Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine Luke Timothy Johnson

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Luke Timothy Johnson (Narrator, Author), The Great Courses (Author, Publisher)
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After 2,000 years, Christianity is the world's largest religion and continues to prosper and grow. What accounts for its continued popularity?

In these twenty-four lectures, Professor Johnson maintains that the most familiar aspects of Christianity-its myths, institutions, ideas and morality-are only its outer "husk." He takes you on a journey to find the "kernel" of Christianity's appeal: religious experience. You'll travel back to Christianity's origins during its first 300 years to identify the elements that first made it appealing and which still hold the secret to its ability to attract new followers.

Professor Johnson employs scholarly techniques that have only recently been applied to religion. In introducing early Christian religious experience, Professor Johnson looks at questions that are new and intellectually exciting in the study of religion. Was Christ the founder of Christianity? Was Christianity's early growth due to his life and works or to his followers' powerful experience of his death and resurrection, their sense of having been transformed by the Holy Spirit?

By combining such disciplines as history, the social sciences, and comparative literary analysis, you'll look at religious experience and behavior from a fresh perspective. You'll consider a variety of theories developed by the philosophers Alfred North Whitehead and Immanuel Kant, Emil Durkheim, the founder of sociology, and Sigmund Freud. And to better understand religious experience in Christianity, you'll also study it in the two religions with which early Christianity co-existed: Greco-Roman paganism and Judaism.
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©2002 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2002 The Great Courses


Listening Length

12 hours and 24 minutes
Author

Listening Length 12 hours and 24 minutes
Author Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gre



Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine
byLuke Timothy Johnson



6 total ratings, 4 with reviews

From the United States

Sean A. Heaney
1.0 out of 5 stars Only Received PART TWO Of Learning Ctr Class CDs.Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2019
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Can I Expect PART ONE Of The Learning Ctr "EARLY CHRISTIANITY: The Experience Of The Divine? Received PART TWO Only Yesterday, Used CDs. (3/18/'19)


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Ginny Nichols
4.0 out of 5 stars Four StarsReviewed in the United States on May 12, 2016
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Dr Johnson is brilliant.


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C Wm (Andy) Anderson
#1 HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER
5.0 out of 5 stars Helps Me Understand How the Roots of Christianity.Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2015

Length: just under 12-1/2 hours.

This lecture series was precisely what I've been seeking for many years. The lectures commence with a discussion, in deep detail, of the 300 years preceding the birth of and rise of Jesus's ministry. This puts the time period into perspective and helps explain how the Old Testament came to be a part of the Bible. What I mean us, he explains about the Greek translation of Torah, used by Jews in diaspora, and why it is in Greek, not Hebrew.

Only once one can come to grips with that, can one begin to see life as an early follower of Jesus. Further, since there was no Bible in use during the, uh, Big Bang explosive growth of Christianity. It is of paramount importance to understand how the early adopters would evolve into the widely differing accounts and traditions among the societies in which Christianity would grow and thrive.

What most comes to mind is the lack of an army, a temple, and, even, the lack of a home for the church.

I thoroughly appreciated the wealth of information contained within this lecture series.

I'm going to listen to his lectures about Saint Paul, but not until after listening to the latest Walt Longmire story by Craig Johnson.


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Daniel Dusanjh
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Evenhanded Introduction to Earliest ChristianityReviewed in the United States on June 24, 2011

Luke Timothy Johnson, a Roman Catholic NT scholar provides here an enjoyable evenhanded introduction to earliest Christianity.

Johnson's approach, according to him, is to avoid the maximalist (traditional Christian) and minimalist (tradional liberal/revisionist) ways at looking at Christianity and instead goes for an approach that takes the experiences of the early Christians seriously but doesn't really go any further.

This approach will of course appease neither side although I found the course all the more better for it - avoiding the traditional discussions on historicity and instead jumps straight to analyzing earliest Christian beliefs and practices. Of course, one is often tempted to ask "But did this really happen or not?!"

Still, a recommended audio course that introduces Christianity as it began.

Note: Some prior familiarity to the New Testament and Ancient Near East history is helpful but not necessary. Johnson does well to explain the concepts and terms that he introduces into the discussion.

5 people found this helpful

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Contemplative Practices in Action 15] Index, About the Editor and Contributors

 15] Index

 

Abandonment to Divine Providence

(Caussade), 68 Abba, God as, 63 Abiding Prayer, 74

ablution, 127

Abraham (Prophet), 123 absorption of spiritual content, 40 academic coursework, Passage

Meditation and, 53–54

acceptance, 25

accompaniment, 226 active prayer sentence, 69 Adon Olam, 110

adrenaline, 164

advocacy, 226

Aitken, Robert, 161

Alcoholics Anonymous, 239

Allah, 124

altered consciousness, pain and, 217–18

Aminah, K., 137

amygdala, 172

Anthology of Christian Mysticism (Eagan), 71–72

anxiety, mindfulness and, 19

apophatic prayer, 66, 197–98

Arico, Carl, 74

art therapy, mindfulness-based, 29 asana (postures), 146, 147

Askwith, Richard, 240

 

Astin, John A., 28, 69–70

attention: essential nature of, 8, 9;

mindfulness and, 30; training, 1, 10–11t

attitude, mindfulness and,  30 attitudes, cultivation of, 25–26 austerity or burning desire (tapas), 147

Austin, James, 169, 173; Selfless Insights,

169; Zen and the Brain, 169;

Zen-Brain Reflections, 169 autonomic nervous system, mindfulness

and, 28

Axis I and II disorders, mindfulness and, 28

Azhar, M. Z., 137, 138

Azusa Street revival (1906), 209

Baal Shem Tov, 115 Bandura, Albert, 47 Baucom, D. H., 28 Beddoe, A. E., 26 beginner’s mind, 25

behavior, human models of, 47 being present, 168

Benson, Herbert, 2, 86–87, 107;

