As long as Jesus findeth not His image reformed in thee, He is strange, and the farther from thee; therefore frame and shape thyself to be arrayed in His likeness, that is in humility and charity, which are His liveries, and then will He know thee, and familiarly come to thee, and acquaint thee with His secrets. Thus saith He to His disciples: Whoso loveth Me, he shall be loved of My Father, and I will manifest Myself unto him. (John Climacus)

It is active love of God, humility before God and neighbor, and practical love of neighbor that transforms noise into song.

Such love will, no doubt, edge out much of what clutters our lives and distracts us from God. In opening ourselves to Jesus we will shed much of the dusty, tarnished, tattered, stinking stuff we have accumulated.

But begin with love, and love some more, and more again. Loving and opening ourselves to be loved will reform us more truly and fully than any self-centered spring cleaning.

Here thou seest how our Lord calleth thee, and all others that will hearken to Him. And what hindereth thee that thou canst neither see nor hear Him? Soothly there is so much din and noise in thy heart of vain thoughts and fleshly desires, that thou canst neither hear Him nor see Him? Therefore put away those unquiet noises, and destroy the love of sin and vanity, and bring into thy heart the love of virtues and full charity, and then shalt thou hear thy Lord speak to thee. (John Climacus)

The din certainly includes anxiety and fear. Envy generates quite a noise. Pride can be the loudest of all. These should be put away.

But I still recall a summer afternoon at a Lake Michigan beach when a cacophony of traffic, conversation, yells, whoops, and a wide range of boom box music struck me as the most beautiful symphony.

The divide between vanity and virtue can be slight. It depends a great deal on context and intention, especially our awareness of God's presence and our openness to God.

Nevertheless I believe thou sleepest oftener to Him than He doth to thee; for He calleth thee full oft with His sweet, secret voice, and stirreth thy heart full stilly, that thou shouldst leave all other jangling of other vanities in thy soul, and hearken only to Him. Thus saith David in the person of our Lord: Hear, O daughter, and consider; incline thine ear, and forget thy own people and thy father’s house. That is, forget the people of thy worldly thoughts, and the house of thy fleshly and natural affections. (John Climacus)

On one occasion it is reported that Jesus seemed to forget his own people and his father's house. (Matthew 12:46-50)

But subsequent events suggest this was much more an effort to extend his listener's sense of people and house than a denial of his own.

In his relationship with his mother Mary, with his friends Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and with his community of disciples, Jesus displays great natural affection.

But we also see in the relationships of Jesus an atypical definition of natural affection.

Jesus has profound integrity, he does not change to fit the expectations of friends and family. And he fully and utterly gives himself - his true self - to the other and the relationship.

The image is of Jesus sitting with Martha and Mary by Rembrandt.

Thus saith He Himself in the Gospel: The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a treasure hid in the field, the which when a man findeth, for joy thereof, he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Jesus is a treasure hid in the soul. Then if thou couldst find Him in thy soul, and thy soul in Him, I am sure for joy thereof thou wouldst part with the liking of all earthly things to have Him. Jesus sleepeth in thy heart spiritually, as He did sometime bodily when He was in the ship with His disciples; but they, for fear of perishing, wakened Him, and soon after He saved them from a tempest. Do thou so, stir Him up by prayer, and waken Him with great crying of desire, and He will soon rise and help thee. (John Climacus)

Yet we need not part with all earthly things to have Him. Rather, we will know greater abundance through our friendship with Him.

There is much that distracts us. There is much we would be better to give up.

But the kingdom of heaven is at hand, waiting for us to grasp it. Jesus is already in our heart, waiting for us to welcome Him into every aspect of our life.

Jesus does not sleep. But he will not intrude. He is waiting to be invited.

Open your mind. Open your heart. Open your soul to the world waiting, the world made for you.

