Division into stages and different ways of prayer
Because the mystical life can be understood as a pathway to unity with God, it is divided into various stages or phases. The simplest division is into three stages or paths: the purifying path, which is also known as the path of mortification or the life of dying; here the focus is on purification from all sins, detachment from earthly things, repentance, and mortification. The second stage is the enlightening path, the practice of virtues, adorning the bride to meet the groom.
The third stage is called by Ruisbroek “the contemplative life,” and is often referred to as “the path of unity.” It is a life of the deepest union with God – so deep that in it the soul becomes passive, as God Himself reserves the soul's faculties entirely for Himself. It is noteworthy that Ruisbroek and Teresa of Avila further divide this in the same way. After the prayer of recollection comes the prayer of peace, resting in the Beloved as in sleep; then follows the spiritual death to oneself, so that a person can rise to a new life in God and with God. Both then attach the image of spiritual betrothal, which is crowned by spiritual marriage, the deepest and most lasting union with God.
Just as with Ruisbroek, we also find an older division into seven stages with Teresa. The first three stages involve the distant preparation for the mystical life, turning away from creatures, turning towards God, practicing virtues, and active recollection, and they actually belong more to asceticism. The four highest stages describe the mystical life itself. Teresa outlines these seven stages in her description of the seven mansions of the interior castle in the book “El Castillo interior” (The Interior Castle), which can be considered a masterpiece of mystical literature.
When we focus particularly on the way the relationship with God is sought and found, viewing the mystical life primarily as a life of prayer, then meditation is the first stage, the pouring out of the heart or affective prayer is the second, and the ascent to contemplation, simple and straightforward (1) prayer is the third stage. This is also known as the prayer of recollection or inner prayer. Recollection then serves as a transition to the mystical life, in that active recollection transforms into passive recollection and this gives rise to the prayer of peace, which is generally understood as the fourth stage. The fifth stage is ecstatic prayer, during which the soul is captured and lifted to God. Teresa distinguishes three phases here: rapture, ecstasy (2), and spirit's flight (3), which differ in intensity and fervor with which the soul is captivated by God. The sixth stage is the prayer of total surrender and self-giving to God, the spiritual betrothal, which culminates in an even deeper and more permanent union with God, spiritual marriage.
(1) In the sense of simplicity and straightforwardness, which are divine properties and which humanity also possesses as one created in God's image.
(2) The Castle Within, Sixth Mansion, Chapter 4.
(3) The Castle Within, Sixth Mansion, Chapter 5.
Excerpted from the book: Engagierte Mystik
Author: Titus Brandsma
Published by: Bonifatius-Verlag Paderborn, 1991
Translated by: Norbert Žuška, O.Carm.