Relaxation Response, 42

Berry, Wendell, 241 Bhagavad Gita, 38f Bhakti yoga, 146

Bill W., 239

 

bio-psycho-social-spiritual pain model, 206–7

Birchot HaShachar, 112 Blessings of the Dawn, 112 Bodhi, 30

“Body, Mind, Spirit: Yoga and Meditation,” 154

body scan, 21–22

Boorstein, Sylvia, 159

boundless compassion, 160–61

boundless equanimity, 160–62 Bourgeault, Cynthia, 63; Centering

Prayer and Inner Awakening, 65

Brahma Viharas, 160–62

brain function, Zen and, 172, 174

breath meditation, 20–21, 192

bridging tool, 42 Bromley, D. G., 212 Brown, K. W., 30

Buddhism: faces of love in, 160–61; mindfulness and, 18

Burkan, Tolly, 213 “B’yado afkid ruchee,” 110

“calming” practices, 225 Carlson, L. E., 30 Carmody, J., 28

Carson, J. W., 28

Cassian, John, 63–64; Conferences, 63–64

Castan˜ eto, May Lynn, 70 Castellanos, Isabel, 74–75

cataphatic prayer, 66

Catch it, Check it, Change it, 87 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 62–63 Caussade, Jean-Pierre de: Abandonment

to Divine Providence, 68 centering, 9, 10–11t, 13

Centering Prayer, 7, 9, 192;

accompanying practices, 67–69;

applications, 71–74; cross-cultural

considerations, 74–75; distinguish- ing features, 66–67; experimental studies, 69–71; four guidelines, 63–64; historical roots of, 63–64; methods, 64–69; personal relation- ship with God, 61; religious context, 61–63

 

Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening

(Bouregeault), 65

character strengths, 9

Charismatic Christianity, 209, 211–12,

220–21

Chief Yellow Lark, 38f Christian contemplative prayer

tradition, 9, 60–61, 62, 192 chronic pain, spiritual practice and:

applications for health practitioners, 219–20; biological, psychological, and social factors, 206; historical and religious context, 207–11; music and dance, 208; and punishment by God, 207

“Circle of Living Voices” meditation, 191

cleanliness (saucha), 147

cognitive-behavioral interventions, mindfulness and, 29–30

coherent resemblance, 8

Coleman, Arthur, 215

college students, Passage Meditations and, 51–52, 52f

Comparative Effectiveness Research, 97 compassion, 9

complete attention (dharana), 148 concentration, 1, 9, 148

Conferences (Cassian), 64

contemplatio (resting), 68 contemplation and consciousness,

Islamic practice of, 145 Contemplative Non-Dual Inquiry, 70 Contemplative Outreach, 62

contemplative practices, 1, 192; Eastern and Western traditions, 3; faith traditions and, 2; interconnectedness of, 243; introduction to, 226–27;

secularization of, 2

contemplative spirituality, 64 contemporary rock music, spirituality

and, 215

content absorption, 41

contentment (samtosa), 147 control of sensual pleasure

(brahmacharya), 147

conversion in Christian tradition, 193 Cook, Francis, 165–66

 

coping, suffering and, 230

coping styles, Relationship-with-God, 70 courage, 9

cultivation of attitudes, 25–26 cultivation of silence, solitude, and

service, 67

curiosity, 26

da Silva, T. L., 152, 153 dance, spirituality and, 208 dance theology, 211

dance therapy, 219–20 Davidson, R. J., 29 Dench, Judi, 235

denial, 227–31, 230

DePaul  University,  154 depression symptoms, mindfulness

and, 19

Dervish spirituality, 209–10

desert spirituality, 63–64 Desikachar, T. K. V., 146–47 dialectical behavior therapy (DBT),

29–30

Discourse on Good Will, 39f discrimination, slowing down and, 84 Divine Therapy and Addition: Centering

Prayer and the Twelve Steps

(Keating), 74

Dogen, Eihei: Genjo Koan, 167

dranpa, 17

drumming, chronic pain and, 218

Eagan, Harvey: Anthology of Christian Mysticism, 71–72

Easwaran, Eknath, 14, 39f, 46t, 79; The Mantram Handbook, 81; Passage Meditation: Bringing the Deep Wisdom of the Heart into Daily Life, 40, 53–54

eating, mindful, 23–24, 29 educational interventions, Passage

Meditation and, 35–36 EDUCIZE (dance therapy), 219–20 Edwards, Tilden, 61

Egyptian Desert experience, 61–62 eight-point program of Passage

Meditation, 35–56, 36t, 79–80

Ein Sof, 109

ekagratha, 43

 

electroencephalogram studies, 19–20 elements of practice, Passage

Meditation and, 10–11t, 12–14, 12f emotionalism, 218

endogenous opioid pathways, pain and, 216–17

endorphins, pain and, 216–17 energizing spiritual practices, 211–12,

215–19, 225

English class, Passage Meditation and, 53–55

epinephrine, 164 “establishing the prayer,” 125 Examen meditation, 191 exemplars, learning from, 47 experiential religion, 209

extreme ritual performances, 212–15

faith traditions: commonalties across, 14; Passage Meditation and, 37–38; practice systems and, 7–8

family caregivers, mantram repetition for, 94–95

fearlessness, 9

Fetzer Institute, 69

fight-or-flight reaction, 164, 216–17

fire-handling, 212–13, 214, 218–19

forgiveness, 9

Freeman, Laurence, 61

Full Catastrophe Living (Kabat-Zinn), 25–26

Gallagher, W., 43

Genjo Koan (Dogen), 167 gentleness, 26

Germer, C. K., 31 Gil, K. M., 28

Gingerich, Orval, 240

God, one hundred names for, 234 Goleman, Daniel, 8; The Meditative

Mind, 1 

grief, 237

guided meditations, 190–91

Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, 138

Hanh, Thich Nhat, 161; “Am I sure?” 175–76; Teachings on Love, 161

 

