[Spiritual Practice] Yogic Meditation — The Contemplative Life.

Yogic Meditation — The Contemplative Life.



Yogic Meditation



"Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind. When that is accomplished, the seer abides in its own true nature."

– Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1:2-3


The term Yoga has a variety of meanings within Hindu religious thought. In the context of the Yogic Tradition, Yoga refers primarily to a meditative practice of concentration which leads to the stilling of the mind. During Yogic Meditation, one choses a proper object of concentration (most popularly, as in Vedanta, the symbol om), then “fixes the mind” on this object, until a final state is achieved. Traditionally understood through the philosophical system of Sankhya, the resulting state is conceived of as pure consciousness – purusa – resting in itself.

Meditation in the Yoga Sutras


Yogic Meditation is based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In the first chapter of his Sutras, after stating that the states of mind can be stilled by “practice and dispassion,” Patanjali goes on to define practice:




“From these, practice is the effort to be fixed in concentrating the mind.” (1.13)




Later in the chapter, Patanjali specifies that the mind should be fixed on one object and elaborates on possible objects of concentration.




“Practice of fixing the mind on one object should be performed in order to eliminate these disturbances [of mind].” (1.32)

“[The syllable om]’s repetition and the contemplation of its meaning should be performed. From this comes the realization of the inner consciousness and freedom from all disturbances.” (1.28-29)

“Or stability of mind is gained by exhaling and retaining the breath.” (1.34)

“Or else, focus on a sense object arises, and this causes steadiness of mind.” (1.35)

“Or the mind becomes steady when it has one who is free from desire as its object.” (1.37)

“Or steadiness of mind is obtained from meditation upon anything of one’s inclination.” (1.39)


Edwin Bryant, the foremost western authority on the Yogic Tradition, comments as follows:




"Sutra 1.32 indicated that the obstacles to yoga can be overcome by fixing or concentrating the mind on an object, and the next few sutras outline various options and methods for accomplishing this. Patanjali has already presented Isvara as an object of concentration in the form of recitation of the sound om, and by placing Isvara first on the list of options and dedicating so many sutras to him, Patanjali has clearly prioritized an Isvara-centered form of meditation. The following sutras up to 1.39 all also contain the particle va, or. Thus they are all alternative and optional techniques for fixing the mind and, as with the Isvara verses, are to be read as referring back to 1.32, that practice on one object eliminates the distractions to yoga. One or more of them might be more suitable to a particular person, time, and places, says Sankara, hence the options."


Yogic meditation is thus a concentration practice. The most common object of concentration is Isvara (“God’) represented by the repetition of the symbol om, but other objects may be used, depending on the inclination of the meditator.

Most broadly, “yoga” can be thought of as an end state, that of the stilled mind. Any practice which leads to the stilling of the mind could conceivably be considered a yogic practice.


Interpretations


Yoga is traditionally interpreted through the philosophical system of Sankhya. Although Sankhya and Yoga would eventually develop into independent philosophical traditions (each is now considered one of the six darsanas – orthodox schools – of Hinduism), at the time of the Yoga Sutras this distinction did not exist. Thus Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras share the philosophical outlook of Sankhya.


Purusa Resting in Itself

The system of Sankhya is fundamentally dualistic, and divides all that exists into two classes: Prakrti – the matrix of the material world, and Purusa – pure consciousness or awareness. In contrast to the typical Western dualistic conception of mind/matter, the dualism of Yoga and Sankhya ascribes all that is not pure consciousness into the category of prakrti (roughly “matter”). In this division, the functions/fluctuations of the mind itself are considered part of the physical matrix of which purusa is aware.

Interpreted through this metaphysic, the end state of Yoga can be conceived of as the separation of purusa from its immersion in prakrti. The school of Sankhya attempts to attain this goal through reasoning (roughly equivalent to the jnana –”knowledge” – yoga of Vedanta) while the Yogic school attempts to attain the goal through meditative practice. Patanjali’s “Seer abiding in its own true nature” is therefore traditionally interpreted as purusa resting in awareness of itself.



Samadhi Without Seed

Another description used in the Yoga Sutras for the end state of Yoga is Samadhi without seed. Samadhi is a somewhat generic term for “meditative absorption” used in the eastern traditions. Although the term is often used as a stand-alone description of “the stilled mind,” it is also sometimes further classified into “types of samadhi.” This has the tendency to lead to (seemingly overly) esoteric descriptions of meditative states, both in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. In the Yoga Sutras, scholars identify seven total types of samdhi spoken of by Patanjali. Some of these types of meditative experiences contain “seeds,” or external references to prakrti in the mind. An example of samadhi with seed would be an intense focus on an object leading to a state in which only “the object itself shines forth” (i.e. it is the pure and unmixed object of awareness). An analogy used in the Sutras for this state is a transparent jewel which reflects only what is placed before it. This meditative state still has reference to something external to consciousness itself. In the final state of samadhi – variously referred to as nirbija-samadhi (samadhi “without seed”)or asamprajnata-samadhi (“abstract samadhi”) – there is no external reference. Consciousness is purely aware of itself.




The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali


The following are excerpts from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and several well-known Commentaries.



The Seer Abides in Its Own True Nature



“Now the teachings of yoga are presented. Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind. When that is accomplished, the seer abides in its own true nature.”

– Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1


Practice and Dispassion, Established Over a Prolonged Period of Time


“The states of mind are stilled by practice and dispassion. From these, practice is the effort to be fixed in concentrating the mind. Practice becomes firmly established when it has been cultivated uninterruptedly and with devotion over a prolonged period of time. Dispassion is the controlled consciousness of one who is without craving for sense objects...”

– Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1



OM, Objects of Meditation



“[The syllable om]’s repetition and the contemplation of it’s meaning should be performed. From this comes the realization of the inner consciousness and freedom from all disturbances. Or stability of mind is gained by exhaling and retaining the breath. Or else, focus on a sense object arises, and this causes steadiness of mind. Or the mind becomes steady when it has one who is free from desire as its object. Or steadiness of mind is obtained from meditation upon anything of one’s inclination.”

– Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1



Seedless Samadhi



“The above-mentioned samapatti states are known as samadhi meditative absorption ‘with seed.’ Upon attaining the clarity of nirvicara-samadhi, there is lucidity of the inner self. In that state, there is truth-bearing wisdom... The samskaras born out of that truth-bearing wisdom obstruct other samskaras from emerging. Upon the cessation of even those truth-bearing samskaras, nirbija-samadhi, seedless meditative absorption, ensues.”

– Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1



The Eight Limbs of Yoga



“The eight limbs are abstentions, observances, posture, breath control, disengagement of the senses, concentration, meditation, and absorption.”

– Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 2



The Final Goal of Yoga






"According to Patanjali's definition in the second sutra, yoga is the cessation of the activities or permutations (vrttis) of the citta. The vrttis refer to any sequence of thought, ideas, mental imaging, or cognitive act performed by the mind, intellect, or ego as defined above – in short, any state of mind whatsoever. It cannot be overstressed that the mind is merely a physical substance that selects, organizes, analyzes, and molds itself into the physical forms of sense data presented to it; in and of itself it is not aware of them. Sense impressions or thoughts are imprints in that mental substance, just as a clay pot is a product made from the substance of clay, or waves are permutations of the sea. The essential point for understanding yoga is that all forms or activities of the mind are products of prakrti, matter, and completely distinct from the soul or true self, purusa, pure awareness or consciousness.

