Compassion Day 4 — Mysticism
The following is from my daily newsletter, The Pocket Philosopher. Each week we explore a theme, looking at that theme through the lens of a different philosophy each day.
Hello Everyone!
Today, we’re going to tackle this week’s theme, compassion, from the lens of the mystical Christians, often referred to as the mystics in general Judeo-Christian theology and history.
This will be a tougher philosophy to isolate and pin down than some of the others, but if we are open to a bit of uncertainty in approaching it, there is quite a bit to be gleaned.
Actually, the hallmark of this philosophy is that very word, uncertainty.
Throughout the history of Christianity, there has always been a parallel and oftentimes intersecting through-line of alternative practice. While many of the practitioners of this way of thinking might not even call themselves mystics, it is helpful when studying Christian theology retrospectively to separate some of these thinkers from the larger dogmatic and institutionalized theology that ebbed and flowed with empires, history, and culture.
Some great examples of Christian mystics over the years would be Meister Eckert, St. Bonaventure, St. Francis of Assisi, the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, the collective group often called the “Desert Fathers and Mothers” (or abbas and ammas), and Richard Rohr in our time just to name a few.
The common theme for these thinkers is approaching life and reality not with suppositions or precepts, but with the simple phrase, “I don’t know.”
Largely, this approach to the world is epistemologically humble, open-minded, and interested in the things of the interior life.
Similar to Tibetan Buddhism, the practitioners of this way are ascetic, often removing themselves from society and entering to hermetic or monastical lifestyles. And, also like the Tibetan Buddhists, they are less interested in organizing and understanding the material universe, as they are in understanding and organizing their inner world.
Furthermore, it appears that their common refrain of unknowing, akin to a “beginner’s mind,” is the trailhead to their interior journey. It is in the open-handedness with which they approach god, the universe, truth, and their inner reality that produces such incredible insight, patience, and compassion.
This practice was highly democratized, in the sense that anyone could join the spiritual discipline, and (at least in the early years amongst the desert monks) everyone’s perspectives were given merit based on group consensus.
One of the works which has persisted the most through the years has been The Cloud of Unknowing penned by an anonymous layperson sometime in the 14th century (years after the desert monks, keeping the tradition alive even if not directly tied to its founders.)
I believe that an opening line from this book best captures the essence of Mysticism in Christianity,
The universes which are amenable to the intellect can never satisfy the instincts of the heart.
A primacy is placed over limitless, fearless internal exploration above concrete understanding. Moreover, a humility toward what we can know is accepted as a foundational tenet.
And it is in this humble, open, and non-defensive posture that the compassion of the mystics emerges.
Henri J.M. Nouwen in his book about the Desert Monks calledThe Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers says,
To die to our neighbors means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus to become free to be compassionate. Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.
Leaning on the famous teaching of Jesus, the mystics sat and wrestled with the paradoxical idea of “dying to oneself,” and doing so for the life of others. In this context, it appears that the discipline is what some might call releasing the ego, the false self that ranks, stacks, and judges oneself and others constantly.
And it was in the sparse wasteland of an empty desert amongst fellow, non-judgemental spiritualist that such philosophy arose against the backdrop of violent, often war-waging Christianity.
If non-judgement spirituality can be found in such a time as that, we ought to also take hope in our time that such an approach to life is similarly attainable.
In sum, according the Mystics, the gateway to compassion is most directly tied to the ability to admit, “I don’t know.” This letting down of one’s guard becomes a path toward self-acceptance, which then leads towards acceptance-and ultimately compassion-toward others.
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Together,
Matt the Pocket Philosopher
Originally published at https://pocketphilosopher.substack.com.