Nevertheless thou art never the nearer Him till thou hast found Him. He is in thee, though He be lost from thee; but thou art not in Him till thou hast found Him. This is His mercy also, that He would suffer Himself to be lost only there, where He may be found, so that thou needest not run to Rome, nor to Jerusalem to seek Him there, but turn thy thoughts into thy own soul where He is hid, as the Prophet saith: Truly thou art the hidden God, hid in thy soul, and seek Him there. (John Climacus)

Soul is an Old English word for our spiritual and/or emotional identity.

The Hebrew scriptures refer most often to nephesh, that which differentiates life from death: desire, activity, passion emotion, and such.

The Gospels write of psuche. Jesus said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:27). In this instance, heart, mind, and soul are each psuche.

There is recent speculation regarding a "God gene" and a region of the brain that is especially active in spiritual people.

My essential identity is as a child of God. Fulfillment is an outcome of living coherently with that identity.

See then the mercy and courtesy of Jesus. Thou hast lost Him, but where? Soothly in thy house, that is to say, in thy soul, that if thou hadst lost all thy reason of thy soul by its first sin, thou shouldst never have found Him again; but He left thee thy reason, and so He is still in thy soul, and never is quite lost out of it. (John Climacus)

Can we lose what remains with us?

We can misplace, neglect, and worse... but Jesus remains with us.

Jesus abides with us even when we have forgotten him.

Many religious people mistrust reason, preferring the emotional encounter.

Climacus seems to say that spiritual rediscovery comes from self-examination, self-criticism, and a careful consideration of reality.

The image is of the Resurrection by El Greco.

This groat will not be found so easily as ‘tis thought, for this work is not of one hour nor of one day, but many days and years, with much sweat and labour of body and travail of soul. And if thou cease not, but seek busily, sigh and sorrow deeply, mourn stilly,and stoop low, till thine eyes water for anguish and for pain, for that thou hast lost thy treasure Jesus, at the last (when His will is) well shalt thou find thy groat Jesus. When thou hast found Him, as I have said, that is when in purity of conscience feelest the familiar and peaceful presence of that blessed man Jesus Christ, at least a shadow or glimmering of Him; thou mayest, if thou wilt, call all thy friends to thee to make mirth with thee and melody, for that thou hast found thy groat Jesus. (John Climacus)

This groat - substantiveness, thickness, greatness - is available to all at every moment. But few know it even for a moment.

We are busy, but not in seeking. We sigh, but not because we have lost Jesus. We are sorrowful over emphemera, while unaware of the joy we have misplaced.

I doubt, though, that purity of conscience is the salve for our blindness. More likely, purity of acceptance... both of ourselves and Jesus.

I mean not perfectly all; for as David saith: Who knoweth all his trespasses? As who should say, no man. And thou shalt cast out of thy heart all such sins, and sweep thy soul clean with the besom of the fear of God, and wash it with thy tears, and so shalt thou find thy groat, Jesus; He is thy groat, thy penny, thy heritage. (John Climacus)

It is my impression - and slight experience - that it is less a matter of me casting out, than allowing Jesus to enter in.

The doubt, pride, and emptiness that is the source of sin is replaced by the fullness of love and joy in Jesus.

The sinful clutter is swept aside to reveal the beauty and strength God intended.

For as our Lord saith: The lanthorn (or light) of thy body is thy bodily eye. Right so may it be said, that the lanthorn of thy soul is reason, by the which thy soul may see all spiritual things. By this lanthorn mayest thou find Jesus, that is if thou hold up this lanthorn from underneath the bushel, as our Lord saith: No man lighteth a (candle or) lanthorn to set it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick. That is to say, thy reason must not be overlaid with earthly business, or vain thoughts, and earthly affections, but always upwards, above all vain thoughts and earthly things as much as thou canst. If thou do so, thou shalt see all the dust, all the filth and small motes in thy house (for He is light itself), that is to say, all fleshly loves and fears in thy soul. (John Climacus)

Reason will illuminate, if not obscured by clutter.

Reason is especially susceptible to being distracted by pride, lust, envy, and such.

But it is also with reason that we can see the clutter and choose to clear it away.

Reason combined with wholehearted purpose is very bright.

Reason joined to God's purpose is a great beacon.

The image is of the rose window at Freiburg Cathedral.

