Bernadette Roberts: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
Bernadette Roberts is writer and [[contemplative]] in the [[Catholic]] tradition who has experienced and written about non-dual, no-self states of [[consciousness]]. She was born in 1931 and raised a devout Catholic. She had glimpses of [[mystical]] or contemplative experiences even as a child, and entered a contemplative convent as an adolsecent. |
Bernadette Roberts is writer and [[contemplative]] in the [[Catholic]] tradition who has experienced and written about [[non-dual]], [[no-self]] states of [[consciousness]]. She was born in 1931 and raised a devout Catholic. She had glimpses of [[mystical]] or contemplative experiences even as a child, and entered a contemplative convent as an adolsecent. |
||
She rapidly reached stages of prayer that had been described by [[Saint]] [[Teresa of Avila]] as rather advanced. She recounts that when she was 18, a new novice mistress asked her about her prayer life, "so I told her: I do nothing; there is just silence. This astounded and upset her" (''Path to No-Self'', p. 57). Her superior believed Bernadette to be deceived, possibly even to be under the influence of [[Satan]] and falling into the heresy of Quietism. But Bernadette's reading of [[Saint John of the Cross]] convinced her that her experiences were valid, but she eventually came to assert that he had not gone far enough in his explanations of the stages of the contemplative life, as her own experiences took her beyond the stage of union with God into a stage in which both any experience of God and any experience of self fell away. |
She rapidly reached stages of prayer that had been described by [[Saint]] [[Teresa of Avila]] as rather advanced. She recounts that when she was 18, a new novice mistress asked her about her prayer life, "so I told her: I do nothing; there is just silence. This astounded and upset her" (''Path to No-Self'', p. 57). Her superior believed Bernadette to be deceived, possibly even to be under the influence of [[Satan]] and falling into the heresy of Quietism. But Bernadette's reading of [[Saint John of the Cross]] convinced her that her experiences were valid, but she eventually came to assert that he had not gone far enough in his explanations of the stages of the contemplative life, as her own experiences took her beyond the stage of union with God into a stage in which both any experience of God and any experience of self fell away. |
||
She distinguishes between [[mystical]] experiences and contemplative experiences, saying of Teresa of Avila, "she was a mystic and I, a common contemplative" (''Path to No-Self'', p. 62). But she also says that Teresa of Avila's writings were of no use to her and that it was Saint John of the Cross who exemplified the pure contemplative rather than the mystic. Her understanding of mysticism is that it involves visions, ecstasies, and other such fascinating experiences, while contemplation is neither asceticism nor mysticism but rather a total re-ordering of consciousness, accomplished almost totally by God's work of grace while the contemplative remains passive in a kind of "cloud of unknowing." |
She distinguishes between [[mystical]] experiences and contemplative experiences, saying of Saint Teresa of Avila, "she was a mystic and I, a common contemplative" (''Path to No-Self'', p. 62). But she also says that Teresa of Avila's writings were of no use to her and that it was Saint John of the Cross who exemplified the pure contemplative rather than the mystic. Her understanding of mysticism is that it involves visions, ecstasies, and other such fascinating experiences, while contemplation is neither asceticism nor mysticism but rather a total re-ordering of consciousness, accomplished almost totally by God's work of grace while the contemplative remains passive in a kind of "cloud of unknowing." |
||
After spending 10 years as a [[cloistered]] nun, she left the convent, married, and raised 4 children. Her contemplative experiences continued, however. |
After spending 10 years as a [[cloistered]] nun, she left the convent, married, and raised 4 children. Her contemplative experiences continued, however. |
||
Revision as of 02:52, 18 October 2005
Bernadette Roberts is writer and contemplative in the Catholic tradition who has experienced and written about non-dual, no-self states of consciousness. She was born in 1931 and raised a devout Catholic. She had glimpses of mystical or contemplative experiences even as a child, and entered a contemplative convent as an adolsecent.
She rapidly reached stages of prayer that had been described by Saint Teresa of Avila as rather advanced. She recounts that when she was 18, a new novice mistress asked her about her prayer life, "so I told her: I do nothing; there is just silence. This astounded and upset her" (Path to No-Self, p. 57). Her superior believed Bernadette to be deceived, possibly even to be under the influence of Satan and falling into the heresy of Quietism. But Bernadette's reading of Saint John of the Cross convinced her that her experiences were valid, but she eventually came to assert that he had not gone far enough in his explanations of the stages of the contemplative life, as her own experiences took her beyond the stage of union with God into a stage in which both any experience of God and any experience of self fell away.
She distinguishes between mystical experiences and contemplative experiences, saying of Saint Teresa of Avila, "she was a mystic and I, a common contemplative" (Path to No-Self, p. 62). But she also says that Teresa of Avila's writings were of no use to her and that it was Saint John of the Cross who exemplified the pure contemplative rather than the mystic. Her understanding of mysticism is that it involves visions, ecstasies, and other such fascinating experiences, while contemplation is neither asceticism nor mysticism but rather a total re-ordering of consciousness, accomplished almost totally by God's work of grace while the contemplative remains passive in a kind of "cloud of unknowing."
After spending 10 years as a cloistered nun, she left the convent, married, and raised 4 children. Her contemplative experiences continued, however.
Father Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk and leader in the Catholic contemplative movement, has written prefaces to her books, contributing to her acceptance in Catholic circles. However, some of her experiences seem closer to Hindu or Buddhist concepts. Non-duality is not usually considered to be consistent with Catholic theology. She has most in common with Meister Eckhart, whose orthodoxy was also challenged by the Church.
Works
Roberts has written three books detailing her experiences, though with relatively little detail about her external life.
Her first book is The Experience of No-Self: A Contemplative Journey State University of New York Press. ISBN 0791416941 (revised edition March, 1993) (the first edition was published by Iroquois House (1982) ISBN 0931980070 )
She also wrote The Path to No-Self: Life at the Center(1985) Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0394729994 and What is Self? : A Study of the Spiritual Journey in Terms of Consciousness(2005) Sentient Publications ISBN 1591810264
Websites and References to her Work
A short biography and excerpt from The Journey to No-Self is included in Mystics, Masters, Saints, and Sages by Robert Ullman and Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman. (2001) ISBN 1573245070
A detailed outline of The Experience of No-Self is found at outline