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Mystical Paths
Susan Howatch
The author’s most famous and well-loved work, the Starbridge series, six self-contained yet interconnected novels that explore the history of the Church of England through the 20th century.1968, with the swinging sixties sliding into decadence, finds Nicholas Darrow wrestling with overwhelming personal problems: How can he bring himself to marry his fiancée, Rosalind, when he is unable to avoid promiscuity? How can he become a priest when he finds it so difficult to live as one? And how can he break his dangerous dependence on his father Jon, whose psychic gifts he shares? It is at this crucial moment in his life that Nick becomes involved in the mystery surrounding his friend, Christian Aysgarth. Gradually, he realises that discovering the truth about this enigmatic and complex man will unlock the answers to his own baffling problems. However, his journey through darkness into the light reverses all the old certainties and, in his experiments with the psychic powers, Nick risks even his own life and sanity.
Susan Howatch
MYSTICAL PATHS
COPYRIGHT (#ulink_139192a6-3308-583c-b274-d83ecff73497)
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Extracts from The River Within and Jung and the Christian Way by Christopher Bryant published and copyright 1978 and 1983 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd. Extracts from Canterbury Pilgrim and Canterbury Essays and Addresses by Michael Ramsay published by SPCK. All reproduced by kind permission of the publishers.
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1992, then by Fontana 1993 and by HarperCollinsPublishers 1995
Copyright © Leaftree Ltd 1992
The Author asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780006496878
Ebook Edition © MAY 2012 ISBN: 9780007396405
Version: 2018-10-08
PRAISE (#ulink_86bf8ad3-3873-566a-b966-59f51da3e43e)
From the reviews:
‘Arguably no one writing today can equal Howatch’s ability to write compelling novels that combine theology and psychology in a complex, fast-moving plot offering beautifully delineated characters and the suspense of a mystery thriller’
Publishers Weekly
‘A fascinating, mind-bending exposition … Howatch wins out’
Sunday Times
‘Taking on the style of a psychological thriller … Mystical Paths covers in a profound and theologically thoughtful way the powers of light and powers of darkness … Her success should not go unrewarded’
Catholic Herald
‘Howatch writes thrillers of the heart and mind … everything in a Howatch novel cuts close to the bone and is of vital concern’
New Woman
‘Susan Howatch … is writing for anyone who can recognise that mysterious gift of the true storyteller’
Daily Telegraph
‘One of the most original novelists writing today’
Cosmopolitan
AUTHOR’S NOTE (#ulink_9abc6d0d-3ce3-5647-90a7-32db3d96a314)
Mystical Paths is the fifth in a series of novels about the Church of England in the twentieth century. Each book is designed to be read independently of the others, but the more books are read the wider will be the view of the multi-sided reality which is being presented.
The first novel, Glittering Images, was set in 1937. Glamorous Powers, narrated by Jon Darrow, opened in 1940, Ultimate Prizes was narrated by Neville Aysgarth after the war, and Scandalous Risks viewed the Church in 1963 through the eyes of Venetia Flaxton. The sixth and final novel, Absolute Truths, will take place in 1965, three years before the main events described by Nicholas Darrow in Mystical Paths, and Charles Ashworth, the narrator who opened the series, will narrate the novel which brings the series to a close.
The ecclesiastical era of Nicholas Darrow’s youth was dominated by ARTHUR MICHAEL RICHARD RAMSEY, who was born in 1904. While still in his thirties he became the Van Mildert Professor of Divinity in the University of Durham and a Canon of Durham Cathedral. Two years later he married. A short period as Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge preceded his appointment as Bishop of Durham at the age of forty-seven, and his ascent to the top of the Church’s hierarchy continued to be rapid: by 1956 he was Archbishop of York, and in 1961 he became the one hundredth Archbishop of Canterbury.
Ramsey combined a first-class intellect with a striking appearance and a considerable degree of eccentricity and originality in his speech, manner and dress; a member of the Catholic wing of the Church, he was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to adopt the uniform of a purple cassock instead of the traditional frock-coat and gaiters. The combination of eccentricity and a deep personal holiness made him seem a remote figure to some in the turbulent days of the 1960s, but others appreciated his traditionalism at a time when all traditions were coming under attack. Hostile at first to the outbreak of radical theology he later adopted a more flexible approach, recognising that the widespread questioning of both Christianity and the Church needed careful answering, not instant condemnation.
‘It may be the will of God that our church should have its heart broken,’ Ramsey said before his enthronement at Canterbury, and this proved a prophetic statement. During the secular triumphalism of the 1960s, the Church suffered a loss of confidence and a numerical decline, but Ramsey provided the spiritual leadership needed to sustain it during the dark days of demoralisation, and to lead it towards more fruitful times.
Having retired from Canterbury in 1974, he died in 1988 in the midst of an era very changed from the one over which he had presided twenty years before.
The thought of Jon and Nicholas Darrow reflects the work of CHRISTOPHER BRYANT, who was born in 1905 and ordained not long after he had graduated, like Michael Ramsey, from Cambridge University. In 1935 he became a professed member of the Society of St John the Evangelist, known as the Cowley Fathers, which is the oldest religious community for men in the Church of England. For almost all of the next twenty-five years he was based at the Society’s house in Oxford; he became first novice guardian, then assistant superior, and it was here that he began to make a special study of psychology.