The citta can profitably be compared to the software, and the body to the hardware. Neither is conscious; they are rather forms of gross matter, even as the former can do very intelligent activities. Both software and hardware are useless without the presence of a conscious observer. Only purusa is truly alive, that is, aware or conscious. When uncoupled from the mind, the soul, purusa, in its pure state, that is, in its own constitutional, autonomous condition – untainted by being misidentified with the physical coverings of the body and mind – is free of content and changeless; it does not constantly ramble and flit from one thing to another the way the mind does. To realize pure awareness as an entity distinct and autonomous from the mind (and, of course, the body), thought must be stilled and consciousness extracted from its embroilment with the mind and its incessant thinking nature. Only then can the soul be realized as an entity completely distinct from the mind (a distinction such cliches as "self-realization" attempt to express), and the process to achieve this realization is yoga...

Through grace or the sheer power of concentration, the mind can attain an inactive state where all thoughts remain only in potential but not active form. In other words, through meditation one can cultivate an inactive state of mind where one is not cognizant of anything. This does not mean to say that consciousness becomes extinguished, Patanjali hastens to inform us (as does the entire Upanishadic/Vedantic tradition); consciousness is eternal and absolute. Therefore, once there are no more thoughts or objects on its horizons or sphere of awareness, consciousness has no alternative but to become conscious of itself. In other words, consciousness can either be object-aware or subject aware (loosely speaking). The point is that it has no option in terms of being aware on some level, since awareness is eternal and inextinguishable. By stilling thought, meditation removes all objects of awareness. Awareness can therefore now be aware only of itself. It can now bypass or transcend all objects of thought, disassociate from even the pure sattvic citta, and become aware of its own source, the actual soul itself, purusa. This is self-realization (to use a neo-Vedantic term), the ultimate state of awareness, the state of consciousness in which nothing can be discerned except the pure self, asamprajnata-samadhi. This is the final goal of yoga and thus of human existence."

– Edwin Bryant Commentary on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, liii-lvii



Vyasa Introduction to the Yoga Sutras







“Atha denotes Adhikara, the commencement of a topic. The treatise on the Teaching of Yoga is to be understood to be begun here. Yoga here stands for Samadhi, Communion; and this Communion stands for that character of the Mind which pervades over all its various states. The states of Mind are: (1) Fickle, (2) Dull, (3) Distracted, (4) One-Pointed, and (5) Inhibited. When the Mind is in the distracted state, the Communion that may appear becomes subordinated to the distraction; and such Communion is not what is Yoga. That Communion however which appears in the one-pointed state of mind, illumines the true nature of things, destroys afflictions, loosens the karmic bonds, and brings one face to face with Inhibition proper, such Communion is called Concrete (Samprajnata) Yoga. This Yoga is attended by perception, conception, joy, and self-consciousness...The entire subjugation of all the functions of the Mind, including even these latter, constitutes what is called Abstract (Asamprajnata) Yoga.”




– Vyasa Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1:1










Resources


Print
Edwin Bryant (Translator and Commentator), The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. New York: North Point Press, 2009.
Sri Swami Satchidananda (Translator and Commentator), The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Buckingham: Integral Yoga, 2012.
Ganganatha Jha (Translator), The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with Vyasa Commentary. Madras: Asian Humanities Press, 1934.
Swami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga. Public Domain, 1896.
Pramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 2007.
Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. New York: Bantam, 2018.

Audio/Video
Edwin Bryant on the Yoga Sutras (also can be found on this site’s Blogcast)
The Eight Limbs of Yoga


For local Yogic Meditation groups and teaching, see the Integral Yoga Institute Center Directory. Most local yoga studios also have teaching and/or meditation offerings based on their unique lineage.

[Spiritual Practice] Mantram —Vedanta The Contemplative Life.

Mantram — The Contemplative Life.



Mantram


“In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self reveals itself.”
“Mantram is the bow…”

– Bhagavad Gita, 6:20; Mundaka Upanishad, 2:2:4


Mantram or mantra is a form of meditation practiced within a variety of traditions, but most associated with Vedic religion, and specifically with Vedanta – one of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism. The Vedantin texts repeatedly encourage devotees to “seek the Self” through the practice of meditation, and often associate meditation with the attainment of a stilled mind. The use of a mantram is specifically mentioned in several of the principal Upanishads and, as a result, has become a dominant form of meditation in Vedanta and Hinduism more widely.

Vedantin Understandings of Mantram






“Seek the Self in inner solitude through meditation” (Bhagavad Gita 6:10) is perhaps the best way to sum up the attitude of the meditative strands of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. It is this attitude, and not necessarily a particular form, that can be said to be core to what the Vedantin texts teach about meditation. When the principal Upanishads do speak of something approaching methodology, they tend to focus on the use of a mantram.

Because the goal of all spiritual practice in the Vedantin tradition is Self-Realization, there is a theistic element to mantram meditation as it is traditionally practiced. One modern Vedantin teacher defines mantram as a form of sacred utterance, like the repetition of a name of God, used to still the mind and become aware of the divine Reality to which it refers. Stemming from its prominence in the Upanishads, the most common mantram is aum, which can be thought of as “the sound which represents Brahman,” although many varieties of mantrams – various names of God, short phrases, some with meaning, some without explicit meaning – have been and are used today. In some strands of modern Vedanta, the importance of the handing down of a mantram from guru to disciple is emphasized, while in others, practitioners are encouraged to choose a personal mantram which is meaningful to them. Mantrams can be chanted aloud, although verbal mantram practice is usually seen as a precursor to silent practice. In a typical mantram practice, the word or phrase is repeated as a means of stilling the mind, the mantram “falling away” as the mind reaches stillness.

Two popular Vedantin interpretations of what takes place in the still mind achieved through meditative practice are Union with Brahman and Turiya.

Union With Brahman

Union with Brahman, which can be considered synonymous with “Self-Realization,” is the most common way the Vedantin texts speak about the final experience of meditative practice. Union with Brahman can be thought of primarily as the experience of Pure Consciousness/Being in the depths of meditation, but also extends to the experience of Union with Brahman as the Ground of Being in all things. This is expressed in the Chandogya Upanishad as the famous formula Tat Tvam Asi – Thou Art That. At the same time one realizes the nature of the Ground of their own being, they also realize the same Ground is shared by all things.

In the Vedantin texts, Union with Brahman / Self-Realization also has the connotation of a heart made pure. The aspirant who has attained the unitive state in fullness no longer craves anything for self, but lives as a channel of the Good.

Turiya

Another way that the still mind achieved through meditation is sometimes described is as Turiya – “the Fourth.” This interpretation stems from the Mandukya Upanishad which explores four states of consciousness: waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep, and “the Fourth” – what might be described as waking up in dreamless sleep. Turiya can be thought of as the experience of pure, undifferentiated consciousness.


Transcendental Meditation




One modern manifestation of mantram practice is represented by the Transcendental Meditation movement in the United States. Associated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation can be thought of as a translation of Vedantin understandings of mantram into a slightly more secular paradigm. In Science of Being and Art of Living, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi describes the technique as follows:




"The process of bringing the attention to the level of transcendental Being is known as the system of Transcendental Meditation. In the practice of Transcendental Meditation, a proper thought is selected and the technique of experiencing that thought in its infant states of development enables the conscious mind to arrive systematically at the source of thought, the field of Being. Thus, the way to experience transcendental Being lies in selecting a proper thought and experiencing its subtle states until its subtlest state is experienced and transcended."