Be thou, then, like the woman in the Gospel, of whom our Lord saith: What woman is there, that hath lost her groat and doth not light a candle, and turn her house upside down, and seek till she finds it? As who should say, there is none but would do so. And when she hath found it, she calleth to her friends, and saith to them thus: Make mirth with me and melody, for I have found my groat which I had lost. This groat is Jesus which thou hast lost, and if thou wilt find Him, light up a lanthorn, that is God’s Word, as David saith: Thy Word is a lanthorn to my feet.By this lanthorn shalt thou see where He is, and how to find Him. And if thou wilt, thou mayest together with this, light up another lanthorn, that is the reason of thy soul. (John Climacus)

Clutter is the cause.

Piles of shoes, old newspapers, dirty dishes, last weeks clothes...

Anxiety, guilt, shame, pride, anger, doubt and so much more.

The clutter obscures the beauty and wholeness of life.

Clear away the accumulated trash, make room for the light of Jesus to pour in.

Seek, then, Jesus, whom thou hast lost, for He would be sought, and is desirous to be found, for He Himself saith: Every one that seeketh findeth. The seeking is painful, but the finding is joyful; do, therefore, after the counsel of the wise man, if thou wilt find Him: If thou shalt seek wisdom (that is Jesus) like silver, and as treasures shalt dig her up, then shalt thou understand the fear of our Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God. It behoveth thee to delve deep in thy heart, for therein Jesus is hid, and cast out perfectly all loves and likings, sorrows and fears of all earthly things, and so shalt thou find wisdom, that is Jesus. (John Climacus)

Jesus is not hiding, but we have hidden Jesus.

We cannot excise Jesus from our heart - our identity - but we can clutter our identity and neglect Jesus.

Jesus also might have left God at the margins, but he made the better choice and shows us how to restore God to the center of our identity.

We are children of God. Jesus is already in our heart. Our choice is not a matter of radical change, but honest acceptance of our fundamental identity.

We are playing hide-and-seek with Jesus. Olly-olly-oxen-free.

As if he had said, Lord Jesus, what heavenly joy is liking to me without desire of Thee, whilst I am on earth, or without love of Thee when I come to Heaven? As who should say, right none. If, then, thou wilt feel anything of Him, bodily or spiritually, covet nothing but only to feel in truth within thee a desire of His grace and of His merciful presence, so that thou mayest think that it is not possible for thy heart to find any rest in anything but in Him. Thus coveted David, when he said thus: My soul hath coveted, or longed after, the desire of thy righteousness at all times. Seek, then, as David did, desire by desire. And if thou feelest, by thy desire in prayers and in meditations, the familiar presence of Jesus Christ in thy soul, bind thy heart fast thereto, that it fall not from it; and if thou shouldst stumble, that thou mayest soon find Him again. (John Climacus)

Of all the saints did any stumble more than David?

Still, we honor him and envy the depth of his relationship with God.

While David sinned as much as, perhaps more than, most of us, he was much quicker to recognize and repent of his sins than I am.

If David sinned boldly, so too was he bold in self-awareness and seeking God's forgiveness.

Today I will, almost certainly, stumble. Will I reach out to God in helping me up?

The image is of Bathsheba going to David by Cecchino del Salviati.

Verily I had rather feel and have a true and clean desire in my heart to my Lord Jesus Christ, though I see little of Him With my spiritual eye, than to have without this desire all the bodily penance of all men living, all visions, all revelations of Angels appearing, all songs and sounding to the ear, all tastes and smellings, fervours or any delights, or bodily feelings, and (to be brief) all the joys of heaven and earth which are possible to be had, without this desire to my Lord Jesus. David the Prophet felt (as I conceive) this desire in himself, when he said thus: What have I in Heaven but Thee, and what can I desire on earth besides Thee? (John Climacus)

To desire Jesus is to know him, be in relationship with him, and to experience his love.

Some have observed that humankind is divided into those who would be lover or beloved.

Often this distinction is extended to a division between active and passive.

I read Climacus as seeking to be both lover and beloved. He desires Jesus. He is an active lover of Jesus.

