Research paper I submitted for my Atlantic University TP5005 course – September 21, 2019
Unlike some who experience an intense spiritual emergency over a short period of time, like David Lukoff’s whose emergency only lasted a few months, St. Teresa’s life can be viewed as a series of spiritual crises and responses that helped her grow interiorly and emerge as one of the most important mystics in history. She was born in Avila Spain in 1515 as Teresa de Ahumada, and she was beset with a number of developmental crises that refined her soul and allowed her to emerge as a key reformer of the Carmelite order and the Catholic Church in general at a time the Protestant Reformation swept across Europe. The pain she suffered through illness, disappointment, betrayal, and reform battles were more than most humans could endure, and the spiritual gifts she acquired
As a local Carmelite Order website notes, St. Teresa had a fervent desire for spirituality as a child, which waned in her early teen years as more “worldly” attractions consumed her. She became interested in possible suitors and considered marriage, which her father strongly opposed, causing a trauma for her. A far greater crisis ensued with the loss of her mother at 13, which left Teresa and 9 other siblings in the care of just her father.
In what would become a regular coping strategy for Teresa following a crisis, she turned to prayer, and this time specifically to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who she sought guidance and asked that she become her mother now that her biological mother was gone. Her father also initiated another life-long coping mechanism and that was the support of devout religious. He enrolled Teresa in a convent school where she once again regained her sense of piety. The environment also provided her with like-minded individuals who provided friendship and fellowship, the Carmelite website added.
When she desired to join the Carmelite order at 20, however, her father strongly opposed, although he ultimately relented. It certainly must have been difficult for St. Teresa to have the support of her only remaining parent as she made such an important life decision.
A year later, after receiving her habit, Teresa fell gravely ill and didn’t respond to initial medical treatments, the Carmelite website went on to say. Her father, desperate for answers, took her to a nearby village, and when she worsened, he returned her to Avila. In August of 1539, it appeared as if she wouldn’t make it when she slipped into a 4-day coma. She did ultimately regain consciousness but was paralyzed for three years.
St. Teresa describes in her Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila (Dover edition) the illness she endured: “[T]he severity of the remedies had almost ended my life, and the pain in my heart…was much worse; sometimes I felt as if sharp teeth had hold of me, and so severe was the pain they caused that it was feared I was going mad” (2010, p. 29). She added, “My tongue was bitten to pieces; nothing had passed my lips; and because of this and my great weakness my throat was choking me so that I could not even take water. All my bones seemed to be out of joint and there was a terrible confusion in my head” (2010, p. 32).
Christopher Bache, Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University wrote a paper, A Reappraisal of Teresa of Avila’s Supposed Hysteria, which he presented at the 1982 national meeting of the American Academy of Religion. In it Bache argues that St. Teresa’s “peculiar symptoms are entirely natural and part of the psychophysical purgation mystics undergo en route to their goal of transcendental states of consciousness.” He also notes that the seizures she exhibited are commonplace when mystics undergo a dark night of the soul emergency. He says that her seizures in particular weren’t related to a “regressive pathology” but “rather progressive symptomology accompanying the emergence of higher states of consciousness” (1982, p.14). Bache then compares what St. Teresa endured to LSD-assisted research conducted by Stan Grof, and notes that from Grof’s work “is emerging not only a new and powerful modality of therapy but also a model of consciousness which is deeper and more comprehensive than any other yet proposed in Western psychological circles” (1982, p. 2).
Bache also notes that after her illness, St. Teresa began receiving various spiritual “gifts” or “divine favors.” First, she had a number of peak experiences, where through prayer she achieved divine union. She also experienced what Stan and Christine Grof in The Stormy Search for the Self describe as Awakening of Extrasensory Perception. (1990, p. 74). She experienced visions, heard voices, levitated, elevated from her body and took flight in spirit to heaven, as Bache describes it (1982, p. 5).
It is also clear that St. Teresa endured what Grof & Grof explain is a shamanic crisis. In such a crisis, the visionary takes a journey to the underworld, or the realm of death, where they can meet a number of archetypal demons or monsters set on destroying the individual. Grof & Grof note, “As in shamanic crises, the final annihilation can be experienced as being killed, torn to pieces, or swallowed by specific animals who function as initiators. This experience of total annihilation is typically followed by resurrection, rebirth, and ascent to celestial regions.” (1990, p. 81)
St. Teresa struggled intensely as she was torn between the two worlds and as her ego held on for dear life. The Beyond Blue website includes a quote from St. Teresa where she describes this as “living an extremely burdensome life, because every time I prayed, I became more clearly aware of my faults…Doing what God wanted made me happy; but I felt bound by the things of the world. The two seemed contrary to each other: spiritual joys, and sensory pleasures.”
St. Teresa is caught between the material world and heaven. She no longer has any joy for the earth, yet heaven seems unattainable. Bache says that as she moves closer to her “peak mystical experiences” the more frequent and intense her physical and psychological suffering. She feels a deep longing for God but feels abandoned by him at the same time. He quotes The Life of Teresa of Jesus where she says, “the Lord revealed it to me in a vision: the soul is inwardly burning without knowing who has kindled the fire, nor whence it comes nor how to flee from it, nor with what to put it out” (1982, p. 6). As with any shamanic crisis, Bache states that “Teresa experiences her torments as purifying her by destroying her own self” (1982, p. 12).
