Thought for the Week: The Divine impulse
Anthony Boulton reflects on the writings of Jean-Pierre de Caussade
The Reformation undermined the power of priesthoods and the ‘magical quality’ of their rituals, but in so doing buttressed ‘scriptural writings’ as the unchallenged ‘word of God.’ However, in the first verse of the anonymous gospel named after the disciple John, the ‘Word’ is translated from the Greek Logos, which means ‘the word not in its outward form but as connected with an inward thought.’ The thought of God must, therefore, refer to an intuitive feeling that could be described as ‘the Divine impulse’ taking place, not in the past or future, but in the here and now.
In his spiritual classic A Treatise on Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence (Burns and Oates, 1933 edition), Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) writes ‘the whole essence of the spiritual life consists in recognising the design of God for us at the present moment… which is more useful because it is addressed personally to us… The Holy Spirit, with his own action for pen, writes a living gospel… speaking to all hearts and to each he speaks a word of life, the unique word for each soul…So, set aside what is said to others and listen to what is said to you for your own use.’
De Caussade quotes the example of Jesus who ‘was perpetually inspired by the Holy Spirit so that there was no need to consult the preceding moment in order to determine the following one.’
De Caussade emphasises the spontaneous and individual nature of Divine revelation by pointing out that all the spiritual figures of the past were ‘originals’ with no two alike and that ‘Jesus did not limit his own action. He did not obey, literally, all his own maxims’ and ‘the apostles act more by the influence of the spirit of Jesus than by a literal imitation of his works’.
It is surely clear that there can never be a ‘Universal Revelation’ but that, on the contrary, revelation is always intensely personal. This is because, although there is only one truth, each person receives that truth in an individual way as each one has their own ‘story’. Nor is this revelation of a secret truth. ‘God does not withhold anything. His will is only to share everything He has.’ Words, on the other hand, are symbols of symbols and, therefore, twice removed from reality so that no one word is universally meaningful. This may. I think, be why Jesus never intended that any such document as the ‘New Testament’ should be written – obviously, or he would have written it himself and not left it to chance and the imperfect memories and understanding of others writing with agendas decades after the events.
When Jesus sent his disciples out to teach, he instructed them to rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit within themselves, at the moment, rather than carry some weighty tome under their arm with which to beat their inquirers about the head (figuratively speaking!).
Because communication through words presents very narrow boundaries and limitations should not scriptural writings be re-assessed as interpretative works of spiritual philosophy? As De Caussade points out, ‘Apart from God, books are merely useless externals, being devoid for us of the life-giving power of God’s plan’ – but he continues, ‘spiritual reading engaged in as a result of divine action frequently has a meaning that never occurred to the author because God makes use of the words of others to convey hidden truth, if it is his will to enlighten us by these means’.
God, being eternal, dwells in a state of timelessness, to which our nearest approximation is ‘now’, which liberates us from the shackles of precedent and precept, custom and tradition, rules and regulations – a state of being perhaps best summed up by Augustine’s famous dictum: ‘Love God, and do what thou wilt!’
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