Needful Conditions of Discernment
When I was an Undergraduate student at the University of Arizona one of my mentors made a comment I have never forgotten. He stated that great books had become his good friends. He went on to explain that through his consistent reading of Christian authors they had, through their writings, counseled him and he had personally engaged them and learned from them.
Since then I have asked myself why this had been true for him. The conclusion I came to was this: He had an open heart and was eager to learn. He was willing to listen to those Christians who had lived before and had passed on what God had taught them. Thus he was blessed because he was willing to listen and learn from them—to actually change his mind and his actions based upon the truth he found in those writings.
One of the decisive characteristics of the mindset of the flesh, of worldlings, is that they cannot and will not submit themselves to their Creator. Since this is the case they will not listen to God’s people nor to the record of God’s spoken words in time and history (Scripture). And since they will not listen to Scripture and place themselves under its inherent authority as God’s Word written neither will they heed the wisdom of those spiritual elders and teachers whom God has raised up throughout the history of Christian Church.
Now, to clarify here I am not merely referring to atheists or committed agnostics (if one can it put that way) or those constantly tinkering away at “do-it-yourself” eclectic spirituality but to many who claim the name of Christian in modern times. America is the epidemy this proud self-assertive kind of Christianity; the country where one can re-invent herself and throw off the shackles of Christian tradition. This is the seedbed of spiritual rebellion—what our Lord repeatedly called “lawlessness” when confronting the Jewish leaders in the first century—being played out in the context of modern culture.
America is my country and I am grateful to God that he gifted me to be born here, grow up here and continue to live here. There is much value in the American tradition, in the vibrancy of the grand experiment of Republican constitutional government and in the historic commitment to preserving political and religious freedom here. I celebrate these and thank God everyday that I am a citizen of the United States. However, I am grieved by the fact that the Christian churches in North America have imbibed the spirit of the age and accommodated themselves to it and actually taught their people a different Gospel which ultimately gives no hope and which does not nourish true godliness.
The secret to learning to discern is not complicated. All that is needed is faith like a child—a receptiveness to God first and foremost. So far we may find ourselves in agreement but the divide emerges when the submission to human spiritual leaders and to Christian tradition is introduced. Yet there should be nothing surprising or controversial about this idea of submission to spiritual elders. Why would we not heed the words and holy lives of those who have walked with God?
John Cassian, in his Conferences, addresses the necessary connection between discernment and submission to spiritual leaders within Christian communities.
“In this way, therefore, we shall very easily be able to attain to the knowledge of true discretion. Thus, following in the footsteps of the elders, we shall presume neither to do anything new nor to come to any decisions based on our own judgment, but we shall proceed in all things just as their tradition and upright life inform us. Whoever has been thoroughly instructed in this manner will not only attain to the perfect ordering of discretion but will also remain absolutely safe from all the snares of the enemy. For by no other vice does the devil draw and lead a monk to so sudden a death as when he persuades him to neglect the counsels of the elders and to trust in his own judgment and his own understanding. For since all the arts and disciplines that come from human genius and that do nothing more than make pleasant this short life cannot be properly grasped by someone who has not been taught by an instructor, even though they are palpable and visible, how foolish it is to believe that this alone does not require a teacher—this which is invisible and hidden and is not seen except by the purest heart, in which error does not bring with it a temporal and easy punishment but incurs the soul’s perdition and everlasting death! For day and night he is in conflict not with visible but with invisible and savage enemies, nor is the spiritual contest with one or two but with innumerable hordes, and a defeat is the more dangerous to everyone inasmuch as the enemy is more aggressive and the combat more concealed. Therefore the traces of the elders should always be followed with the greatest care, and everything that arises in our hearts should be brought to them without embarrassment.”[i]
Now it may be objected that you and I are not monks and thus not under vows of obedience or under the requirements of living in a monastery. Fair enough, but the insights here do apply to everyone in principle. You and I would do well to consider who are our spiritual leaders and mentors—or if we have any living persons who we can call a leader or mentor. Is submission to spiritual leaders even part of our practice of Christian faith? Is the option to learn from those who walked with God before us even part of our conception of practicing Christian Faith?
I can think of many friends and some family members who have wandered off from the Faith and in each case part of the motive for flaking off from practicing the Faith was connected to what I will call a “spirit of autonomy” (or “self-will”) in spiritual matters. Yes, there was in these cases disappointment and grief due to seeing or being the object of abuse or corrupt behavior by religious leaders or those professing to be Christians. Indeed, the damage to persons’ psyche and emotions and willingness to trust in such cases is real and thus usually cited as a primary reason for abandoning Christian faith. My contention is that, even in cases where these were present, the choice to turn from the Faith in the Lord Jesus is still based on notions of “spiritual autonomy” and the conviction that the true spiritual path actually requires that one “go it alone” on the journey.
In many areas of human life and endeavor a zest for independence and individual freedom is not only good but even needful. For example, wise parents know that their children must individuate and grow up through a process of self-discovery that ends up launching them into adulthood. But the necessary conditions for optimal human flourishing require that each one of us have meaningful connections to others in spiritual community. And part of what makes for “meaningful connections” is the recognition of authority and submission to human leadership.
If any of us genuinely desire to grow up into maturity in Christ then we must be willing to yield to the leadership of trustworthy persons. One of the ways we can do that is by respectfully reflecting on and learning from those who have gone before us with God. And this may be even more important if we cannot find many persons now living who are trustworthy to give us guidance for how to navigate through the challenges of living the Faith.
[i]
John Cassian, The Conferences, 2nd Conference, paragraph 11,
lines 7-8 (Paulist Press: 1997), pp. 93-94.
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