Hasanah, C. I., 137

Hasid, Yaakov Koppel, 115 Hatha yoga, 22, 146

health interventions, Passage Meditation and, 46t

hesychia, 63

higher education classes, yoga and, 154–55

Higher Self or Soul, 144

HIV, mantram repetition and, 87, 88,

96–97

Hoelter, L. F., 212

holy name (mantram) repetition, 41–42 hospital-based caregivers, Passage

Meditation and, 48–51 hospitals, Centering Prayer in, 73

The Human Condition: Contemplation and

Transformation (Keating), 67

humanity, 9

humility, 196

hyperarousal, 164, 217–18

hyperstress hypothesis, 218

IAA (intention, attention, and attitude), 30

Ignatian Colleagues Program, 240 illumination in Christian tradition,

195–96

immersion, 226, 240

“Impacts on Future Generations” meditation, 191

Indian mythology, 145–46

Indian yoga, 43

informal mindfulness practices, 8, 22–23

insight meditation, 19

Inspirational Reading, 45, 47 integral contemplative practice

system, 13

integrated contemplative practice, 7, 8–9

intention, mindfulness and, 30 intercession,  226, 231–36 Intimacy with God (Keating), 67 Into the Silent Land (Laird), 71–72 Islamic tradition, contemplative

approach to: applications and interventions, 138–39; context,

 

123–24; cultivation of attitudes, 134–35; dimensions of practice, 124–36; formal practice, 124–25; informal practices, 131; literature review, 136–37; new research directions, 140; obligatory prayers, 124–25; remembrance of Allah, 131–32; specific contemplation and reflection, 133–34; spiritual

models, 135–36

isolation, suffering and, 231–36 Iyengar yoga, 153

James, William, 1

Jantos, Marek: “Prayer as Medicine: How Much Have We

Learned?” 107

Jesus, 124

Jesus Prayer, 61

Jewish contemplative practices, 109–11; applications, 120; in context, 104–7; dimensions of the practices, 107–8; meditation, 114–16; prayer, 111–14; review of literature, 119–20; Sabbath time, 116–19

Jnana yoga, 146

Joplin, Janis, 239

justice, 9

Kabat-Zinn, Jon, 19, 23, 29; on fight- or-flight reaction, 164; Full Catas- trophe Living, 25–26; on preception and stress, 162; turning toward suffering, 167; Zen mindfulness practices, 176

Kaivalya pada, 145

kappa opioid receptors, chronic pain and, 216–17

karma, 166

Karma yoga, 146

kavannot, 106

Keating, Thomas, 61, 62; Divine Therapy and Addition: Centering Prayer and the Twelve Steps, 74; The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation, 67; Intimacy with God, 67; Open Mind, Open Heart, 65

 

kenosis, 63

kensho, 173

Khalsa, S. B., 151, 152, 156

khikr, 131–32

Kiat, Hosen: “Prayer as Medicine: How Much Have We Learned?” 107

Kristeller, J., 28

kriyayoga, 145

Kundalini yoga, 146

Kwon, Hee-Soon, 74

Laird, Martin: Into the Silent Land, 71–72

Lakota Sun Dance tradition, 208 lamentation, 226, 227–31

Lazarus, Richard, 70

leadership, contemplative practices and, 197–98

Leadership Calling meditation, 191

lectio divina (sacred reading), 45, 68, 191

letting go, 25

liberal arts education, Passage Meditation and, 53–54

lighting candles, Jewish practice of, 118–19

limbic system, perceptions and, 172 the “little way,” 196

loss: characteristics of people facing, 225; of a child, 237–38; suffering

and, 236

loving kindness, 26

Loyola, Ignatius, 191, 225, 227

Maimonides, Moses, 115

Main, John, 61

maitri (boundless kindliness), 160–61 maladaptive thinking, 87

mantra, 79

Mantra yoga, 146

The Mantram Handbook (Easwaran), 81 mantram repetition, 7, 8, 41–42, 42,

81–84, 82t; applications and interventions, 92–96; author’s experience with, 80–81; choosing a mantram, 81–82; explanation of, 79–80; historical perspectives,

85–86; literature review, 86–87;

mental/cognitive perspective, 87;

 

new research directions, 96–97; physical mechanisms, 86; program of research, 88–89; psychological/emotional mechanisms, 87; published

research, 89–91t; religious/spiritual mechanisms, 88

“Mantram Repetition for Relaxation” (course), 88

mantram walk, 83

Masters, Kevin S., 112, 116; “Prayer and Health,” 107

May, Gerald, 61

MBRE (mindfulness-based relationship enhancement), 29, 30

MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduc- tion), 8, 9, 19, 28–30, 43, 51;

and poetry, 26–27; and spiritual models, 26–27

McConnell Prison Unit, 73 McCullough, M. E., 108

medical disorders, mindfulness and, 28 meditatio (reflecting), 68, 191 meditation, major approaches, 1

The Meditative Mind (Goleman), 1 Menninger, William, 61

mental centering/stabilizing practices, 8

Merriam, P., 28

metta, 44

Mevlevi order spirituality, 210 Middle Path, 44

Mind-Body Medicine Research Group, 69–70

mindful attitudes, 10–11t mindful awareness, 30

mindful eating, 23–24

mindful practice, 30

mindfulness, 1, 7, 17–31, 163, 192; adverse effects of, 30; applications and interventions, 28–30; context, 18–19; dimensions of the practice, 19–30; and health, 160; neuroscientific study of, 31; new research directions, 30; one- pointed attention, 85; other considerations, 27; Passage Meditations and, 52; popularity of