But Climacus is also active in seeking to be the beloved of Jesus. He knows that Jesus loves him. But it is a love that must be received.

And though it be so, that thou feelest Him in devotion, or in knowing, or by any other gift or grace, rest not there, as though thou hadst fully found Jesus; but forget that which thou hast found, and always be desiring after Jesus more and more, to find Him better, as though thou hadst right nought found in Him. For wot thou well, that what thou feelest of Him, be it never so much, yea, though thou wert ravished with St Paul into the third heaven, yet hast thou not found Jesus as He is in His joy, know thou, or feel thou never so much of Him, He is still above it. And therefore, if thou wilt fully find Him, as He is in His joy, do thou never cease from spiritual desiring and loving of Him, whilst thou livest. (John Climacus)

From the midst of Zechariah's obscure tales of battle, Charles Jennen, librettist for the Messiah, extracted a joyful phrase, which a depressed and indebted Georg Friderich Handel tranformed into a hymn of celebration

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

The joy of Jesus comes in surprising ways and at moments least expected. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Listen to Renee Fleming sing Handel's air.

Therefore if it come into thy mind, asking as it were of thyself: What has thou lost, and what seekest thou? lift up thy mind and the desire of thy heart to Jesus Christ, though thou be blind, and canst see nought of His Godhead, and say that: Him hast thou lost, and Him wouldst thou have, and nothing but Him, to be with Him where His is. No other joy, no other bliss in Heaven or in earth, but Him. (John Climacus)

I have lost - most of us have lost - an abiding relationship with God.

We are in relationship with God, this we cannot escape nor deny.

But I do not abide - continue, remain, patiently engage - with God.

In the example of Jesus I can know how a human might abide with God.

And in seeking, no matter how awkwardly, to be be friends with Jesus I can abide again with God.

The image is of Christ by Leonardo DaVinci.

If, then, thou feelest a great desire in thy heart to Jesus, either by calling to mind this name Jesus, or by minding, or thinking, or saying of any other word; or in Prayer, or Meditation, or any other deed which thou dost; which desire is so much, that it putteth out, as it were, by force all other thoughts and desires of the world, and of the flesh, that they rest not in thy heart; then seekest thou well thy Lord Jesus. And when thou feelest this desire to God, or to Jesus (for it is all one), holpen and comforted by a ghostly might, insomuch that it is turned into love, affection, and spiritual savour and sweetness, into light and knowing of truth, so that for the time, the point of thy thought is set upon no other created thing, nor feeleth any stirring of vainglory, nor of self-love, nor any other evil affection (for they cannot appear at that time), but this thy desire is only enclosed, rested, softened, suppled, and anointed in Jesus, then hast thou found somewhat of Jesus; I mean not Him as He is, but a shadow of Him; for the better that thou findest Him, the more shalt thou desire Him. Then observe by what manner of prayer, or meditation, or exercise of devotion thou findest greatest and purest desire stirred up in thee to Him, and most feeling of Him, by that kind of prayer, exercise or work seekest thou Him best, and shalt best find Him. (John Climacus)

When, where, and how do I best know Jesus?

On early mornings, at home, with the song birds greeting the rising sun.

Reading and responding in writing, sipping coffee, as a new day unfolds.

Being where I belong, doing what I ought, at a new beginning.

Thank you Jesus for joining me and making me whole.

Nevertheless inasmuch as thou hast not as yet seen what it is fully, for thy spiritual eye is not yet opened, I shall tell thee one word for all, in the which thou shalt seek, desire and find it; for in that one word is all that thou hast lost. This word is Jesus: I mean not this word Jesus painted upon the wall, as written in letters on the book, or formed by lips in sound of the mouth, or framed in thy mind by imagination, for in this wise may a man that is void of charity find Him; but I mean Jesus Christ, that blessed Person, God and Man, Son of the Virgin Mary, whom this name betokeneth; that is all goodness, endless wisdom, love and sweetness, thy joy, thy glory, and thy everlasting bliss, thy God, thy Lord, and thy salvation.(John Climacus)

We were created to be in relationship with each other and - especially - with God.

