Brief Notes on Various Topics - 105

17 August 2026

Brief Notes on Various Topics – 105

1.  The Crisis of Quietism

Now and then I search YouTube using the key words ‘Quietism’ and ‘Quietists’ because I want to see if anyone has posted something new on that topic.  There are not a lot of posts about Quietism and often when I search nothing new has been posted.  But now and then there is something new.

There was a period in my life when I studied the Quietists of the 17^th century; people like Miguel de Molinos, Madame Guyon, Archbishop Fenelon, Francois Malaval, and other more minor participants in that short-lived spiritual movement.  I still find their works attractive and insightful.

It is instructive that there are more than a few posts that criticize the ‘heresy’ of Quietism.  This is because, after an initial period of acceptance and even encouragement, the Catholic Church declared Quietism to be a dangerous heresy and suppressed the movement and its writings.  I think the main reason for the suppression of Quietism is that the Church came to the conclusion that Quietism undermined the place that rituals and practices such as the Eucharist and Rosary, have in the lives and practice of the Church and, further, that this would undermine the role of Priests and other Hierarchs.

There is some truth to this view; for example, there were documented instances where nuns stopped the practice of the rosary and instead practiced the prayer of interior silence.  I see this as a shift from meditation with a cultivation of mental focus, to contemplation which, using the Quietists’ mode of expression, lifts the soul to the presence of God who is beyond and prior to all forms. 

This step from a spiritual practice that is, in some sense, based on material realities, to the contemplation of that which transcends material realities is a difficult one.  I think this is understandable.  To let go of, to separate the soul from, all material realities, including intellectual or mental realities, is a simple but subtle practice.  The experience of the fully transcendental is sublime, but it is also unstable.  Plotinus writes about this, describing how his experience of the One ends with a return to the body, how the pull of the body makes stabilization of the experience of the transcendental delicate. 

It has been my experience that in many instances when people are introduced to the idea of contemplation that transcends all bodily and material reality, it is hard to understand what they are being asked to do.  That was my initial experience with contemplation.  The instructions for contemplation are not complex, but it is often difficult for people to understand how to actually do it and how to know that their practice has been fruitful.

There is another dimension to this difficulty and that is that material practices, or sensory based practices, can be the basis for constructing an institution; some of these institutions have great power by possessing a particular sensory practice.  Institutions are reluctant to allow for something that is ‘beyond’ their range of power and because of this there is a tendency to view such a practice as contemplation negatively.

Platonism is not immune from this tension.  Although a writer like Plotinus is remarkably clear about stepping into the beyond that is beyond being, beyond intellect or nous, not all subsequent Platonists agree with this kind of presentation (see especially Ennead VI).  Some Platonists after Plotinus directly attacked this idea and offered instead a view that it includes complex ceremonials as the ultimate means for aligning with the ultimate, and that ultimate is a bodily, material, manifestation, usually the gods.  I suspect that this kind of tension, the tension between going ‘beyond’ all material manifestation, including the manifestations of intellect, and the idea that there is a material practice that in some sense is the ultimate, is found in most spiritual traditions, if you look hard enough.

When I did my recent search on YouTube using the word ‘Quietism’, sure enough there were some new posts, or posts I hadn’t noticed before, focusing on the heretical nature of contemplation and the practice of interior silence.  For those of us who understand Platonism to be a contemplative tradition, I think that it is helpful to understand the way contemplation was treated, and is still treated, by many who have a strongly negative view of ‘separating the soul from the body.’  Understanding this tension and its sources has helped me to understand the difficult place that contemplation holds in our society today and in the world of spirituality in general.  And this understanding has helped me clarify in my own mind, what it is that contemplation offers, which is access to, and understanding of, the Good, the One, and the Beautiful, and the presence of Eternity.

2.  What is a Platonist?

I had a thought this last week; it is that a Platonist is someone who enjoys, and looks forward to, reading the Dialogues of Plato.  This probably sounds too simple, and I suppose it is.  But at another level I think it points out something about being a Platonist, or perhaps what I might refer to as the ‘activity’ of Platonism. 

A Platonist has a strong, one might say intimate, relationship to Plato’s writings.  These writings are considered to be a source of wisdom and of insight across a wide range of human activity and endeavors.  And Plato’s writings are inexhaustible which means that a Platonist can return to them and find new insights and practices each time the Platonist engages with these writings.

The closest example to this is, in my opinion, found in the Confucian tradition and how the Confucian Sage is thought of as deeply involved with the Confucian Canon of writings such as the Analects and the Great Learning and so forth.  In a similar way, a Sage in Platonism is someone who is deeply committed to a lifelong engagement with the writings of Plato.

3.  A Friend’s Comments

A friend is visiting and I am enjoying the company.  He has been reading Blogging Platonism, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 which I put together from my posts here and publish in book form, available on Amazon.  He has been enjoying them and has some good questions about some of my posts.  It’s interesting to me, and instructive, to learn what people who read the blog posts find significant and what kinds of questions arise from those posts.  It’s helpful to get that kind of feedback. 

 

 

On the Possibility of Platonist Quietism

28 October 2023

On the Possibility of Platonist Quietism

In the late 17^th century there arose in Catholic Europe, particularly France, Italy, and Spain, an approach to their tradition that came to be known as Quietism.  Its main proponents were Miguel Molinos, Madame Guyon, Francois Malaval, and Bishop Fenelon, though there were other, less famous, teachers of the Quietist approach.

What these teachers had in common was a type of practice known as the ‘prayer of interior silence.’  This was a type of imageless and wordless prayer that brought its practitioners closer to God as they understood God.  This practice was very simple and its simplicity was one of its most attractive features.  For example, Madame Guyon wrote a manual for this approach to interior silence, or contemplation, called A Short and Easy Method of Prayer. 