Those from the TM movement typically use secular terminology when describing the method, although descriptions of “Transcendental Being” clearly resemble Vedantin conceptions of Brahman.





The Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads




The following are quotations from The Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads, from which mantram and other forms of Vedantin contemplative practice are drawn.


Seek the Self in Inner Solitude





"Those who aspire to the state of yoga should seek the Self in inner solitude through meditation. With body and mind controlled they should constantly practice one-pointedness, free from expectations and attachment to material possessions.

Select a clean spot, neither too high nor too low, and seat yourself firmly on a cloth, a deerskin, and kusha grass. Then, once seated, strive to still your thoughts. Make your mind one-pointed in meditation, and your heart will be purified. Hold your body, head, and neck firmly in a straight line, and keep your eyes from wandering. With all fears dissolved in the peace of the Self and all desires dedicated to Brahman, controlling the mind and fixing it on me, sit in meditation with me as your only goal. With senses and mind constantly controlled through meditation, united with the Self within, an aspirant attains nirvana, the state of abiding joy and peace in me.

Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation. Through constant effort they learn to withdraw the mind from selfish cravings and absorb it in the Self. Thus they attain the state of union.

When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place. In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the Self reveals itself. Beholding the Self by means of the Self, an aspirant knows the joy and peace of complete fulfillment. Having attained that abiding joy beyond the senses, revealed in the stilled mind, he never swerves from eternal truth. He desires nothing else, and cannot be shaken by the heaviest burden of sorrow.

The practice of meditation frees one from all affliction. This is the path of yoga. Follow it with determination and sustained enthusiasm. Renouncing wholeheartedly all selfish desires and expectations, use your will to control the senses. Little by little, through patience and repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self.

Wherever the mind wanders, restless and diffuse in its search for satisfaction without, lead it within; train it to rest in the Self. Abiding joy comes to those who still the mind. Freeing themselves from the taint of self-will, with their consciousness unified, they become one with Brahman.”

– The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6




Selfless Service


“Selfish action imprisons the world. Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit. At the beginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together. ‘Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires’; this is the promise of the Creator.”

“Every selfless act, Arjuna, is born from Brahman, the eternal infinite Godhead. Brahman is present in every act of service. All life turns on this law O Arjuna. Those who violate it, indulging the senses for their own pleasure and ignoring the needs of others, have wasted their life. But those who realize the Self are always satisfied. Having found the source of joy and fulfillment, they no longer seek happiness in the external world. They have nothing to gain or lose by any action; neither people nor things can affect their security.”


– The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3



Brahman The Fulfillment of Desire











“As a man in the arms of his beloved is not aware of what is without and what is within, so a person in union with the Self is not aware of what is without and what is within, for in that unitive state all desires find their perfect fulfillment. There is no other desire that needs to be fulfilled, and one goes beyond sorrow…

...where there is unity, one without a second, that is the world of Brahman. This is the supreme goal of life, the supreme treasure, the supreme joy. Those who do not seek this supreme goal live on but a fraction of this joy.”

– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad










Draw the Bowstring of Meditation


“The mantram is the bow,
The aspirant is the arrow,
And the Lord is the target.
Now draw the bowstring of meditation,
And hitting the target be one with him.”

– Mundaka Upanishad



Mantram as Firestick


“Fire is not seen until one firestick rubs against another, though the fire remains hidden in the firestick. So does the Lord remain hidden in the body until he is revealed through the mystic mantram. Let your body be the lower firestick; let the mantram be the upper. Rub them against each other in meditation and realize the Lord.

Like oil in sesame seeds, like butter in cream, like water in springs, like fire in firesticks, so dwells the Lord of Love, the Self, in the very depths of consciousness. Realize him through truth and meditation. The Self is hidden in the hearts of all, as butter lies hidden in cream. Realize the Self in the depths of meditation, the Lord of Love, supreme reality, who is the goal of all knowledge.”


“Be seated with spinal column erect and turn your mind and senses deep within. With the mantram echoing in your heart, cross over the dread sea of birth and death…

...As a dusty mirror shines bright when cleansed, so shine those who realize the Self, attain life’s goal, and pass beyond all sorrow. In the supreme climax of samadhi they realize the presence of the Lord.”

– Shvetashvatara Upanishad




Aum


“The mantram aum stands for the supreme state of turiya, without parts, beyond birth and death, symbol of everlasting joy. Those who know aum as the Self become the Self; truly they become the Self.”


– Mandukya Upanishad




Tat Tvam Asi, “You are That”



“In the beginning was only Being,
One without a second.
Out of himself he brought forth the cosmos
And entered into everything in it.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that.”


“As the rivers flowing east and west
Merge in the sea and become one with it,
Forgetting they were ever separate rivers,
So do all creatures lose their separateness
When they merge at last into pure Being.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu, you are that.”


“‘Please, Father, tell me more about this Self.’
‘Yes, dear one, I will,’ Uddalaka said.
‘Bring me a fruit from the nyagrodha tree.’
‘Here it is, sir.’
‘Break it. What do you see?’
‘These seeds, Father, all exceedingly small.’
‘Break one. What do you see?’
‘Nothing at all.’
‘That hidden essence you do not see, dear one,
From that a whole nyagrodha tree will grow.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that.’”

– Chandogya Upanishad


Resources

Print
Eknath Easwaran (Translator and Commentator), The Bhagavad Gita. Tomales: Nilgiri Press, 2007.
Eknath Easwaran (Translator and Commentator), The Upanishads. Tomales: Nilgiri Press, 2007.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy. New York: Oxford, 2009.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, An Idealist View of Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2015.
Swami Tadatmananda, Meditation. Somerset: Arsha Bodha, 2012.
Jack Forem, Transcendental Meditation. Carlsbad: Hay House, 2012.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Science of Being and Art of Living. Ontario: Penguin, 1995.
Norman Rosenthal, Transcendence. New York: Penguin, 2001.
Norman Rosenthal, Super Mind: How to Boost Performance and Live a Richer and Happier Life Through TM. New York: Tarcher, 2017.
David Lynch, Catching the Big Fish. New York: Tarcher, 2017.

Audio/Video
Mantram Explanation from Vedanta Society of Southern California
Swami Sarvapriyananda (Vedanta Society New York) | Aum
An Explanation of TM from TM.org
Maharishi on TM
More Maharishi
Jerry Seinfeld on TM

For local TM groups and teaching, visit TM.org. Larger Vedantin communities in the United States are represented by the Vedanta Society of New York and the Vedanta Society of Southern California.

[Spiritual Practice] Centering Prayer — The Contemplative Life.

Centering Prayer — The Contemplative Life.




Centering Prayer


“A naked intent toward God, the desire for him alone, is enough.”
“He is your being and in him you are what you are.”

– The Cloud of Unknowing and Book of Privy Counsel, 7:36-38, 34-35



Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer based on an anonymous 14th Century text called The Cloud of Unknowing, and has roots even further back in the writings of the Desert Fathers of Egyptian Monasticism. It has recently been popularized by the Trappist monk Thomas Keating. In The Cloud of Unknowing, the spiritual advisor describes a type of contemplative prayer in which one seeks to open themselves to the presence of God “beyond thought.” He believes that this "contemplative work of love" is the way to authentic inner transformation – and thereby the spiritual fruits of love, joy, and peace.

