Twelve Rules for (the Interior) Life, According to Thomas a’Kempis, Revisited

Twelve Rules for (the Interior) Life, According to Thomas a’Kempis.

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s “Twelve Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos,” is, at this writing, one of the most popular books in the culture. I read the book and enjoyed it thoroughly, as it either validated many of the principles that I follow, or challenged me to re-orient my practices and habits and to hone in on the horns of chaos.

In thinking about Peterson’s rules, I began to browse through my favorite author and spiritual mentor, Thomas a’Kempis, for his own rules for life, and found these laid out in Book II of “The Imitation.” In this article, I’ve distilled the Twelve Rules of Thomas a’Kempis for the cultivating the interior life [1]. Conveniently, Book II of the Imitation of Christ, On Interior Things (hereinafter referred to as “Interior Things”), he has twelve chapters, each of which delves into coming to terms with who we are in relationship to God and His Kingdom.
“Interior Things” opens by discussing the struggles we face which are even more difficult than shedding our outward attachments: focusing of the inward life of the self. We must come to terms with our secret desires and sins. Our intimacy with God grows in direct proportion to our leaving behind the baggage of the heart and spirit. In shedding the vanities of this world, developing an ardent prayer life, and by taking up our own cross and following Jesus to His Cross, we find God’s eternal friendship.
So here are Thomas a’Kempis’ twelve rules for developing an interior life.

Rule 1: Recognize that the Kingdom of God is within you.
Finding the Kingdom of God within means that we make a space within our hearts, minds and bodies for Him. We must clean our interior room through confession and prayer and thereby prepare a place for Christ. We do this by letting God be our chief love and by not relying on others to get closer to Christ. In recognizing that Heaven is our home we learn to pass up material or personal attachments. It’s time to acknowledge that people change directions like the wind, but God is our Rock. With Christ as our friend, we should expect to face adversity, but through this adversity we grow closer to Him.If we want Jesus to bide with us, we need to make changes to our lives and find room for Him in that crowded space. It’s time to remove the clutter from our interior lives.

Key Quote: If you had only once entered into the mind and heart of Jesus and tasted even a little of His fiery love, then your own comfort would mean nothing to you.

Rule 2: Be Humble.
It is easy to be humble when everyone approves of our actions. Often such humility is pretended. We revel in the idea that people consider us as humble. Funny, huh? But then it is not so easy when people hold us in contempt. A different level of humility is needed. Are the criticisms and hardships we endure deserved? Probably. We need to acknowledge our faults and accept the discipline due to us for our shortcomings. When we allow ourselves to be humbled for our (many) defects, we diffuse the anger in those who are upset with us. God defends those with a good, humble, conscience. Likewise, when we humbly submit to God’s will, we make progress in developing our interior life.
God reveals Himself to the humble. And so it is a worthy pursuit, even though we are uncomfortable in facing our faults. But when we face these faults and embrace our humility we can better fix our eyes on God. We know we have made progress in the interior life when we begin to look at others as more important than ourselves. Thomas encourages us to strive for this balance between humility and a healthy love of the self. He worked diligently to line out his many faults and made saintly progress by taking God along with him on his daily journey. May we be bold enough to do likewise.

Key Quote: Do not worry about counting who is for you or who is against you: Rather, be mindful of the present and take steps for God to be with you in whatever you do.

The rest will follow in weekly installments. Or, you can look these up on this site and read the full text of each chapter.

Rule 1: Recognize that the Kingdom of God is within you.
Rule 2: Be Humble.
Rule 3: Stay peaceful.
Rule 4: Lift yourself with simplicity and purity.
Rule 5: Do not trust too much in yourself.
Rule 6: Keep a good conscience to find joy.
Rule 7: Understand what it is to love Jesus.
Rule 8: Find true friendship with Jesus.
Rule 9: Let the grace of God carry you.
Rule 10: Give thanks to God for the smallest of gifts.
Rule 11: Bear the Cross of Christ willingly.
Rule 12: Take up your cross to find the Kingdom of God.