Seeing the Beauty of the Lord: Mystics on Nature as Theophany

Mystics are often thought to have little interest in the natural world, given their concern with the inner self. Many mystics, however, have had a profound sense of the beauty of creation. Their interest is not in nature as such, but in the world as a manifestation (theophania), a veil in which and through which God reveals and conceals Godself. This essay will sketch the line of "theophanic mysticism" in three figures. In several texts (e.g., Confessions 9.10; City of God 22.24), Augustine meditates on natural beauty as revealing God. In his "Canticum Solis" (Hymn of Brother Sun), Francis of Assisi presents a distinctive view of the natural and human worlds as praising God in a "familial chorus." John of the Cross, who at times seems to reject the world, insists that when the soul is emptied of all false attachments, it will finally be able to see and love the beauty of creation. The essay concludes with a look at Pope Francis's "Laudato Si'" as a contemporary revival of theophanic mysticism and an important ethical option in the midst of the current ecological crisis.