When practicing Centering Prayer, the goal is to calm the mind so that one can simply enter and remain in the presence of God, who is experienced within, at the deepest level of one's being. The method is designed to help take the practitioner to this deeper level of awareness, moving beyond the distracting and often chaotic stream of surface-level thoughts which are experienced in day-to-day life. In its deepest form, the prayer is apophatic, having no "content" and making no use of words, symbols, images, or ideas. The practice is often conceptualized as "resting in God."


Method





The method of Centering Prayer is unique when compared to most meditation techniques in that instead of working with the power of attention, the mind’s ability to focus intensely on one object, Centering Prayer works with intention – our willingness or desire to be open to the presence of God.

Thomas Keating describes the method as follows:



1. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.

2. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.

3. When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.


Thus one simply sits, introduces their sacred word, eventually gets caught up in their thoughts, and then uses the word to release each thought, returning again and again to an openness to God. By this process the mind quiets, and eventually becomes stilled. What happens in that stillness is open to a variety of interpretations.


The Divine Therapy


Different authors have different conceptual models for understanding what happens during Centering Prayer. One of the most famous models is Thomas Keating's Divine Therapy.

Keating's understanding of the Divine Therapy begins with the assumption that we all come to the practice with some form of emotional trauma in our past. For Keating, these traumas are anything that have threatened or wounded us in areas of our core psychological needs. As we experience wounding in these areas (for Keating, our psychological needs are summarized in the categories of power/control, esteem/affection, and security/survival), we develop attachments to people, places, and situations that bring us comfort, and aversions to people, places, and situations that lead to discomfort in the light of these wounds.

This collection of attachments and aversions results in what Keating calls "emotional programs for happiness."

A typical example:

A young child overhears his father saying, "I wish he was more like his brother," which attacks his core psychological need for esteem/affection. The incident then becomes buried in the boy's subconscious. He may not even remember the incident in adulthood, but, on a subconscious level, part of him continues to want to imitate his brother to achieve his father's affection. The emotional program for happiness of "needing to be like my brother" becomes a deep part of who he is. As a result, he develops attachments to things that make him more like his brother, and aversions to things that make him different. These attachments and aversions, at least in part, continue to drive his behavior throughout life.

On this model, each human being has a host of emotional programs for happiness running at the same time, each based on our unique traumas. These programs create anxieties as we interact with the world, and may even conflict with each other.








When we enter into deep states of meditation through Centering Prayer, Keating believes that these traumas are released from the subconscious and ultimately healed by God. He calls this process the Archaeological Dig. Thus, by the ongoing practice of Centering Prayer, one finds emotional healing as core needs become fulfilled in the presence of God.

Keating's Divine Therapy is one of several ways to conceptualize the effects of Centering Prayer. The translation of traditional "spiritual development language" into psychological terms makes this model popular and accessible to a wide audience. Others may interpret Centering Prayer as leading the practitioner through the traditional purgative, illuminative, and unitive spiritual stages and refer to the apex apophatic meditative experience as “Union with God.” Still others may view the technique from agnostic or even atheist viewpoints and refrain from using any theological language at all. As with all contemplative practices, any intellectual conceptualizations are tentative and one's understanding of the prayer may change over time.



Natural Effects




Whether or not one chooses to use theological language to describe Centering Prayer, there are several natural effects that many practitioners report after taking up the practice:


1. Control of the Mind: During the prayer time, one learns to recognize thought patterns and let them go, always coming back to God using the sacred word. Instead of being carried away by thought chains and ruminations, the ability to choose thoughts is developed and more control is gained over the mind. This ability continues in the course of day to day life.


2. Distance Between Core Identity and Thoughts: When developing the practice of recognizing thoughts and letting them go, a natural distance opens between "You" and your thoughts. You are not your thoughts. You have thoughts. This realization leads to an expanded sense of self.


3. Less Worry and Anxiety: This expanded sense of self and increasing ability to control the mind, coupled with the feeling of an inner-calm during the prayer, generally leads to less worry and anxiety in day to day life. During the prayer, one experiences that "everything is okay" despite outward circumstances. This feeling can continue, to varying degrees, in day-to-day activities. This effect, however, can come and go. Periods of intense inner turmoil, conceivably the result of what Keating calls "the unloading of the subconscious" as part of the Divine Therapy, are also often part of the Path of Centering Prayer.


4. Non-Attachment: Because core personal identity is no longer identified completely with experienced thoughts, one can become less attached to the content of those thoughts. Personal opinions, desires, and cravings can be held more loosely and can lose some of their force or power. Felt personal needs and desires can be experienced as "lighter."


5. Present Moment Awareness: Practicing the skill of returning to the most important thing (God) during prayer naturally leads to returning to the most important thing (the present moment) in daily life. Being trapped in one's thoughts a little less leads to living in the moment a little more.


The natural effects of Centering Prayer overlap significantly with other forms of meditation including Mantram, Zazen, and Vipassana.


The Cloud of Unknowing


The following are several extended excerpts from The Cloud of Unknowing, from which Centering Prayer is based:


The Contemplative Work of the Spirit





“This is what you are to do: lift your heart up to the Lord, with a gentle stirring of love desiring him for his own sake and not for his gifts. Center all your attention and desire on him and let this be the sole concern of your mind and heart. Do all in your power to forget everything else, keeping your thoughts and desires free from any involvement with any of God’s creatures or their affairs whether in general or particular. Perhaps this will seem like an irresponsible attitude, but I tell you, let them all be; pay no attention to them.

What I am describing here is the contemplative work of the spirit. It is this which gives God the greatest delight. For when you fix your love on him, forgetting all else, the saints and angels rejoice and hasten to assist you in every way – though the devils will rage and ceaselessly conspire to thwart you. Your fellow men are marvelously enriched by this work of yours, even if you may not fully understand how; the souls in purgatory are touched, for their suffering is eased by the effects of this work; and, of course, your own spirit is purified and strengthened by this contemplative work more than by all others put together. Yet for all this, when God’s grace arouses you to enthusiasm, it becomes the lightest sort of work there is and one most willingly done. Without his grace, however, it is very difficult and almost, I should say, quite beyond you.

And so diligently persevere until you feel joy in it. For in the beginning it is usual to feel nothing but a kind of darkness about your mind, or as it were, a cloud of unknowing. You will seem to know nothing and to feel nothing except a naked intent toward God in the depths of your being. Try as you might, this darkness and this cloud will remain between you and your God. You will feel frustrated, for your mind will be unable to grasp him, and your heart will not relish the delight of his love. But learn to be at home in this darkness. Return to it as often as you can, letting your spirit cry out to him whom you love. For if, in this life, you hope to feel and see God as he is in himself it must be within this darkness and this cloud. But if you strive to fix your love on him forgetting all else, which is the work of contemplation I have urged you to begin, I am confident that God in his goodness will bring you to a deep experience of himself.”



Be Passive: "Let That Mysterious Grace Move in Your Spirit"



“Contemplative prayer is God’s gift, wholly gratuitous. No one can earn it. It is in the nature of this gift that one who receives it receives also the aptitude for it. No one can have the aptitude without the gift itself. The aptitude for this work is one with the work; they are identical. He who experiences God working in the depths of his spirit has the aptitude for contemplation and no one else. For without God’s grace a person would be so completely insensitive to the reality of contemplative prayer that he would be unable to desire or long for it. You possess it to the extent that you will and desire to possess it, no more no less. But you will never desire to possess it until that which is ineffable and unknowable moves you to desire the ineffable and unknowable. Do not be curious to know more, I beg you. Only become increasingly faithful to this work until it becomes your whole life.

