HYSTORY AND MEMORY
Last year Fr. Antoine Werlen sent us a typed essay in which he interpreted Fr. Dehon's human and spiritual itinerary, following the rhythms of “mental evolution”. As this is a somewhat voluminous text, with annexes which are also rather developed, I asked him if he would explain to our readers the criteria or the authors which inspired him. Here is his reply: it will act as a guide to our reading of his work (Editor's Note).
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Longeville, March 2,1999
Dear Father,
In your letter of February 2nd, which I received 8 days ago, you wrote that you would like to know about my projects. There is no lack of them. For almost 2 years I have been on "retreat" in my new community of Longeville... I can at last put in order my numerous notes, put together during 50 years of research (for I have somewhat the temperament of a researcher), and I increasingly realized that it was a necessary task.
Let us take the case of my very original biographical essay regarding Fr. Dehon. It can only be understood by someone who is aware of certain issues which arose from my study of Mental Evolution. This has allowed me to pursue the subject in a very precise manner, under the jurisdiction of Gesell, since it is based on behavior tests given to numerous children when they were close to their successive birthdays from the age of 5 to 16. To my knowledge all studies on mental evolution seem to refer to these tests and to appreciate them.
After many attempts I advanced three propositions: the first is the discovery of secondary stages, the number of which increases during each period and which, as they are highlighted, explain quite simply their progressive complexity, their growing duration, and, even, to my great surprise, their perfectly regular rhythm. In addition, LE SENNE's study of characteristics has allowed me to relate this complexity with 4 (and not 3) fundamental activities which, since they are progressively subordinated, explain the nature of those, less precise until now, which appear in the following periods: from 17 to 30 years of age (I have checked numerous personal journals, clearly dated, as you can see in my annexes, by studying them meticulously with this objective in mind). There is, therefore, the possibility of a "Natural" study of character, one which is based on mental evolution itself. You have seen that I applied this to Fr. Dehon and, in the annexes, also to many other people.
The second proposition is based on the discovery of a similar evolution in history. The first year of an individual's mental evolution corresponds to the first century of the history of humanity. After I had determined this for the Christian era, I was also able to verify it for the biblical era. In this study I perceived only that the evolution of man is not complete, since 14 stages (that is more than 150 years) were missing from the last period of the biblical era. The study of Fr. Dehon must necessarily take into account the epoch in which he was to be found and the different stages of the epoch through which he passed. Some extracts from my study on the Christian era (approx. 300 pages) allude to this.
Fr. Chiarello should have sent you my studies on The Rise of Man and on The Biblical Era. I do not think that one can be truly convinced of my way of proceeding if one has not carefully read these two studies and, first of all, the study on which they are based, that of MENTAL EVOLUTION. My great work during my stay in Longeville consisted precisely of collecting and compiling my numerous notes from the past in a way which I would like think of as "pedagogic" (a little like the Social Manual of Fr. Dehon).
I am, at present, doing the same thing for the Christian era. We have again reached a period of "co-responsibility" (that twelfth term, in which one passes out of childhood) and everyone is trying to find his own small, active place in the vast world (and in the Church). In order to divine a little what our "human" future may be, the best method would be to put it in relation to the mental ascent of the individual and also to the centuries of biblical history through which man has past since the year minus 1000. The fact is that humanity has already, several times, gone through the periods which are in store for us, and with a supplementary note for each era. It is the latter which I have endeavored to emphasize at the start of my study of the Christian era in order, subsequently, to give their characteristic to each of the 12 periods (or 75 stages) which it already comprises.
But it is the third proposition which seems to me to be the most useful; the one which, in any case, preceded the two others (and which, strictly speaking, could do without the second one). It was the 7 dwellings from Saint Theresa's The Interior Castle which made me take on the ascent of the soul through her teaching, and which inspired me to see that they correspond to the periods of mental evolution. Being in contact with the pupils of our apostolic schools of Neussargues, and later those of Raon l'Etape, I have, since 1950, endeavored to see not only each individual's character but also the mental stage through which they were passing and a hint of the spiritual dwelling in which they were. Regarding this last point, the book entitled L'Evolution Religieuse des Adolescents (The Religious Evolution of Adolescents) by Louis Guittard, Br. of the Christian Schools (492 pages), was a great help to me. It felicitously completed the first spiritual stages, somewhat neglected by Saint Theresa. She, above all, emphasized the 4th, 5th and 6th dwellings, which are an introduction to the contemplative life, and revealed their nature, so different from that of the preceding ones. However, and with reason, she was not able to sufficiently distinguish the sub-stages, the "apartments" of the last one. She was slow in describing the extraordinary favors which God showered upon her to establish her fame; she set them, certainly, in their right place and was helped in this by St. John of the Cross.
But it appears to me that my study is especially important for those souls of good will which have entered into the sixth dwelling. I understood that many people enter it before the time of their natural maturity, 30 years of age. So, what did these dwellings consist of? It is simply that in them God begins to submit to His Spirit the mental resources (natural) which people have acquired starting from their adolescence (at about 131Ú2 years of age). One understands that this spiritual adolescence must last a very long time, because, in turn, the 6 states of natural adolescence and the 6 stages of natural youth are involved. There are 12 sub-dwellings then, each containing 18 secondary stages (except the last which has only 5)! This is what I have tried to point out with Fr. Dehon... and, more succinctly, with some other "spiritual" subjects (see the Annexes).
Seeking God in these spiritual beings no longer consists of seeking Him outside of them, but within them; a truly living God (within them), one which manifests Himself from time to time (within them) when He wishes to "make divine" in some way both their way of behaving (34), and their intervention in their environment (43). In this way they accept abandoning a little, one after another, their personal way of feeling (134), of judging (234)... things of which they made their deep self consist (so simple and always identical) and they progressively perceive in themselves a super-self which wants very much to lead their existence in a sovereign way, a way which totally surpasses their own. For them this is the start of the night of the Spirit, that is to say, of the night of their self, in an every growing passivity of the latter but, at the same time, in an ever deepening abandon and peace.
My analysis of mental evolution pointed out the characteristic activity of man, which consists simply and solely of extending his awareness of himself to that of the self of others even from the time of his most tender infancy. In addition, thanks to the progressive growth of divinity in him through which God wishes to enrich man, even from his birth, this awareness of himself allows him to open himself to the awareness of his super-self which, for him, will be perceived as the God-Father who has always pursued him with His love, making him share in His active breath of the Spirit of love. One day, indeed, he will open up to a God-Light and the Son will make him also participate in His own vision of the Father, in His Wisdom. Finally he will totally understand the purpose of these inspirations of the Spirit of love which, from then on, he will perceive in himself, in the shadow of faith. His way of behaving and of intervening will be similar to that of God. He will love others as God does through the more or less numerous actions which He inspires in him and in others who will, in their turn, be happy to reveal their own to him, and that will be Paradise for everyone.
Here, dear Father, are my "projects" which are keeping me completely busy at the moment. Our House, which is somewhat a second Mougins, has neither FAX nor access to Internet.
Thank you for your letter. Fraternally,
Antoine Werlen
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By the same author see the article: Notre spiritualité SCJ à l'épreuve du temps" (Our SCJ Spirituality Tested by Time), Dehoniana 1981, 118-124 and 160-170.