The Experience of No-Self: A Contemplative Journey

Bernadette Roberts's account of her own contemplative trajectory inside the Carmelite tradition — the discalced contemplative path of John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila — and of the experience that the Christian apophatic literature does not directly map: the falling-away not just of self-images but of the experiencing self itself. The book argues that classical Christian mystical writing stops short of this phase, which is more familiar from Buddhist and Advaita formulations.

Treated inside contemporary contemplative-Christian circles as one of the few sources that attempts to map the post-unitive territory, and the only one to do so from inside Carmelite practice. Roberts structures her account in two parts: a first-person journal of the two-year journey, followed by a theological commentary that attempts to locate the experience within — and distinguish it from — the categories of John of the Cross. The book remains the primary reference point for the Christian no-self literature.

First lines

I must re-emphasize that the following experiences do not belong to the first contemplative movement or the soul's establishment in a state of union with God. I have written elsewhere of this first journey and feel that enough has been said of it already, since this movement is inevitably the exclusive concern of contemplative writers. Thus it is only where these writers leave off that I propose to begin.

Contents

Reception

Treated inside contemporary contemplative-Christian circles (Centering Prayer, Christian Meditation) as one of the few sources that attempts to map the post-unitive territory and the only one to do so from inside Carmelite practice. Read across traditions — Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, Adyashanti have all engaged it explicitly. Roberts's later books extend the argument; some Catholic reviewers have argued her descriptions cross into territory the Christian tradition does not endorse, while others (including Bourgeault) treat her as a major contemporary mystic. Modest sales relative to her significance.

Frequently asked

What is The Experience of No-Self about?

It is Bernadette Roberts's first-person account of a two-year contemplative journey in which the self — not merely self-images, but the experiencing subject itself — fell away entirely. Roberts, a Carmelite, argues that Christian mystical writing stops short of this phase, mapping only the journey to union with God, while the territory beyond union is better described in Buddhist and Advaita sources.

How does Roberts's account differ from John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila?

John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila map the soul's journey to union with God — the highest stage they describe. Roberts argues she entered a further stage in which even the united self dissolved, leaving no experiential subject at all. Her second part of the book is a theological commentary attempting to locate and distinguish this experience from Carmelite categories.

Who has engaged with Bernadette Roberts's work?

Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, and Adyashanti have all explicitly engaged with her writing. Bourgeault treats Roberts as a major contemporary mystic; some Catholic reviewers have questioned whether her descriptions remain within orthodox Christian limits. The book has been read across traditions despite its specifically Carmelite framing.