The Carmelite website notes that St. Teresa’s ego-death or dark night of the soul lasted approximately 18 years, and finally at the age of 39, she was able to experience God’s love and presence within her soul. While St Teresa may have found peace, others around her weren’t as accepting. Friends and other religious accused her of doing the work of the devil and that all the attention she was receiving was simply temptations from the Evil One. Some in the Church hierarchy echoed similar sentiments as her reformer’s campaign grew in effectiveness. This was no small issue at a time when the Spanish Inquisition was in full force.
Fortunately for St. Teresa, she had a number of spiritual directors throughout her life, most of whom had a genuine concern for her. As the Institute of Carmelite Studies notes in an article on their website, these men provided a sounding board for her as well as served as an incredible network of support. One priest in particular, Baltasar Alvarez, only in his twenties and a year from his ordination, understood how extraordinary gifted she was. He was “heroic in standing by [Teresa], even willing and quick to give a boost to her sagging spirits during the crucial years when everything seemed to be going wrong.” St. Teresa related to a group of her spiritual directors as “disciples” in addition to their roles and guides and confessors, the website notes.
Grof and Grof explain that one of the best coping mechanisms for individuals enduring a spiritual emergency as well as once they’ve transitioned back to a regular life is a regular creative outlet. For St. Teresa, this came in the form of a number of books that are used widely to this day. One is her autobiography, Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, and two spiritual classics in particular: The Castle Journey, a book written only five years before her death title, and The Way of Perfection.
Another important source of inspiration and balance was intense prayer and meditation. It’s through prayer that she understands the important things in life and to disregard what’s not. In The Castle Journey she writes, “ [T]he entry door to the castle [her metaphor for reaching God] is prayer and meditation” (2003, p. 39). She also notes in The Way of Perfection that prayer must be the foundation on which “the house is built” (1995, p. 24).
Another area of creativity for St. Teresa was her efforts to found new convents that were spiritually oriented as part of her reform efforts. Another Carmelite website notes that St. Teresa, after beginning the great reform work on her interior life, sought to manifest these changes in her external surroundings. A famous alchemy phrase says, “As above so below,” which is similar to what occurs when one has a profound change at the soul level, which brings about great changes to those it touches; their external or physical world in other words.
As with most of her life, however, despite initial approval for the new convents, St. Teresa received stiff opposition from pious town folks. Other religious were also threatened by her efforts as they saw her desire to reform as an affront to the institutions they belonged and criticism of how they were managing the institutions, the Carmelite website notes. Many in the Church hierarchy weren’t happy with her meddling changes either. Biography Online points out that the Papal Nuncio referred to her as “a restless disobedient gadabout who has gone about teaching as though she were a professor.” But in true St. Teresa fashion, she was undaunted by the opposition and in 1562 the proper permission was received for the first new convent.
When I was studying for my Master’s in Catholic Theology, I heard a great antidote concerning St. Teresa. During a long trip that involved her reform efforts, she was met with rain and wind, and her carriage hit a rock going over small creek. The carriage flipped on its side, dumping her belongings in the cold water and soaking the poor nun. As she sat in the water, she prayed to Jesus asking him why He treated her so cruelly, and He responded, “I treat all my friends this way.” And what is characteristic of this incredibly strong and courageous woman she replied, “And that’s why you have so few!” St. Teresa was only a select few individuals who could have endured as much as she did. She had numerous transpersonal experiences, spiritual emergencies, and other crises that brought her to great heights – and great depths. Fortunately, she had a strong interior life and a number of spiritual directors who aided her along her journey. And as a result, she has left us a lasting legacy of how to live in complete union with God.
St. Teresa, pray for us.
References
Bache, C. (1982). A reappraisal of Teresa’s of Avila’s supposed hysteria, presented to the 1982 national meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Retrieved from: http://primal-page.com/bache3.htm
Beyond Blue, The desire is enough. Retrieved from: https://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/beyondblue/2013/03/teresa-of-avila-the-desire-is-enough.html
Carmelitani Scalzi – OCD, St. Teresa of Avila. Retrieved from: http://www.ocd.pcn.net/teresa.htm
Grof C. and Groff S., M.D. (1990), The stormy search for the self, Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.: Los Angeles, CA.
ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, Saint Teresa of Avila – her first spiritual directors. Retrieved from: https://www.icspublications.org/blogs/saint-biographies/saint-teresa-of-avila-her-first-spiritual-directors
Teresa of Avila, Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila (1565). Translated and edited by E. Allison Peers. Dover Publications, Inc. (2010): Mineola, NY
Teresa of Avila, The interior castle (1577). Translated by Mirabai Star (2003). Penguin Group (USA): New York, NY
Teresas of Avila, The Way of Perfection (1577). Translated and edited by E. Allison Peers. Dover Publications, Inc. (1964): Mineola, NY