Paths to Contemplation - 1

With the first post of my new blog I am beginning a serialization of a manuscript I wrote some years ago that was never published, but which I believe may have some value for those interested in contemplative prayer.  I will generally provide one or two sections of the manuscript with each post.  Your comments are most welcome.  If there are any topics you would like me to write on, please let me know.  My email address is mgmign2@verizon.net.


PATHS TO CONTEMPLATION


Introduction


The appears to be substantial interest today in “contemplative prayer.”  Exponents of contemplative prayer such as Dom Lawrence Freeman and Father Thomas Keating have large followings.  Retreat houses and even secular institutes are giving workshops on contemplative prayer as a way of getting more in touch with God, or, if the group’s orientation is secular or New Age, as a means of relaxation or a method to get in touch with your “inner self.”

Contemplation is not a new idea in either Western of Eastern Christian spirituality.  Writings concerning contemplative prayer date back to the early centuries of the Church, and contemplative prayer has been a staple of monastic communities such as the Benedictines and Carmelites.  Many Christians engage in contemplative prayer without knowing that that is how they are praying.

This book has three major goals.  The first is to lay a theological foundation for the importance of contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition.

The second goal is to distinguish between active and passive contemplation, a distinction that is often overlooked in teachings about contemplation.  Knowing this distinction can help those who practice contemplative prayer better understand certain experiences they may have that would otherwise puzzle and discourage them.  In keeping with this second goal, I include chapter on the Nights of the Senses and the Night of the Soul.

The third goal is to offer a brief overview of the more popular techniques for active contemplative so that readers can practice those that most appeal to them.
To assist in gaining additional assistance in contemplative prayer and prayer techniques in general, I include a suggested reading list as an appendix and a chapter on spiritual direction.  I firmly believe that spiritual direction can be a powerful aid to persons engaged in contemplative prayer, or any regular prayer discipline.

I am convinced that if we open ourselves to God through prayer, allowing God to transform as God wills, not as we choose, God will draw us more completely into himself so that we can know him, even in this life, and, through that transforming knowledge, become more loving and faithful servants of Christ on earth.

Chapter 1 - God the Unknowable


The God Instinct

We cannot know God through the natural abilities of our minds, emotions or senses.  This is not to say we cannot come to know about God through the applications of our senses and our intellect.  We may reason that the grandeur and order of the universe requires some unknown higher power to create and guide it.  Or we may sense that the magnificence of a sunset or the wild beauty of the ocean is somehow a pale reflection of a beauty that is even more sublime that we cannot see.  We may call this higher power or this supreme beauty God, but this still does not enable us to know this God directly.

Archeological evidence and historical records indicate that human beings have always had beliefs and rituals pointing toward powers that they intuitively sensed governed their lives and events in the world around them.  Some might argue that such beliefs and rituals were but vain attempts to overcome fear of the unknown and to bring an often capricious and unpredictable environment under human control.  No doubt there is some truth in this argument, but human beings also seem to have a yearning for something or someone that is greater than themselves, a restlessness that is constantly searching for something or someone that has not yet been found.  As Augustine put it, “Our hearts were made for thee, O Lord, and they cannot rest until they rest in thee.”  Humans intuit that there is a “God,” even if they cannot “see” him.

This instinct that there are “higher powers” led early humans to worship the sun, the moon, and various forces of nature, and to invent other “gods,” who often possessed many human attributes, and who controlled  various aspects of human lives, nature and the universe.  Gods were often tribal or national gods who looked after the fortunes of their people.  There were frequently personal gods as well that looked after a particular individual or family.

The basic point is that to have a god or gods seems integral to humanity, and it is, in fact, only in recent years that atheism, the belief that there is no God, has attracted a significant, though still small, following.  A recent poll in the United States indicated that 90% of the respondents believed in God, whatever God meant to each of them.  And that raises the question, “If I believe in God, who is my God?”