Letter 62: Concise View of the Interior Way
_The soul seeks God in faith not by the reasonings of the mind and labored efforts, but by the drawings of love; to which inclinations God responds, and instructs the soul, which co-operates actively. God then puts the soul in a passive state, where he accomplishes all, causing great progress, first by way of enjoyment, then by privation, and finally by pure Love._
What do we understand by the Interior way? It is to seek the kingdom of God within us. Luke 17, 21. We find this kingdom only where God has placed it, _within the soul_. It becomes necessary, then, to withdraw the eyes of the soul from external landmarks and observations, which man, in the pride of reason, has located around it, and rest the eye in faith, on the Word of the Lord,--"_Seek and you shall find_." This seeking, involves an interior activity of the soul; a desire, a determination, and searching after what is hidden.
When the soul has thus earnestly sought the kingdom of God within, this kingdom is developed little by little. Interior recollection becomes less difficult, and the presence of God more perceptible and agreeable. Formerly it was supposed, that the presence of God was only the thought of God, and that it was necessary to force the mind--to concentrate the thoughts with violence to find God. This is true in some sense, but, as the soul cannot long endure this tension, and as the kingdom of God is not found in the external vestments of the soul, but in its depths, this labor is of little avail. So little progress is made, the soul becomes discouraged, and the evil one, who fears nothing so much as the reign of God in the soul, makes an effort to draw the soul to externalities.
In order to accomplish this object, he takes two methods, either by excessive labors, persuading the soul that this is the way to find God, and thus choking the internal process of the interior life, or, by this tension of the mind, of which I have spoken. Neither of these methods open in the soul, the interior way.
You reply, how, then, is this life accomplished? I answer, God, seeing the heart of him who seeks him within, draws near to him, and teaches him a just moderation in all things; and, by this retrenchment of all excess in externals, the soul begins to perceive the peaceful kingdom. It realizes within itself a guide, who provides for its necessities, according to divine laws, who takes away the burdens that sin imposes; a guide who does not foster corrupt nature, nor forbid innocent pleasures.
When the soul begins to perceive this kingdom, and that the King himself is manifested in some degree, it thus communes, (and we may call this the second step), O, my Beloved, I have sought you with all the strength of my heart, in the place where you have taught me to seek you, and I have there found you! Days and nights have I passed in seeking you. All the desires of my heart go after you. But now I have found you. I pray you to reign as Sovereign, to establish yours empire in my soul. I will do your will alone. I will resign to you all the right I have to myself; all that you, by your goodness, have given to me.
At this stage of progress, the soul ceases from self. Its work is to regard, lovingly, the operation of God, without a desire either to advance it, or place any obstacle in the way of its progress. The soul has been active, in the first stage, to destroy, with all its power, that which might hinder the kingdom of God within; and this was a great effort; for habit had rendered interior recollection very difficult, and the powers of the soul did not easily reunite themselves in one centre.
Now the soul seeks no longer to combat the obstacles, which hindered its return within, but lets God combat and act in the soul. Saying, it is time O, Lord, that you shouldst take possession of your kingdom! Do so, I pray you, exclusively. I desire, on my part, only to observe yours operation.
This commencement of the reign of God, and of the passive way, is very highly relished by the soul. The soul passes days, and even years, separated from creature enjoyments without weariness. It advances very much more by this way, in little time, than by all the efforts of many years. It is not without faults and imperfections, but divine love diminishes them little by little, or does not permit the soul to become disturbed by them, lest it become discouraged and its love hindered. This state is called passive love. The soul sees no cause to fear; it supposes that all the work is done, and that it has only to pass into eternity, and to enjoy this good Sovereign, who already gives himself to the soul in so much fulness.
But in the onward progress of the soul, it becomes no longer doubtful, whether the soul is to remain in the passive enjoyment of God and his communications. The soul begins to feel a drawing, to let God not only be all things in the soul, but there to reign separate from the soul's enjoyment of his gifts. The soul now experiences what is called, by the author of the Imitation of Christ, _the exile of the heart_. It hears a voice in the depth of the soul, or, rather, has an impression, that God reigns there alone. This exile is at first very painful, for it is important to notice, that, from the commencement of seeking God in the depth of the soul to the possession of him, there are many trials, temptations, sorrows. _Every successive state is marked by a purifying process_. Persons often mistake, and take the first purification for the last. When God reigns alone in the soul, separate from the action of self, and self is destroyed, it is beyond any previous state.
When the soul has ceased from its own selfish operations, and the man of sin is exterminated, its defects become more apparent, because God wishes it to comprehend what it is by itself, and what it would be without him. The soul is thus afflicted, believing it has lost the virtues, acquired with so much care, and seems to have faults that it had not before perceived. It says, with the spouse in the Canticles, "I have washed my feet, how shall I sully them?" You do not perceive, O, soul beloved, that you do not sully them in going to "open to the spouse," and that if you contract some slight impurity, he will remove it so perfectly, that you will become more beautiful. In the mean time, it is not the desire of the spouse to become beautiful in her own eyes, but to see only the beauty of her Lover. When the soul is faithful in this state, and really desires to die to itself, she is pleased only with the beauty of her Beloved, and says his beauty shall be my beauty. But it is necessary to advance beyond this, for, after being despoiled of her beauty, it would be a selfishness much greater to appropriate to herself, the beauty of her Beloved. His beauty must remain untarnished, unappropriated by her; she must leave him all, and remain in her nothing, for the nothing is her proper place. This is Perfect Love, which regards God alone.
Footnotes
1 Guyon closes her letters with this "Concise View of the Interior Way" — a summary of the entire spiritual journey from conversion to union with God. It serves as a map of the territory she has described in all the preceding letters, and as a guide for those who would follow the same path.