← [[appendix-a-f2a|The Five Positive Harms of Attachment]] | [[formation-II-a-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[appendix-c-f2a|Consolation in Prayer]] → # Understanding the Maxims or Sayings By Steven Payne, OCD (Courtesy, Cincarm — a Carmelite platform.) First, I think it's worth reminding ourselves of the "literary genre." That is to say, John is giving us “maxims” or “sayings,” which have a venerable tradition in Christian spirituality. A maxim is a kind of pithy and memorable summary of practical advice (e.g., "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today") but not a complete treatise on ethics or behavior. Maxims have to be interpreted and applied (for example, we'd die of exhaustion if we tried to do EVERYTHING today instead of postponing some things until tomorrow). Jesus himself was fond of “sayings” or “maxims” and many Scripture scholars believe that some of the earliest written documents among believers were collections of his sayings. And we know that some of these are very hard sayings (“let the dead bury the dead, offer no resistance to evil, unless you hate father and mother, etc., etc.”), and that some Christians have gotten into trouble when they interpret these out of the context of the whole gospel message. Moreover, Jesus' sayings, though in the tradition of "wisdom" sayings, often turn conventional wisdom on its head and show us the paradoxical possibilities of the kingdom that he came to inaugurate and proclaim. Much the same can be said of John. We know that in his early years in Carmel he gave many spiritual conferences and did much spiritual direction, and that he liked to leave people with pithy little summaries of his main points. These maxims or “dichos” were among his first writings, then, and later sometimes were simply incorporated into his treatises. They're not complete treatments of the subjects they address, but succinct reminders of important points. Notice that these maxims are simply meant to help us follow the first counsel, which is to imitate Christ. Notice at the end of the list how he says that we should desire to enter into complete nakedness and poverty “for Christ.” If anyone wants to reject his maxims as too hard, I'm sure John would say, “Fine, if you know another way of learning to imitate Christ, more power to you!” But in his own experience, some counter-measures against our natural inclinations are needed in order to break the power of the “pleasure principle.” “Not to the easiest, but to the most difficult, etc.” He encourages us to “embrace these practices” not in order to punish ourselves but “to overcome the repugnance of your will toward them,” so that we can learn to be governed not by what pleases or displeases our appetites, but by what God wills. The point is not to form new attachments but to break the power of the ones we already have, so that we’re guided not by weather something gives us pleasure or pain but by whether or not it is God’s will. Far from being impossibly idealistic, I think of John's advice as eminently practical (though admittedly I may be watering it down to fit my own spiritual limitations). I think of these maxims as like riding a bicycle; if you've got one that keeps pulling to the left, then you have to lean to the right in order to provide a counterbalance and keep on a straight course. We human beings struggle with inertia, and even in religious life we can easily get into a rut without noticing it: our favorite place in choir, our favorite person to sit beside in recreation, our favorite housework assignment, etc., etc. That's why I find it personally useful to vary and change things when I can, to sit where I don't usually sit, to talk to the person I don't usually talk to, to take the help out I'm not naturally inclined to, to eat the foods I like less, etc., etc. Ultimately you get used to those, 46 01.24 1-24-2024 Appendix B too. We'll always have preferences. But the work of the “active night of the senses” will be done when we get to the point where we can eat what's put in front of us, where we can pray whether we're given our “favorite spot” or not, where we don't become all unglued if our preferences aren't followed. Again, I think John would say the goal is to get to the point where, after letting God know our preferences, we can still honestly pray, with Jesus, “Yet not my will but Thine be done.” Peace, Steven Payne, OCD 47 01.24 1-24-2024 OCDS Formation II, Year A --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation II Year A: The Ascent of Mount Carmel* (US National Formation Program, 2024).