our identity. Our own death is unthinkable because it is unraveling of the ‘I’ that thinks. . . The fragility of life makes death a constant possibility that other things are not. . . Perhaps death is unthinkable because it would force us to think of ourselves as ultimately, finally, completely without control.”

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“Life is difficult.” (M. Scott Peck)

Most people can at least partly resonate with Peck’s characterization of the human experience. There is no doubt that life can be filled, at least at times, by suffering. Indeed, almost half of the adults in the United States will meet the criteria for a mental illness at some point in their lives. For these individuals, mental illness often is the most common thread that ties together daily experience. And, of course, the effects of mental illness do not stop with the ones afflicted. Mental illness has a major impact on the loved ones of those who are diagnosed as well.

The kind of “unhappiness” that comes with mental illness is the subject of one of the chapters of the book by Frederick Bauerschmidt that I have been discussing in recent posts called “Why the Mystics Matter Now.” In this post, I reflect on the applications of Christian mysticism made in this chapter to the experience of mental illness.

St. Augustine sometimes wrote as someone who understood mental illness from the inside. In his “Confessions,” Augustine writes of his younger self:

“I had become to myself a vast problem. . . I found myself heavily weighed down by a sense of being tired of living and scared of dying. . . I had become to myself a place of unhappiness in which I could not bear to be; but I could not escape from myself.”

This sense of frustration with one’s self, feeling that one is a “vast problem” from which one cannot “escape” provides an insightful analysis of the experience of mental illness.

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“Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in my dreams.” (Fyodor Doestoevsky)

It seems that many people in our culture have difficulties with love, particularly in close relationships. People increasingly seem to seek and expect an almost fairytale kind of love with a focus on pleasurable experience. However, as Doestoevsky reminds us, real love often can be “harsh and dreadful.”

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Detachment is a powerful psychological and spiritual process that is discussed in many modern day psychological treatments. Much of this comes from Buddhism’s huge modern influence in Psychology. Surely, there is much to gain from an understanding of detachment.

Detachment and receiving are the subject of this entry, which continues a series I started a few weeks ago on Christian mysticism, based on Frederick Bauerschmidt’s book, “Why the Mystics Matter Now.” The chapter begins with a passage from Eckhart’s “Counsels on Discernment:”

“A man ought not to have a God who is just the product of his thought, nor should he be satisfied with that, because if the thought vanished, God too would vanish. But one ought to have a God who is present, a God who is far above the notions of men and of all created things. That God does not vanish, if a man does not willfully turn away from him.”

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“Purity of heart is to will one thing.” (Soren Kierkegaard)

In my last post, I started a series of reflections (that I plan to continue) on mysticism, drawing largely from Frederick Bauerschmidt’s brilliant book “Why the Mystics Matter Now.” In this post, I reflect on the ideas of Ignatius of Loyola.

I long have been fascinated in the pursuit of personal goals. In fact, goals were a central component of my dissertation research. In general, it seems to me that one of the most important issues in life is to decide to what one is going to commit. There obviously are many options! However, it long has seemed to me that some goals are more likely to create a good life than others and that conflict among goals or conflict between a goal and certain  circumstances explains a lot of the problems people experience in life. Given this, and following the advice of Stephen Covey in his outstanding book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” I have spent a good amount of time in the past 20 years reflecting on the overall mission of my life and the specific goals that would contribute to this mission. The details of my commitments have changed over time, but the process of reflecting in this way has been one of the most helpful disciplines of my life.

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In the last few years, I’ve noticed that my interests have shifted somewhat from the purely intellectual to a greater focus on aesthetic pursuits. In my faith, this shift has led me from being virtually consumed with apologetics (an intellectual defense of the faith, which, by the way, still interests me) to greater focus on Christian spirituality, including an interest in Christian mysticism.

Recently, my friend and colleague, Dr. Ruth Schiller, lent me a book that really is astounding me at every turn: “Why the Mystics Matter Now,” by Frederick Bauerschmidt. I know I love this book because I find myself daydreaming about giving it as a present to every serious Christian that I know! Basically, the book attempts to connect some of the thinking of some of the great Christian mystics to problems commonly encountered today. I cannot remember reading something so honest, insightful, or novel. Given this, I want to begin a series of posts on each major chapter, allowing myself space to more fully reflect on the meaning and applicability of its major ideas.

Before beginning discussion of the first major topic, I want to address an introductory issue: What is mysticism? It is fascinating to me that Bauerschmidt notes that the adjective “mystical” wasn’t used widely until the 16th or 17th centuries. Before this time, the term “mystical” was used to refer to a depth of experience of God, but it was something expected of all Christians. As he states: “. . . the path of the mystical tradition is simply a way of recognizing one’s fundamental receptivity before God and of entrusting oneself to God’s Spirit.”

The first major chapter of the book is a reflection on “How to Live in a World Without God.” To help with this, Therese of Lisieux’s trials of faith are discussed. I reflect on the major ideas presented below.

An important feature of Therese’s life story is from one of a pure, almost childlike faith in God to a sincere struggle with doubt. As she one time wrote:

“He permitted my soul to be invaded by the thickest darkness, and that the thought of heaven, up until then so sweet to me, be no longer anything but the cause of struggle and torment. This trial was not to last a few days or a few weeks, it was not to be extinguished until the hour set by God Himself and this hour has not yet come. . .”

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Many of the modern debates about science and religion revolve around the question: Is it possible to accept both scientific and Judeo-Christian teachings? Most seem to answer with an emphatic “NO!”

I publish scientific articles and review others for publication. I teach college courses in a rigorous, scientifically minded academic department. Yet, I have not found that my understanding of science and my faith conflict. On the contrary, they seem to complement and mutually support each other. Science has encouraged me to be curious in understanding “what” and “how” things work in the natural world. My faith has helped me to understand more ultimate questions of “why” and how to live. In all of this, I have sought to be skeptical, both about scientific claims and religious / spiritual claims. Science encourages this. So does my faith. For example, demonstrating a certain kind of empiricism, Moses stated, “If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come true, then it is not the Lord’s message” (Deuteronomy 18:22).

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“The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. . . He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms – this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness.” (Albert Einstein)

Although many people regard religion as mostly centrally involving ritual and behavior, as Einstein suggests in this quotation, the foundation of religion often is experience. In fact, very dramatic experiences – visions and voices – play a central role in the origins of the great religious traditions.

For example, in perhaps the most famous of all religious experiences:

“As [Saul] neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'” (Acts 9:3-4)

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Most students who identify themselves in some way as “Christian” have not considered the intersection of faith and learning to a large extent. Most attend a public or secular school and do not think much about the relation of their faith to what they are learning, except in rare occasions where faith explicitly is raised for a topic of discussion, as may be the case in a religion course, or perhaps when evolutionary theory is discussed in a science course. Many of those more serious about faith will learn in a more explicitly Christian environment. These individuals often will not be exposed to or pursue the best of mainstream knowledge. Both of these approaches are fairly extreme, and leave out the possibility of an intersection between the best of faith and learning.

Cornelius Plantinga discusses how Christian students could approach education in his book “Engaging God’s World.” In general, Plantinga notes that “those who follow Christ must bring all the parts and passions of their lives – including education – under the Lordship of Christ.” In other words, Christian students ought to take seriously the idea that part of Jesus’s primary commandment is to love God with all of their minds. There may be no better place to do so than in school.

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