Customer Reviews

The Brotherhood of the Common Life and Its Influence (S U N Y Series in Western Esoteric Traditions)

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This book traces the inner teachings in the 14th to 16th century Europe, where one of its main exponents Gerald Groote (1340-1384) (Gert Groote - Gerhardus Magnus) lived in Holland, Deventer.

A quote from Gerald's life (of which very little is known): "...His life ran smoothly enough, no doubt, until one day in Cologne when a stranger confronted him as he wandered the busy streets and challenged him with a question:

'Why are you standing here like this, intent on empty things? You must become another man.'

The width and scope of the subject is enormous; I hope there will be more of similar thorough studies made in the future. It is about the brothers and sisters outside the monastic life, the lay people, living in the spirit of oral teachings and studies of the Desert Fathers. This theme is actual also in the new Millenium.

The book shows clearly how little we (or at least: how little I) know of the past and how little of the knowledge of the past can reach and actually has reached us.