To put it more simply, let that mysterious grace move in your spirit as it will and follow wherever it leads you. Let it be the active doer and you the passive receiver. Do not meddle with it, but let it be for fear you spoil it entirely. Your part is to be as wood to a carpenter or a home to a dweller. Remain blind during this time cutting away all desire to know, for knowledge is a hindrance here. Be content to feel this mysterious grace sweetly awaken in the depths of your spirit. Forget everything but God and fix on him your naked desire…”





Resources

Print
Anonymous (William Johnston ed.), The Cloud of Unknowing. New York: Doubleday, 2005.
Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. United Kingdom: Cowley, 2004.
Thomas Keating, Intimacy With God. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1994.
Thomas Keating, On Divine Therapy. New York: Lantern, 2012.
Murchadh O Madagain, Centering Prayer and the Healing of the Unconscious. New York: Lantern, 2007.
Basil Pennington, Centering Prayer: Renewing an Ancient Christian Prayer Form. New York: Image Books, 2001.
David Frenette, The Path of Centering Prayer. Boulder: Sounds True, 2012.
Anthony Coleman, An Introduction to Centering Prayer. Seattle: KDP, 2016.

Audio/Video
David Frenette on the Path of Centering Prayer
Cynthia Bourgeault on the Heart of Centering Prayer
Cynthia Bourgeault on Centering Prayer and Non-Dual Awareness
Thomas Keating on the Guidelines of Centering Prayer
James Wilhoit: Finding Quietness of Heart in Centering Prayer


For Centering Prayer workshops, retreats, groups, and events, visit Contemplative Outreach or find your local State Chapter.

[Spiritual Exercise] Lectio Divina Catholic — The Contemplative Life.

Lectio Divina — The Contemplative Life.




Lectio Divina


Lectio Divina is a method of prayer that uses Sacred Scripture to facilitate one's relationship with God. This form of spirituality is distinctly Catholic, but similar methods are found in other theistic religions. Traditionally, there are four steps in the process – lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio. Each step is often thought of as "rungs on a ladder" leading up to the pure "experience of God" in contemplatio. The process is also sometimes conceptualized as circular, with each step enhancing the experience of the others.





Lectio


The first step in the process of Lectio Divina is lectio – a slow, prayerful, deliberate reading and re-reading of Scripture. The passage used is generally a small section of Scripture, perhaps one verse or even part of a verse. In this step, the key is to slow down and focus fully on the passage at hand. The passage is read and re-read until one has entered fully into the text. An example of a short verse from the Christian Scriptures which may be used comes from Galatians 5:22-23:



"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."


Meditatio


After one slowly and deliberately reads and re-reads the text, they move to the next step – mediatio, or "meditating" on the text. In this step, one continues to "chew on" the text, pondering its meaning. In the passage above, one may meditate on the true meaning of "patience" or “goodness.” The practitioner focuses on whatever part of the text they are drawn to, and the specific section which grabs their attention is often thought of as being guided by the Holy Spirit. Throughout the entire process, one strives to be open to how the Spirit leads them through the text.


Oratio


Meditatio naturally leads to oratio – "praying the text." This step of Lectio Divina is often conceptualized as “having a conversation with God” about the text. The goal of this part of Lectio Divina is to discover what the text means to me, or how God addresses the individual through the text. Oratio is thought of as being deeper than simply thinking about a passage, and is conceptualized as a true relationship with God.


Contemplatio


The final step of Lectio Divina is contemplatio – "contemplation." In the Christian tradition "contemplation" doesn't mean "thinking deeply about something," but rather the opposite – moving beyond thought to an experience at a deeper level than the mind. In the process of Lectio Divina, contemplatio is often referred to as resting in God, beyond thoughts, beyond words, beyond images. One can dispose themselves to contemplatio by willingly opening themselves to the experience, but the experience itself is seen as a pure gift of God, which He gives at the times and in the measure He chooses.

Lectio Divina is often associated with the Benedictine monastic tradition of Catholicism. Although sometimes thought of as a method only suitable for monks, there has recently been a strong push in Catholicism to bring this type of prayer to all within the faith.




Resources



Print
Tim Gray, Praying Scripture for a Change: An Introduction to Lectio Divina. West Chester: Ascension Press, 2009.
Stephen Binz, Transformed by God’s Word. Notre Dame: Ava Maria Press, 2016.
Thelma Hall, Too Deep for Words: Rediscovering Lectio Divina. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1988.
Basil Pennington, Lectio Divina. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1998.
Michael Casey, Sacred Reading. Liguiri: Liguiri Press, 1996.

Audio/Video
James Martin on Lectio Divina
Friar Mark Toups on the Four Steps of Lectio Divina
Thomas Keating on Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer

[Spiritual Practice] Jhana samatha meditation— The Contemplative Life.

Jhana — The Contemplative Life.



Jhana


Jhana meditation, sometimes referred to as samatha meditation, is a concentration practice in which one moves through various mind states, called "jhanas," in a progression that leads to deeper and deeper absorption. The jhana states are sometimes referred to as "meditative absorptions," or simply "absorptions." This practice is notoriously esoteric and difficult to understand for the lay practitioner. Jhana meditation is the practice associated with "Right Concentration," which is the eighth branch of the traditional Buddhist Eightfold Noble Path.





Method


The initial instructions for Jhana meditation are fairly straightforward. After taking a traditional meditation posture, one chooses an object of concentration, often times the feeling of the breath flowing over the upper lip. When the attention wanders away, the meditator simply brings it back to the object of concentration – in this case the sensation of the breath.

One simply repeats this procedure, focusing the attention on the feeling of the breath on the upper lip, over and over again, reaching deeper levels of concentration. In this process, the jhana states are said to arise.


The First Four Jhanas (The "Material Jhanas")


Each jhana has its own "feeling" and is a distinct state of absorption. Traditionally, these states are deliniated by the presence or absence of what are called "jhana factors." The jhana factors include:



vitakka: initial attention or the willful act of bringing the attention to the object


vicara: sustained attention, more or less uninterupted attention on the object


piti: a feeling of joy or happiness in the body/consciousness


sukha: bliss, or a more refined state of happiness than piti – sometimes thought of as "gentle contentment"


ekaggata: "one-pointedness of mind" – complete, uninteruped unification of mind on the meditative object


upekkha: equanimity or calmness within sensation


First Jhana: All jhana factors are present. This is described as an excited and pleasant state. Piti is said to be the primary marker of this state.

Second Jhana: Piti, sukha, and ekaggata are present. Sukha is said to be more prevalent than piti in the second jhana, and the experience begins to calm.

Third Jhana: Sukha and ekaggata are present. Piti disappears and this jhana is marked by a calm contentment.

Fourth Jhana: Ekaggata and upekkha are present. Emotion disappears altogether and the mind is one-pointed and calm.


The jhanas are said to be successive and one must "master" each jhana (holding the state continuously, sometimes for several hours) before moving on to the next. In one sitting, the meditator has to enter the lower jhanas before reaching higher levels (i.e. you have to enter first jhana, then second jhana, to get to third jhana). As one continues their practice, they are said to have the ability to move through each state more quickly.


The Last 4 Jhanas (The "Immaterial Jhanas")


After a meditator has achieved the first four jhanas, they are sometimes led through a complex series of sequences in which they move through the first four jhanas using the breath as the object of meditation and then switch the object of meditation to certain elements of the body (there are 32 unique body parts that one must progress through) or kasinas (mental images of colored disks).

