The Ladder of Divine Ascent (9)

  St. John carefully directs us to follow the correct order. Prior to humility there must be meekness, guilelessness and simplicity. This is the 24th step on the ladder. The light of dawn comes before the sun, and meekness is the precursor of all humility…Before gazing at the sun of humility we must let the light of meekness flow over us. If we do, we will then be able to look steadily at the sun. St. John is cautioning us that only the meek can approach the virtue of humility. Only they are suitably prepared and worthy. Meekness is a mind consistent amid honour or dishonour. Meekness prays quietly and sincerely for a neighbour however troublesome he may be. Meekness is a rock looking out over the sea of anger which breaks the waves which come crashing on it and stays entirely unmoved…Meekness works alongside of obedience, guides a religious community, checks frenzy, curbs anger. Meekness requires a great deal of inner spiritual strength. The meek are calm and consistent. It is difficult to provoke, anger or disturb them. Nothing phases them and they are firm in their faith that God’s will does not require their intervention. They have no need to justify or prove anything, no need to draw attention to themselves or inflict their thoughts or words on others. When they do speak it is with purpose, love and peace. Their patient faith in God’s will, and quiet gentleness may be mistaken by some as weakness, but those who think that "they can walk all over these meek souls" will find that they have left no footprints. Another aspect of meekness is simplicity. This is particularly interesting for simplicity is viewed with disdain by the unsophisticated who pretentiously allege to be intellectuals but have not the depth or wisdom to discern a diamond from a common piece of quartz. Pride deceives its victims into believing that they are clever. How many times have we heard it said of a new discovery, "something so simple and yet no one could see it", or in art: "the genius of something so simple"? The truth is, when you look at things with clear, focused, calm, illumined wisdom, what you perceive is simplicity itself. Things are only complicated when they are confused. It is no different in spirituality. The meek have no personal agenda, no need to compromise themselves for the sake of "fitting in with the crowd". They are not distracted by personal vanity or self-absorption. St. John writes: A meek soul is a throne of simplicity, but a wrathful mind is a creature of evil…Guilelessness is the joyful condition of an uncalculating soul. The Orthodox tradition as exemplified by all of our saints and prophets throughout history, and by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself has been that of simplicity and truth guided by unwavering obedience and faith. Fight to escape your own cleverness. If you do, then you will find salvation and an uprightness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. St. John explains step 25 as follows: Do you imagine that talk of such matters will mean anything to someone who has never experienced them? If you think so, then you will be like a man who with words and examples tries to convey the sweetness of honey to people who have never tasted it. He talks uselessly. Indeed I would say he is simply prattling…Our theme sets before us as a touchstone a treasure stored safely in earthen vessels, that is, in our bodies. This treasure is of a quality that eludes adequate description. It carries an inscription of heavenly origin which is therefore incomprehensible so that anyone seeking words for it is faced with a great and endless task. The inscription reads as follows: "Holy Humility". St. John wants us to understand that Humility is a grace in the soul and with a name known only to those who have had experience of it. It is indescribable wealth, a name and a gift from God. "Learn from Me," he said; that is not from an angel, not from a man, not from a book, but "from Me," that is, from My dwelling within you, from My illumination and action within you, for "I am gentle and meek of heart" (Matt. 11:29) in thought and in spirit, and your souls will find rest from conflicts and relief from evil thoughts. First we must come to terms with how proud we really are; grow to recognize pride in our hearts and realize how devoid of humility we are. We must be watchful, noticing how pleased we feel when we succeed or are praised, how bad we feel when we fail or are criticized, and understand that these are some of the signs of how deeply pride has rooted itself within us. If we sincerely desire to be close to God we must struggle against pride so that we may be graced with humility. True humility is the absence of pride and the presence of God teaching us from within. It is not something that can be learned from an external source, and God will not enter a prideful heart. One can learn how to prepare, what to watch for and even to some extent ways to fight, but the struggle is a personal one, unique to each of us. St. John tells us that the man with humility…will be gentle, kind, inclined to compunction, sympathetic, calm in every situation, radiant, easy to get along with, inoffensive, alert and active. In a word, free from passion. It is the key to the gates of heaven. Repentance lifts a man up. Mourning knocks at heaven’s gates. Holy Humility opens it. How can we know that we have won the struggle for this virtue? You will know that you have this holy gift within you and not be led astray when you experience an abundance of unspeakable light together with an indescribable love of prayer. St. John goes on to tell us that humility is the guardian of such gifts. In other words it is the guardian of the other virtues. We should always remember our sins and weaknesses for recognizing them will humble us. On the other hand, when we have true humility we will not be proud when we recognize the signs of it in ourselves. As soon as the cluster of holy humility begins to flower within us, we come, after hard work to hate all earthly praise and glory. Humility is the wiping out of anger and, modesty over the fact that it has subsided and the honest distrust of one’s own virtues, together with an unending desire to learn more…Holy Humility has this to say: "The one who loves me will not condemn someone, or pass judgment on anyone, or lord it over anyone