Term Paper on "Bernard of Clairvaux and Erich Fromm"

Term Paper 7 pages (3205 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Bernard of Clairvaux and Erich Fromm

Bernard of Clairvaux was one of the most revered monks of his time. Born in the medieval ages, in 1090, he lived up to the year 1153. He is even today considered to be the most honored medieval monk, by both Protestants as well as Catholics. When an official from Rome questioned the monk, the answer to the question was the 'Four Stages of Love' that, according to him, are the following: man will always love himself for his own sake, that man generally loves God in order to gain an advantage for himself, that man loves God for God's sake, and finally, that man loves himself for the sake of God. (Factoids from Church History: The Stages of Love)

Bernard was one of the dominating figures of the twelfth century, in which Christian thoughts and ideals of Christianity and faith all played a major part in the daily lives of the people. Bernard entered the monastery of Citeaux when he was 22 years old, and so very handsome that he turned the head of many a young lady. Bernard himself, however, was not interested in matters of the world; he, when he entered the monastery, persuaded about thirty-two other nobles to leave the world and enter into monastic life with him. At this time, the monastery at Citeaux was dying a slow death, but things began to improve rapidly with the new blood that had entered, and soon Citeaux was able to regain some of its lost glory. At the age of twenty-five, Bernard became an abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of Clairvaux, and it was from this advantage of position that he was able to become the spokesman for the monastic ideals, and an advocate for Cistercian reforms, and a great influence on the abbeys of Cluney. However, the intentions of Bernard to leave the world did not in fact succeed, because he became more and more involved in the disputes of the outside world, and tried to sort them out. He was considered by many to be a saint, and this was one of the reasons that his thoughts are relevant, even today. (Chapter V: Monastic Thought: Part 111, the Twelfth Century)

Reverend James Love, in one of his sermons, had this to say: the very center of love and faith is the love that has been shown to us by Jesus Christ. He says that most Christians need a simple affirmation of this truth, and this is why songs such as 'Jesus loves me I know, because the Bible tells me so'. This is a simple wisdom that had been spoken of by Bernard of Clairvaux in the twelfth century, wherein the first stage of loving is that of loving one's own self that is the phenomenon of looking out for oneself, as some would describe it today. The second stage of loving is that of the love of God for the sake of the self. In other words, this can be taken to describe one's own thinking and assumptions about life on earth, and of the ascent into Heaven. It can be explained like this: I love God because I would want to go to Heaven when I die. (Sermon: Ephesians: 3:14-21)

The next and the third stage as described by Bernard of Clairvaux are that of self-discovery as well as discovery of God. This is the stage when an individual generally discovers that God is in fact real, and is hard at work in the real world. Therefore, God can and must be loved for what He is in the real world. The fourth stage is when one discovers to love oneself again, fully and completely, but just in the same way as God would love us. Therefore, this naturally means that the individual or the believer has been able to enter into a relationship with God in his faith and belief. In other words, the individual ultimately and eventually discovers that even when he was at a stage of self-absorption or at a stage when he did not believe in God fully or partially, Gods' love and faith were in fact seeking him out. (Sermon: Ephesians: 3:14-21)

This is the reason that Christians comprehend God and faith in God as the Holy Trinity, that is, a Three in One concept, which also means that there are three persons but one single God, in other words, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While many other religions all over the world may also believe in monotheism or in the existence of one God, it is a unique concept that exists in Christianity that God Himself has shown and demonstrated to the believer that He is not alone in being One, but that He exists in a relationship with Man, who is His own creation. Therefore, it is clear that man is always in a relationship with God, and that the relationship also exists with creation in general too. (Sermon: Ephesians: 3:14-21)

As there are two sides to the same coin, in the same way there are two sides to an opinion. While Reverend James Love was full of praise for the Four Stages of Love as described by Bernard of Clairvaux in his treatise 'On Loving God', Jeanie Burton, in the sermon on 'Love' does not agree. She says that she feels that the Love that was taught by Jesus Christ is extremely difficult to follow, because of the fact that it is quite radical and also sacrificial to a large extent, and therefore, very difficult to follow, especially today, in these difficult times. For example, she questions, is it easy any more for any body to actually think of blessing 'those who persecute you' and 'turn the other cheek' to the person who is hurting you? However, all Christians advocate 'love' today, and also in the yester years, like for example by Bernard of Clairvaux in his four stages of 'Loving God'. She feels that the first stage of love as described by Bernard as 'loving ourselves for our own sake' is rather well understood by all Christians. (Love Grows Up)

Everyone in the world starts off by loving oneself before loving others. For example, a baby cries when he is hungry because he loves himself and his stomach and wants someone to give him something for his stomach, and immediately. During this stage, states the author, the human being finds that he is the center of the Universe, and that everything revolves around him and nobody else. Though the idea shows that human beings are indeed primitive creatures who put the basic idea of 'survival' first, it also demonstrates the idea behind Bernard's description of the first stage of Love. During the second stage of Love, an individual becomes aware of the realities in the world, apart from the love that one has been enjoying for one's own self over the years. This is the stage of loving God for one's own sake. Though at this stage an individual becomes aware of reality, he still has as his primary focus the love of himself, that is, God becomes a means to an end for the individual. The self is grateful to God, but at the same time grateful only because God is able to do something of some sort for us. (Love Grows Up)

Jeanie, the author, states that it is indeed an issue of great sadness that many Christians remain in this stage for most of their lives, where they cannot see behind the selfishness in which they are mired. That is to say, to say that Jesus Christ is the Savior and the Lord Almighty just so that one is ensured a sure place in Heaven is nothing but selfishness and self-centeredness. Therefore, to use Jesus Christ as a means to gain some personal benefits may be a part of one stage in everyone's lives, but it goes without saying that one must be able to move beyond this stage into one where one can focus more on God for what He is rather than what He can do for us. According to Bernard, the third stage of the love of God was the loving of God for God's own sake and for no other innate reason. This is a very important stage because this is when one can love God completely and whole-heartedly for His own sake, and at the same time come to realize the value of God in an individual's life. Therefore, at this stage one realizes that the relationship that he has with God need not be ruled by what He can do for him and go beyond this to what God means and also what God actually is.

At this stage of loving God, one can love God just for what He is, and worship Him for his own needs rather than think about how one can gain something from the relationship that one shares with God. Thus… READ MORE

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