After completing this complex series of meditations, the meditator is ready to experience Jhanas 5-8, the "Immaterial Jhanas."


Fifth Jhana: The base of boundless space.

Sixth Jhana: The base of boundless consciousness.

Seventh Jhana: The base of nothingness.

Eighth Jhana: The base of neither perception nor non-perception.


The jhana states are not always described in the same way which leads to a lot of confusion in this practice. It is also not always easy for the meditator to recognize the jhana factors or what state they are in (i.e. "Am I experiencing piti or sukha?", etc.). Even more so than in other practices, the specific instructions for jhana meditation will differ based on the teacher. If a meditator is interested in this practice, they will likely need to seek our a teacher who is certified in a particular lineage.




Resources


Print
Stephen Snyder and Tina Rasmussen, Practicing the Jhanas. Boston: Shambhala, 2009.
Richard Shankman, The Art and Skill of Buddhist Meditation. Oakland: New Harbinger, 2015.
Leigh Brasington, Right Concentration. Boston: Shambhala, 2015.
Bhante Gunaratana, Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English. Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2009.

Audio/Video
Stephen Snyder and Tina Rasmussen on Jhana Meditation
Concentration as One Path of Meditation: Richard Shankman
Shane Wilson on Jhana Meditation
Leigh Brasington on the Jhanas

[Spiritual Practice] Dhikr —Sufism- The Contemplative Life.

Dhikr — The Contemplative Life.


Dhikr


Outside of daily ritual prayer, Dhikr is the primary spiritual practice of Islam, and is practiced especially within Sufism, the contemplative strand of the faith. The term itself means "remembrance" or "recollection," and the methods associated with Dhikr are used to bring the practitioner to remembrance of God.


Core Dhikr Practice


The fundamental practice that is typically associated with Dhikr is the repetition of a name or attribute of God. This practice is also sometimes called tasbih, and can be done audibly or silently, individually or collectively.

When performing Dhikr, the participant chooses a name of God, which has a specific meaning relating to one of His attributes. Traditionally, in Islam there are 99 names of God, each describing Him in a unique way. Examples include Huwa Allah alladhi la ilaha illa hu ("He is God, there is no God but He" – conveying God's uniqueness), al-Rahman ("Merciful"), al-Mu'min ("Faithful"), al-Rahim ("Compassionate"), etc. When picking a name to use for Dhikr, the meditator may choose a specific name that speaks to their current situation. For example, if someone feels the need for forgiveness, the may use the name al-Ghaffar ("Forgiver"). They then "invoke" the name (and thereby God's presence) by repeating it audibly or silently. A famous description of Dhikr comes from Muhammad al-Ghazzali, a famous 11th Century Muslim theologian and Sufi*:






"Let your heart be in such a state that the existence or non-existence of anything is the same – that is, let there be no dichotomy of positive and negative. Then sit alone in a quiet place, free of any task or preoccupation, be it the reciting of the Qur'an, thinking about its meaning, concern over the dictates of religion, or what you have read in books – let nothing besides God enter the mind. Once you are seated in this manner, start to pronounce with your tongue, 'Allah, Allah' keeping your thought on it.

Practice this continuously and without interruption; you will reach a point where the motion of the tongue will cease, and it will appear as if the word just flows from it spontaneously. You go on in this way until every trace of the tongue movement disappears while the heart registers the thought or the idea of the word.

As you continue with this invocation, there will come a time when the word will leave the heart completely. Only the palpable essence or reality of the name will remain, binding itself ineluctably to the heart. Up to this point everything will have been dependent on your own conscious will; the divine bliss and enlightenment that may follow have nothing to do with your conscious will or choice. What you have done so far is to open the window, as it were. You have laid yourself exposed to what God may breathe upon you, as He has done upon his prophets and saints.

If you follow what is said above, you can be sure that the light of Truth will dawn upon your heart..."



* Quotation attributed to Muhammad al-Ghazzali, from The Knowing Heart


Thus Dhikr is a way of bringing the mind to remembrance of God, and possibly leads the practitioner to an experience of God at a deeper level of consciousness. The description above is similar to how many describe both Transcendental Meditation and (especially) Centering Prayer.


Muraqaba


The term Muraqaba is often used to refer to a range of additional Islamic meditative practices. Muraqaba is sometimes spoken of as a form of Dhikr and sometimes spoken of as encompassing a group of practices preformed in addition to Dhikr.

The category of "Muraqaba" includes disciplines that are described as being similar to Lectio Divina, Vipassana, or even concentration practices such as Jhana meditation. Sufism is far from a unified movement within Islam and each particular Sufi order has their own unique practices, especially relating to Muraqaba (i.e. anything in addition to Dhikr). Dhikr is the most widely used practice across Islamic sects.


Fana


One way to look at the ultimate aim of practices such as Dhikr and Muraqaba over extended periods of time is in terms of the experience of fana – the complete annihilation of the ego in a state of "Union with God." Contemplatives from a variety of theistic traditions see this experience, and its effect on the character and inner-being of the experiencer, as a principle aim. Famous mystics such as Jalal ad-Din Rumi from the Sufi tradition are said to have reached this state.

Although the typical non-monastic practitioner may not reach the ecstatic states described by the mystics, these practices are often seen as ways to "polish off the rust on the heart," and slowly form a more God-honoring character.




Resources



Print
Kabir Helminski, The Knowing Heart: A Sufi Path of Transformation. Boston: Shambhala, 1999.
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Sufism: The Transformation of the Heart. Point Reyes: Golden Sufi Center, 1995.
Carl Earnst, Sufism: An Introduction to the Mystical Tradition of Islam. Boston: Shambhala, 1997.
Robert Frager and James Fadiman, Essential Sufism. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

Audio/Video
Shankar Nair on Sufi Meditation
”The Two Dimensions of Islam”
Muraqaba

[Spiritual Practice] Maintaining Silence — The Contemplative Life.

Maintaining Silence — The Contemplative Life.



Maintaining Silence



In monastic communities there is often an emphasis placed on maintaining silence throughout one’s day. A monk’s day is often filled with structured periods of manual labor, personal time for reading/study/personal practice, and communal spiritual practice. Various communities may place more or less emphasis on the degree of personal silence that must be maintained, but it is usually encouraged that most of the day is spent without speaking. The following is from the Rule of St. Benedict, a primary sourcebook for much of Catholic monasticism.













“Let us follow the Prophet’s counsel: I said, I have resolved to keep watch over my ways that I may never sin with my tongue. I have put a guard on my mouth. I was silent and was humbled, and I refrained even from good words (Ps 38[39]:2-3). Here the prophet indicates that there are times when good words are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence… Indeed, so important is silence that permission to speak should seldom be granted even to mature disciples, no matter how good or holy or constructive their talk…”













Thus, simply maintaining silence during extended periods of one’s day is considered a spiritual practice in many monastic traditions. Highly related to maintaining personal silence is the practice of extended solitude, for instance in a Hermitage or Poustinia, or for non-monks at a retreat house.

