Detachment and the Mode of the Receiver (S11EP15)

The theological maxim that "whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver" dictates the teleology of the beginner's approach to Mental Prayer. Before a soul can endure the profound Silence of God, the lower faculties—specifically the imagination and the sensory appetites—must be habituated to spiritual realities. Discursive reflection serves as the material cause for this initial phase of prayer, gradually drawing the soul away from the measure of the world and reorienting it toward the measure of Christ. This fundamental shift mortifies the ego and begins the purification of the will, preparing the intellect for the deeper, stripping work of the Dark Night.

• The Function of the Imagination: How discursive meditation utilizes the lower faculties to transition the soul from sensory dependence to genuine spiritual affection.
• The Metaphysics of Detachment: Why true renunciation transcends the mere absence of finite goods and requires the active mortification of the will against pride and outcomes.
• The Mode of the Receiver: How habituating the intellect through the initial frameworks of St. John of the Cross expands the soul's capacity to receive grace.
• Clearing the Vapors: The necessity of determined constancy in prayer to remove the attachments that obscure the divine light from illuminating the soul.

TRANSCRIPT

Hello there, and welcome to this week's episode of Midnight Carmelite. I wanted to talk about a famous maxim you've probably heard: whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver. I wanted to talk about it today because it has to do with how we receive God in prayer. First, I want to talk about what John of the Cross says about beginners. He basically says that for beginners, you want to meditate and make acts of discursive reflection with the imagination. What he means here is you maybe, for example, will meditate on a scene of the gospel. You'll imagine you're there with Christ and think about what it was like at the agony. Imagine him sweating blood, and imagine responding to what he's saying to watch lest you undergo the test. What that does is arouse love in you. Because you discursively go from thing to thing, you'll see something that will strike you. God will give you grace, that will arouse your affection, and you'll start to love God through Christ. What will happen then is your appetite will be taken away from the world and sensual things, and be focused on spiritual things through this meditation and discursive reflection with your imagination.

This really has to do with detachment. What does renunciation of the world mean? Generally speaking, it's the resolve to not go along with the measure of the world, but with the measure of Christ in your life. Renunciation of the world for a monk is obviously going to look different than for a married person. There are different vocations and responsibilities, and you have to keep that in mind. Detachment here is saying that these sensual things you may like and how you receive them—since whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver—may not be good for you. Or they may be good for you. Food is an inherent good, but if you're prone to gluttony, it's probably not a good idea, and you might want to fast more. In other words, you have to evaluate based on your state in life, your call, and your vocation what you need to do to be closer to God. Also with meditation, one thing that comes up over and over is the fact that when you're meditating, you're trying to take in what is there and chew on it. You're savoring it. It's not a rushed activity. That allows you to then reflect on it. You're taking in the content, meditating, and then reflecting on what this means for you. How is God speaking to you? How can you learn from this? Does this apply to who you are and how you can grow?

I think that's a really important thing for how we should think about growing closer to God. Ultimately, the goal here in the beginning parts of prayer is to make sure to look at detachment. This is really hard for us, and I know I've talked about detachment on this podcast before, but I think we don't really think about it as much. We think we're detached because we gave something up, but if you're still pining after it, you aren't. One example I saw once said people will claim that if you're monetarily poor, you're better off than being monetarily rich because that's what it says in the gospel. However, if you're a poor person and you want riches—in other words, you're greedy for riches—then you're just as bad as the rich person who's greedy for the money they have because you're not detached. The other thing with detachment that is hard for us is detaching from outcomes and detaching from ourselves, meaning pride. How well do you detach when you're unjustly attacked, slandered, or some injustice happens to you? I think that's really important.

When you're meditating and discursively reflecting on the gospels, doing your rosary, reflecting on the mysteries, practicing Lectio Divina, or reading a meditation book like The Imitation of Christ, you have to remember that the goal is to detach you from yourself and from your fallen nature's predilection to use created goods, finite goods, things, and other people for your ego, pride, or sins like envy, lust, and sloth. John is really getting at the fact that you want to become accustomed to spiritual things, and he says you want to have fortitude and constancy. You just keep going at it. St. Teresa of Avila said the key to the spiritual life is a very determined determination. Because God is the one who, having given our mode of reception, can work with us the more we cooperate with him. John says to remove the vapors from the air—the vapors of our sin and our attachments—and then God's light can shine. I just wanted to give some thoughts on this, and I'll see you next time.