 

current approach, 2; seven attitu- dinal foundations of, 25–26; and stress response, 19; theoretical and empirical literature, 27–28; three key elements of, 30

mindfulness-based eating awareness, 29 mindfulness-based stress reduction

(MBSR), 8, 19

mitzvot, 104

Mizo spirituality, 210–11

mock hyperstress hypothesis, 218

Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine (Pert), 108

Montana State University, 29 Moses (Prophet), 124

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 196 mothers in labor, mantram repetition

for, 95–96

mudita (sympathetic joy), 161 Muhammad (Prophet), 131

multitasking, 43

Mungo, Savario, 72–73 music: chronic pain and, 218;

spirituality and, 208

music therapy, 220

Muslim spirituality, 209–10

Mythbusters (television), 213

Nadwi, Sulaiman, 125

naming god, 234

Native American spirituality, 208

neshamah (soul), 113

neshimah (breath), 113 neurobiology: meditation and, 160;

Zen and, 169–75

neuroimaging evidence, 9 New Age movement, 213 niyamas, 147

nonattachment, 26

nonavariciousness (aparigrha), 147 nonclinical populations, mindfulness

and, 28

nonfatal myocardial infarction, 42 nonjudging, 25

nonobligatory prayers, Islamic tradition of, 130–31

nonreactivity, 26

nonstealing (asteya), 147

 

nonstriving, 25

nontheistic inspirational passages, 39f nonviolence (ahsima), 147

not-knowing, 165

obligatory prayers, Islamic tradition of, 124–25, 127–30

observing the breath, 20–21

one-pointed attention, 43–44, 45, 85 Open Mind, Open Heart (Keating), 65 oratio (praying), 68, 191

outcome measures, mindfulness and, 30–31

pain, spiritual practice and chronic, 205–22

Pargament, Kenneth I.: Relationship- with-God coping styles, 70

Parvati, 145–46

Passage Meditation: Bringing the Deep Wisdom of the Heart into Daily Life (Easwaran), 40

Passage Meditation (PM), 7, 8, 35–37, 36t, 47; academic coursework and, 53; college course, 51–52; contemporary challenges, 37t; eight-point program, 35–56, 36t; four modeling processes, 47; and health interventions, 46t; by health professionals, 50f; history and con- text, 36–37; instructions, 40; program, 37–45; and spiritual modeling, 47–48; and traditional religion, 46t; transformational nature of, 40; two dimensions of, 40–41; two strengths of, 35–36; and

workplace professionals, 48–51

Patanjali, 143, 144

patience, 25

Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies program, 155

“Peace for Activists,” 154 Peck, Edward, 240

Pennington, Basil, 61

Pentecostal spirituality, 209, 211–12,

214, 217–18

perceived threats, 175–76

personal koans, 176

 

Pert, Candace: Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine, 108

pilgrimage, 226, 238–40

Pizzuto, Vincent, 71–72 PM. See Passage Meditation

poetry, spiritual modeling and, 26–27 Poloma, M. M., 212

positive emotional states, mindfulness and, 19

posttraumatic stress disorder, 44, 93

powerlessness, 236

practice systems, 7–8, 10–11t praise, spiritual practice and, 235

pranayama (yogic breathing), 146, 147 pratyahara (sensory withdrawal), 148 “Prayer and Health” (Masters), 107 “Prayer as Medicine: How Much

Have We Learned?” ( Jantos and Kiat), 107

prayer of intention, 66

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, 38f, 53 prayer (pillar of Islam), 124–30 precari, 112

prescribed  postures,  9 prescribed prayers (Islamic), 126 Prier dans le Secret, 74

Prince, R., 218

prison, Centering Prayer and, 72 Prophet Muhammad, 131, 135–36

Psalm 23, 38f

psychological interventions, Passage Meditation and, 35–36

psychotherapy: Centering Prayer as adjunct in, 73; chronic pain and, 221; Muslims and, 137

PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), 44, 93

purification in Christian tradition, 193–95

Putting Others First, 44

Raja yoga, 146

Ralte, Lalrinawmi, 210–11 Ravindran, A. V., 152 Ravindran, L. N. B., 152 Razali, S. M., 137 receptive meditation, 66

 

receptivity, 239

Reed, J., 28

relapse prevention, mindfulness-based, 29, 37

Relationship-with-God coping styles, 70

relaxation response, 86

Relaxation Response (Benson), 42 religiosity and mental health, 136–37 religious psychotherapy with Muslims,

137–38

Religious Science/Science of Mind, 70 right view, Zen and, 175–76

Rinzai Zen, 162

ritual performances, extreme, 212–15 ritual washing, Jewish practice of,

118–19

Robbins, Tony, 213

rock music, spirituality and, 215 Roshi, Darlene Cohen, 247; Turning

Suffering Inside Out, 176 Rumi, Jalaluddin, 26–27, 39f, 210

“runner’s high,” 216–217 Ryan, R. M., 30

Sabbath, 107

sacred words, 65, 66

Sadhana pada, 145

Samadhi pada, 145

samadhi (union with the Divine), 148 Santa Clara University, 29

sati, 17

satori, 173

Scholasticism, 64 Schwartz, G. E., 26

SCT (social cognitive theory), 48 self-efficacy, 48

Self-Realization, 145

Selfless Insights (Austin), 169

Sema (whirling dervish dance), 209–10 serotonin pathways, pain and, 215–16 serpent handling, 214–15

set-aside time, 8–9, 10–11t

Shabbat, 116

Shalem Institute, 61

shared themes, 7–14

sheaths of being (koshas), 144 Shema, 113

 

Siegel, Daniel J., 18–19

Silicon Valley, cultural aspects of, 183 Silicon Valley leaders, meditation

practices of, 183–201

sitting meditation, 8, 20

“slain in the spirit” injuries, 212 slowing down, 42, 43, 45

smrti, 17

social cognitive theory (SCT), 47, 48 social support, importance of, 45 Soeng, Mu, 165

“Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi,” 167

Soto Zen, 161, 162

Sperry, Len, 73

Spezio, Michael, 69

Spiritual Association, 45

“spiritual but not religious,” 35, 36t spiritual content, absorption of, 40 spiritual edgework, 212–15

