Bernadette Roberts
Encyclopedia
Bernadette Roberts is a former Carmelite nun and a contemplative
in the Catholic
tradition.
or contemplative revelations of God — as present in nature, as within her, and as entirely transcendent. Roberts entered the Carmelite
order in her early teens. Soon after entering the Carmelites
, she experienced the spiritual deepening of the "dark nights" described by Saint
John of the Cross
. She also experienced what has been described by Saint Teresa of Ávila
as contemplative prayer. Roberts 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 her reading of John of the Cross
convinced her that her experiences were valid, and that she could trust in the journey so carefully described by the saint.
Roberts distinguishes between the mystic's journey to God and the contemplative path, saying of Teresa of Ávila, "she was a mystic and I, a common contemplative" (Path to No-Self, p. 62). Teresa of Ávila's writings did not resonate as much with Roberts as the writings of John of the Cross who emphasized the path of naked faith, and warned contemplatives to be wary of mystical visions and revelations. In this sense she distinguishes between a mysticism based on vision
s, ecstasies
, and other fascinating and paranormal
experiences, and the contemplative journey, in which transformation comes about through the silent and non-experiential working of God's grace in the soul. While grace comes only from God, the contemplative must follow up on this grace to make any progress. The first responsibility is to do all we can to reform our lives and pursue God with single-minded focus. When we have done all we can, God steps in, and the breakthrough of the "dark nights" begins.
After spending 10 years as a cloistered nun, Bernadette left the Carmelite order, with permission from her superiors. She married, raised four children, and lived an ordinary life with God "in the marketplace". She remarks that this particular stage of life is characterized most of all by the intense and outward leap of the "living flame" within.
But her experience took her beyond the union with God into a terrain where both the experience of God and the experience of self would fall away. This final event reveals that the human journey goes beyond self. It is a journey that follows Christ's own journey to the very end.
The first of these, the "unitive" state, is the breakthrough of God at the center, followed by a permanent and abiding union in which God becomes the "other half" that completes a person as a human being. This milestone is well known in the Catholic contemplative literature, as well as in other religious traditions, and marks the beginning of a person's mature life as a human being.
According to Roberts, this first milestone is often mistaken for the end of the spiritual journey. What the "no-self" event reveals is that union with God is not the end but the beginning of our life with God. The end of the journey comes many years after union. The years in between are marked above all by a way of life that is selfless. With years of selfless giving, the self is literally eroded away as God consumes more and more of the human being. Roberts is very careful to note that the self that is eroded away beyond union is not the fragile, egotistical self that was the center of existence before union. Rather the self that slowly vanishes is a self-centered in God: beautiful, holy, and strong. The no-self event is a surprise, and it reveals a second, and final milestone in the journey with God. The self ceases forever and with it all human experience. What remains now is the mystery of Resurrection
, of Christ and the Trinity
.
The most important element of Roberts' discovery is that there is a further stage in the contemplative journey beyond that of the unitive state. Roberts describes this passage as heading into the complete unknown. This is where the map ends as far as the well worn path of Catholic mysticism is historically described. Roberts discovered this passage — "the path to no-self" — accidentally and describes it as a "falling away" of the unitive centre. However, she believes that other contemplatives also walked the path of the dissolution of self, notably Meister Eckhart, and perhaps John of the Cross himself, who may have been unable to speak of it. Her book The Experience of No-Self describes the journey through this passage in an experiential and autobiographical way, while the following two books are attempts to describe and unpack the experience of no-self for the reader.
"What is Self?" Roberts has understood the answer to this perennial question experientially. She describes the experiences as the process of human maturation but a maturity that is only possible through God's grace. The ego and Self are both self-reflexive and dualistic
modes of psychological functioning based on the subtle process of mental discriminating judgment, a process that is inherently built into the structure of the psyche. Her understanding of the spiritual path can been seen as the relationship between self and God, but it is the unveiling of the truth of this relationship where the profundity lies. For the Western tradition in general, Roberts is quite radical: unlike Eastern traditions, there was no human Master or Teacher to introduce her to this state.
