Episode Twenty-One // St Teresa's "Interior Castle"

“The reader must have patience with me, as I have with myself when writing about things of which I know nothing; for really I sometimes take up my paper, like a perfect fool, with no idea of what to say or how to begin.” (Mansion I, Chapter II)

For the last number of years, I have tended to drift off to sleep at night by reading a little from a book.  Depending upon how tired I am, the amount of text I get through before my eyes slam shut is anywhere from shockingly little to laughably little.  As such, it took me a tremendous amount of time to work through St Teresa of Avila’s classic little 16th century book Interior Castle, but I’m none the poorer for it, since it is the kind of book that benefits one from slow (if not drowsy) readings & rereadings.  I will share here some brief thoughts on the book, since I find it generally illuminating, particularly during this season of Lent.  To begin, a little context:

I will not spend much time describing here who St Teresa was (that’s what the internet is for), but will say simply that she was a 16th century Spanish nun who was so influential as a writer and teacher that she ended up becoming the very first woman recognized as a “Doctor of the Church” by the Vatican in 1970.  She wrote several works, but arguably Interior Castle is her most famous [note –  I’m using page numbers at some points, and so it may be helpful to note that I am using the Dover Thrift Edition of the text, which is ridiculously inexpensive]. In a nutshell, the book is framed as St Teresa herself (not a fictional character) describing to her readers the implications of her own understanding of a vision she is said to have had some years earlier.  In this vision, she is shown “a most beautiful crystal globe, made in the shape of a castle, and containing seven mansions, in the seventh and innermost of which was the King of Glory, in the greatest splendour, illumining and beautifying them all” (pg 2). She comes to understand the process of spiritual growth and development as a process of moving through these mansions, getting closer & closer to the centre, where Christ is.  This process is varied (as described in the book), but it consists largely of prayer & contemplation. Attaining to the centre she calls the “Prayer of Union” (pg 158), since this is the place where the person and Christ become one, analogous to a marriage (imagery which, incidentally, is quite biblical).  In terms of context, though, there are a couple points that I have not yet made.  One is that the original audience of this book is by no means the general populace but Teresa’s fellow nuns (which will explain the numerous vocative references to “my sisters” throughout, even if it does not so much explain her preference for male pronouns when describing the average believer). The other is that this Christ-centred castle is not up in heaven somewhere or out there in the wild somewhere, but (as the title suggests) inside the human heart.  In fact, as part of her initial vision, after beholding the radiant beauty of the castle, “the crystal globe was plunged into darkness, became as black as coal and emitted an insufferable odour, and the venomous creatures outside the palace boundaries were permitted to enter the castle.”  This process of plunging the castle into the darkened human heart did not drive out the King of Glory, but merely made Him the more difficult to perceive and experience.

And so, Interior Castle (though unique) tends to fall into genres of not only spirituality and devotional but also mysticism.  In fact, a surprising note that many have made is that the more “mystical” a Christian writer gets (in other words, the more they deal with issues of / question of “transcendence”) the more their writings end up being strikingly similar to mystical writings from other religions or even by agnostic/atheists.  I am still trying to wrap my head around that.  There were a number of times throughout this book (pages 113 & 119, just as a couple of examples) where I noted the description of the experiences to have been remarkably similar to descriptions of psychedelic-induced “trips”.  Quite clearly, though, Teresa is by no means endorsing or even describing a reality wherein someone would have been able to acquire a hallucinogen.  These events happened during what we would typically describe as “prayer & fasting” (albeit, perhaps, more intense and/or structured bouts of it than the average believer is familiar with today), and these events were not, indeed are not that uncommon.  Recently, I have heard a few folks describe the more traditional paths outlined by Teresa as “right hand paths”, while dubbing the more substance-based shortcut routes “left-hand paths”.

More could definitely be said about the potential Christians viability of these various paths, but much of that will have to wait for another day.  The one thing I would like to bring out a little further, though, is the idea that whatever positive things one might feel on the right hand path must be “good”, whereas whatever positive things one might feel on the left hand path must be “bad”.  Teresa herself has little to say about the latter, but a lot to say about the former.  Throughout the edition of the book we’re dealing with, the translators made frequent use of the word “favour” to describe something desirable offered by God to the person seeking Him in prayer.  This is admittedly ambiguous and is never fully fleshed out, but from the context I feel it safe to try and define it basically as “good feelings”.  That could range from a tangible sense of peace & security to an overwhelming state of rapture (both being examples implied in the book), but it need not be limited to that range.  Essentially, I believe Teresa understands these favours to be on-earth, real-time rewards from God to His follower for following the path of spiritual development set out before them; motivation to keep moving through the mansions.  I bring this up, though, because Teresa also understands that, at times, God will withhold such favours from people even if they are on the right path.  More complicating still, Teresa believes that people can experience overwhelmingly positive feelings which originate not from the God housed at the centre of the castle, but from the enemy seeking to confuse and misdirect us away from that centre, that is “the devil, who gives peace to the soul in order later to wage a far severer war upon it” (pg 73).

If we can’t trust our feelings even when we’re so committedly following after God that we’ve placed ourselves in holy orders (remember, these are NUNS), then what can we trust?!?! “I seem to hear you asking whatever you are to do, as I'm telling you there is danger in everything”, as Teresa herself writes on page 117… and rightfully so.  As you work your way through the book, you begin to see the subtle underside of so much spiritual development & devotion.  Appearances vs realities.  Fleshly pride vs spiritual pride.  Angels of darkness masquerading as angels of light.  It’s all a bit… unnerving.  This is why Teresa takes the time to highlight the importance of walking this path with other people, not merely as companions (which is important) but as guides (which is equally important):

It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us, so that we may learn to know ourselves. And it is a great encouragement to see that things which we thought impossible are possible to others… (pg 45)

…if you know such a person, it is best to consult one both spiritual and learned. (pg 130)

I’m realizing now that if I keep on typing away in paragraph form here I’ll end up with a book before we’re through, and I’m sure neither you nor I have the time for that today.  My long-term plan is to look for someone who is more familiar with Teresa’s work than I am and try to line up a conversation with them, but my short-term plan is to actually do a series of posts this coming week (a/v posts on FB, Instagram & TikTok, and text posts on Twitter/blog) working through various aspects of Interior Castle.  So, if you have any leads, any thoughts, or any questions, let me know! 

I’ll close this post with these wise & humble words from Teresa, words which I intend to internalize so that I can come to externalize them:

If you find anything good in this book which helps you to learn to know him better, you can be quite sure that it is His Majesty Who has said it, and if you find anything bad, that it has been said by me. (pg 168)