Greco-Christian stream·The Imitation of Christ·Book I — Admonitions Profitable for the Spiritual Life·Chapter I. Of the Imitation of Christ, and of Contempt of the World and All Its Vanities
I. Of the Imitation of Christ; contempt of the world
The opening chapter that gives the whole work its title. He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, saith the Lord — the imitation of Christ as the way to be free from the heart's blindness. Knowledge weighed less than charity; vanity of all but loving and serving God.
Source context
- Theme
- imitation of Christ as the supreme principle of spiritual life, over against worldly vanity and mere intellectual knowledge
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Platonic philosophyPlato's distinction between episteme and doxa mirrors the chapter's insistence that speculative knowledge of virtue without lived practice profits nothing.
- Vedanta (viveka / vairagya)Cross-tradition congruence exists between the chapter's counsel of contemptus mundi and the Vedantic paired disciplines of discernment (viveka) and dispassion (vairagya) as prerequisites for spiritual progress.
- Stoic ethicsThe Stoic subordination of external learning to interior moral transformation (askesis) exhibits structural congruence with Thomas à Kempis's privileging of self-knowledge and humility over scholarly disputation.
Chapter I. Of the Imitation of Christ, and of Contempt of the World and All Its Vanities
THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
THE FIRST BOOK
ADMONITIONS PROFITABLE FOR THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, AND OF CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD AND ALL ITS VANITIES
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,(1) saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they teach us how far we must imitate His life and character, if we seek true illumination, and deliverance from all blindness of heart. Let it be our most earnest study, therefore, to dwell upon the life of Jesus Christ.
2His teaching surpasseth all teaching of holy men, and such as have His Spirit find therein the hidden manna.(2) But there are many who, though they frequently hear the Gospel, yet feel but little longing after it, because they have not the mind of Christ. He, therefore, that will fully and with true wisdom understand the words of Christ, let him strive to conform his whole life to that mind of Christ.
3What doth it profit thee to enter into deep discussion concerning the Holy Trinity, if thou lack humility, and be thus displeasing to the Trinity? For verily it is not deep words that make a man holy and upright; it is a good life which maketh a man dear to God. I had rather feel contrition than be skilful in the definition thereof. If thou knewest the whole Bible, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what should all this profit thee without the love and grace of God? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, save to love God, and Him only to serve. That is the highest wisdom, to cast the world behind us, and to reach forward to the heavenly kingdom.
4It is vanity then to seek after, and to trust in, the riches that shall perish. It is vanity, too, to covet honours, and to lift up ourselves on high. It is vanity to follow the desires of the flesh and be led by them, for this shall bring misery at the last. It is vanity to desire a long life, and to have little care for a good life. It is vanity to take thought only for the life which now is, and not to look forward to the things which shall be hereafter. It is vanity to love that which quickly passeth away, and not to hasten where eternal joy abideth.
5Be ofttimes mindful of the saying,(3) The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing. Strive, therefore, to turn away thy heart from the love of the things that are seen, and to set it upon the things that are not seen. For they who follow after their own fleshly lusts, defile the conscience, and destroy the grace of God.
(1) John viii. 12. (2) Revelations ii. 17. (3) Ecclesiastes i. 8.