Thomas a Kempis (1380–1471)

Early 15th Century devotional work that given its ethos is most curiously widely read, second only to the Bible among Christian texts, per a Wikipedia claim. Its author holds an attitude of deep distrust of human nature and society. The book recommends avoiding human interaction as much as possible; for even when we do something apparently good like acts of charity out of love for our brothers and sisters, it argues, our true motives are usually suspect and blameworthy. Isolation and silence are to be sought always, because our real task is to work on ourselves, and given our terrible natures this is a job that will take some doing.

Though this doesn’t sound much like an imitation of Christ to me, not the Christ I understand, the book, or at least the first two of the four “books” that make it up anyway, is interesting and not without useful advice that would move the reader closer to a Christ like attitude, or one could also say to a Buddhist like one, given that there are some strong similarities.

It strongly emphasizes being humble, never thinking yourself better than even someone you despise. You may be acting well now, but that’s not likely to always be true. “No harm, if you think of all the world as your betters; what does do a great deal of harm is to compare yourself favorably to a single living soul. To be humble is to enjoy undisturbed peace of mind, while the proud heart is swept by gusts of envy and resentment.” His advice on critiquing others: “Yes, you do well to cultivate patience with the shortcomings, the various disabilities of other people; only think how much they have to put up with in you! We like to have everybody around us quite perfect, but our own faults - we never seem to correct them.”

We cling much too much to our possessions, our wealth, when these things cannot make us happy and indeed cause us anxiety as we fear their loss. Plenty of people have “weak, flabby natures, that are always complaining, ‘Look at So-and-so; what a good time he has! How rich, how important he is; what influence and rank he enjoys!’ But in reality, if you take one look at the prizes of heaven, you will see that all these earthly ones count for nothing; if anything, it is a weight on our minds, the precarious possession of them, a constant source of anxiety and alarm. Man’s happiness doesn’t consist in having more earthly possessions than he knows what to do with... The higher a man’s spiritual aims, the more distasteful does our present life appear to him.”

How’s this for a practice: “Morning is the time for making resolutions; when evening comes, analyse your past behavior - what sort of person have you been today? What have you said, or done; what have been your thoughts? In any of these ways, you may have offended God and your neighbor oftener than you knew.”

And so on. Good advice in the context of an overall too misanthropic and isolationist a worldview. The second two books are a shift in style, taking the form of a sort of dialogue between God and the soul. Very flowery prose, much wordier, more decorative, often liturgical styling. Didn’t find these terribly interesting.… (more)