Quietism is a Christian philosophy that swept through France, Italy and Spain during the 17th century, but it had much earlier origins. The mystics known as Quietists insist, with more or less emphasis, on intellectual stillness and interior passivity as essential conditions of perfection. All have been officially proscribed as heresy in very explicit terms by the Roman Catholic Church. The state of imperturbable serenity or ataraxia was seen as a desirable state of mind by Epicurus, Pyrrhonian and the Stoic philosophers alike, and by their Roman followers, such as the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Quietism has been compared to the Buddhist doctrine of Nirvana. The possibility of achieving a sinless state and union with the Christian Godhead are denied by the Roman Catholic Church. Quietism states that man's highest perfection consists of a self-annihilation, and subsequent absorption, of the soul into the Divine, even during the present life. In this way, the mind is withdrawn from worldly interests to passively and constantly contemplate God. Quietists would say that the Bible describes the man of God as a man of the tent and the altar only, having no part or interest in the multitudinous affairs, pursuits, and pleasures of the world system. This really got me thinking that, perhaps, as religions mature, they naturally evolve to a state of Buddhism. Which says something about the Indians who created Buddhism. And also of India at the time of it's inception.
This is the passage that I find so offensive to human dignity and intellectual independence. The possibility of achieving a sinless state and union with the Christian Godhead are denied by the Roman Catholic Church. Maintain the delusion of sinfulness. If the brain-dead masses of the faithful continue to believe their vileness is an indelible stain eradicated only by total submission to a deity and mundane death, then church authority is complete and unarguable. It is dumbfounding that mature humans in a so-called enlightened age could be so submissive, so primitive in their conscious awareness. How can we deem ourselves fit to impose ourselves on the Cosmos with such primitive fears foremost in our minds? OriginalBiggles, Prime
Ideas of perfection equaling the dissolution of self usually become prominent when one see the futility of action in this world. If the vision extends to a different paradigm of action, a different idea of perfection and selfhood becomes prominent. You see this in a historical continuum within india. Due to religious malpractice, the vedas was rejected wholesale on a buddhist imperative. Then Sankaracharya introduced a practice quite similar to buddhism based on the Vedas. Then you see a succession of personalities (Madhva, Ramunaja, Nimbarka, Vishnuswami and finally Caitanya) that introduce a mode of practice diametrically opposed to the notion of annihilation of self. IOW the moment you start redefining what is god and what is one's relationship with god is the moment you start moving the goal posts of what a particular discipline considers perfection.
