This week I offer you two quotes about sin from Turning to the Mystics podcast on Julian of Norwich.
Mirabai Starr, who translated The Showings of Julian of Norwich, said: “’Sin has not a particle of substance. It is no thing,’ Julian says. ‘And can only be known through the pain that it causes. That’s the only thing that has any ontological reality or substance.’ And she says, ‘Even that is just a passing thing. The pain that we experience from missing the mark is only valuable in so far as it increases our love for God and our humility and tenderness.’”
As I was wrapping my mind around how sin could be no thing, James Finley explained, “Psychologically, physically, and historically, sin’s very real. As the way it expresses itself, in the ways we traumatize ourselves, each other, and the earth, it’s brutal. So sin is the tangible cruelty and the pain caused by that cruelty. So it’s very real. What we’re saying is in the depth dimension of things, although its impact is real and the driving energy is real, the deeper you go, you see that ultimately speaking, it has no substance. That love is the substance. And the love is present in the traumatizing energies, which is the mystery of the cross. The whole mystery of the cross love crucified, which is what Julian saw is this infinite love was present in transcending and fully present as this traumatizing moment, which is really God taking upon herself, our traumatizing moments as infused with love. This is why we can undergo a loss in our life.
“And at the time, if it’s unbearable, the loss really is unbearable. It just is unbearable. There are just some losses that are unbearable, the loss is so deep. But if we don’t panic, if we don’t panic and walk in the loss, we can see starting to shine out through it lessons about fragility and love and eternality and wisdom. So a lot of who we are today in terms of understanding the ways of the human heart, a lot of it has come out of our own moments where everything was lost.”
What do you hear in Miabai Starr and James Finley’s conversation?
I hear
- Sin is “only valuable in so far as it increases our love for God and our humility and tenderness.”
- Sin is brutal and real.
- But the effects of sin do not have the final say.
- If we don’t panic and walk in the loss we will find God with us and loving us there.
What do you feel?
I feel hope rising and wonder. I love that our stories are held in a bigger story. When I saw the effects of sin in my life it felt unbearable and defined my life. But God walked with me in it, validated the cruel impact it had and slowly, over time I was able to forgive and heal and now those painful experiences don’t define me anymore. They are simply stories that are part of a bigger, wonderful story of love.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.
–Isaiah 42:3 (NIV)
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“James Finley offers a modern take on the timeless wisdom of the Christian mystics through meditation and practice. This podcast is for people searching for something more meaningful, intimate, and richly present in the divine gift of their lives.” (Center for Action and Contemplation). There are now six seasons of these downloadable podcasts, each featuring a different Christian mystic: Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Guigo II, The Cloud of Unknowing, and Julian of Norwich.
Finley is a clinical psychologist, author, and teacher. For six years, he lived as a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, and Thomas Merton was his spiritual director.
Here is one of my favourite quotes from James Finley. “If we are absolutely grounded in the absolute love of God that protects us from nothing even as it sustains us in all things, then we can face all things with courage and tenderness and touch the hurting places in others and in ourselves with love.”
What love mischief are you and God doing for the world?
Let me know, and I will include it in an upcoming post.
An Everyday Pilgrim 
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