We fell out of right relations through envy, pride, and an over-reaching sense of ourselves.

When we leave the path of peace there are painful consequences. We have suffered predictable results.

God sent angels, prophets, and priests. But we remained stiff-necked and unhearing.

Jesus came to live among us, personifying the path of peace and calling us to return to the way we were created to walk.

Seek, then, that which thou hast lost, that thou mayest find it; for well I wot, whosoever once hath an inward sight, but a little of that dignity and that spiritual fairness which a soul hath by creation, and shall have again by grace, he will loathe in his heart all the bliss, the liking and the fairness of this world, as the stink of carrion; and he will never have any will or mind to do other deed, night or day (save what mere need of nature requireth) but desire, mourn, seek, and pray how he may come again thereto. (John Climacus)

Jesus did not loathe this world. He loved it enough to die for it.

But Jesus did seek to reclaim the way in which we engage the world.

Our desire for wealth, power, security, prestige, and sexual adventure is misplaced. Compared to God's intention for us these are but stinking carrion.

Jesus shows us how to reject what is dead and embrace what is wholly alive.

God's creation is full of bliss, beauty, and bounty, but to find these means to walk the path of God's purpose.

The image is of the woman anointing the feet of Jesus by Peter Paul Rubens.

I do not say that in this life thou canst recover so whole and so perfect a cleanness and innocency, knowing and loving of God, as thou hadst at first, and shalt have hereafter, neither mayest escape all the wretchedness and pains of sin; nor that thou living in mortal flesh canst wholly destroy and kill within thee all false vain loves, nor eschew all venial sins, but that they will (unless they be stopped by great fervour of charity) spring out of thy heart, as water doth out of a stinking well. But I wish that if thou canst not fully quench it, yet thou mayest somewhat slack it, and come as near as thou canst to cleanness of soul. For our Lord promised to the children of Israel, when He led them into the land of Promise, and in them by a figure to all Christians, saying: All the land which thy foot shall tread upon shall be thine. That is to say, so much land as thou canst tread upon with thy foot of true desire, so much shalt thou have in the land of Promise, namely, in the bliss of Heaven, when thou comest thither. (John Climacus)

Do our passions motivate us to sin or do we mistake the object of our passions? Climacus references our "false vain loves."

We may strive for wealth; but doesn't this begin in a search for security?

We may strive for recognition; but doesn't this begin in a desire to be truly known?

We may strive for sexual conquest; but doesn't this begin in an urge for true intimacy?

God invites us into an intimate relationship where in coming to know ourselves as God knows us we will find true security.

Nevertheless, though this that I have said be true, through the endless mercy of God to thee and to me and to all mankind we are not, therefore, in confidence hereof to be more careless, or wilfully negligent in our living; but the more busy to please Him, and the rather, because now we are restored again in hope by the passion of our Lord, to the dignity and bliss which we had lost by Adam’s sin. Though we should prove not to be able to recover it fully here in this life, yet should we desire and endeavour to recover the image and likeness of the dignity we had, so that our soul might be reformed, as it were in a shadow, by grace to the image of the Trinity which we had by nature, and hereafter shall have fully in bliss. For that is the life which is truly contemplative to begin here, in that feeling of love and spiritual knowing of God, by opening of the spiritual eye, which shall never be lost nor taken away, but shall be perfected in a far higher manner in heaven. Thus did our Lord promise to St Mary Magdalen (that was a true Contemplative) when He told her that she had chosen the better part (which was the love of God in Contemplation) that should never be taken from her. (John Climacus)

According to Climacus we are made - our essential function - is to love and know God. This is the life to which we are called today.

Our ability to make this choice is exemplified by a vignette from the close of the tenth chapter of Luke:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Today will I choose what is better... or will I be distracted, worried and upset about many things?