else, or show off his wisdom." Those of us who wish to gain understanding must never stop examining ourselves, and if in the perception of your soul you realize that your neighbour is superior to you in all respects, then the mercy of God is surely near at hand. Another path to humility is gratitude. Others, remembering the passion of Christ, think of themselves eternally in debt…There are some – and I cannot say if they are to be found nowadays – who humble themselves in proportion to the gifts they receive from God and live with a sense of their unworthiness to have such wealth bestowed upon them, so that each day they think of themselves as sinking further into debt. The sea is the source of the fountain, and humility is the source of discernment. St. John begins the 26th Step as follows: Among beginners, discernment is real self-knowledge; among those midway along the road to perfection, it is a spiritual capacity to distinguish unfailingly between what is truly good and what in nature is opposed to the good; among the perfect, it is a knowledge resulting from divine illumination, which with its lamp can light up what is dark in others. To put the matter generally, discernment is - and is recognized to be – a solid understanding of the will of God in all times, in all places, in all things; and it is found only among those who are pure in heart, in body, and in speech. For those on the spiritual path who desire union with God the question is always the same: What is God’s will for me and how can I be certain that what I perceive to be God’s will is not really my own or Satan’s? Each of us is different; the circumstances in our lives are different, and so it stands to reason that our paths will each be unique. There are many roads to holiness – and to hell. A path wrong for one will suit another, yet what each is doing is pleasing to God. In seeking a knowledge or grasp of the good and divine will there will be occasions when we will encounter an impasse – when we cannot be certain of what God wants us to do. St. John recommends: Those who wish to discover the will of God must begin by mortifying their own will. Then, having prayed in faith and simplicity, all malice spent, they should turn humbly and in confidence to their fathers or even their brothers and they should accept their counsel as though from God Himself, even when that counsel goes against the grain, even when the advice comes from those who do not seem very spiritual. Wanting to know God’s will and being resigned to the fact that God’s will does not always agree with our own is impossible unless we have humility. Humility recognizes that we can easily become confused and deceive ourselves into believing that we are following God’s will when, in fact, it is our own. For this reason we should always seek the counsel of others. In the church nothing is done without the blessing of a priest or bishop. St. John advises that we do the same. In true humility, and to maintain humility, every decision should be made in consultation with and in accord with either a spiritual friend, or a mentor or a confessor or the writings of the holy fathers, or the lives of the saints. God, after all, is not unjust. He will not lead astray the souls who, trusting and guileless, yield in lowliness to the advice and decision of their neighbour. Even if those consulted are stupid, God immaterially and invisibly speaks through them and anyone who faithfully submits to this norm will be filled with humility. St. John tells us of another approach: Some of those trying to discover the will of God abandoned every attachment…They prayed hard for a fixed number of days and they laid aside any inclination of their souls, whether to do something or to resist it. In this way they figured out what God willed, either through some direct manner of intelligible communication from Him or by the complete evaporation from their souls of whatever it was they had proposed to do. Often, if we allow ourselves some time and distance (not think about them), desires fade away, especially if during this time we fast and pray. God’s will, on the other hand, grows stronger with fasting and prayer. "God works in mysterious ways” is an old saying which reminds us that we cannot comprehend what the will of God is or how He may choose to reveal it. When we are troubled, we often interpret this to be something negative, that we have made a mistake, but the contrary may be the case. Others found so much trouble and distraction in whatever they were doing that they were led to think that bother of this sort could have come only from God, in accordance with the saying, “We wanted to come to you once and again, but Satan prevented us" (1 Thess. 2:18). We must not be discouraged or give up just because something is not easy. When we are doing something good the forces of evil will usually fight us every step of the way. Of course, it can never be that simple. But there were others who found that venture of theirs had proved unexpectedly successful, and so they inferred that it had pleased God, and they went on to declare that God helps everyone who chooses to do the right thing. There are times when we are doing God’s will and it is a struggle every step of the way; from my experience more often than not. There are also times when the opposite is true. We are all sinners. We all make mistakes. Our humility is re-enforced by recognizing and acknowledging our mistakes, sins and weaknesses, and we can, conversely, avoid and defeat these with humility. An active soul is a provocation to demons, yet the greater our conflicts the greater our rewards. There will be no crown for the man who has never been under attack, and the man who perseveres in spite of any failures will be glorified as a champion by the angels. God judges us by our intentions, but because of His love for us He only demands from us such actions as lie within our power. Great is the man who does all that lies within his power, but greater still is the man who, in all humility, tries to do more. I leave you to ponder St. John’s words for they are heavy with holy wisdom and I pray that they will inspire you. The last four steps on the ladder which consider stillness, prayer, dispassion, and love will be examined in the next issue. Until then, may you have a blessed Lent and glory be to God in this time of the Resurrection of Our Lord. Amen.