On the trail of the Christian use of the Delphic maxim "Know Thyself"

Saint Teresa of Avila's Vision by Peter Paul Rubens, 1612-1614 [Public Domain via Wikimedia].

The Interior Castle by Teresa of Ávila

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It took me some time to get through this masterpiece by Saint Teresa of Avila. Written in 1577 during the Spanish Inquisition, I found it difficult to get through the self-effacing humility of the good saint and had to take several breaks. 

One of the blessings/curses of the Dover Thrift Editions is that the books are deceptively small, and while this book is only 168 pages, the pages are dense in words. It is a blessing that the books look short, and a curse because they aren't. Yet they are very affordable and the deception encourages me to read books I would otherwise put off for later. Like Karl Marx's Capital, sitting near me (and almost as long as Tolstoy's War and Peace at some 1,361 pages.). 

I found a few things about Interior Castle confusing. St Teresa writes there are seven mansions that the soul passes through (one chooses to enter the crystal castle from the wilderness). As one enters the first mansion, some of the critters get in with you. You can see both the light of the innermost mansion, yet you can still see the dark. 

St Teresa tells of the experiences of the soul progressing to the seventh mansion where the soul is at one with God. Although the development of the soul as it progressed was obvious, I am still in the dark as far as knowing which mansion one might be in at any given time, if at all. 

St Teresa writes for other nuns, and while I understand that this is a modern translation, it is interesting how she frequently asks the reader to excuse her stupidity in being unable to explain things. 

Clearly, the book was not written in one sitting, and often St Teresa admits that she cannot recall what or if she mentioned something in a previous chapter, and that she would not re-read what she had written. This is clearly not a first draft, however, and this edition includes footnotes that indicate what was a marginal comment, with alternative wordings, additions, or omissions from one of the two "learned men" St Teresa had correct her drafts. Such caution was prudent during the Spanish Inquisition, indeed. 

For many pages I made no notes, and then numerous notes in a handful of pages. St Teresa covers the importance of self-knowledge, of learning, of humility, and raises an interesting question of the soul versus the spirit. While she does not give a definitive comparison, she suggests that the soul and the spirit are closely intertwined, but are not necessarily the same thing. I have often wondered about this difference. 

One could argue that the ideas of Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, James Allen, and Stephen Covey came from this work. St Teresa confirms the theme of Candide, Franklin's virtues, James Allen's "he who conquers self conquers the universe", and Stephen Covey's "Circle of Influence" as principles for living the interior life. 

I read this book because of the title, hoping to find something more about the "inner citadel" the Stoics spoke of, and others who have used "interior castle" to mean something similar. St Teresa puts a different bent on the Stoic idea, but one can see the influence of the Stoics on Christian thought. 

There are two main lessons St Teresa has confirmed for me. First:

...try to be least of all... and your foundation will be so firmly laid that your Castle will not fall.

And second:

...unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs.

Further, St Teresa provides a quote which goes a long way to explain what I refer to in my leadership teaching as the "duty cycle" that prevents people from realising their goals:

...the devil sometimes puts ambitious desires into our hearts, so that, instead of setting our hand to the work which lies nearest us, and thus serving Our Lord in ways within our power, we may rest content with having desired the impossible.

Finally, a friend once asked about the Delphic maxim "Know Thyself" and that, despite having been told by others that the phrase appeared in the Holy Bible, it doesn't (and it really doesn't), this is the earliest Christian reference to the Delphic maxim I have encountered to date. Whether this was a result of the work of the Toledo School of Translators is something I hope to investigate further.

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There is no time like the present to cultivate your own garden

Woman with bound feet reclining on chaise lounge, China [Public Domain via Wikimedia].

Waiting by Ha Jin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a lovely story that has all of the drama of Candide without the travel. If the theme is anything, it is that, rather than "good things come to those who wait", we might often wait for something that was never good, and then regret what we deliberately left behind. I don't think the theme comparison with Candide's "cultivate your own garden" is too far from the author's intention. 

Set in a period that encompasses the Cultural Revolution, this novel captures what it may have been like to live during this period of history in China. Ha Jin's work is brilliant. I saw this book in the bookstore and I was drawn to it. 

After reading Eileen Chang's Lust, Caution, I have decided to investigate a variety of literary works outside of my Anglophone comfort zone. While Chang's work was translated, Ha Jin is a Professor of English at Boston University, so this work was written in English. 

His style is engaging and I found it hard to turn the light out to sleep for two nights as I wanted to finish it in one go. This novel had me reflecting on my own life and the choices I have made. 

Not that I regret the past - or at least I inspire to live in the spirit of amor fati - but I couldn't help think that there are many lessons of the past that I hadn't really embedded in my psyche. After sharing the journey with the protagonist, Lin Kong, I am still returning to memories to mop up the remnants of lessons long forgotten or ignored. 

I think a great novel allows the reader to learn from the experiences of the characters. In effect, to learn from the mistakes of fools rather than make the same mistake. This novel won the 1999 US National Book Award, and no wonder. While I do not pretend that a book award is the be-all and end-all of great books, it provides some reassurance. And I wasn't disappointed. 

Ha Jin has written many other novels, and I hope to be reading another of his works very soon. It was helpful to have a working knowledge of Chinese modern history, and especially Chairman Mao's philosophy, but it is not necessary to enjoy the story. 

At the beginning here I wrote that it is a lovely story, and it is, but in a way that one sits and thinks for an eternity before putting the book down. It is also a very sad story. If I were to sum up the story in one of Poor Richard's (Benjamin Franklin's) maxims, it would be thus:

Would you live with ease, do what you ought, and not what you please.

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On the Origins of Folk Wisdom with Poor Richard

Benjamin Franklin Henley House. Photo by Valis55 [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia.

Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard's Almanack by Benjamin Franklin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book includes hundreds of quotes from Poor Richard's Almanack, published annually by Benjamin Franklin and lasting some 25 years. Franklin admitted that he had "borrowed" some of the maxims, but the Almanack seems to have created many a household saying. It is always interesting to find one of the sources of "folk wisdom" and familiar sayings for which we take the origin for granted. I have been using La Rochefoucauld's Maxims for some time as a prompt for my daily journalling, and as I near the end of his maxims, I anticipate substituting Franklin's maxims once I am done with La Rochefoucauld. What is surprising about Franklin's maxims is the sheer breadth of topics - and of course, this volume is but a few of the best from the many issues of the Almanack. Some have a Christian bent, for example:

When you taste Honey, remember Gall.

Some recall Arabic sayings:

Fish and visitors stink after three days.

Others consider the "no contest" between science and religion:

The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason; The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle

And even some leadership lessons:

He that cannot obey, cannot command.

This work is part of the Dover Thrift Series and I have others including Oscar Wilde and Abraham Lincoln to read. While technically not a "book", I find such lists of maxims easiest to digest if one reads through the list first, and then takes each in turn as a trigger for reflection. One of the most interesting quotes makes me wonder whether Franklin's self-teaching (minus the social capital of those who win the birth lottery) had similar limitations to my own:

Write with the learned, pronounce with the vulgar.

I found the after-effects of these maxims long lasting. There is so much in such a short book. That Franklin thought long and hard about his personal philosophy is obvious. If I were to sum up this philosophy in one maxim, it would be this:

A long Life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.

The strangest thing for me was that I read this while taking a break from reading St Teresa's Interior Castle. That much folk wisdom emanates from St Teresa's masterpiece is obvious, albeit more readily digestible when written by Poor Richard.

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