As if He had said: Ye that are My friends, because ye have kept My commandments, and preferred My love before the love of the world, and loved me more than any earthly thing, ye shall be fed with the spiritual food of the Bread of life. But ye that are more than My friends, that not only kept My commandments, but also of your own free will fulfilled My counsels, and loved Me entirely with all the powers of your souls, and burned in My love with spiritual delight (as especially did the apostles and martyrs and all other souls that through grace came to the gift of perfection) ye shall be made drunken with the noblest and freshest wine in My cellar, which is the supreme joy of love in heaven. (John Climacus)

The Sufi poet Rumi wrote,

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
we worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

The image is of The Wedding Feast at Cana by Paolo Veronese

Some are perfect souls, who in this life are filled with charity and graces of the Holy Spirit, and sing most sweetly and lovingly to God in Contemplation of Him, with wonderful sweetness and heavenly savour. These because they have most charity and grace of the Holy Ghost shall have the highest reward in the bliss of heaven, for these are called God’s darlings. Others there be, not disposed or enabled to Contemplation, nor having the perfection of charity (as the apostles and martyrs had in the beginning of the holy Church), these shall have a lower reward in the bliss of Heaven, for these are called God’s friends, for thus doth our Lord call them: Eat, O My friends, and be inebriated, O My darlings." (John Climacus)

I will admit that my visceral reaction is to prefer being called friend than darling.

The Greek αγαπημένη can mean sweetheart, dear, beloved, chosen-one. It is usually, but not always, applied to a woman.

My visceral reaction is grounded in self-pride, a desire to remain separate, and a sense of dignity (such as it is).

But truth be known, my dignity is a thin veil that cannot cover the foolish truth and I am unhappy being separated.

In submitting myself wholly to God I might aspire to be called "O my darling."

Also I may affirm on the other side, that he that cannot love this blessed name Jesus with a spiritual joy, nor increase in it with heavenly melody here, shall never have nor feel in Heaven the fulness of sovereign joy, which he that could so love it in this life by abundance of perfect charity in Jesus shall then have and feel in Heaven, and so may their saying be understood. Nevertheless he shall be saved, and have great reward in Heaven from God, whosoever in this life is in the lowest degree of charity by keeping God’s commandments. For our Lord saith: In My Father’s house are sundry mansions. (John Climacus)

We are invited to love with spiritual joy, heavenly melody, and an abundance of perfect charity.

If we are able to experience such fulness of love in this life, we shall surely have it in the next.

Such love is found in the name, identity, life, and example of Jesus. He gave his life so that we might live ours abundantly.

Right so it is to a man that is sick spiritually, and feeleth the pain thereof; nothing is so dear, nor so needful, nor so much coveted by him, as is ghostly health, and that is Jesus, without whom all the joys of Heaven cannot please him. And this is the reason (as I take it) why our Lord when He took man’s nature upon Him for our salvation, would not be called by a name betokening His infinite essence, or His wisdom, or His justice, but only by that which betokened the cause of His coming, namely, the salvation of man’s soul, which salvation this name Jesus betokened. Hereby, then, it appeareth that none can be saved unless he love salvation, to have it through the mercy of our Lord Jesus only, by the merits of His passion; which love he may have that liveth and dieth in the very lowest degree of charity. (John Climacus)

In the ancient world one's name was thought to reflect one's identity.

Jesus is another form of Joshua or Hosea or Yeshua, males names which are derived from the Hebrew ישה (yasha')

Yasha' is to be saved, delivered, liberated, helped, or victorious. In Isaiah 30:15 we read, "For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, 'In repentance and rest you will be saved (yasha'), In quietness and trust is your strength'."

We are to seek out and to love the identity of Jesus - repentance and rest, quietness and trust - that personifies yasha'.

In this way we will experience salvation and victory.

To this I answer that (in my opinion) their saying (if it be well understood) is true, and no whit contrary to what I have said, for this Name Jesus is nothing else in English but healer or health. Now every man that liveth in this wretched life is spiritually sick, for there is no man that liveth without sin, which is a spiritual sickness, as St John saith of himself, and of other perfect men thus: If we say we have no sin, we beguile ourselves, and there is as no truth in us. Therefore he can never come to the joy of Heaven, till he be first healed of this ghostly sickness. But this spiritual healing may no man have (that hath the use of reason) except he desire it, and love it, and have delight therein, inasmuch as he hopeth to get it. (John Climacus)

We do not seek out a physician until we recognize we are ill.

