Julian of Norwich

I’m a big fan of Julian of Norwich. While she was never “officially” recognized as a saint, her life and teachings have been considered hallowed by Christians of many denominations, as well as many non-Christians. In the Roman church her “feast” if unofficial, is given a date, the 13th May. Her life is celebrated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches on the 8th of May.

Little is actually known of her, even her real name is uncertain. Julian is the name of the church where she lived as a hermit, walled in for most of her life behind the altar. It appears she was born in 1342 in the vicinity of Norwich and died sometime after 1416. For us her story begins with a terrible illness, which culminated in a series of visions. These visions began on the 8th of May (hence that date) and concluded on the 13th of May (hence that date) in 1373.

She spent much of the rest of her life unraveling the meaning of those visions. The fruit of this work was eventually published as the Revelations of Divine Love. Rather than being written in Latin, as was the convention, they were composed in the vernacular, probably making them much more accessible than would otherwise have been the case.

The bulk of my spiritual training has been in the Zen tradition, where if, actually for the most part when, one reports extraordinary experiences to one’s spiritual director, the near universal response is “Don’t worry, it’ll pass.” I’ve learned this is good advice. However, given this together with my basically skeptical disposition, I’m not much given to dwelling on visionary experiences, or, and this can be a mistake, giving them much credit. They tend, in my experience and by my observation, in the main to be to be distractions on the way. But, not always…

I’ve long noticed how our awakening experiences, those precious moments in our lives where our ideas of what is or should be finally drop away, to reveal what actually is; occasionally do take the form of visions. There are a variety of ways to tell whether they’re “real” or not. That is to tell whether they’re just more ego stuff, or are expressions of genuine discovery. Among the ways to check, possibly the most important is to see how one’s life has shifted following these experiences. If there’s no difference in one’s life, or if one builds a fence around the experience, and then spends one’s life defending it against all comers, well, that suggests something. But, if one comes away more generous, kinder, more vulnerable; well that suggests other things. Now, content counts, as well. What happens to those who encounter the revelations? Do they tend to open one’s heart? Do they point toward compassion? Toward love?

This certainly was the case for Julian’s visions. Her message, framed within a rather traditional embrace of an encounter with Jesus on the cross, was one of overwhelming love. Her experience of love was so powerful that even the idea of hell was overtaken in a promise that all are at the last reconciled.

Works for me. As a modern it doesn’t hurt that she use a lot of proto-feminist terminology, seeing Jesus as mother, and speaking of the father-mother. Also, works for me.

But, there’s something more here than congruity with modern spiritual sensibilities.

Here I think we find a genuine guide on the great way.

Here, if we’re willing, we find someone pointing toward the great matter.

Take a look.

See if you agree…