Henry Suso

[Alexander]

Thank you, Alexander, for your interesting interpretation of a fruitful interior life.  The story of Suso souds very instructive.  I have never heard of him.  So, who is Suso? What culture, religion and time period is he from?

Henry Suso is one of the medieval German mystics. I believe he is "blessed" but not "sainted" by the church. He was one I was less familiar with but learned about from Evelyn Underhill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Underhill She dedicates a part of her book to use Suso's experiences to explain the inner life.

  If I was truly dedicated I would read all she wrote... but the spirit has never moved me to. I spent ~3-4 years on Mysticism. She is one of the great scholars of mysticism of all time. And clearly writes from practical experience.

Of course, she wrote in the early 1900s so was still encumbered by the prejudice (or ignorance...?) of oriental religions. So, it is written exclusively from a Christian (chiefly Catholic) lens. But, I do not think there is someone who knows better the lives of the saints, Eckhart, Plotinus, Ruysbroeck, Boehme, Catherine of Siena, etc...

[Jhanananda]

Thank you, Alexander, for informing me of a new-to-me mystic.  Henry Suso sound interesting. I split your comment about him and started a new topic here dedicated to Henry Suso so that we can examine the record of him, and see what it is about him that makes him a mystic.

While working on 4 university degrees I took several classes on mysticism, so I have read a fair amount of Evelyn Underhill's work, and read other authors who are publsihed on the topic of mysticism.  What I came away from that study is most authors who write on the topic of mysticism have a poor understanding of it, and most likely it is because they are not mystics.

So, what I saw in most of that study is these authors mostly wrote on people in history who had a reputation of being mystics, but what I saw was only 10% of those so-called mystics were probably the real deal.  The rest seemed to be members of a wealthy familiy who often lead a religious life, but never demonstrated authenti mysticism, and this is true for Evelyn Underhill.

My goal here is to inform people regarding mysticism, and to build a dialog about mysticism, and discuss the history of mysticism. So, I am always happy for others to bring to our attention a mystic that some of us may nnot be familiar with. So, what is it about Henry Suso that makes you believe he was a mystic?

[Alexander]

Thank you, Alexander, for informing me of a new-to-me mystic.  Henry Suso sound interesting. I split your comment about him and started a new topic here dedicated to Henry Suso so that we can examine the record of him, and see what it is about him that makes him a mystic.

While working on 4 university degrees I took several classes on mysticism, so I have read a fair amount of Evelyn Underhill's work, and read other authors who are publsihed on the topic of mysticism.  What I came away from that study is most authors who write on the topic of mysticism have a poor understanding of it, and most likely it is because they are not mystics.

So, what I saw in most of that study is these authors mostly wrote on people in history who had a reputation of being mystics, but what I saw was only 10% of those so-called mystics were probably the real deal.  The rest seemed to be members of a wealthy familiy who often lead a religious life, but never demonstrated authenti mysticism, and this is true for Evelyn Underhill.

My goal here is to inform people regarding mysticism, and to build a dialog about mysticism, and discuss the history of mysticism. So, I am always happy for others to bring to our attention a mystic that some of us may nnot be familiar with. So, what is it about Henry Suso that makes you believe he was a mystic?

Ah, well we will have to agree to disagree there.  Perhaps you read her early works, or her biographies. As I said I've only read her book Mysticism, which took me about 3-4 years.

I believe that text was written by a mystic of very great attainment. It reads like nothing a mere scholar would produce. It is possible in her early years she was a theorist, and became a sincere seeker over time. In the book are references to charismatic phenomena, emotional and personal transformation, the spiritual crisis, contemplative practice, spiritual joy and ecstasy, and the out-of-body experience.

Henry Suso it has been too long. I do like the quote of his however.   

[Alexander]

Digital Mysticism

I would like if she had some more photos of what she looked like. It looks like there are only 2 publicly available.

[Jhanananda]

Henry Suso it has been too long. I do like the quote of his however.   

