The Roots of Christian Mysticism Session 13
Summary of Stefan Reynolds'"Walter
Hilton and Margery Kempe" talk, The London Christian Meditation
Centre, St Mark's, Clerkenwell, 17 January 2006
Introduction to the English Mystics
The fourteenth century saw a flourishing of the mystical tradition
in England. There was great interest in the solitary life. There
were many hermits and anchoresses. The most famous hermit at the
time was Richard Rolle. He was the first in time of a group we call
The English Mystics. He did not live by a rule but lived in the
forest away from people and church. He wrote The Fire of Love which
was extremely popular perhaps even being regarded as a bestseller
of its day! Richard Rolle was a charismatic who had lots of ecstatic
experiences which he wrote down. He was also deeply contemplative.
The English Mystics who followed him were all influenced by him
in some way whether negatively or positively.
The author of The Cloud of Unknowing in his book was trying to
correct the tendency towards enthusiasm and the desire for experiences.
The author of the Cloud emphasized the fact that experiences of
God are not God and we must go to God stripped of all experiences.
This is the Via Negativa. We must enter into the darkness of unknowing.
We do find God in the experience of love but this is not linked
to any image or particular experience.
Walter Hilton is the third English Mystic chronologically.. He
was probably an Augustinian Canon who lived in Northamptonshire.
The only certain date we have is 1394 as the date of his death at
an Augustinian priory. His main work The Scale of Perfection was
written to bring together the two streams of English Mysticism-the
personal, experiential stream from Rolle and the apophatic mysticism
of the author of the Cloud. In the Scale there is a strong emphasis
on love and Jesus and yet it also uses imagery of darkness and unknowing.
There were many women anchoresses at the time. They followed a
Rule known asThe Ancrene Riwle. The most famous anchoress was Julian
of Norwich who was writing at the end of the fourteenth century.
She emphasized her experiences of love but at the same time deeply
reflected on them. She said that the experiences were not enough
in themselves. It is important to reflect on their meaning which,
for her, was love. She does not use darkness imagery although we
do see in her again some tendency to draw the two traditions together.
The last of the English Mystics is Margery Kempe. Her book was
totally unknown until 1934 though a few of her more devotional chapters
had been copied out previously and therefore her name known. When
her book became known it was clear she was far from being a devout
anchoress. She was married with fourteen children. She spent most
of her spiritual life traveling around as a pilgrim. There were
very few women who did this so she was not always treated courteously.
She traveled to Assisi, Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago. At sixty she
traveled to Aarchen. Her spirituality is influenced by Richard Rolle,
Bridget of Sweden and Margaret of Oignies. She is very much within
the charismatic stream though unlike Rolle she did not hide away
from the world. On the contrary she constantly engaged with the
world. She had a tendency to cry, weep and howl and get very emotional
over her prayers in church thus causing uproar wherever she went.
She generated mixed feelings.
During this period there was a movement to translate the bible
into English. This was undertaken by Wycliffe and his followers
(called Lollards) and was strongly opposed by the institutional
church because there was a tendency to use the bible to say that
the sacraments were not so important. Some of Richard Rolle’s
work was used by the Lollards to support their case. Walter Hilton
constantly tries to use passages of Rolle in a way that fits in
with the church. Margery Kempe was accused of being a Lollard and
heretic wherever she went but in fact she was very orthodox with
a deep devotion to the sacrament whereas Rolle’s spirituality
was not focused on the Eucharist. He even mentions that he preferred
not to go to church because people’s noise disturbed his inner
song. The Cloud of Unknowing was not based around the sacraments
or the Eucharist.
Walter Hilton’s writings
Walter Hilton is a pastoral mystic or a spiritual director. He
was concerned with helping people towards contemplation. This role
as spiritual director shapes the way he writes with regard to the
spiritual life. He is always concerned about other people’s
experiences not his own. He plays down his own experience.
He wrote two small treatises. One, The Song of the Angels, specifically
refers to the experience emphasised by Richard Rolle of hearing
the song of angels. Walter Hilton says that experiences such as
these are good but they shouldn’t be sought for their own
sake. They may happen but the emphasis must be on grace (as you
might expect an Augustinian to say!). The other treatise called
The Mixed Life counters Richard Rolle’s emphasis on the eremitical
life. There was a great flourishing of this at the time. Walter
Hilton says the contemplative life can still be lived in the world.
The Scale of Perfection
His major work was The Scale of Perfection. The Scale of Perfection
became very popular, more popular than the Cloud, which was really
for the elite. After Richard Rolle Walter Hilton’s Scale became
the main text from this time. It was copied many times and translated
into Latin. With the advent of printing at the end of the 15th century
it was one of the first books printed and went through eight editions
in forty years. It was central to English spirituality up to the
Reformation.
It was a companion to the contemplative life. There are a lot of
references on how to relate to people in the world. Hilton doesn’t
write for an elite but is more in touch with the average person.
He does not see contemplation as an extraordinary phenomenon but
as a natural outgrowth from baptism. Contemplation is a grace which
comes from the basic grace of being a Christian. We are given the
gift of contemplation although some basic effort must be made at
the beginning. He treats all aspects of the spiritual life. The
ascetic and moral he deals with in the early part of the book. He
speaks of the process of conversion as appertaining to the whole
of the spiritual life. For Hilton there is no sudden conversion
but a gradual ascent one step at a time.
