The Interior Castle Series, #1: Turning into the Castle
This is the first installment in a series of contemplations on St. Teresa of Ávila’s spiritual masterpiece, The Interior Castle.
What I love about St. Teresa of Ávila is her no-nonsense approach to spiritual transformation. She is often celebrated as a great mystic – which she certainly was. She was also a very practical, seasoned practitioner. She didn’t just have mystical things happen to her. She participated in her spiritual evolution. She walked the walk, so to speak. Her insights and teachings show us how she did it. Her life is an example of the potential that is within us all.
In her spiritual masterpiece, The Interior Castle, St. Teresa offers us the image of a crystal castle that exists inside of us as means to describe what is available to us in our interior world. The castle is a metaphor for the indescribable – the complexity and majesty of our souls.
In this crystal castle, there are seven mansions or dwellings that a being moves through to unite with their Beloved. As we move through each mansion, we move through a stage of spiritual transformation, spiraling inward to know ourselves. Each turn leads us closer to finding a relationship and intimacy with the divine spark that is who we truly are. Throughout the book, St. Teresa takes us on a journey through these mansions, leading us directly into descriptions of union with God.
What proves to me that St. Teresa truly practiced what she preached is the way she cuts to the core of her subject. As she starts to describe what one needs to do to start this journey inward, she says with clarity, “it seems to me that the entry door to this castle is prayer and meditation.”[1] She goes on to talk about how one cannot access the interior world without praying or meditating. If one does not engage in these practices, she tells us, one will live outside the castle of their true self for their entire lives, with no awareness of their soul or internal world.
I often contemplate this and wonder what my life would look like if I had not been introduced to both prayer and meditation years ago. Before I began to comprehend such things, the word “prayer” was quite triggering. I had been taught to pray as a way of asking God to do things for me, or as a way to say sorry to God for all the things I had done wrong. In those days, I even found it hard to use the word God.
For most of my early life, then, prayer was a very formal way of asking for forgiveness or asking for things I thought I desperately needed in the moment, two things that were very intertwined with a good amount of shame and a big dose of helplessness. Why on earth would I want to pray when it made me feel bad about myself all the time? And who am I praying to that makes me feel so bad about myself?
I often asked myself those two questions at that time of my life.
Thus, I can understand why so many people never enter their interior castle. Through cultural conditioning, most of us have been pointed in the wrong direction, looking for the wrong things, not knowing what is going on inside of us. Most of us were never taught how to look inside ourselves. We are most definitely not guided to enter the mystery of our own soul. I know I wasn’t.
In her practical way, St. Teresa tells us to figure out how to pray and meditate as a promise that it will at least start a sense for something happening inside you. Something that has nothing to do with the external world. She is clear: if we don’t get quiet and have an interior look, we cannot ever possibly get to know ourselves or ourselves in God. St. Teresa places self-knowledge, becoming conscious of who and what we are, as the highest of priorities, telling us:
“It is very important for any soul who practices prayer – whether a little or a lot – not to limit herself or hold herself back in a designated corner. Since God has given her such dignity, let her roam freely through all the dwellings: above, below, and to each side. She must not feel compelled to linger too long in any one place, unless, of course, it is the dwelling of self-knowledge. How necessary this abode is, even for those whom the Beloved has drawn into the same chamber where he himself abides. No matter how high a state the soul attains, she can never neglect knowing herself, even if she wanted to.”[2]
I’ve learned over the years of my own practice that it can be hard to know where to begin with prayer and meditation. And once one has started to practice, it can be hard to commit to. It is like a fish learning to swim upstream. It can feel useless. Disconnected. Hard. St. Teresa herself struggled with prayer. She spent years struggling to commit to practice and in a self-proclaimed state of spiritual dryness.
The good news is that, over time, with practice and grace, it does get easier. As we become sensitized to using our interior spiritual senses and aware of what is happening within, we start to sense movement. Communion. And finally, over time and by the grace of God, it can become joyful!
Here are a couple of ideas to start and support a prayer practice. If you feel a pull or a tug to go deeper within yourself and develop a relationship with the Divine, try these steps:
1. Find a time and a place to pray at the same time each day, away from all distractions.
2. Sit in silence for 5 minutes and then begin to pray for 5 minutes.
3. Reciting prayers to get started is ok, then allow yourself to enter conversation as if with a friend.
4. Listen into the silence.
5. Notice everything you sense, feel, and experience.
6. Write down what you notice.
7. Show up again the next day.
The important thing is to turn inward and notice what is happening within. Turn into your interior castle. If you do this on a regular basis, you will get a sense for your interior world and the divine energy that is in communion with you. Over time, you will begin to gather self-knowledge and find out who you truly are. St. Teresa shows us the way with practical and pragmatic guidance that leads to a complete transformation of soul.
We all would do well to listen to her.
If you desire support for your prayer or meditation life, or to know more about journeying into The Interior Castle, I am here to walk with you. Please reach out to me at leigh@leighamurray.com or sign up at www.leighamurray.com to set up a complimentary session to learn more.
References
1. Teresa of Avila. The Interior Castle. Riverhead Books, 2003, p.39.
2. Teresa of Avila. The Interior Castle. Riverhead Books, 2003, p.43.