Johann Scheffler

Susan Cain observed that Western society promotes “the extrovert ideal” and gives preferential treatment to bold and charismatic leaders. Her best-selling book from a dozen years ago, Quiet: The Power of Introversion in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, seeks to correct the distortion by stressing the untapped resources introverts can bring to business and society. Introverts recognize the importance of quiet reflection and know how to leverage solitude as a catalyst for innovation. A movement called Quietism emerged in seventeenth century Europe as a reaction against the willful activism of Protestant and Catholic leaders. Quietists sought to recover contemplation as an essential spiritual practice. One must empty the soul of self so God to do his redeeming work. The quietist movement, in its extreme, also became susceptible to theological laxity, passivity, and indifference to injustice. Johann Scheffler (1624-1674) had quietist tendencies. He was raised as a Lutheran but was drawn to Catholic mysticism and became a Catholic priest, changing his name to Angelus Silesius (Angelus in Latin means “messenger” and Silesius was in recognition of his birthplace). He is chiefly known for two works: a collection of two hundred poems and hymns called The Soul’s Holy Desire (how ironic that his hymns later became popular in Lutheran circles) and Cherubinic Pilgrim, an assortment of sixteen hundred pithy couplets, often in rhymed form, that reflect on morality and union with God. Here is but a sample: