David Lorimer – Love and Freedom in the Philosophical Mysticism of Nikolay Berdyaev

I believe in the possibility of a transformation in the structure of consciousness, in a revolution in consciousness, a revaluation of values and a spiritual re-education of man. Then at last to a different level of consciousness, a different universe can be presented.

The change is difficult… and the human race is faced with the alternative between it and eventual self-extermination.

Nikolay Berdyaev (1874-1948) was a Russian mystical philosopher exiled by the Bolsheviks and who spent most of his life in Paris. In the 1970s, I had a mentor called Norman Cockburn who gave me a large part of his library, including a shelf of Berdyaev. I remember a conversation in which I asked him what he thought was most important in life. He replied, ‘love and freedom’ – and I know realise that this was also true for Berdyaev. I recently reread a book about his work that I first read in 1980, and was struck by the relevance of his message to our time.

You can see in the quote above that he believed in the possibility of a transformation in the structure of consciousness, and this is an existential process now demanded by the evolutionary challenge we have collectively set ourselves. Central to his thought is the postulate of divine humanity, from which it follows that we should never treat human beings instrumentally as means to our ends. Berdyaev’s approach was philosophical mysticism based on spiritual experience rather than the rationalistic theology of the West grounded in discursive reason. 

God is the eternal Subject of intuitive awareness in which we live, move and have our being. Philosophical mysticism recognises no external authority for belief. It knows only the spirit of freedom and the freedom of the spirit where love is the link between the human and the divine as well as between the self and the other. Christ is the supreme example rather than mediator, and is known in the deep heart’s core, while each of us as a personality is the point of intersection between the universal-infinite and the individual-particular.

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About the speaker:

David Lorimer is a visionary polymath and poet, who is Founder of Character Education Scotland, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and former President of Wrekin Trust and the Swedenborg Society. He was the instigator of the Beyond the Brain conference series in 1995 and has co-ordinated the Mystics and Scientists conferences every year since the late 1980s.

Originally a merchant banker then a teacher of philosophy and modern languages at Winchester College, he is the author and editor of over a dozen books and his most recent publications are his essays A Quest for Wisdom (2021), his collection of poems Better Light a Candle (2022), Spiritual Awakenings (2022, edited with Marjorie Woollacott), The Great Upshift (2023, edited with Ervin Laszlo), and The Playful Universe (2024, edited with Marjorie Woollacott and Gary Schwartz).

In 2020, David was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award as a Visionary Leader by the Visioneers International Network, and the Aboca Human Ecology Prize in 2021. He is a Creative Member of the Club of Budapest, a Member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle, and, since 2023, Global Ambassador of the Scientific and Medical Network. 

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