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Commentary 18 - Page 5 |
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PostscriptThis material should be used with care. There is no pretence that the linked excerpts reflect exactly the passages Mouravieff had in mind in writing this section. But often his writing helps us to understand the fathers. Many other similar passages could have been quoted instead - for instance from the Philokalia. The passage from Gnosis was chosen because we happened to be working with it in one of the Praxis groups. It is also necessary to warn that an experiment like this might tear the teachings of the Fathers out of their original context, seize on a verbal similarity and stretch it to the breaking point, distorting the meaning. This is merely an introduction, not intended either as a series of "proof texts" for Mouravieff's teaching nor a sort of pastiche of the Fathers. The aim is to stimulate further meditation on these teachings and show areas for further thought and study, particularly with regard to how Mouravieff helped develop a modern terminology of the tradition while remaining faithful to the teaching he had received. In doing this he was faithful to the tradition whose verbal teachings serve as questions, not answers. Why bother with this," someone might say, "there is only one true teaching and one true source. The practice of the teaching is the most important thing." As far as it goes, this is true. In practice we start with nothing but what Mouravieff called Personality. He would say that this is usually undeveloped and at an early stage of growth. In this state the necessity is to have access to genuine sources and in this, at the beginning, what we take to be genuine is almost entirely influenced by what we have previously read, by people we know, groups we are influenced by, etc. Depending on the advice of those who know little about this subject, faced with imitations and partial understandings, we lack the data to form a clear judgement without further study. In ancient times, Plato taught the distinction between opinion and knowledge. In a similar spirit, Mouravieff teaches that knowledge can exist without understanding; but understanding cannot exist without knowledge. This is true. And a knowledge of the teaching is the precondition of a true, experiential understanding of the "one teaching." In Praxis, every student is a researcher. ( David Vermette, January 18, 1999 )
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