Christianity. The Self, the mature human in a state of union with God, also falls away. This is the import of Roberts' work. So what does this mean and what is left when there is no-self? Fundamentally the unitive state is still a form of dualism — Self and God — it means that an idea or archetype of God is still captured by the psyche. Fundamentally this unitive state is nondualistic - in which the self and God are One, not two - "I and my Father are One," one without a second, without even the concept of one. Roberts experiences the falling away of the idea of God simultaneously with the experience of the falling away of self — when there is no self, there is no God. For someone wholly devoted to the spiritual life and to God, to discover that there is no God, not one iota of subtle conception of God left to grasp at or attach to, was a particularly horrendous and terrible experience and is described in detail in "the experience of no-self". The experience is of a raw, pure and unadulterated reality without the imposition of concepts and ideas. Gradually this state, this initial loss, cleared to become a profound understanding of reality itself. In place of "unity" with God comes identity with God — a state she calls seeing with God's own eyes. But neither the ego-based sense nor the spiritualized self is "God". Instead, God is Reality itself, of which the human person is a single cell.
"Beyond self, the revelation is not of an immaterial soul or spirit but, rather, the revelation of the true nature of the body as part and parcel of Christ's eternal Mystical Body. This Mystical Body dwells in the glory of the Father and its enlightenment is the Holy Spirit" (from the preface of The Path to No-Self).
may relate to Roberts' experiential account of the realisation of no-self. Roberts had not realized that there was a spiritual conception of "no-self" because it was not part of her traditional contemplative framework. It was only after she had the experience that she decided to research the phenomenon in other spiritual traditions. She discusses her discovery of the Buddhist categorisation of the five Skandha
s (What is Self? p114-117, 2005) where she states; "Together the five Skandha
s constitute the true nature of self; their experience is the entire self-experience including the experience of the divine." (WIS p114-115) She believes Buddhism has hold of "a profound and difficult truth" which is in her opinion, that "no-self" is the falling away or cessation of the five Skandha
s. (WIS p115-p116)
Roberts compares her views of the Self with the work of Jung in part 2 of "What is Self?"
Contemplation
The word contemplation comes from the Latin word contemplatio. Its root is also that of the Latin word templum, a piece of ground consecrated for the taking of auspices, or a building for worship, derived either from Proto-Indo-European base *tem- "to cut", and so a "place reserved or cut out" or...
in the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
tradition.
Life
Since early childhood Bernadette Roberts had a number of mysticalMysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
or contemplative revelations of God — as present in nature, as within her, and as entirely transcendent. Roberts entered the Carmelite
Carmelites
The Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain...
order in her early teens. Soon after entering the Carmelites
Carmelites
The Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain...
, she experienced the spiritual deepening of the "dark nights" described by Saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
John of the Cross
John of the Cross
John of the Cross , born Juan de Yepes Álvarez, was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, Catholic saint, Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, Old Castile....
. She also experienced what has been described by Saint Teresa of Ávila
Teresa of Ávila
Saint Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer...
as contemplative prayer. Roberts 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
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
and falling into the heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
of Quietism
Quietism (Christian philosophy)
Quietism is a Christian philosophy that swept through France, Italy and Spain during the 17th century, but it had much earlier origins. The mystics known as Quietists insist, with more or less emphasis, on intellectual stillness and interior passivity as essential conditions of perfection...
. But her reading of John of the Cross
John of the Cross
John of the Cross , born Juan de Yepes Álvarez, was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, Catholic saint, Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, Old Castile....
convinced her that her experiences were valid, and that she could trust in the journey so carefully described by the saint.
