3. A Guide to Contemplation in the 21st Century.

In earlier episodes we talked about some Christian mystics and some of the experiences associated with a connection to the Divine. Here, in  Episode 3a, you get simple directions for how to practice contemplative prayer.

You'll also get an example of what it really means to be a "Heretic" Christian". 



God be with you,
Kyrie

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HERETIC'S REDDIT HOME
The Didache: [free PDF] Originated from the 50A.D. 1stl Council of Jerusalem led by James the Just, Peter and John—the 1st and oldest official statement of the Faith and practices for followers of Jesus Christ. In widespread use during the Apostolic Age, lost for almost a 1000 years, it was included in the New Testament of oldest surviving Bible: the Codex Sinaiticus.

Transcript

The original Episode 3, which is the fourth podcast, has been deleted. It was quite bad. As a writer, I know "first drafts" often are,  and “from the ground up” rewrites are necessary. As a novelist, I am what's known as a pantser. That means I don't outline at all, I just write, as "by the seat of your pants."

A very bad idea when podcasting. So, here is the outline of what you will hear:

1. The purpose of contemplation is to connect with the Absolute.

"I do not mind at all if the loud-mouthed, or flatterers, or the mock-modest, or fault-finders, gossips, tittle-tattlers, talebearers, or any sort of grumbler, never see this book. 

I have never meant to write for them. So they can keep out of it. And so can all those learned men (and unlearned too) who are merely curious. Even if they are good men judged from the 'active' {good Christians] standpoint, all this will mean nothing to them. 

But it will mean something to those who, though ' active' according to their outward mode of life, are, by the inner working of the Spirit of God - … disposed towards contemplation."

You may recognize this as from a quote from the opening of  Cloud of Unknowing. And while the purpose of contemplation is to connect with God, the question is why you, specifically, should undertake this? I warn you, touching Eternity, the Experience of Knowing, changes you forever. 

You will no longer have faith, you have unassailable knowledge. 

And as the Cloud says: "All the fiends are furious at what you are doing, and will try to defeat it in every conceivable way."  

This is not about “giving it a try.” This is about giving God your life. Your yearning must be strong enough to fight for the process of engagement with the Absolute.

As the mystic writer of Cloud has told us:

"Moreover, the whole of humanity is wonderfully helped by what you are doing, in ways you do not understand. Yes, the very souls in purgatory find their pain eased by virtue of your work."

If that seems too far-reaching a statement, Jesus says the same thing in the Apocalypse of Peter. 

"And in no better way can you yourself be made clean or virtuous than by attending to this. Yet it is the easiest work of all when the soul is helped by grace and has a conscious longing. 

"When you first begin, you find only darkness, and as it were a cloud of unknowing. You don't know what this means except that in your will you feel a simple steadfast intention reaching out towards God.

2. Expectations and defining the process: what exactly are you doing?

Christian mysticism comprises practices that prepare the consciousness of a person for a direct connection with the  transformative presence of God] or Divine Love.

Excerpted from: The Book of the First Monks of the Discalced Carmelites:

"The goal of this life is twofold. One part we acquire, with the help of divine grace, through our efforts and virtuous works. This is to offer God a pure heart, free from all stain of actual sin. …

"The [second] part … is granted to us as the free gift of God: namely, to taste somewhat in the heart and to experience in the soul, not only after death but even in this mortal life, the intensity of the Divine Presence and the sweetness of the glory of Heaven. This is to drink of the torrent of the love of God."

That all the mystical process writings of Christians have been from those in religious orders or living an eremitic life (solitude) is a problem for the 21st century seeker of connection with God. All advised reaching some state that at least approached perfection. But this has been desired and sought before entering a monastery or taking vows.

While the contemporary Christian Elect long for God and to be “better people,” they are in danger of taking these classic writings at face value and never feeling ready to approach Him, as they are, by definition, imperfect.

One reason this site is called "The Heretic Christian."

If you will to practice contemplation, and so put aside all earthly concerns, the seeker must also put aside a great deal of religious teaching. 

