New Stage of Spiritual Growth
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To
discern is to sift, to filter, and more precisely to separate two
things that at first sight look the same. Discernment is penetration
into something at a deeper level. It requires closer examination to
seek out differences. Distinguishing between two or more things
means, in fact, that we have the capacity to discern between them.
In
the Scriptures, God is asking us to discern which spirit is guiding
us: is it God's Holy Spirit, or a bad spirit? Let us bear in mind
that we have three enemies (three bad spirits): the Devil (bad,
filthy spirit), the World (the thoughts and ways of the world) and
the Flesh and its bad inclinations.
The
first level of discernment in spiritual life is to discern between
something good or spiritual and something bad. The first choice comes
from God, and is an invitation to follow Him. The second one comes
from one or more of our enemies, asking us to follow them. We remain
at this level of discernment for a while, so that we are enabled to
grow and become more rooted in God. We find ourselves implementing a
new way of life, having times for prayer. In this first stage, the
more we choose God and follow His Path, the more we grow spiritually.
We become therefore a "spiritual person".
When
a person grows spiritually and becomes more rooted in God, henceforth
having a committed daily spiritual life, when the person starts to
receive graces in abundance, on a daily basis, becoming therefore a
"spiritual person", at a certain point, another level of
discernment imposes itself as necessary: discerning between a "true
good" and a "false good". Both look good, but one is
truly good and the other is so only in appearance! Hence the need to
discern: which one is really good to the core? Discernment here
implies that we need to go deeper, beyond the top layer, in order to
see the reality. Why and how can this happen?
The
reality is that we are no longer being tempted to choose between a
bad sinful thing and a good holy thing. Rather, now, God is allowing
us to be tempted by two “goods”, one being truly good and the
other having only the appearance of being good/spiritual.
On
closer examination we see God's loving-kindness at work for,
initially, what He gives us is the "spiritual milk" (see
Paul 1 Cor 3, 1-2) which appeals to not only the new man in
us, but to both the old man and the new man in
us. In fact the old man
in us at this juncture is very big, while by contrast the new
man in us is still very small.
The result is that God has to lower himself and talk the “old
man” language to us - the
"spiritual milk", - otherwise, being so weak, we
would not be able to cope and to grow spiritually. These “candies”
so to speak, then, support this initial weakness and are more adapted
to our low capacities. In truth we are babes as yet, even if we think
we have already reached the goal of conversion! He then proceeds
progressively to propel us forward to allow the new man to grow, as
He helps and guides us to make acts of Faith, acts of Hope and acts
of Love.
Once
the human being is well rooted in his new spiritual life, God starts
to change tack: instead of giving "milk" He slowly moves to
“solid food”… and here a new stage of discernment is needed. We
are no longer dealing with spiritual "beginners", but with
"advanced" spiritual persons! This turning point is to be
understood as very important and has to be well managed. The newness
of the teaching and doctrine is simply mind-blowing, and almost
shocking to normal "spiritual persons".. Why? Because we
start to discover the immense difference between what it implies and
what we previously thought it implied. Should this be disappointing?
On the contrary! It should be thrilling to find something new and
correspondingly to grow! However, it can still come as a great shock
because much of what one thought was spiritually correct to do, has
now to be avoided!
The
great master of this new level of discernment is St John of the
Cross. There are three places, at least, where we can find his solid
doctrine on the second level of discernment. Here they are not
mentioned in their order of appearance in his works:
1-
One in the Dark Night of the Sense (Dark Night, Book I),
Chapter 1 onward.
2-
The Second Book of the Ascent of Mount Carmel, especially the first
ten chapters.
3-
The drawing of Mount Carmel made by the Saint himself.
1-
Dark Night Book 1: In these chapters, he takes the list of the
seven mortal sins and applies them in the spiritual sense: spiritual
pride, spiritual greed, spiritual lust, spiritual laziness, spiritual
gluttony,... He calls them the "spiritual imperfections".
It
is very rare to have such lucidity amongst the Spiritual Masters of
the Church.
The
fact that St John of the Cross speaks to a "spiritual"
person and points out serious spiritual imperfections (spiritual
sins) is in a way almost unheard of in the history of spirituality.
It is part of his genius and mission in the Church.
Usually
being a spiritual person is considered to be something good, because
the person converted to Jesus is now on the right path, and should be
praised for all her effort and for her new life (new habits, new
spiritual life and commitments). Here, St John of the Cross goes
against that received, very obvious and common opinion. He says: be
careful, there is a new level of discernment to be achieved now;
after having had a long committed initial spiritual life, the time
has come for a deep change (a new conversion)! He opens our eyes to
the existence of two paths to follow in the spiritual world (please
see the explanation of the drawing of the Mount below): one is
large, to the left and one is a narrow path, in the middle.
Initially, the "spiritual person" sees them as one, one
good thing!
2-
Ascent of Mount Carmel Book II: We find here, especially in the
first ten chapters, a more technical explanation of the new
discernment. The Saint explains the "true spirit" or "
the true spiritual purity" required in order to be united with
God. In these ten chapters he explains what is spiritual purity, i.e.
seeking God/Jesus for himself and not for what we can get from Him.
