The three ways

The three ways, purgative, illuminative and unitive, are the classic Christian scheme of the spiritual life. In the purgative way, the soul turns from sin and disordered attachments; in the illuminative way, it grows in virtue and in the understanding of divine things; in the unitive way, it is united with God in love. The scheme goes back to Pseudo-Dionysius’s triad of purification, illumination and perfection, applied originally to the ranks of angels and clergy.

Medieval writers such as Bonaventure gave the scheme its classic form, and it became the framework of much later spiritual teaching. The stages overlap rather than following one another strictly, and many writers insisted that each continues through the whole of life.

Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism (1911) adapted the scheme for comparative study, adding an awakening at the beginning and a dark night before union. Comparative readers have set it beside the Buddhist stages of the path and the eight limbs of Yoga, with due caution about their different goals.