Visions Of God: Four Medieval Mystics and Their Writings

Karen Armstrong has a wonderful ability to condense and help explain complex topics—she's like an exceptional university professor who sheds light in an engaging way. This volume offers selected and condensed excerpts of writing produced by four mystics, who are introduced with commentary over a few pages for each one before their texts are presented. For those readers who are not familiar with the four (Rolle, Hilton, Julian of Norwich and the author of the Cloud of Unknowing), this could wet the appetite. For those who have already read the original sources, this could serve as a helpful review. Ms. Armstrong's introductory remarks for each did not disappoint—I learned a number of things, but found myself wishing the Armstrong introductions were longer than a few pages for each mystic, since her writing sheds so much light from her extensive research.

Another essential read from historian Karen Armstong on lives of 14th C. english mystics.

The four medieval mystics discussed here bear witness to the depth and intelligence of English spirituality in the 14th century, and their work may show the way forward for a religion that seems to have become sterile, especially in its Protestant version. Armstrong discusses each of the four mystics in an introduction to selections from their major works that are reproduced here:(a) The eccentric Richard Rolle of Hampole and his work The Fire Of Love(b) The author of The Cloud Of Unknowing followed by this deeply moving text(c) The sober Walter Hilton and his Ladder Of Perfection(d) Julian of Norwich and her work Revelations Of Divine Love.My favorite text is The Cloud Of Unknowing which is mentioned in Leonard Cohen's song The Window on his album Recent Songs (1979). It is very accessible in its gentle humor and its emphasis on the heart-felt spiritual experience but I can also relate to the more serious work of Julian of Norwich. Richard Rolle is a bit extreme and one-dimensional for my taste, while I found Walter Hilton to be not "mystical" enough. But all of them journeyed inward to the depths of the self and each in their own way created a personal faith that offers a more intimate experience of the divine. Armstrong's insightful introduction demonstrates how the mystical experience is similar in all religions and her interpretations of these texts are guaranteed to encourage modern seekers of spirituality and transcendence in the Christian tradition. Above all, in this book Armstrong has done much to restore the greatest voices of the long-lost Western mystical tradition to their rightful place. In this 21st century, many adherents of mainstream Christianity may rediscover the mystical experience and find it to be a more meaningful form of religious practice than the conventional and dogmatic expressions of faith.

Fire Of Love, Cloud Of Unknowing, Ladder Of Perfection, Revelations Of Divine Love are only four of many metaphors that refer to one and the same extra-sensory (eidetic) experience that is reported in more or less similar words in various ancient wisdom traditions between the West and the East. They are allegories that are not to be taken literally.They can be given a LOGICAL EXPLANATION in terms of the personal psychic experience of the UNIVERSAL GENESIS that was common to many of these traditions, but got lost in most of them. The ancient Greeks called it kosmología (kosmogonía), which is now completely misconceived. For further details see my review on Karen Armstrong’s book:In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis.For my rigorous revision of Greek kosmología (kosmogonía) you may also want to see my reviews on Amazon.comThe Gnostic Gospels, by Elaine Pagels,Plato: Symposium (Hackett Classics) translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff,Plato: Timaeus and Critias (Penguin Classics), translated by Desmond Lee Plato Republic (Hackett Classics), translated by C. D. C. Reeve,Plato: Republic (Hackett Classics), translated by C. D. C. Reeve,Theology of Arithmetic, by Robin Butterfield,The Essence of Truth: On Plato's Cave Allegory and Theaetetus (Bloomsbury Revelations), by Martin HeideggerFor futher details see my Youtube presentation:TAO: PATH TO DISCOVER THE PSYCHO-COSMIC ORIGIN OF THE WESTERN CULTURE.

Karen Armstrong has a wonderful way of teaching and has a realistic grasp of God and organized religion. Pick any of her books to read and you will be so much better for having done so.

I had a beatific vision in 1963 at the age of seventeen. It was obviously a schizophrenic hallucination. I presented a written account of it to the German theologian Paul Tillich on March 28, 1965. It turns out that Tillich was also a schizophrenic and even told his secretary at Harvard that he knew it. Tillich, in his madness, thought that I was the Second Coming of Christ. I have published this astonishing story in my book What Rough Beast, by Robert Dole, published by Austin Macauley in London in 2017.

Very good book - it helps toward your life path.