“Spiritual Engagement Project,” 69–70 spiritual fellowship, 13

spiritual journey in Christian tradition, 192–93

spiritual modeling, 26–27, 36, 47 spiritual modeling theory, Passage Meditations and, 51–52

spiritual models, 9, 10–11t, 26–27,

46–48

spiritual practice, U.S. adult interest in, 13

spiritual shopping, 13

spirituality, 9; chronic pain and, 206–7; mindfulness and, 28; physical phenomena and, 211; in the workplace, 14

Spirituality and Health Institute (SHI), 8

Spirituality for Organizational Leadership, 183–84; leadership day, meditative practices and the, 197–98; meditation forms, 190–92; overall pedagogy, 184–86; presence meditation, 186–87; role of contemporary organizations, 187–90

St. Benedict’s Rule, 62 St. Francis de Sales, 65

 

St. John of the Cross, 62 St. Mary Marish, 61

St. Therese of Lisieux, 196 stabilizing, practices for, 9 Strength in the Storm, 88 stress, Zen and, 162–64 stress hormones, 164

stress management, mindfulness and, 19, 28

stress responses, 169–75 stressors, chronic and acute, 19 study of sacred scriptures

(svadhayaya), 147

Subramaniam, M., 137 Sudarshan Kriya Yoga, 153

suffering: coping and, 230; spiritual dimensions of, 226–27

Sufi spirituality, 209–10 Sun Dance tradition, 208 Sunnah, 123, 135–36

supplication, Islamic practice of, 132 support groups, Centering Prayer and, 72 surrender to God (isvara pranidhana), 147 Sutras. See Yoga Sutras

sympathetic joy, 161 Syncletica, Desert Mother, 63

tafakkur, 122

Tao Te Ching, 39

Teachings on Love (Hanh), 161 temperance, 9

Templeton Foundation, 69

Tetragrammaton, 106

theistic inspirational passages, 38–39f Thoresen, C. E., 105

time commitment, set-aside, 8–9, 19–20 time/urgency and impatience

syndrome, 42

Tong Len, 185, 191, 192

Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF), 211

“Toronto Blessing,” 211 traditional religion, Passage

Meditations and, 46t Training the Senses, 44 transcendence, 9

Transcendental Meditation (TM), 37, 86, 192

 

trust, 25

truthfulness (satya), 147

Turning Suffering Inside Out

(Roshi), 176

Twelve Step programs, 239

Twelve Step recovery, Centering Prayer and, 74

Universal Self, 145

Universal Spirit (Brahman), 143, 144 Upanishads, 39f

upeksha (boundless equanimity), 160–61

Varma, 137, 138

Vatican II, 62

Vedas (1700–900 BCE), 143, 144

Vibhuti pada, 145

Vieten, Cassandra, 69–70

Vipassana, 19, 37

virtues and character strengths, 9

W., Bill, 239

walking meditation, 24–25, 192

Walsh, Roger N., 14, 107

Weil, Simone, 226–27

Welcoming Prayer, 68

“whirling dervish” dance, 209–10 Whitman, Walt, 26–27

widu, 127

Willemsen, Eleanor, 70

wisdom, 9

“Without Fear” (Zen story), 159

 

work-free Sabbath, Jewish practice of, 119

workplace professionals, Passage Meditation and, 48–51

World Community for Christian Meditation, 61

worldview, valid and coherent, 13

yamas, 147

Yoga: applications and interventions, 154–55; contemplative practice of, 144–46, 146–51; eight limbs of, 147; new research directions, 156–57; as a practical discipline, 148; review of literature, 151–52; schools of, 146; system of Indian thought, 143

Yoga Sutras, 143–47

yogic breathing, 147

Your Personal Renaissance (Dreher), 53–54

zazen (Zen sitting meditation), 161, 171

Zen and the Brain (Austin), 169

Zen-Brain Reflections (Austin), 169 Zen practice: applications, 175–76;

fearlessness and awakening, 173–74; lore, 159; oneness with

circumstances, 166–68; perception

and suffering, 162, 163; serenity and, 160–62; sitting meditation (zazen), 161, 171; and well-being

(scientific perspective), 169–75

 

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About the Editor and Contributors

The Editor

THOMAS G. PLANTE, PhD, ABPP, is professor of psychology at Santa Clara University and adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. He directs the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University and currently serves as vice-chair of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children for the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops. He is president-elect of the Psychology and Religion Division (Division 36) of the American Psychological Association. He has authored or edited 12 books including, most recently, Spiritual Practices in Psychotherapy: Thirteen Tools for Enhancing Psychological Health (2009, American Psycho- logical Association) and Spirit, Science and Health: How the Spiritual Mind Fuels Physical Wellness (with Carl Thoresen; 2007, Greenwood), as well as published over 150 scholarly professional journal articles and book chapters. Through his private practice he has evaluated or treated more than 600 priests and applicants to the Roman Catholic and Episcopalian priesthood and diaconate and has served as a consultant for a number of Roman Catholic dioceses and religious orders.

The Contributors

JILL E. BORMANN, PhD, RN, is a research nurse scientist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and an adjunct associate professor at San Diego State University School of Nursing. She conducts a

 

program of research on the health benefits of a mantram repetition intervention in both veteran and nonveteran groups.

DARLENE COHEN ROSHI, MA, is a Zen priest and Dharma heir in the Suzuki-roshi lineage, trained at the San Francisco Zen Center. She is conducting a National Science Foundation–funded study on the relationship between Zen and stress reduction in the workplace entitled “A Study in Contemplative Multi-Tasking,” which is based on her book The One Who Is Not Busy.

ANDRE L. DELBECQ, PhD, is the J. Thomas and Kathleen McCarthy University Professor at Santa Clara University, where he served as dean of the Leavey School of Business from 1979 to 1989. His research and scholarship have focused on executive decision mak- ing, managing innovation in rapid-change environments, and organi- zational spirituality. He is the eighth dean of Fellows of the Academy of Management. He currently directs the Institute for Spirituality of Organizational Leadership at Santa Clara University, which conducts dialogues between theologians, management scholars, and executives.