Anthony Coleman The Evangelical Experience

The Evangelical Experience: Understanding One of America's Largest Religious Movements from the Inside - Kindle edition by Coleman, Anthony. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

The Evangelical Experience: Understanding One of America's Largest Religious Movements from the Inside Kindle Edition

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"Believers are light. Unbelievers are darkness. Real, complex, unique people, often people that the believer cares about deeply, have to be put into one of these two categories. Clearly, due to the fact that there are genuinely kind souls of other faiths or non-faith, the believer is eventually going to run into individuals who strain these categories of thought. Often these relationships can be the first 'crack' in the Evangelical framework of faith."

In The Evangelical Experience, Anthony Coleman gives the reader an inside look at the Evangelical movement in America. Having been a part of the faith during his formative and early adult years, Coleman shares his personal journey into, and out of, Evangelicalism, as well as observations on how accepting the Church's doctrine affects the believer in diverse ways. Coleman concludes by wondering aloud what life and faith look like after leaving conservative Christianity, and shares his thoughts on a tentative way forward.

Evangelicals will find much they relate to, non-Evangelicals will gain a better understanding of the movement, and former Evangelicals will find a companion on their journey.

Anthony Coleman holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies and an M.A. in Theological Studies from separate Evangelical institutions. He can be contacted at anthony@thecontemplativelife.org.

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"A debut book offers a concise introduction to Evangelicalism from an informed insider...The book is bifurcated into two parts: a scholarly account of the theology and history of Evangelicalism and a memoir recounting the author's grappling with his own doubts about his faith.  The first part is as lucid a précis as is available; Coleman patiently describes a widely misunderstood religious sect in accessible prose.  What emerges is not only an unambiguous account of what it means to be Evangelical, but also a picture of a church much less monolithic than is commonly thought.  Despite some basic theological commitments, Evangelicals are engaged in their own share of intramural disputes about scriptural exegesis, salvation, homosexuality and gay marriage, and a number of other significant topics.  In the autobiographical portion of the book, Coleman candidly discusses the crisis of faith he experienced as he discovered differences between his view of the Bible and most Evangelicals', and this interpretive dissonance ultimately birthed a philosophical skepticism that nearly destroyed his faith.  He found his way back to God, though no longer as an Evangelical, and counsels that its members rethink their relations to non-Christians...The book concludes with an actual entry from the author's journal that affectingly conveys the anguish he suffered from his trial of doubt.  Coleman writes under a nom de guerre, apparently so as not to challenge the faith of Evangelicals he knows, though it's not entirely clear why writing anonymously will diminish the volume's power to potentially nurture doubts.  Nevertheless, this is a moving and educational book that will resonate with all those in search of an authentically religious life.  A superb account of an increasingly important religious movement." - Kirkus Reviews

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Guitarist

5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to understand evangelicalism, read this book

Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2017

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I really appreciated this book, not only because it mirrors so closely my own experience of being very deep within and then journeying away from conservative/evangelical Christianity, but also because it was just a really good read. I actually devoured it in a single sitting. It is written so clearly, carefully and honestly that it is a great book not just for anyone wanting to learn about evangelicalism, but also -- and especially -- for those who find themselves, like the author, "de-converted" . This is the term the author uses, and it's an apt one, conversion being such an important element of evangelicalism. The author is a better person than myself, however, for he clearly harbors no ill-will toward evangelicalism per se or toward those who are still in it. (For myself, all I need is the reminder that 80% of evangelicals voted for Donald Trump, and I'm disgusted with the entire program and the whole culture.) Interestingly, his goal is not to encourage others to get out of it. In fact, he worries about evangelicals reading his book and being lead into the same gut-wrenching experiences he went through in his own deconversion. Rather, his goal is to convey his own experience of evangelical religion, not, he says, to speak for evangelicals as a whole.....but in the process we are given a detailed, fair and emotionally nuanced picture of evangelical life. For this reason the book is highly recommended for the outsider. He puts his finger on the 2 really critical points about the culture, first its belief in the inerrant (or infallible) Bible -- to hearing God (having a personal relationship with Jesus) by believing and obeying the book -- and second its us/them mentality, the construction of the entire world of humankind into those who are saved and those who are lost. Along with that are numerous details that are very helpful for understanding them -- such as their obsession with sexual ethics. But he does an especially good job putting his finger on the most critical (and, in my opinion, toxic) features of evangelicalism, in a way only a former insider could do. And, perhaps unintentionally, he offers the most withering critique of evangelicalism, which is that if you follow it to the end, you will find yourself actually lead not into faith but away from it. There is a touching description in the book of the loss of meaning he experienced when he found himself -- really against his will -- actually going so far as this. He found out that the deeper thing people find in evangelicalism is not Jesus but a tremendous infusion of meaningfulness into their lives. The result is that if you leave it you end up in an existential crisis -- with terrible withdrawal symptoms after pulling away from its wonderful infusions of meaning. (I appreciated the author sharing this experience of meaninglessness, because I went through the same misery.) One other thing I should mention, I also appreciated the author pointing out the failed eschatology of (probably) Jesus and (certainly) the early Church. This realization had a big impact on me as well. As he points out, once you see it, it's obvious, and impossible to un-see. It's a problem that evangelicalism needs to grapple with, but cannot. It is too safely and happily ensconced behind the walls of its infallible "word of God" book, inside the borders of its sense of being saved. That's fine for them, but for the rest of us who have really read the Bible closely, it doesn't help much. At the end of the book, he grapples with the question of "what next?" also in a very careful and moving way. Recommended!

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NMRN

3.0 out of 5 stars Insights and confusions

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2018

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Coleman's book is part personal narrative and part accounting of the core beliefs and cultural norms of Evangelical Christianity. His "conversion" from a low-key UCC upbringing, by way of "on fire" Pentecostalism, is a great illustration of the intensity of feeling that I have seen described by other Evangelicals. His crisis of faith in discovering that people do not fit so neatly into "light" (born-again Christian) and "dark" (unbelievers) boxes, and in discovering that his "inerrant" and "authoritative" Bible was filled with paradox and contradiction - this, too, is authentic to the pain I have sometimes seen expressed by Evangelicals and former Evangelicals.

I have carefully placed in quote marks above some of the key cultural and theological factors that seem to most clearly define Evangelicalism. Coleman provides a list of the hallmarks of Evangelical Christianity. Of these, only two strike me to be truly distinguishing, compared to other branches of Protestantism: (1) the importance of the "conversion" experience, and (2) the priority placed on evangelism. Coleman's narrative is effective in showcasing how these go hand-in-hand. A non-obvious insight about Evangelicals is the special emphasis they place on the books of John and Romans.

The rest of the book is a bit of a muddle. For example, Coleman states that the ecumenical creeds are important to Evangelical churches. This is a curious assertion, because it contradicts the primacy and self-evidence of Scripture that is otherwise stated to be a core principle of Evangelicalism. (The ecumenical councils were convened to settle points of doctrine that could not be neatly wrapped up by Scripture, and so the Creeds are by definition "Tradition".) Evangelicals can be said to unwittingly embrace Tradition (the doctrines of hypostatic union and the Trinity, for example, are undisputed) even as they rail against it. The Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church and the Confessional statements of the Reformation seem to be especially offensive to Evangelical sensibilities. (Some Fundamentalists even go so far as to reject sermons and devotionals as too much "of man, not of God" and insist that only direct personal communion with Scripture and the Holy Spirit is the true way of a Christian). Adherence to the ecumenical Creeds is even more defining of Catholic, Orthodox and Mainline Protestant Christianity -- all of which articulate the Creeds directly in their worship liturgies -- so why suggest that it is a characteristic of Evangelicals at all?