At first this spiritual movement was very successful.  Molinos, for example, had numerous devoted students and Madame Guyon’s books were widely read.  Eventually, though, there was an attack on Quietism as it was thought that Quietism undermined the centrality of a sacramental life.  Molinos was arrested and charged with heresy.  He was found guilty and died in prison.  Madame Guyon was arrested four times and imprisoned in the Bastille for a period of time, though eventually released.  Bishop Fenelon was exiled from Paris and lived out his life in Cambray.  The final downfall of Quietism within the Catholic Church came when the Pope declared Quietism a heresy in a Papal edict (Bull) known as ‘Coelestis Pastor’ in 1687.  Quietism remains an official heresy in the Catholic Church to this day.

Nevertheless, Quietism was influential in the following centuries on such groups as Quakers and Pietists.  A manual of Quaker contemplation known as A Guide to True Peace, was based on the teachings of the Quietists.  Later, the Methodists would be consciously influenced by Madame Guyon.

The central teaching, and method, of Quietism is to withdraw into the soul, a turning to a silence and stillness found within and a turning away from entanglements with the world.  It is my suggestion that Platonism has striking similarities with Quietism and contemporary Contemplative Platonism could be nourished by building a bridge to the Quietist tradition as it manifested in various contexts.  I’m not saying Quietism and Platonism are ‘the same’; for one thing Quietism was a Christian movement.  Rather I am suggesting that there is enough in common, enough overlap in understanding and practice, that contemporary Contemplative Platonism could benefit by an extended encounter with the tradition of Quietism.  Here are a few observations:

1.  Platonism is filled with teachings and stories about philosophers separating themselves from the world.  This is often spoken of as ‘separating the body from the soul.’  This is congruent with how Quietists presented the prayer of interior silence. 

2.  I suspect that an obstacle to the idea of Platonist Quietism will be the so-called political dialogues such as The Republic, The Statesman, and The Laws.  This barrier is the result of a modern inability to read the Platonic dialogues allegorically, even when Plato explicitly tells the reader that the dialogue is an allegory, as in The Republic.  If, however, we start with the centrality of contemplation, then it becomes clear that these dialogues are allegories and not political treatises.  We can see the centrality of contemplation in the Dialogues by highlighting episodes of divine union that are presented therein.  For example, when Socrates enters into deep contemplation in dialogues such as The Symposium and Phaedrus, we can see this as not just an interesting episode in the life of Socrates, but instead as an example of how the practice of contemplation should be our highest priority. 

3.  It might seem that The Laws would be difficult to interpret allegorically.  I suggest, though, that the discussion regarding the nature of laws found in various societies, and the specific laws laid out in some sections of the dialogue, are an allegory for living a disciplined life as a contemplative.  It is well known that contemplatives and mystics often lead disciplined lives such as entering into contemplation at regular times, engaging in spiritual reading at specific times; things like that.  In addition, contemplatives often take on restrictive precepts, ‘restrictive’ from the perspective of ‘the world.’  The early Quaker Quietists had an extensive set of regulations governing many aspects of their lives.  The disciplines of Platonic spirituality are offered early in the Phaedo, and in scattered places in other dialogues.  Making a connection between a disciplined life of contemplation and the ‘laws’ of The Laws can unlock its allegorical basis.

4.  One aspect of Quietism that maps well onto Platonism is passivity as a spiritual ideal.  Passivity is acceptance cultivated as a spiritual practice.  Socrates embodied this teaching by accepting the verdict of his jury.  Even when Socrates had an opportunity to escape his sentence, passive acceptance overruled that opportunity and he went to his execution with equanimity.  This is similar to the reports of Madame Guyon’s behavior when she was imprisoned in the Bastille.  In both instances they used their situation to teach others regarding spiritual matters.

5.  Another aspect of Quietism that maps well onto Platonism is patience.  Plotinus uses the metaphor of waiting for the sun to rise for contemplation.  And in Quaker Quietism they used the phrase ‘waiting worship’ to describe their approach to contemplation.  This approach to contemplation cultivates patience which in turn, generates inner strength and courage.

6.  As an aside, I think there is a deep, though somewhat hidden, historical connection between Quietism and Platonism.  The connection I am seeing is that it is through Platonism, as presented by Dionysius the Areopagite in his Mystical Theology, that mysticism as we understand it in the Christian tradition, found a home.  I believe that the Quietists picked up the current of mystical contemplation after all those centuries.  In addition, the Quaker Quietists were influenced by the Cambridge Platonists; Ann Conway, for example, joined the new Quaker movement.  And Robert Barclay who wrote the chief theological work of the Quaker tradition, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, was studying in Paris when the trials of Madame Guyon were taking place.  I believe the influence of Quietism can be found in his work.

7.  The crushing of Quietism in the late 17^th century has had a lasting impact on Western spirituality and mysticism.  In the Catholic Church, ever since this episode, Catholic mystics have had to be very careful that they distinguish themselves from Quietism; this is done by becoming very strong advocates of a sacramental life to prove that they are not undermining their centrality or their efficacy.  Protestant groups that were initially attracted to Quietism, such as Quakers and Methodists, have not been able to sustain that interest into the modern period, succumbing to a focus on ‘engagement with the world’ rather than a ‘turning inward.’ 

I believe that the often profound insights of the Quietists can find a nourishing ground within the Platonic tradition.  But it would have to be a Platonism that regarded contemplation, and a disciplined, ascetic, life as the ground from which these insights grow.