In 1955 he was put in charge of St Edward’s House, the Society’s London home, and he became increasingly famous as a spiritual director. As he approached seventy his writing career began: he embarked on committing to paper the insights into religious belief which he had obtained from studying Jung’s psychology. The book failed to find a publisher, but another religious community came to the rescue and published it under their own imprint as Depth Psychology and Religious Belief. His other books, however, found favour with a well-known religious publisher and all his work came to have a wide readership. The River Within, The Heart in Pilgrimage and Jung and the Christum Way were published before his death. Journey to the Centre was published posthumously. He died in 1985
CONTENTS
COVER (#u5443c8b9-299f-5333-adf5-9fdb355a77a4)
TITLE PAGE (#u2f21e0ee-213f-57fb-affb-e1e50fdea51c)
COPYRIGHT (#ulink_13f3acd1-fd56-5f63-a31b-32abd3a4249e)
PRAISE (#ulink_746060a9-23db-58f4-a8b8-06a929b7316e)
AUTHOR’S NOTE (#ulink_4a1a0e76-f4b8-5b1e-869d-c85b728a2c22)
PART ONE THE JOURNEY AROUND THE CIRCLE (#ulink_fff3a275-ec91-51f3-ab58-12137b607805)
ONE (#ulink_7521eaa5-8f5e-5640-99e3-3be13b486837)
TWO (#ulink_45ba8ead-0601-5f80-8899-fdf156cd20bd)
THREE (#ulink_0ca09f27-c7c8-5536-97af-135d0db104c7)
FOUR (#ulink_506278e1-5e16-5d67-9f19-2924e27684fc)
FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
PART TWO THE JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE (#litres_trial_promo)
ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
PART THREE SELF-REALISATION/ETERNAL LIFE (#litres_trial_promo)
ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
KEEP READING (#litres_trial_promo)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#litres_trial_promo)
BY SUSAN HOWATCH (#litres_trial_promo)
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER (#litres_trial_promo)
PART ONE (#ulink_b2235898-c0a6-5c03-9ead-fccac270e681)
THE JOURNEY AROUND THE CIRCLE (#ulink_b2235898-c0a6-5c03-9ead-fccac270e681)
‘Amidst the pressures and strains of life there is the longing of the self to realize itself by escaping from the dominance of the environment. There are many cults which offer such an escape, with an experience of a heightening of the faculties and a realization of the self in greater power of its own or of something beyond the self. But it is important to ask what is the reality which is experienced, and what is the effect not only upon the sensations but upon the life and character of the person who has had the experience. There is an old story of a man who was had up for being drunk. The magistrate asked, “Why do you get drunk like this?” and the man replied, “You see, your worship, it’s the shortest way out of Manchester.” Alcohol, drugs, the mystical techniques of various religions, may be the shortest way out of Manchester … But it matters very much where you get to, and what you are like when you come back.’
MICHAEL RAMSEY
Archbishop of Canterbury 1961–1974
Canterbury Pilgrim
‘God acts upon us inescapably through the people who touch and influence our lives.’
CHRISTOPHER BRYANT
Member of the Society of St John the Evangelist 1935–1985
The River Within
ONE (#ulink_fb86dc4c-aa41-5699-8792-c9e2da159a0d)
‘More than in the past, the young are striking out into intellectual independence and revolt against tradition.’
MICHAEL RAMSEY
Archbishop of Canterbury 1961–1974
Canterbury Pilgrim
I
I had just returned from an exorcism and was flinging some shirts into the washing machine when my colleague entered the kitchen. He was wearing his cassock and carrying a bottle of whisky. Beyond the window caked in city grime, sunlight blazed upon the battered dustbins in the back-yard.
‘How was the Gothic mansion haunted by the ravishing young ghost?’
‘Non-existent. The trouble was in a council house where the previous occupant had overdosed on heroin in the lavatory.’
‘Ah well, that’s 1988 for you … Drink?’
I declined but passed him a glass from the draining-board rack before I set the dials on the washing-machine. Meanwhile the electric kettle was coming to the boil. Absent-mindedly I reached for the teapot. ‘What’s new?’
‘Absolutely nothing. A drunk disrupted the lunch-time Eucharist, the Gay Christians demanded that we stock their literature on AIDS, and some neurotic female from the Movement for the Ordination of Women threatened to picket the church unless you sacked me – oh, and talking of neurotic women someone called Venetia telephoned twice to say she had to talk to you. She sounded like a nymphomaniac.’ He drank deeply from his whisky before adding: ‘Now why should the name Venetia remind me of the 1960s?’
There was a silence broken only by the click of the kettle as it switched itself off. Then I said: ‘She was a friend of Christian Aysgarth’s.’
‘Ah yes,’ said my colleague, suddenly motionless. ‘The Christian Aysgarth affair. 1968. Crisis, chaos and the Devil on the loose.’
The phone rang. Moving to the extension, which hung on the wall by the dresser, I unhooked the receiver and said neutrally: ‘St Bent’s Rectory.’
‘Darling!’ It was Venetia. ‘I thought I’d never get past that crusty old curate you keep!’
‘He’s not my curate. He’s my colleague at the Healing Centre.’
‘Well, chain him up somewhere, I can’t bear misogynists. Now darling, I know you were terribly sweet and madly keen that I should visit you for a little professional chat, but –’
‘– you’ve got cold feet.’
‘Slightly shivery, yes. When I awoke this morning I began to wonder if a Healing Centre was really quite my scene, and –’
