Spiritual Literacy

Currently we are doing readings from this text. Usually a series of short excerpts by five or six authors but on a single topic, such as the sacred in everyday objects, or nature, or home. We then do a twenty minute silent meditation followed by reflection and discussion.

John Donne

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring readings from the sacred literature of other traditions as well as from the Christian and Hebrew traditions. The readings I have in mind are these:

"Krishna Reveals himself to Arjuna" in the Hindu Bagavad Gitta

Passages from the Tao Te Ching

"God speaks to Job from out of the whirlwind" from the Book of Job.

John Donne's "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, no. 17": For whom the bell tolls. Published in 1627 

Some songs of the Sufi's: Rumi, and Hafiz

A few of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems.

I encourage any suggestions you have for additional readings.

"In Into the Silent Land, we see the ancient wisdom of both the Christian East and West brought sharply to bear on the modern-day longing for radical openness to God in the depthsof the heart. Laird's book is not like the many presentations for beginners. While useful for those just starting out, this book serves especially as a guide for those who desire to journey yet deeper into the silence of God. The heart of the book focuses on negotiating key moments of struggle on the contemplative path, when the whirlwind of distractions or the brick wall of boredom makes it difficult to continue. Laird shows that these inner struggles, even wounds, that any person of prayer must face, are like riddles, trying to draw out of us our own inner silence. Ultimately Laird shows how the wounds we loathe become vehicles of the healing silence we seek, beyond technique and achievement. Throughout the language is fresh, direct, and focused on real-life examples of people whose lives are incomparably enriched by the practice of contemplation." Oxford University Press

Into the Silent Land is a beautiful and deeply consoling book, a reminder that prayer is both real and fundamentally simple. Not since Thomas Merton's Contemplative Prayer have I encountered a guide to contemplation this wise and compelling."--Douglas Burton-Christie, author of The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism

"This book is different. There are plenty of books on contemplation that feel rather tired--either wordy and labored or unhelpfully smooth and idealistic. But this is sharp, deep, with no cliches, no psychobabble and no short cuts. Its honesty is bracing, its vision utterly clear; it is a rare treasure."--Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury

"Often they say 'you learn how to swim by swimming' but a good coach or swimming manual is essential. Equally, we could say 'you learn how to be contemplative by contemplating' and a good guide or mentor is necessary.Into the Silent Land is just that. I tried it and it works. Try it."--Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Step 1. Be grounded in your experience of who you are as a human being in relationship with others. Take responsibility for the healing that needs to occur.

Step 2. Have faith in the subtle flashes of spiritual awakening that occur each day. Trust that these moments reveal that you are not merely ego, but also a spiritual being created in the image and likeness of God, who is spirit. 

Step 3. Realize that the root of suffering is estrangement from spiritual experience, and the root of happiness is spiritual experience. 

Step 4. Follow the mystics on the path of prayer and meditation, which heals the root of suffering at its origins.

Step 5. Follow the path of compassionate love, which heals the roots of suffering in our minds and hearts.

Step 6. Learn to live in the axial moment, which transcends suffering even in the midst of suffering. 

Step 7. Through prayer, meditation, and compassionate love, devote yourself to the lifelong process of becoming a healing presence  in the world. Resolve to live this way until the last traces of suffering dissolve in love and only love is left.

Rest on the flight into Egypt. Carvagio c.1628

Watch this page for more information. Better yet, sign up for our email list and we will keep you posted. 

For more on this series see the Transforming Trauma web page.

James Finley

In our next season James Finley will be teaching us from the Christian tradition. Finley is a practicing psychotherapist, husband, father, and former Trappist Monk who teaches meditation as he learned it from Thomas Merton. This series will provide a foundation for a second Finley series on the way we bring suffering into our lives. He uses this in his psychotherapy work. Finley is able to bridge modern psychology and Christian and Buddhist traditions in way that illuminates the confusion of modern life. 

For more on James Finley, you can visit his website at www.contemplativeway.com The website has long videos from James Finley's sessions on various Christian mystics and what they have to teach us. 

The mystic writers, in every tradition, say the same thing—meditative prayer leads to profound but inexplainable experience that is transforming. The Christian tradition describes it as a very personal connection to Christ. We die to ourselves and enter the mind of Christ.

Jesus said we must die and be born again. Contemplative prayer may help us in this process. Those who have made a study of the experience of death, at least, the steps leading up to death, say, that in the best of circumstances, people come to terms with their end. In some cases, near the end, they radiate a sublime beauty.

There mystics tell us that the experience of the divine will transform us. T.S. Eliot describes the call of divine love like this:

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Through the unknown, unremembered gate

When the last of earth left to discover

Is that which was the beginning...

Is that where we are going? Home, to where we began? Take a few minutes and listen to the boys choir Libera.. They sing "Going Home."

The Lord's Prayer is the most explicit guide that Jesus gives for how to pray. Shouldn't we really try to understand the depth of its meaning? Our next Thursday evening session will be on the line "Give us this day our daily bread" which is rendered in Aramaic as, Hawvlan lachma d'sunqanan yaomana. We will find that both "day" and "bread" have deeper meanings in Aramaic. 

A previous post had a full translation of the prayer from Aramaic into English as well as a lovely video of the prayer being sung in Aramaic.  Since we will be doing some more chanting in the next few weeks, you can use this full translation to get the whole flow of of the prayer. The video is also very helpful because the prayer is being sung by a native speaker. You can read along as she sings and get another sense and feel of the language. You can access the video and translation by clicking here.

We also have a new feature on the web site. If you missed our "Introduction to Christian Mysticism" last December you can still take the Mysticism quiz. It is now online.