Jesus of Nazareth, was a true man. This is dogma, but it is also a fact. Was He perfect? Didn’t He also have lesson to learn here and did He not grow closer and more in union with His Father’s Will until they merged perfectly on the Cross?

“Sin” is theologically defined as that which distances us from God. To put all aside, includes putting aside that Jesus was “sinless” from birth. He had to learn, as we do. He drove those money changers and their stock from the Temple Courtyard in a blaze of anger. And learned that a human action born of human anger changes nothing.

From the Cloud quote: “…those who, though ' active' according to their outward mode of life, are, by the inner working of the Spirit of God … disposed towards contemplation…”

This is transcendental wifi and you are a hotspot. The Spirit of God is in you, in all persons, and cries out for connection to the Divine Web. 

When you connect, what should you expect?

Nothing. Because nothing is what you might feel you have gotten. You might be sure you have “done it right” or achieved even a few minutes of opening to Him. You can feel, as mystics say, as if you are doing nothing. Have done nothing. Received nothing.

Yet… you already have something. If what you want fervently and without expectation is to simply be with Him, then you are. And He is there, He is doing. Downloading. Reformatting your hard drive. Installing a God app.  These analogies might seem flip but they bring us to the next issue:

3. What exactly in contemplation are you doing?

 At first you are opening a browser, clearing a channel. Eliminating interference from chaotic energies zinging around the neurons of your brain, creating non-coherent brain waves, spikes and flutters. 

How? By 

Naked intent, stretching to God.

Prosaics: choosing a venue. 30 minutes. Safe. Comfortable. Where you are undisturbed by phones or persons wanting something from you. Other than what I have already said about Adoration Rooms in Catholic Churches (found online) which are perfect for this, my only advice is, not in your home where undone chores and unexpected visitors call to you. 

So. About that naked intent.

 This is an opening prayer from Cloud:

"God, unto whom all hearts are open, unto whom all wills do speak, from whom no secret thing is hidden, I beseech thee so to cleanse the purpose of my heart with the unutterable gift of thy grace, that I may perfectly love thee, and and worthily praise thee. Amen."

There’s no rule that you must say a prayer or that you can’t use some other prayer or make up your own. It's like a bell ringing for a class to start. You are telling yourself and Him you are beginning.

When I began, I did an inventory of all the stuff I was worried about that might pop up and “pushed  it beneath the cloud of forgetting” by simply making an intellectual choice: this 30 minutes is God’s time and I can’t do thing one about any of that stuff so I don’t need to think/worry about it.

This contemplative advises you to not spend time thinking about not thinking. It’s like someone saying “don’t think about elephants” and a plethora of pink pachyderms proceed to parade through your imagination! 

So there’ll be thoughts, so what? Like voices from another room or a neighbor’s TV or kids on a playground, your physical mind notes the sounds. It will not benefit you to create and expend energy trying to stop yourself from hearing or thinking. 

Yearn for Him. Like a laser cuts through a metal plate, yearn for Him with a naked intent stretching to God. Create the coherent stream of an electromagnetic wave, the coherent, but invisible to most light that calms your brain waves and supersedes all other internal processes. Make Him a pathway. A homing beacon. 

SOME WILL SAY to have nothing in your imagination. If that works for you, at first, it does.  But for me and others, something to target, to focus on, to bring that intent into a tight and powerful beam of desire that leaves the physical self ...  and reaches ... stretches…..

I used a bank of clouds lit from above with an opening through which one beautiful ray of light reached down. That was God, that ray and what was above that cloud of unknowing.

After my lost time experience at my third session, I no longer needed anything but to be there. After a while, I didn’t need to even be there, though I liked that. I could fall into contemplation on a bus. 

It’s a commitment and it’s the most powerful thing you can do. And whether you have an extraordinary experience  or not, he is there.

My first episode attempt was too long, I was told. Winding up with:

Everyone’s experience is unique to them. But the benefit to this world and the next, is always the same: incalculable.