DIANE DREHER, PhD, is a professor of English at Santa Clara University. Her most recent book is Your Personal Renaissance: 12 Steps to Finding Your Life’s True Calling (Perseus).

JANE K. FERGUSON, DMin, is Parish Partnerships Director for Catholic Charities CYO in San Francisco.

CAROL FLINDERS, PhD, has taught courses on mysticism at the University of California–Berkeley, and the Graduate Theological Union–Berkeley. Her most recent book is Enduring Lives: Portraits of Women of Faith and Action (Tarcher/Putnam).

TIM FLINDERS, MA, is the author of The Rise Response: Illness, Well- ness & Spirituality, and coauthor of The Making of a Teacher. He teaches courses on contemplative spirituality at the Sophia Center for Culture and Spirituality, Holy Names University, Oakland, California.

AISHA HAMDAN, PhD, is an assistant professor of behavioral sci- ences in the College of Medicine at the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. She has authored over 100 international magazine articles, several journal articles, and two books related to Islam:

 

Nurturing Emaan in Children and Psychology from an Islamic Perspective

(forthcoming from International Islamic Publishing House).

HOORIA JAZAIERI, BS, is a graduate student in counseling psychol- ogy at Santa Clara University and is a research assistant at Stanford University.

DAVID LEVY, PhD, is a professor in the Information School at the University of Washington and has focused on bringing mindfulness training and other contemplative practices to address problems of information overload and acceleration.

GERDENIO MANUEL, SJ, PhD, is an associate professor of psy- chology and rector of the Santa Clara University Jesuit Community. He has published articles on coping with stress and traumatic life events, and the relationship of psychology, faith, and religious life. He is a Jesuit priest as well as a clinical psychologist.

DOUG OMAN, PhD, is adjunct assistant professor in the School of Public Health, University of California–Berkeley. His research focuses on psychosocial factors in health, especially spirituality and religion. A major current interest is applications to spirituality of Albert Bandura’s social cognitive and self-efficacy theories. Oman’s research publica- tions have explored how longevity is affected by religious involvement, how to conceptualize and measure spiritual modeling (the social learn- ing of spiritual qualities), how various modes of meditation may foster spiritual modeling, and how spiritual modeling may be integrated into college education. He has led randomized trials of spiritual forms of meditation for college students and health professionals.

MICHELLE J. PEARCE, PhD, is an assistant clinical professor in the Duke University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behav- ioral Sciences. She is trained in clinical health psychology and helps medi- cal patients cope with the stress and lifestyle changes of chronic illness.

ADI RAZ, BS, is a counseling psychology graduate student at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, California.

T. ANNE RICHARDS, MA, is an interdisciplinary  social  scientist in anthropology and psychology. She retired from the University of California–San Francisco and –Berkeley and now continues working

 

on special projects. She is a graduate of the advanced-studies program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley. Her publications include: “Spiritual Resources Following a Partner’s Death from AIDS” in Meaning Reconstruction and the Experience of Loss and “The Effects of a Spiritu- ally  Based  Intervention   on   Self-Management   in   the   Workplace: A Qualitative Examination” in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

SHAUNA L. SHAPIRO, PhD, is an associate professor of counseling psychology and author of numerous articles and chapters on mindful- ness. Her recent book is The Art and Science of Mindfulness (American Psychological Association).

HUSTON SMITH, PhD, is Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Syracuse University. For 15 years he was professor of philosophy at MIT and for a decade before that he taught at Washington University in St. Louis. Most recently he has served as visiting professor of religious studies, Uni- versity of California–Berkeley. Holder of 12 honorary degrees, Smith’s 14 books include The World’s Religions, which has sold over 2.5 million copies, and Why Religion Matters, which won the Wilbur Award for the best book on religion published in 2001. In 1996 Bill Moyers devoted a five-part PBS special, The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith, to his life and work. His film documentaries on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won international. awards, and the Journal of Ethno- musicology lauded his discovery of Tibetan multiphonic chanting, Music of Tibet, as “an important landmark in the study of music.”

MARTHA E. STORTZ, PhD, is professor of historical theology and ethics at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary at the Graduate Theological Union and a consultant. She is author of A World According to God (2004) and Blessed to Follow (2008).

SARITA TAMAYO-MORAGA, PhD, is a Zen priest in the Suzuki- roshi lineage and a lecturer at Santa Clara University in the Religious Studies Department.

AMY B. WACHHOLTZ, PhD, MDiv, is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the health psychologist on the Psychosomatic Medicine Consult Service at UMass Memorial Medical Center.

 

ZARI WEISS focuses on bringing spiritual direction to the Jewish community and has written a number of articles on the subject. She is currently the chair of the Committee on Rabbinic Spirituality, a past member of the Spiritual Leadership Task Force and the Wellness Committee of the CCAR, and past copresident of the Women’s Rabbinic Network.

Contemplative Practices in Action 13] A Pilgrimage from Suffering to Solidarity: Walking the Path of Contemplative Practices

 13] A Pilgrimage from Suffering to Solidarity: Walking the Path of Contemplative Practices

Gerdenio Manuel, SJ, and Martha E. Stortz

This final contribution serves as a kind of paradigm case in two ways. First, it treats a specific form of stress, suffering, and it addresses three common characteristics of people facing loss: denial, isolation, and the need for control. Second, it reaches deep within a particular tradition, Christianity, for practices that address these characteristics: lamenta- tion, intercession, and pilgrimage. While some of the practices in this book fall into the category of “calming” practices (Centering Prayer, mantram repetition, the Eight-Point Program), these practices are “expressive,” more like the “energizing” practices discussed in Amy Wachholz’s contribution. These practices handle negative emotions, which have an important place in psychic and spiritual health for indi- viduals and communities.

