Читать книгу The School of Charity - Evelyn Underhill - Страница 9

In this little book, which is based upon the principal articles of the Nicene Creed, I have tried to suggest to the modern Christian how close the connection is between the great doctrines of his religion and that “inner life” which is too often regarded as a more spiritual alternative to orthodoxy: how rich and splendid is the Christian account of reality, and how much food it has to offer to the contemplative soul. We sometimes forget that, with hardly an exception, the greatest masters of the spiritual life speak to us from within the Church; accept its teachings, and are supported by its practices. They tell us, because of their own vivid sense of God, what full life within that Church really means and can be; they do not invite us to contract out of it. Their chief gift to us, their average brothers and sisters, does not consist in the production of striking spiritual novelties, but rather in the penetrating light which they cast on the familiar truths of religion; showing us that these truths are many-levelled, and will only yield up their unspeakable richness and beauty to those who take the trouble to dig below the surface, and seek for the Treasure which is still hidden in the field. If these chapters encourage others to explore their resources, and do a little quiet home digging for themselves—instead of relying upon foreign imports, doubtfully labelled “Higher Wisdom,” “Eastern Mysticism,” and the rest—their main purpose will have been achieved.

The first part of the book deals with the ruling fact of religion, the Reality and Nature of God; the second with the way that Reality and Nature are revealed within human life, and we lay hold of them; the third, with the kind of life they demand from us, and make possible. These are truths common to all Christians, whatever their “theological colour” may be; and moreover they are the truths which lie at the root of all valid Christian action, and give its special colour to the Christian outlook on the world. So, if it be thought that these meditations dwell too exclusively on the inner life and have no obvious practical bearing on the social and moral problems which beset us, let us remember that such a retreat to the spiritual is the best of all preparations for dealing rightly with the actual. For our real hope of solving these problems abides in bringing them into relation with the eternal truth of God; placing them within the radiance of Charity.

E.U.

Feast of St. Mary Magdalen,

1933.