To diagnose the illness we will be asked to identify our symptoms.

The good physician will use our symptoms to identify the cause of our illness.

In most cases treating the illness will require a change in behavior.

Denying symptoms, diagnosis, or prescription will merely continue - and often deepen - our disease.

But thou wilt object: If this be true that thou sayest, I wonder greatly at that which I find in some holy men’s books, for some say (as I understand them) that he that cannot love this blessed Name Jesus nor find and feel in it spiritual joy and delight with sweetness, shall be a stranger to the bliss of Heaven, and never come there. Verily when I read these words, they astonished me, making me afraid. For I hope (as you have said) that through the mercy of our Lord they shall be safe, by keeping of the commandments and by true repentance for their former evil life, who never felt any such spiritual sweetness, in the Name of Jesus, and therefore I marvel the more, to find them say (as me thinketh) the contrary hereto. (John Climacus)

Because I read and consider Climacus in such brief passages, I may be misconstruing his meaning. But he seems to say here that salvation - experienced as life-after-death - comes through repentance.

Salvation does not, according to Climacus, require loving Jesus or feeling spiritual joy. For Climacus this is clearly a grace and blessing, for he understands repentance to be much easier than love or joy. I will, at least in part, grant the point.

But I wonder if true repentance is possible without - or at least until - we are in a loving relationship with Jesus. I do not doubt that for some repentance is where the path must begin. But I doubt repentance can be sustained purely by human will.

Further, it begs the meaning of salvation. As I understand it we are to love our God, with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-40) It is as an outcome of this loving relationship with God, neighbor, and self that we are redeemed, fulfilled, saved, and able to live life abundantly.

I am concerned that the Pharisees pursued repentance alone as the path to salvation. Jesus clearly said that path fell short of God's intention.

All this thou knowest well, but yet it delights me to recite and speak of it, that thou mayest see the endless mercy of our Lord, how low He falleth to thee and to me and to all sinful caitiffs; ask mercy therefore, and have it. Thus saith the Prophet in the person of our Lord: Every one that calleth upon the Name of our Lord shall be saved; that is to say, asketh salvation by Jesus and His Passion. This courtesy of our Lord some men understand aright, and are saved thereby, and others in trust of this mercy and this courtesy lie still in their sins, and think to have the benefit of it when they list, but they are mistaken, for they are taken ere they are aware, and so damn themselves. (John Climacus)

A considerable portion of religious writing is concerned with life-after-death. I have not seen nor have I conducted a careful study, but Jesus seemed to give much more attention to life-before-death.

Paul shifted the proportion. He was so convinced of the imminent parasouia, that life-after-death became the principal focus. This focus continued for John Climacus and for many until today.

The death-watch has implications for how we live. Where Jesus proclaims abundance, many of his followers speak of sin. Where Jesus calls for love, many seeking to be faithful insist on restraint.

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

The image is an allegory of abundance by Sandro Botticelli.

And, therefore, if thou think I have herein spoken too high, because thou canst neither understand it well, nor practise it according as I have delivered, I will now descend to thee, and fall as low as thou canst desire, both for thy profit and my own. Then say thus: though thou be never so much a wretch, and hast committed never so great sins, do but forsake thyself and all thy works done, both good and bad, and cry God mercy, and ask salvation only by virtue of this precious Passion, and that with a good trust, and without doubt thou shalt have it. And as for original sin, and all other thou shalt be safe, yea, as safe as an anchoret that is enclosed. And not only thou, but all Christian souls that trust upon His Passion and humble themselves, acknowledging their wretchedness, asking mercy and forgiveness, and the fruit of this precious Passion only, and submitting themselves to the Sacraments of holy Church, though it be so that they have been encumbered with sin all their lifetime, and never had feeling of spiritual favour or sweetness, or ghostly knowledge of God, yet shall they in this faith, and in their good will, by virtue of this precious Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ be safe, and come to the bliss of Heaven. (John Climacus)

I forsake all I am and have done and ask salvation only by virtue of God's precious mercy.