Indeed, these practices have not just an inner dimension but a social dimension. Advocacy emerges as the outer dimension of lamentation, as those who mourn give voice to the sufferings of others. Accompani- ment stands as the outer dimension of intercession, a focused solidarity with the suffering of another person or community. Finally, immersion, the ability to simply be present for and with others without judgment or distance, remedy or analysis, comes as the outer dimension of pil- grimage. In their inner and outer dimensions, these practices offer a powerful example of what Ignatius Loyola called “contemplation in action.”

 

INTRODUCTION

The loss of a partner, the death of a child, an unexpected diagnosis, a job terminated, the devastating breakup, the experience of margin- alization: suddenly and irrevocably the landscape of the familiar alters. People find themselves lost in the terrain of suffering. They seek solace; yet, denial, isolation, and need for control block the path.

Suffering fragments the soul, whether the soul of a person, a rela- tionship, or a people. What was once integral implodes, and the pieces scatter from a center that no longer holds. Philosopher Simone Weil (1977) identified physical, social, and spiritual dimensions of suffering: physical pain, social degradation, and distress of the soul.1 Coping with suffering requires “re-membering,” literally, forging these scat- tered fragments into a new whole.

Contemplative practices point the way, for the journey from suffering to solidarity is a spiritual one. They reveal a path from denial to accep- tance, from isolation to communion; and finally, from the need to con- trol to surrender. Contemplation aims at union with God, “a long loving look at what is real.”2 Suffering makes God seem distant, remote, even cruel. Suffering blocks union with God, and the psalmist shouts in despair: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1). Those words were also on the lips of Jesus, who is for Christians the human face of God (Mark 15:34). Through Jesus’s life and death, God experienced the full range of human suffering. Through incarnation

God comes into the midst of human suffering.

This contribution examines concrete contemplative practices that invite encounter with the suffering God. Lamentation encourages people to claim suffering, rather than cutting it out with the razor of denial. Intercession opens victims to those around them, who then become fellow travelers. Finally, pilgrimage places people on a path where the journey supplants the destination, pointing to the mystery of a suffering God.

Too often contemplative practices are prescribed as the remedy for individual suffering. We argue that they also point to solidarity with others. We met people whose hard-won compassion opened them to the suffering of others. These practices have then an outer as well as an inner dimension, creating solidarity even as they console. Speaking out for those whom affliction has silenced, advocacy becomes the outer dimension of lamentation. A focused solidarity with the suffering of others, accompaniment stands as the outer dimension of intercession. Finally, in its diffuse availability to the suffering of the world, immersion is the outer dimension of pilgrimage.

 

In their inner and outer dimensions, these contemplative practices connect personal suffering to communal and global realities. They knit together the personal and the social, offering a powerful example of what Ignatius Loyola (1556) called “contemplation in action.”3 In so doing, they carve a path from being a victim to becoming a survivor to acting for change in the world. This volume’s title captures the impulse to solidarity: Contemplative Practices in Action.

We bring to this project our own experience of suffering, and we remain marked by the suffering of loved ones. As teachers and ministers, we have witnessed the suffering of near and distant neighbors. Finally, as citizens of the world, we have witnessed the genocides of Serbia and Croatia, Darfur and Rwanda, the killing fields of Cambodia, the prisons of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and Tehran’s Evin. We see the daily insult of poverty and disease. Suffering people seek the solace contem- plative practices offer; they are aroused to action by the solidarity contemplative practices invite.

At the outset, we identify three concrete contemplative practices: lamentation, which moves people from denial to assent; intercession, which points from isolation toward communion; and pilgrimage, which liberates people from the need to control to surrender. In each section, we begin with experience, then examine the specific practice, concluding with its outer dimension. In this we hope to highlight the difference contemplative practices make, not simply for the one suf- fering, but for a broken world.

LAMENTATION: FROM DENIAL TO ASSENT TO ADVOCACY

In its inability to acknowledge what is real, denial is a first protest against suffering. Denial wants the world to be what it was before. Buttressed by excuses, fortified by fantasy, driven by dissociation, and quick to blame, denial takes work. Finally, it wears people out and wears them down.4

Moving out of denial takes work as well. Four stages capture the movement:

1. “This isn’t happening!”

He was shocked. He had always known his wife drank a lot, some- times to excess—but she was not an alcoholic! All she drank was wine and occasionally a little too much. He made excuses for her;

 

he believed her own excuses, telling himself she was just “coming down with something.” When the children were younger and their mom was moody and lethargic, they believed him too. Now they were older. He felt under siege, on one hand from his wife’s anger, on the other from their children’s exasperation with them both. He talked to her about drinking, and he believed her repeated prom- ises to cut back.

Then, one day when their mother was not home, the children confronted him.

They showed him all of her secret stashes of alcohol—including hard liquor. He felt tricked; he needed to talk. He had needed to talk for years.

This man faces multiple losses: the loss of a fantasy, a partner, his children’s respect, confidence in his own judgment. If he is ready to talk, he is ready to move out of denial. That means leaving behind a pattern of behavior characteristic of denial: making excuses and living a fantasy.

2. “This isn’t happening to me!”

For years he prided himself on not needing doctors. Regular exercise kept him lean. He looked good; he felt good; he convinced himself he was invincible. He had experienced some discomfort after eating for years but never believed it to be anything an antacid tablet could not relieve. Gradually, he lost his usual energy. When night sweats broke out, his wife marched him to the doctor, who had ordered preliminary tests for colon cancer, the disease that claimed his father. Now the doctor walked into the examining room looking worried: “Let’s just hope we can stop it from progressing to the other organs.”

This man felt he could be an exception, denying medical data that he had actually known, but somehow did not think applied to him. He ignored family pressure to be tested regularly; he had even ignored his own body’s complaints. Moving out of denial means leaving behind an ingrained pattern of behavior: dissociation from information, from family, even from his own body.

3. “This is happening—let’s find out who’s to blame!”

