Ego Dormio

The phrase "Ego Dormio" is Latin, meaning "I sleep." It originates from the title of a letter attributed to Richard Rolle, an English hermit and mystic who lived in the 14th century. The phrase itself became emblematic of a particular stage of spiritual development in Christian mysticism.

Ego Dormio is an English-language letter by Richard Rolle thought to date from the 1340s, advising an anonymous woman on how best to love God and gain salvation by proceeding through the "three degrees of love" to arrive at the third and highest, a "contemplative life".

Richard Rolle's "Ego Dormio" speaks to a profound aspect of the spiritual life that often eludes the modern seeker, accustomed as we are to the efficacy of action, the relentless pursuit of goals. The phrase, "I sleep," is not an admission of sloth or apathy, but rather a description of a deliberate yielding, a conscious relinquishment of the ego's ceaseless striving. It echoes the wisdom found across contemplative traditions, from the kenosis in Christian theology, the emptying of self for divine filling, to the Zen concept of mushin, the "no-mind" that is open to all possibilities. Mircea Eliade, in his explorations of the sacred, often highlighted the importance of ritualistic stillness, of entering into a liminal space where the ordinary laws of time and causality are suspended. This "sleep" is not an unconscious state but a heightened awareness of receptivity, akin to the deep listening described by Simone Weil, where the soul is attuned to the subtle whispers of the divine. It is the quiet before the storm of ecstatic union, the fertile darkness from which the bloom of divine love emerges. In this state, the individual is not inert but actively, albeit passively, engaged in the profound work of becoming permeable to grace, allowing the divine to re-weave the fabric of one's being. The true awakening, as Rolle suggests, comes not from strenuous effort but from the willingness to surrender to the slumber of divine indwelling. This stillness is the fertile ground where the seeds of spiritual transformation are sown, awaiting the divine gardener's touch. It is a potent reminder that sometimes, the most profound progress is made when we cease to push and instead allow ourselves to be drawn.