Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas

Then was I stered to be set upright, underlening with helpe, for to have the more fredom of my hart to be at Gods will, and thinke on God while me life woulde last. ₁

In the first sentences of his “The Form of Living,” Richard Rolle writes that, within each woman or man that is “bound in deadly sin,” there are three afflictions which bring them endless pain and sorrow. ₂ The first affliction is a lack of spiritual strength, and those who experience it are “so weak within their heart that they may not withstand the temptations of the fiend, nor may they lift their will to yearn for God – and follow thereto.” ₃ In the sixth chapter of the same text, the 14^th century hermit writes, within the context of teaching on moderation in speech:

Also, regarding purity of speech, keep three things. One is that you think carefully [vmthyn þo] before ever you speak. Another is, that you do not speak much, but be of few words. And indeed, always to your heart be grounded [stabeld] in the love of Jesus Christ so that you think that you are always looking upon him [lokes ay on hym], whether you speak or not. But such a grace you may not have on the first day. However, to love him with long labor [trauell] and significant habitual practice [grete bysines … with custom], so that the eye of your heart be always turned upward [þat þe egh of þi hert be ay vpwarde], you shall come thereto. ₄

When, in the same text, Richard speaks of prayer, he advices: “When you pray, look not at how much you say, but how well – that the love of your heart be always pointed upward [þat þe lofe of þi hert be ay vpwarde] …” ₅  Such a spiritual orientation involves a discernment of the eternal and the impermanent: “Now may you see that whoever will love wisely, needs to love lastingly things lasting and passing things passingly, so that his heart by set and fastened on [þat his hert be sette & festend in] nothing but God.” ₆  In this text, “Ego Dormio et Cor Meum Vigilat,” after a meditation of the Passion of Jesus, Richard writes:

If you contemplate [thynk] this each day, you shall find sweetness that shall draw your heart up [sal draw þi hert vp]… and your thought shall be all on Jesus, and so be taken above all earthly things, above the firmament and the stars, so that the eye of your heart [þat þe egh of þi hert] may look into heaven. ₇  

These themes of lasting and passing things, the heart and those things toward which it is oriented, and the eye of the heart and its capacity to see eternal things, are gathered together in last section of The Form of Living, as the hermit radiantly depicts the path of spiritual practice and progress:   

A men or woman who is ordained to contemplative life – first God inspires them to forsake this world … Then he leads them by their own and speaks to their heart and, as the prophet says, He gives them … the sweetness of the beginning of love. And then he sets them in will to give themselves wholly to prayers and meditations and tears. Then when they have suffered many temptations and the disturbing noise of thoughts that are worthless … He causes them to gather to themselves their heart and set [it] only in Him, and opens to the eye of their souls the gates of heaven so that that same eye looks into heaven [gers þaim gader til þaim þaire hertis and fest þaim haally in hym: and opens til þe egth of þaire saul þe yhates of heeuen, swa þat þat ylke egthe lukes in til heeuen], and then the fire of love truly lies in their heart and burns therein and purifies it of earthly defilement. And from then forward, there are contemplative men, and enraptured in love. For contemplation is a vision [sight], and they see into heaven with their spiritual eye [se in til heeuen with þaire gastly egthe]. But you shall know that no one has perfect sight of heaven while they are living bodily here. Bot as soon as they die, they are brought before God and see Him face to face and eye to eye [eghe til eghe] … ₈     

Richard Rolle’s writings can provide some context for understanding Julian’s desire to be repositioned, to be “set upright,” to have her heart more open and available to meditate on God – and thus, to engage her dying as a contemplative.  