He lays down the guiding principles that he will apply, case after
case for the Act of Faith, the Act of Hope and the Act of Love (the
rest of Book II and Book III).
3-
The Drawing of the Mount: This drawing is the true sword of
discernment. And a drawing is worth a thousand words.
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| Copy similar to the original |
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| Better rendering of the 3 ways |
First
of all, let us have a look at the drawing. Above we have three
drawings of Mount Carmel as conceived by the Saint. The first one is
a very close drawing from the original made by the Saint himself. The
second is a literal translation of it into English. The third is a
better rendering of the three ways of the Mount Carmel. The
summit of the Mount represents the "Union with Jesus" or
"Spiritual Marriage". The human being needs to climb the
Mountain of Holiness in order to reach Jesus in His Fullness.
The
genius of St John of the Cross is that he presents three possible
ways and not two:
a-
To the right: the way of the lost (or misled) spirit (the
translation on the drawing is wrong)
b-
To the left: the way of the imperfect spirit
c-
In the middle: the path of the perfect spirit.
The
revelation St John of the Cross is bringing to us is, first, the
existence of b and c and, second, the necessity to stop (after a
certain time of being fed by the milk) feeding into b (the way of
imperfect spirit).
St
John of the Cross' genius and "newness" of teaching and
doctrine is to show us that there are real spiritual “goods” (the
road to the left) that are NOT in any way God himself! They are
created goods and not the Uncreated very God. This is news to us and
is shocking. This IS the second level of discernment: spiritual good
and the Naked Jesus as he calls Him. What this means is that we
discover the necessity to love Jesus for himself and not for the
“goods” that we receive (and often sense) from Him!
These
“goods” are created “goods”, whether we want to believe it or
not. And at the new turning point, God allows the Devil to tempt us
with a subtle but increased power: inducing us to become attached to
and seek the spiritual “goods” Please note the road to the left
on attachment to spiritual goods ("goods of heaven"):
spiritual knowledge, glory, pride, consolation, rest... This road is
not leading to Jesus, the Jesus wanted purely for himself...
Why
do we have to neglect such spiritual goods? Things we thought
initially were good to be sought out? The answer lies in the Old Man
who initially was in control of us and of our spiritual life. God,
then, had to lower himself and present us with the bait of taste,
consolation and feelings which we get from Him. But this is only a
path for beginners. When the person starts to be more rooted in God
and in new spiritual habits, God seeks to change the way he acts,
switching to a different way of dealing with him, trying out this
“solid food, and encouraging the person into a higher way of
dealing with God: to seek, now, Jesus purely for himself, the Naked
Jesus.
The
second level of discernment can be explained by another image: the
Divine Fisherman offers bait to the Fish. Then, when the Fish firmly
bites into the hook, and is solidly attached to it, the Fisherman
knows that if He lifts him up out of the water he will not escape.
Similarly, the mother, after breastfeeding for a period of time, will
start to wean the baby when she feels it is the right time... and
start to give him more solid food. Otherwise there will be no growth!
Conclusion
Finally,
if we want to understand the spiritual imperfections and sins
specific to this stage of spiritual life (it is important to note
that this is not to be required of beginners otherwise we would be
going against God's work), we need to read the profound and strong
doctrine of St John of the Cross presented and explained in the first
chapters of Book 1 of The Dark Night.
If
we want to understand the true spiritual purity, the pure spirit, how
to deal with God in purity, we need to read and study the first ten
chapters of the second book of the Ascent of Mount Carmel.
Lastly,
a general synthetical overview of discernment is to be found when
looking at the drawing of Mount Carmel. First level of discernment is
to distinguish (a) from (b + c). Second level of discernment, is to
distinguish between b and c.
Relying
only on the first stage of discernment as the only known possible
means of discernment has been the case for many spiritual directors
and writers for centuries. St John of the Cross felt great pain
seeing so many people whom God was starting to lead into the next
stage of spiritual life, being erroneously led to to "feel"
that God was taking away the spiritual milk; seeing too how they were
treated with very little discernment, how they were being tortured by
asking them to check hidden sins,... This is what moved him to write.
Please do read the Prologue of the Ascent of Mount Carmel where he
discusses this.
Note
1: Please bear in mind that in the Saint's thinking, the Ascent
and Dark Night, are one book, not two. The first, Ascent, explains
what we have to do in order to grow at each stage (1 and 2) and the
second, Dark Night, explains what God wants to realise in us and what
happens if we put into practice what we have learned in the Ascent.
Note
2: Please remember that one cannot apply the second level of
discernment to beginners. It can seriously damage their spiritual
life and go against what God has to do initially in them. Each of the
two levels of discernment is very different from the other and
therefore they should be used with discernment and prudence, applying
them wisely, otherwise we will not be serving God in people.
Note
3: The Second Level Course, Initiation into Spiritual Life, goes
into full detail about this second stage. Please have a look at the
initial videos. If you want to see the rest of the Course please do
contact me at jeancyrille @ gmail.com Thank you.
Note
4: Please do not hesitate to apply to this Blog, giving your
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