A Monk of the West

Christianity and the Doctrine of Non-Dualism

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

How is the Supreme Identity of Hinduism related to the hypostatic union of Christianity? Does the "pure" spirituality of the East complement the "practical" spirituality of the West? What is the relationship between Oriental quietism and Christian deliverance? The anonymous author of this work, a Cistercian monk, wrote these short but profound reflections out of an earnest desire to bring aspects of the Hindu tradition to the attention of a Western readership. With a subtle care for detail, he clarifies the relationship between the hypostatic union embodied in the person of Christ and the Supreme Identity of Atma and Brahma, two distinct notions seemingly opposed in certain respects but curiously compatible in unexpected ways. With characteristic humility, the author writes: 'We will say unequivocally that after more than forty years of intellectual reflection on this doctrine, we have found nothing that has seemed incompatible with our full and complete faith in the Christian Revelation.' Given the attraction Indian thought exercises on contemporary Western spirituality, these pages offer the Christian a welcome deepening of access to the spirit of the Hindu perspective. The radical disparity that seemingly exists between the phrase 'I am Brahma' and the sacred formula of the Eucharistic consecration 'This is my Body' melts away, allowing these separate worlds to shed new meaning on each other. The author outlines conditions leading to a doctrinal accord between the Advaita Vedanta and orthodox Christian doctrine. He writes at one point that although these two traditional perspectives 'do not pertain to the same order of Reality, hypostatic union and Supreme Identity are not in themselves metaphysically incompatible. . . . What order links them together, because all that is real must be integrated in one way or another into the universal order?" For Western readers, this work offers a better understanding of Hinduism in light of the Christian experience and suggests a better application of Christian principles within our modern lives in light of the profound spirituality of the Eastern tradition. Concerned with a more accurate interpretation of non-duality in the light of Christian philosophy and experience, the author creates the right conditions in which East meets West through an interpretation and analysis of their respective spiritual philosophies, how they differ and how they can become an expression of the perennial philosophy that unites these two distinct traditions.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Angelico Press/Sophia Perennis
• Seitenzahl: 160
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. September 2004
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 9mm
• Gewicht: 242g
• ISBN-13: 9780900588822
• ISBN-10: 0900588829
• Artikelnr.: 21568148

Autorenporträt

Alphonse Levée, a lay brother of the austere Cistercian Order who later used the transparent pseudonym of "Elie Lemoine" (Elias the monk), was born at Paris in 1911. His father was a skeptic, his mother a devout Catholic. His secondary education was at a commercial high school, and he did the usual compulsory military service. In 1938, while on assignment on behalf of a Parisian commercial house, he he was caught up in the events of World War II and had to remain there until 1946. Around the age of twenty he had come upon a copy of René Guénon's East and West at a second-hand book stall, which he later described as dazzling and numinous (indeed, it marked him for the remainder of his life). He corresponded with Guénon, and although this correspondence was cut off by the War, it was undoubtedly influential in his decision to pursue a monastic vocation in a contemplative order, a decision taken when he was about thirty years old, although his vocation was delayed because he had become the sole support of his mother. But she died in 1951, and later the same year he entered the great Abbey of La Trappe, the mother house of the OCSO, the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. At La Trappe he lived for decades in quiet anonymity, though judging from what is known of his later years his interior life was anything but idle and unfruitful. He became thoroughly familiar with the works of St Thomas Aquinas, with the Church Fathers, especially those in favor in Latin Christianity, and among these latter especially St Bernard of Clairvaux (whom Catholics consider the last of the Fathers). All the while he continued to study works pertaining to the Vedanta, those of Guénon as well as the Hindu authorities on this darshana, notably Shankara. It is worth noting that when he became a Trappist he inevitably brought with him conceptual influences derived from years of studying Guénon and the Vedanta, and that he was not asked to jettison this (which would hardly have been possible) but was allowed to pursue these interests, and even encouraged to do so. The French original of the present work was originally published in 1982 with the permission of Brother Elias's monastic superiors and with the encouragement of several clerics, among them a responsible theologian and a Vatican cardinal. The original edition carries the subtitle: jalons pour un accord doctrinal entre l'Eglise et le Vedanta ("landmarks for a doctrinal accord between the Church and the Vedanta"). During this time, Brother Elias author wrote a second work entitled Theologia Sine Metaphysica Nihil, first published in French in 1991, the year of his death.