Roberts distinguishes between the mystic's journey to God and the contemplative path, saying of Teresa of Ávila, "she was a mystic and I, a common contemplative" (Path to No-Self, p. 62). Teresa of Ávila's writings did not resonate as much with Roberts as the writings of John of the Cross who emphasized the path of naked faith, and warned contemplatives to be wary of mystical visions and revelations. In this sense she distinguishes between a mysticism based on vision
Precognition
In parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...
s, ecstasies
Religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional/intuitive euphoria...
, and other fascinating and paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
experiences, and the contemplative journey, in which transformation comes about through the silent and non-experiential working of God's grace in the soul. While grace comes only from God, the contemplative must follow up on this grace to make any progress. The first responsibility is to do all we can to reform our lives and pursue God with single-minded focus. When we have done all we can, God steps in, and the breakthrough of the "dark nights" begins.
After spending 10 years as a cloistered nun, Bernadette left the Carmelite order, with permission from her superiors. She married, raised four children, and lived an ordinary life with God "in the marketplace". She remarks that this particular stage of life is characterized most of all by the intense and outward leap of the "living flame" within.
But her experience took her beyond the union with God into a terrain where both the experience of God and the experience of self would fall away. This final event reveals that the human journey goes beyond self. It is a journey that follows Christ's own journey to the very end.
Importance
Roberts writes about her journey to foreground an event that she refers to as "no-self" — the ending of all "self-consciousness" and the revelation of what remains beyond self. She distinguishes between two major milestones in the spiritual journey.The first of these, the "unitive" state, is the breakthrough of God at the center, followed by a permanent and abiding union in which God becomes the "other half" that completes a person as a human being. This milestone is well known in the Catholic contemplative literature, as well as in other religious traditions, and marks the beginning of a person's mature life as a human being.
According to Roberts, this first milestone is often mistaken for the end of the spiritual journey. What the "no-self" event reveals is that union with God is not the end but the beginning of our life with God. The end of the journey comes many years after union. The years in between are marked above all by a way of life that is selfless. With years of selfless giving, the self is literally eroded away as God consumes more and more of the human being. Roberts is very careful to note that the self that is eroded away beyond union is not the fragile, egotistical self that was the center of existence before union. Rather the self that slowly vanishes is a self-centered in God: beautiful, holy, and strong. The no-self event is a surprise, and it reveals a second, and final milestone in the journey with God. The self ceases forever and with it all human experience. What remains now is the mystery of Resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
, of Christ and the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
.
The most important element of Roberts' discovery is that there is a further stage in the contemplative journey beyond that of the unitive state. Roberts describes this passage as heading into the complete unknown. This is where the map ends as far as the well worn path of Catholic mysticism is historically described. Roberts discovered this passage — "the path to no-self" — accidentally and describes it as a "falling away" of the unitive centre. However, she believes that other contemplatives also walked the path of the dissolution of self, notably Meister Eckhart, and perhaps John of the Cross himself, who may have been unable to speak of it. Her book The Experience of No-Self describes the journey through this passage in an experiential and autobiographical way, while the following two books are attempts to describe and unpack the experience of no-self for the reader.
"What is Self?" Roberts has understood the answer to this perennial question experientially. She describes the experiences as the process of human maturation but a maturity that is only possible through God's grace. The ego and Self are both self-reflexive and dualistic
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
modes of psychological functioning based on the subtle process of mental discriminating judgment, a process that is inherently built into the structure of the psyche. Her understanding of the spiritual path can been seen as the relationship between self and God, but it is the unveiling of the truth of this relationship where the profundity lies. For the Western tradition in general, Roberts is quite radical: unlike Eastern traditions, there was no human Master or Teacher to introduce her to this state.