The Book of Margery Kempe
Margery Kempe’s book is quite different. She speaks about
her experiences all the time. It is not what we would now call autobiography
although some people have said that it is the first autobiography
in the English language. The subject of the book is God though rather
than Margery. Also she only relates aspects of life relevant to
her relationship with God. There is no chronology in the book. There
is not much description of the outer world. She writes about her
experiences and the troubles she has with other people. She never
blames other people or ever has anything bad to say about another
person.
The themes of the Scale of Perfection
Walter Hilton’s book begins with the idea of a ladder. The
lower rungs are the moral and ascetic life which are the foundation
for the mystical life. He defines contemplation as the experiential
knowledge of God in the soul. He speaks of a transformation in faith
as a first stage and then a transformation in feeling. They are
both part of the gradual process of conversion.
Desire
He begins with the person of Jesus and a desire to be in his presence.
He is very Christocentric and affective, in keeping with the times.
Our desire is the fuel for the spiritual life.
Interiority
Where do you find Jesus? He says in scripture, reason and in theology
but mostly in our own hearts. He uses various parables for example
the woman with the lost coin. The lost coin is Jesus. The house
is our soul and the sweeping of the house is our clearing of our
souls “You have lost him. But where? Truly in your own house,
that is, in your own soul.”.
The Way
As a spiritual director he sees the difficulties in finding Jesus.
We are hindered by the noise in our own hearts. How do we deal with
this?
“You must cease as far as may be for a time from all bodily
works, from all external occupation. Then you must recollect your
thought and withdraw it from the bodily senses, so that you pay
no attention to what you hear; see or feel-your heart must not be
fixed on these things. And after this, empty your mind as far as
you can of all images of material things and remembrance of past
actions. This requires little effort when you feel devotion, but
you must do it when you feel no devotion, for then it is very much
harder. And make this your whole purpose, as if you would neither
seek nor feel, nor find anything except the grace and spiritual
presence of Jesus. This is laborious, for useless thoughts will
press on you to draw your mind down to them.”
This is a perfect description of meditation.
The Darkness
“withdraw your thoughts from all material things, and you
will find nothing in which your soul may rest. This nothing is a
darkness of mind, a lack of love and light; as sin is nothing but
a lack of God.”
Sometimes Walter Hilton is a bit confusing. Sometimes the darkness
seems to be a sign of our distance from God but it is necessary
to go into the darkness because Jesus is hidden in the darkness
and to get to him you have to go through it. This is the dark night
of the senses. The dark night of the senses is one’s own self,
or the darkness of Jesus’ humanity.
Beyond this is another darkness, the darkness of the divinity of
God. This he describes as a fruitful darkness which corresponds
to John of the Cross’ dark night of the soul.
Interiority
One other theme in Walter Hilton is a sense of interiority. The
whole of the spiritual life is going on in the soul. All progress
up the ladder comes through grace not through will power. In Walter
Hilton there is a strong emphasis on the givenness of the spiritual
life. John Main often quotes lines from Walter Hilton such as “He
is everything and He does everything, if you could but realize.
You do nothing but allow Him to act on your soul.” The one
activity that is useful is to grow in self-knowledge.
Mirror Imagery
Self-knowledge is seen as a stepping-stone.
“But I do not say that your souls should remain satisfied
with this knowledge, but through this is should seek a higher knowledge
of something above itself, that is of the nature of God. For your
soul is a spiritual mirror in which you may see God. So in the first
place you must discover your mirror and keep it bright and clean
and then hold it well up from the earth, so that you may be able
to see it. And also our Lord reflected in it.”
The Book of Margery Kempe
Margery begins her book with the experience of giving birth to
a child. It is an experience of wonder that leads to a crisis for
her. She is saved by a vision of Jesus. She was not a religious
person before this. She then set up a brewing business in Lynn.
When this business failed it caused a second crisis for her and
she turned to God. She was fully converted. She talks in her book
about the difficulties of living a chaste life and of persuading
her husband to this. Eventually with God’s help she strikes
a bargain with her husband whereby she pays off her husband’s
debts in return for her chastity. She talks about her temptations
including the temptation to run off with another man.
Her book is written in the third person. She dictated it to a scribe
because she couldn’t read or write despite being middle class.
She had a very good memory. She was very unconfident in the spiritual
life because she wasn’t learned. She visited Julian of Norwich
and relates their conversation in her book. After gaining some confidence
she felt called to be a pilgrim. The fourteenth century was a time
of pilgrimage (Chaucer’s time). Margery was not satisfied
with Canterbury. She relates all her travels in her book. She loved
relics.
She had a strong devotion to the humanity of Jesus.
A large part of the book is taken up with her conversations with
God which are very touching. God consoles her. She is very dependent
on her spiritual directors. When she goes traveling she doesn’t
have her spiritual director with her so God directs her. At the
end of her life she lost a son and escorted her daughter in law
back to Germany because she felt that this is what God was urging
her to do (despite daughter-in-law’s protestations!). God
constantly has to console her on this journey because she is concerned
that her spiritual director would be cross with her for leaving
without his consent (as indeed he was!)
Finally her uncontrollable tears are a big theme of the book. She
would weep for her sins, for other people’s sins, for the
passion of Christ and for not being in heaven. Not everyone accepted
that her tears were a gift.
Both Walter Hilton and Margery Kempe are teachers of contemplation
though in very different ways.
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