I seek and submit myself to the sacraments - baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance and reconciliation, matrimony - and every outward sign of God's grace.

I ask for and endeavor to act consistently with the faith and good will by which I may accept God's grace.

Surely the Passion of Christ is the most profound of all the sacraments. But I do not perceive it as an exchange of our sins for Christ's pain.

I am sure that each day I am a source of sorrow for God. I give thanks for God's love, patience, and persistence.

Every man that liveth in spirit understandeth well all this. This is the soul’s wretchedness and our mischief for the first man’s sin besides all other wretchedness and sins which thou hast wilfully added thereto. And know thou well that hadst thou never committed any sin with is thy body, either mortal or venial, but only this which is called original (for that is the first sin, and is nothing else but the losing of our righteousness which we were created in), thou shouldst never have been saved, had not our Lord Jesus Christ by His precious Passion delivered thee, and restored thee again. (John Climacus)

I disagree with almost every aspect of what Climacus writes here.

The concept of original sin has poetic power to explain human pride. I do not perceive it explains God's precise intent.

The notion of trading the pain of Jesus for our sin has never comported with my understanding of God's justice.

What I understand of the life and example of Jesus is that God loves us, wants us to live a whole and fulfilling live, and is ready to help us claim that potential.

Sin separates me from God and from my best self. Working with God to stop my sinning remains important, but for reasons different than those Climacus gives here.

See then the wretchedness of thy soul, for as the Memory was something established and fixed upon God, so now it hath forgotten Him and seeketh its rest in the creatures, now in one creature and then in another, and never can find full rest, having lost Him in whom is full rest. So it is with the Understanding and the Will and affections, both which were pure in spiritual favour and sweetness but now is turned into a foul, beastly lust and liking in itself and in the creatures and in fleshly favours, both in the senses as in gluttony and lechery; and in the imagination, as in pride, vain-glory and covetousness, insomuch that thou canst do no good deed but it is defiled with vain-glory; nor canst thou easily make use of any of thy five senses cleanly upon anything that is pleasant, but thy heart will be taken and enflamed with a vain lust and liking of it, which putteth out the love of God from thy heart, so that no feeling of love or spiritual favour may come into it. (John Climacus)

Lust, selfishness, gluttony, lechery, pride, vain-glory and covetousness are real. They certainly emerge from being separate from God.

To focus our memory, will, and reason on God's nature, expression, and intention will bring us closer.

I am not, however, sure that finding "full rest" is God's intention for us. Perhaps Climacus means rest as in being grounded.

There are sixteen Greek words that we translate as rest. I don't know which one Climacus used.

εἰρήνη or eirene captures my own sense of God's intention. Often translated as harmony or peace, it was for the Greeks the outcome of active engagement. The Greek goddess Eirene was usually shown carrying a cornucopia (prosperity), scepter, (good order), and a torch (enlightenment). She was one of three goddesses who created the potential for a good life.

The image above is of the three Horae dancing with mortals by Edward John Poynter.

This was the dignity and worth of man’s soul by nature at his first creation, which thou hadst in Adam before the first sin. But when Adam sinned, choosing love and delight in himself and in the creatures, he lost all his excellency and dignity, and thou, also, in him, and fell from that Blessed Trinity into a foul, dark, wretched trinity; that is to say, into forgetting of God and ignorance of himself, and into a beastly love and liking of himself, and all this he did wittingly and willingly. For, as David saith in the Psalter: Man being in honour understood it not, and, therefore, he lost it, and became like a beast. (John Climacus)

I do not perceive that humans are fallen creatures.

Rather I perceive we are ascending creatures.

The notion of a perfect past, while common to so many cultures, does not conform to my understanding.

But we do seem to be endowed with a remarkable potential for generousity, compassion, and love.

Few of us fulfill this potential. But there are examples, even from moments in our own lives. This is not beastly.