Brief overview of the Journey
The ego, matured through life experience and spiritual practice, falls away to reveal the unitive state, the oneness or wholeness of the self in unity with God, a state characterized by the feelings of love and subtle ecstasy. This was the end of the Christian journey — or so Roberts initially believed — and from this point we can see where Roberts travels beyond the limits of doctrinalDoctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
Christianity. The Self, the mature human in a state of union with God, also falls away. This is the import of Roberts' work. So what does this mean and what is left when there is no-self? Fundamentally the unitive state is still a form of dualism — Self and God — it means that an idea or archetype of God is still captured by the psyche. Fundamentally this unitive state is nondualistic - in which the self and God are One, not two - "I and my Father are One," one without a second, without even the concept of one. Roberts experiences the falling away of the idea of God simultaneously with the experience of the falling away of self — when there is no self, there is no God. For someone wholly devoted to the spiritual life and to God, to discover that there is no God, not one iota of subtle conception of God left to grasp at or attach to, was a particularly horrendous and terrible experience and is described in detail in "the experience of no-self". The experience is of a raw, pure and unadulterated reality without the imposition of concepts and ideas. Gradually this state, this initial loss, cleared to become a profound understanding of reality itself. In place of "unity" with God comes identity with God — a state she calls seeing with God's own eyes. But neither the ego-based sense nor the spiritualized self is "God". Instead, God is Reality itself, of which the human person is a single cell.
"Beyond self, the revelation is not of an immaterial soul or spirit but, rather, the revelation of the true nature of the body as part and parcel of Christ's eternal Mystical Body. This Mystical Body dwells in the glory of the Father and its enlightenment is the Holy Spirit" (from the preface of The Path to No-Self).
Summary
Western BuddhistsBuddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
may relate to Roberts' experiential account of the realisation of no-self. Roberts had not realized that there was a spiritual conception of "no-self" because it was not part of her traditional contemplative framework. It was only after she had the experience that she decided to research the phenomenon in other spiritual traditions. She discusses her discovery of the Buddhist categorisation of the five Skandha
Skandha
In Buddhist phenomenology and soteriology, the skandhas or khandhas are any of five types of phenomena that serve as objects of clinging and bases for a sense of self...
s (What is Self? p114-117, 2005) where she states; "Together the five Skandha
Skandha
In Buddhist phenomenology and soteriology, the skandhas or khandhas are any of five types of phenomena that serve as objects of clinging and bases for a sense of self...
s constitute the true nature of self; their experience is the entire self-experience including the experience of the divine." (WIS p114-115) She believes Buddhism has hold of "a profound and difficult truth" which is in her opinion, that "no-self" is the falling away or cessation of the five Skandha
Skandha
In Buddhist phenomenology and soteriology, the skandhas or khandhas are any of five types of phenomena that serve as objects of clinging and bases for a sense of self...
s. (WIS p115-p116)
Roberts compares her views of the Self with the work of Jung in part 2 of "What is Self?"
Works
- Roberts has written three books about the spiritual journey.
- Her first book is The Experience of No-Self: A Contemplative Journey State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-1694-1 (revised edition March, 1993) (the first edition was published by Iroquois House (1982) ISBN 0-931980-07-0 )
- Her second book is The Path to No-Self: Life at the Center (1985) Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0-394-72999-4
- The third book is What is Self?: A Study of the Spiritual Journey in Terms of Consciousness (2005) Sentient Publications ISBN 1-59181-026-4
- A short biography and excerpt from The Path to No-Self is included in Mystics, Masters, Saints, and Sages by Robert Ullman and Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman. (2001) ISBN 1-57324-507-0
- An account of the early years of her spiritual journey, as well as other unpublished essays and materials, is available at a site established by some of her friends Bernadette's Friends
External links
- Nonduality — outline of The Experience of No-Self
- Bernadette's Friends A website established by some friends of Bernadette Roberts. The website is entirely devoted to advertising paid books and retreats, with no writings by Roberts in the public domain. The only contact details provided are postal addresses for checks.*
- The text of a 1986 interview with Bernadette Roberts can be found here http://lightgate.net/boards/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=1019&t=180&sid=16cf15a5378657d6a1ca231e31e4bdaa