Another curiosity is the chapter on Evangelical Leadership, which purports to provide a list of "Evangelical celebrities." Among the influential "Evangelical" writers on Coleman's list are NT Wright and CS Lewis (Anglicans), GK Chesterton (Catholic), and Rachel Held Evans (who wrote about leaving the Evangelical church to become an Episcopalian). If these are all Evangelical thinkers, then the term loses all meaning.

By the end of the book, it was clear that what is most distinctive about Evangelicalism is not theology, but rather ethics and praxis. Evangelicalism is not a belief system, but rather a culture, and perhaps one that measures God's presence mostly in terms of the intensity of each individual's feelings and actions. (Why else would the author have felt the need to be baptized three or four times, just to make sure he really "got it right"? Can we not trust that God knew what He was doing the first time around?) I don't know if this was the author's intended message.

I hesitate to critique the author's personal journey, which is described with pain and authenticity. But I do have a suggestion to make for other Evangelicals who may find themselves on such a path. For reasons that are left vague, Coleman attended a Lutheran seminary for his Master's degree. There he was frustrated by his professors' unwillingness to provide tidy and authoritative answers to his questions, which ultimately furthered the death spiral of his Christian belief. But Lutherans are (in)famous for their willingness to hold paradoxes in an unresolved state, and to accept that some questions will remain in the realm of "mystery" to us. So my advice to others who may find their Evangelical beliefs untenable is to embrace the possibility that God asks us find our spiritual life more in the questions, than in the answers. As in Romans 11, who knows the mind of our God? How unsearchable are His judgements? How untraceable are His paths? Thanks be to God.

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My Books —Anthony Coleman - The Contemplative Life.

My Books — The Contemplative Life.




The Contemplative Life.
Exploring contemplative spirituality in the 21st Century...

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Resting in the Ground


“...let us remind ourselves that another, metaphysical, consciousness is still available to modern man. It starts not from the thinking and self-aware subject but from Being, ontologically seen to be beyond and prior to the subject-object division. Underlying the subjective experience of the individual self there is an immediate experience of Being… It has in it none of the split and alienation that occurs when the subject becomes aware of itself as quasi-object. The consciousness of Being is an immediate experience that goes beyond reflexive awareness. It is not ‘consciousness of’ but pure consciousness, in which the subject as such disappears. Posterior to this immediate experience of a ground which transcends experience emerges the subject with its self-awareness.”

– Thomas Merton

“We are each like a well that has a source in a common underground stream which supplies all. The deeper down I go, the closer I come to the source which puts me in contact with all other life.”

– John Welch


Apophatic spiritual practice, and the experience that flows from it, is often seen as the pinnacle of the contemplative journey. Resting in the Ground is a comparison of various forms of apophatic practice as understood by practitioners from the world’s major contemplative traditions. “God as Ground of Being,” a phrase popularized by Paul Tillich, but attested to by religious texts throughout history, is used as a synthesizing interpretive concept for understanding what is being experienced during apophatic practice.

Major meditative practices and traditions explored include Centering Prayer and the Christian Contemplative Tradition, Mantram and the Vedanta Tradition, Yoga, Zazen, Jhana and the Buddhist Tradition, Dhikr and the Islamic Contemplative Tradition, Kabbalah and the Jewish Contemplative Tradition, and the Taoist Contemplative Tradition.

Also included are reflections on the potential of practicing with agnosticism toward the Ground of Being, how cataphatic experiences may be related to apophatic practice, the embedding of meditation within wider spiritual paths, interpretations of what is sometimes called the “Higher Self” or the “egoless-ego” potentially achieved through meditative practice, and a vision for religious community based on shared silence and the space to practice from within one’s own framework. Resting in the Ground is expected to be released in late 2023.

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A Great Tragedy


“Love makes the ego lose itself in the object it loves, and yet at the same time it wants to have the object as its own. This is a contradiction and a great tragedy of life.”

– D.T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism

Tony, unsatisfied with life, decides to leave for a new town.
Perhaps the road will help Tony figure himself out.

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The Evangelical Experience


I am a former Evangelical Christian. Although I am grateful for many ways this tradition has shaped me, I eventually outgrew this conservative brand of faith. In 2015, The Evangelical Experience was published. The book is broadly broken into two sections. In the first section I attempted to describe modern Evangelicalism from an insider’s perspective. Major topics include an overview of Evangelical doctrine, lenses through which Evangelicals view Jesus, uses and views of Scripture, matters of debate within the religion, and the primary marks of Evangelical culture. The effects of accepting Evangelical doctrine, both positive and negative, are also addressed here.

The second section of the book documents my own journey into, and ultimately, out of, the faith. Here I included the stories of my conversion, development, experience in seminary, deconversion, and thoughts on possible ways to move forward. As an appendix I included a journal entry written in the midst of my deconversion which details many of the reasons I felt forced to leave the faith.

Hopefully this book can be a resource for those outside the church who are looking for a better understanding of Evangelical Christianity. I also hope it can be a resource for current Evangelicals who have some of the same doubts and may be exploring other religious options.

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An Introduction to Centering Prayer




An Introduction to Centering Prayer is a short tract which introduces the reader to the discipline of Centering Prayer.

Topics discussed include: (1) The History of Centering Prayer, especially its connection to the anonymous 14th Century work The Cloud of Unknowing; (2) The Method of Centering Prayer as presented by Thomas Keating, including observations and commentary on each of the steps; (3) possible Theological Paradigms to understand the practice with including the Divine Therapy model, the "Union with God" model, and the True Self/False Self model; (4) Natural Effects of the prayer, including control of the mind, distance between "you" and your thoughts, decreased worry and anxiety, non-attachment, and present moment awareness; (5) Centering in the World and the use of the sacred word during the active life; and (6) The Shape of the Journey, especially emphasizing the possible experience of "dark nights" which are associated with this practice.

This tract is simply intended to provide a very brief overview of the practice and lead the reader to further study. A list of Centering Prayer resources is also included, and several of these resources are also found on the Centering Prayer page of this site.


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Jesus as Apocalyptic Prophet in the Gospel of Matthew




The topic addressed in Jesus as Apocalyptic Prophet in the Gospel of Matthew is extremely controversial. One position in Historical Jesus studies, arguably the dominant scholarly position, is that Jesus of Nazareth is best described as an “Apocalyptic Prophet.” Those who promote this position believe that when Jesus proclaimed the “Kingdom of God at hand,” he was expecting an imminent, universal final judgment followed by the arrival of the eschatological Kingdom of God – an eternal, idyllic existence which could be entered only by the righteous. On this view, a central part of Jesus’ message surrounded preparing oneself for this imminent final judgment.

In this tract, I present an eschatological reading of the Gospel of Matthew. Other topics addressed include: (1) defining the term “apocalyptic,” (2) the expectations of the early Church as demonstrated by various New Testament documents, (3) a reading list of scholars who have come to similar conclusions, and (4) potential implications for the life of faith.

This is a very personal subject for me. At one point in my life, it was the topic that drove me out of seminary. Although “Jesus as Apocalyptic Prophet” is a well-known position among scholars, it seems to be virtually unknown to the lay Christian. Whatever one concludes about the historical Jesus, I believe the search for truth entails engaging with this view.


*As of March 2022, my books have all been made Public Domain. Any individual or entity may reproduce my works for sale without my explicit permission. All ebook files and manuscripts are available free of charge here. If you are able, I do ask that you purchase a copy from my Amazon page to support my work on the site.