Henry Suso

Henry Suso (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse in German), was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth century (when considering the number of surviving manuscripts). Suso is thought to have been born on March 21, 1295. An important author in both Latin and Middle High German, he is also notable for defending Meister Eckhart's legacy after Eckhart was posthumously condemned for heresy in 1329.[1] He died in Ulm on 25 January 1366, and was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1831.

His biography does suggest that he was a mystic, but we don't know at what level unless he provided a detailed acount of his mystical experiences.

Biography
Suso was born Heinrich von Berg, a member of the ruling family of Berg. He was born in either the Free imperial city of Überlingen on Lake Constance or nearby Constance, on 21 March 1295 (or perhaps on that date up to 1297–99).[2] Later, out of humility and devotion to his mother, he took her family name, which was Sus (or Süs, meaning "sweet"). At 13 years of age he was admitted to the novitiate of the Dominican Order at their priory in Constance. After completing that year of probation, he advanced to do his preparatory, philosophical, and theological studies there.

In the prologue to his Life, Suso recounts how, after about five years in the monastery (in other words, when he was about 18 years old), he experienced a conversion to a deeper form of religious life through the intervention of Divine Wisdom. He made himself "the Servant of Eternal Wisdom", which he identified with the divine essence and, in more specific terms, with divine Eternal Wisdom made man in Christ. From this point forward in his account of his spiritual life, a burning love for Eternal Wisdom dominated his thoughts and controlled his actions; his spiritual journey culminated in a mystical marriage to Christ in the form of the Eternal Wisdom,[3] an allegorical Goddess in the Hebrew Bible associated with Christ in medieval devotion.

[rougeleader115]

Alexander I want to thank you for sharing the link Digital Mysticism. I cant say 100 percent what the contents entail as I only started reading last night. But I will say, the writing on the Dark Night of the Soul has been a most engaging and necessary read for me during these times. I am about half way through that “chapter” and it has spoke so much of what is happening to me internally.

I love Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine as well as a little less but with full respect John on the Cross. So to see her relate to these mystics and others and explain them in many ways I had interpreted them myself was a great relief. It has all inspired me so much to investigate the Christian mystics yet again. So many different versions of comparing ones imperfect self to the absolute perfection of God and “his” love. So many ways I have felt over the past decade talked out through many different mystics. I feel so much less insane, and alone in my interpretation of my divine experience. I have said them to other “contemplatives” I know in real life and I always get the same look I would from a lay person, as if im making it up or downright crazy, mr.naive .

I hope I explained enough, I just want to say thank you and that shes seems genuine, at least from everything Ive read so far.

Rougeleader

[Alexander]

Alexander I want to thank you for sharing the link Digital Mysticism. I cant say 100 percent what the contents entail as I only started reading last night. But I will say, the writing on the Dark Night of the Soul has been a most engaging and necessary read for me during these times. I am about half way through that “chapter” and it has spoke so much of what is happening to me internally.

I love Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine as well as a little less but with full respect John on the Cross. So to see her relate to these mystics and others and explain them in many ways I had interpreted them myself was a great relief. It has all inspired me so much to investigate the Christian mystics yet again. So many different versions of comparing ones imperfect self to the absolute perfection of God and “his” love. So many ways I have felt over the past decade talked out through many different mystics. I feel so much less insane, and alone in my interpretation of my divine experience. I have said them to other “contemplatives” I know in real life and I always get the same look I would from a lay person, as if im making it up or downright crazy, mr.naive .

I hope I explained enough, I just want to say thank you and that shes seems genuine, at least from everything Ive read so far.

Rougeleader

Good to hear  Sending love and good vibrations

[Jhanananda]

When the history of Henry Suso reveals that he was a Dominican friar, I find reason to suspect he was no mystic. because the Inquisition was invented by and pepetuated by the Dominicans and they were resposnsible for burning the books of mystics, and persecuting, torturing, and martyring mystics. So, how could a person who was a mystic have any relationship with such an organization?