An Introduction to Teresa of Avila's "The Interior Castle"

A Mystical Journey into the Soul's Inner Chambers

In 1577, Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun Teresa of Avila sat down in the Spanish town of Toledo, to write a treatise on prayer. Struck by a wondrous mystical vision of the human soul in a state of grace, what followed was the completion of an astounding literary work titled The Interior Castle. Although initially written for Teresa’s fellow Carmelite sisters, nuns who had taken strict vows to renounce the world in pursuit of inner union with God, The Interior Castle went on to profoundly shape the landscape of mystical theology, and is still highly regarded as one of the most influential Christian mystical writings today.

Given the plethora of writings by Christian mystics through the ages, why has The Interior Castle made such a dent in history?

According to Thomas Merton, timing is partially responsible. Spanish mystics like St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross wrote their works during ‘the golden age’ of Spanish mysticism; a time of “official reform, unity, centralization, authority, strict control, national expansion, and prosperity.” (Merton, 161).

Merton also comments on the likeability of Teresa’s personality, who was said to be humorous and frank with a “good sense”. Then there is the fact that Teresa of Avila, unlike many mystics before her, was regarded as an authoritative figure within the Carmelite monastic school and wider Catholic community. Rather than be deemed a heretic for her mystical experiences, her written works were held in high esteem and widely circulated at the behest of those in positions of religious power and authority (although these works would not be accessed by laypeople until much later).

Perhaps the greatest reason for the sheer influence of The Interior Castle, however, lies in its simplicity and accessibility.

It is said to be the most organized of all of St. Teresa’s written works, unified by the simple yet profound metaphoric imagery of the human soul as a magnificent crystal castle. Within this castle lie chambers above, below, and on each side. At the very centre lies the jewel of the castle: the “principal chamber in which God and the soul hold their most secret intercourse.” The chambers can be grouped into seven distinct mansions, each demarcating a stage of the soul’s evolution. This metaphoric imagery as described in Chapter One is said to be a vision gifted to Teresa from God. The rest of the manuscript expands on each mansion.

For this text study, we will expand further on excerpts from Teresa’s introduction of her vision in Chapter One.

“If we reflect, sisters, we shall see that the soul of the just man is but a paradise, in which, God tells us, He takes His delight. What, do you imagine, must that dwelling be in which a King so mighty, so wise, and so pure, containing in Himself all good, can delight to rest? Nothing can be compared to the great beauty and capabilities of a soul; however keen our intellects may be, they are as unable to comprehend them as to comprehend God, for, as He has told us, He created us in His own image and likeness.”

It is rather astounding that in the sixteenth century when predominant religious language focused on the sinfulness of man, the soul of the human should be considered beautiful and worthy of housing God.

Yet as difficult as this may be for the mind to comprehend, this is the truth that St. Teresa wants her fellow Carmelite sisters to live by. She acknowledges that the intellectual mind cannot comprehend such truth and that the intellect pales in comparison to the divine magnificence and beauty of the human soul, in which God “takes his delight”. Yet, she later goes on to say that the consciousness of most human beings is trapped outside of this exquisite castle, “in the courtyard of the building where the sentinels stand…”

According to St. Teresa, this is one of the misfortunes of humanity, who “through our own fault…neither understand our nature nor our origin”. We are creatures made in the image and likeness of God, yet we are blatantly ignorant of this truth. Teresa encourages her Carmelite sisters to overcome such ignorance through the primary methods of prayer and contemplation, focusing on the beauty and magnificence of the human soul, aided by the grace of God.

“Now let us return to our beautiful and charming castle and discover how to enter it. This appears incongruous: if this castle is the soul, clearly no one can have to enter it, for it is the person himself: one might as well tell someone to go into a room he is already in! There are, however, very different ways of being in this castle; many souls live in the courtyard of the building where the sentinels stand, neither caring to enter farther, nor to know who dwells in that most delightful place, what is in it and what rooms it contains.”

While the soul as a crystal castle is a universal picture that is simple and accessible enough for the intellect to grasp, St. Teresa acknowledges the limitations of language. Who then is the person who ‘enters’ the soul if the soul is within itself? We might use the word ‘consciousness’ to better describe such a notion.

Consider that each human being perceives reality from a certain ‘vantage’ point; the place in which the consciousness resides. Most of us perceive reality from the exterior chambers of the soul, where we are easily distracted by egoic pursuits and the trials and tribulations of everyday life. In postmodern times, we may say this manifests in a multitude of ways, such as an obsession with bodily desires, petty family dramas, addictions to various substances, or the drive for worldly success and power in a consumerist society that dominates our experience and keeps us mentally enslaved. Most people live their lives based on the conditioning of their childhood and the programming inherited from their collective environment, never pausing to question whether another reality exists.

Yet, The Interior Castle tells us there is another way to live. Our consciousness can move inward through the various chambers of the soul, offering different vantage points from which reality can be perceived.

What if, instead of being coloured by fear, our reality was perceived through a lens of pure love?

What if, instead of our actions being propelled by an inner sense of guilt and inadequacy, our way of being in the world was propelled by a deep knowing of God’s love for us and all others, because our true nature is crafted in the image and likeness of God?

What if we went about our lives with the awareness of our consciousness inextricably ‘unified’ with the consciousness of all creation? How would we treat ourselves, our ‘neighbours’, and our fellow species in creation differently?

Teresa of Avila points to this unified experiential reality as the ‘true reality’.

When we stand at the exterior, outside the chambers of the castle, we do not see reality as it is. Thus, according to Teresa’s methods, the mystic must double down on prayer, contemplation, and good works, asking God to assist us in entering and exploring the mysterious divine house that exists at the core of our very being.

Only then, might we gain a glimpse into what God sees.

Bibliography:

Merton, Thomas. A Course in Christian Mysticism. Edited by Jon M. Sweeney. Kindle Edition. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2017.

St. Teresa of Avila. Interior Castle. Edited and Translated by E. Allison Peers. Garden City, New York: Dover Publications, 1946.

Teresa of Avila. The Interior Castle. Translated by Benedict Zimmerman. Charles River Editors, 2018.