Endnotes

1. Julian of Norwich, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, Eds, Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins. University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, Chapter 2, lines 15-19, and page 131. Middle English: “In ilk a synful man or woman, þat es bunden in dedly syn, er thre wrechednes: þe wylk brynges þam to þe dede of helle.” (Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. D.S Brewer, 1985/1999, page 3).
2. The 14^th century text, The Pricke of Conscience states: “Dede of helle es noght elles to say, / bot payns and sorow yat sal last ay …”  (The Pricke of Conscience [Stimulus Conscientiæ]: A Northumbrian Poem.  Edited by Richard Morris. Berlin: Published for the Philological Society by A. 0Asher, 1863, page 49, chapter 1, lines 1754-1755. Retrieved from: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/BAU1376.0001.001/1:6?rgn=div1;view=fulltext) In my translation of Richard Rolle texts, I have benefitted greatly from the translation in: Rosamund Allen: Richard Rolle: The English Writings. Translated, edited, and introduced by Rosamund S. Allen. New York: Paulist Press, 1988.
3. Middle English: “Þe first es: defaute of gastly strenght: Þat þai er sa wayke with-in þair hert, þat þai may nouther stand agaynes þe fandynges of þe fende, ne þai may lyft þair will to ȝerne þe lofe of god, and folow þar-till.” (Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. D.S Brewer, 1985/1999, pages 3-4.)
4. Middle English: “Alswa, clennes of mouth, kepes thre thynges: Ane es, þat þow vmthynk þe before, or þou speke. A nother es, þat þou be not of mikel speche, but of litel; & namly ay til þi hert be stabeld in þe luf of Ihesu Cryst: Page  26 swa þat þe thynk þat þou lokes ay on hym, whether þou speke or noght. Bot swilk a grace may þou noght haue in þe fyrst day; bot with lang trauell, & grete bysines to lof hym with custom, so þat þe egh of þi hert be ay vpwarde, sall þou |com þar-till.” (Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. D.S Brewer, 1985/1999, pages 25-26).
5. Middle English: “When þou prayes, loke noght how mykel þou says, bot how wele: þat þe lofe of þi hert be ay vpwarde …” (Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. D.S Brewer, 1985/1999, page 30). Rosamund Allen notes that one manuscript of the text replaces the word “lofe” with the word “eigh” [eye]. (Rosamund Allen: Richard Rolle: The English Writings. Translated, edited, and introduced by Rosamund S. Allen. New York: Paulist Press, 1988, note #43, page 218).
6. Middle English: “Now may þow se þat wha sa will lufe wysely, hym behoues lufe lastand thyng lastandly; & passand thyng, passandly: swa þat his hert be sette & festend in nathyng bot in god.” (Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. D.S Brewer, 1985/1999, pages 41-42).
7. The title of this work is taken from the Song of Songs (5:2): “Ego dormio et cor meum vigilat vox dilecti mei pulsantis aperi mihi soror mea amica mea columba mea inmaculata mea quia caput meum plenum est rore et cincinni mei guttis noctium.” Douay–Rheims: “I sleep, and my heart watcheth: the voice of my beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the nights.” Middle English of the quotation: “If þou wil thynk þis ilk day, þou sal fynde swetnes þat sal draw þi hert vp … & þi thought sal al be on Ihesu, and so be receyued abouen all erthly thyng, abouen þe firmament & þe sternes, so þat þe egh of þi hert mai loke in til heuen.” (Horstman 58)
8. Middle English: “A man or woman þat es ordand til Countemplatif life, fyrst god enspires þaim to forsake þis werld … Sithen he leddis þaim by þaire ane and spekis til þaire hert: and als þe prophete says, he gifs þaim … þe swetnes of þe bygynnyng of luf; and þan he settis þaim in wille to gif þaim haally to prayers and meditacyons and teeris. Sithen when þai haf suffred many temptacyons, and þe foul noys of thoghtes þat er Idell … he gers þaim gader til þaim þaire hertis and fest þaim haally in hym: and opens til þe egth of þaire saul þe yhates of heeuen, swa þat þat ylke egthe lukes in til heeuen. And þan þe stye [fire] of luf verrayly ligges in þaire hert and brynnes þare-Inne, and makis it clenne of erthly fylth; and sithen-forthward þai er Contemplatife men and rauyshed in luf. For Contemplacyoune es a sygth: þai se in til heeuen with þaire gastly egthe. Bot þou sal wyte þat na man.has parfite sigth of heeuen whils þai er lifand bodyly here; bot als sone als þai dye, þai er brogth byfore god and seese hym face til face and eghe til eghe.” (Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. D.S Brewer, 1985/1999, pages 48-49). See Christopher Roman, “Opening the Inner Doors: Richard Rolle and the Space of the Soul.” Mystics Quarterly, 32, no. 3/4 (2006): 19–45.