When President Clinton read Philip Gourevitch’s expose´ on the Rwandan genocide, he angrily forwarded a marked copy to national

 

security advisor Sandy Berger. “Is what he’s saying true?” “How did this happen?” “I want to get to the bottom of this!” When news of mass slaughter first surfaced, Clinton had shown no interest. Once the story hit the media, however, he resorted to an excuse the German people used after the Holocaust: “How come we didn’t know what was going on?” It was the same move President George

W. Bush would make a decade later on Darfur.5

Rwanda was set on the administration’s back burner until the pot boiled over. When the situation became too blatant to ignore, some- one else was at fault. The fact that Clinton responded to Gourevitch’s article so passionately indicates a readiness to acknowledge the slaughter, but an unwillingness to take responsibility. To do so, though, he has to abandon another pattern of behavior associated with denial: the need to blame someone else.

4. “I can embrace this.”

In the immediate aftermath of her stroke, the woman woke every morning thinking it had all just been a bad dream. When she opened her eyes, she was in an unfamiliar room. Nurses helped her into a chair for breakfast. “A stroke paralyzed my left side,” she repeated. As she improved, she recovered a sense of agency, and her mantra changed: “I’m using the purple tie-dyed cane my grand- daughter gave me.” She hobbled out of the skilled-nursing facility on her purple cane. Months later, she returned to the facility to thank her caregivers—and give them her cane: “Someone else may need it more than I do.”

Denial is not reserved for addiction or willful ignorance. It is also used by people who have found their lives altered by forces beyond their control. Ambushed by her own circulatory system, this woman fantasizes the stroke was just a “bad dream.” When she opens her eyes each morning, she can no longer maintain that fiction. Initially, she sees herself as a victim. Her early response represents a rudimentary lament: “A stroke paralyzed me.” She narrates her story as a victim of circumstance. Repetition forces her to listen. Gradually she claims her loss, asserting agency. She becomes a survivor: “I use a cane.” As she heals, she becomes an advocate: she donates the cane to some- one else. This woman has embraced her loss. She not only has let her loss “bless her,” she ensures that her loss will bless someone else.6

 

This woman’s story captures the clinical distinction between passive suffering and active coping. Suffering is something that happens to people, bearing down on them like a train with failed brakes. People who suffer refer to themselves in accusative case: “The stroke weakened me.” Active coping is different. Picking up the pieces of loss, coping uses nominative case: “I use a cane to get my balance.” Coping takes charge of suffering.7 Beyond coping is advocacy: this woman gave her cane to someone else.

DEALING WITH DENIAL: THE PRACTICE OF LAMENTATION

The practice of lamentation moves people from suffering to assent to advocacy. Lamentation invites people to speak the unspeakable. As they put words around their suffering, they begin to cope, claiming an agency that has been trampled by silence. In finding a language for their suffering, they give voice to others, who find words to express their own afflictions. Lamentation gives public voice to pain, and in so doing it creates a space of resistance, even hope.

The psalms of the Hebrew Bible stand as classic expressions of per- sonal and social loss. Almost a third are psalms of lament, signaling to worshipers that “authentic worship” emerges only when people bring their deepest pain and most flagrant examples of injustice before God. The God of the Hebrew Scriptures wants people to wail. Loss should not be left outside the synagogue: it belongs inside public worship. Otherwise, worship remains “a shallow affair.”8

These laments address God directly, demanding response. The language is that of command. Over and over again, the psalmist orders God to “Listen up!” “Hear my prayer!” “Hearken to me!” (Psalms 5:1; 55:2–3; 86:1). At other times, the psalmist begs for compassion: “Have mercy on me!” (51:3; 56:2; 57:2). When God seems distant or remote, the psalmist wails even louder: “Don’t rebuke me in your anger!” (6:2). “Don’t be silent!” (109:1). The psalms of lament offer evidence that people suffering get to protest—long and loudly.

In these lamentations, the agency of the one suffering shifts fluidly between being a victim and being a survivor, between accusative and nominative cases. Lament itself invites a kind of agency. People still suffer—but they get to protest. That protest takes on a fourfold form. First, lamentation invites people to name the particularity of their suffer- ing: “All your waves and your billows have gone over me” (Psalm 42:7). This graphic image carries the pain of suffering. Second, lament projects the very real presence of an enemy: “Many bulls encircle me ... 

 

they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion” (Psalm 22:12–13). Lamentation invites vivid descriptions of danger. Third, the psalmist wrestles with depression: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint” (Psalm 22:14). Often, to calm an inquiet soul, the psalmist calls happier times to mind: “By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down and there we wept, when we remem- bered Zion” (Psalm 137:1). Finally, the presence of God is as real as the presence of the enemy. Psalms begin in direct address, boldly addressing God as “You.” In spite of everything, there is someone listen- ing. Indeed, lament reinforces the sense that all suffering happens within the divine embrace. Lament joins with praise as part of a system of respi- ration that lives in God. Lament invites people into the divine mystery. St. Augustine observes: “If your love is without ceasing, you are crying out always; if you always cry out, you are always desiring; and if you desire, you are calling to mind your eternal rest in the Lord If the

desire is there, then the groaning is there as well. Even if people fail to hear it, it never ceases to sound in the hearing of God.”9

A survivor of 9/11 made it out of the collapsing towers alive, but many of his colleagues did not. He made a habit of heading to the ocean and yelling into the crashing surf: “How could you do this to us?” The practice consoled him. In the midst of aching loss, there was someone to yell at, someone listening. The psalms of lament tell us that the practice is deeply traditioned.

Having given voice to longing and despair, the survivor leaves words that someone else can use. Jesus reportedly died with the psalmist’s lament on his lips: “My God, my God, why have you for- saken me!” (Mark 15:34). He could find no language to express his own pain, so he borrowed the words of Psalm 22. Someone else had been in that place, and their words became his.

The practice of lamentation invites people out of denial, urging them to voice their pains and express their loss in all its awful particu- larity. Lament leaves a language for others to draw upon, as they search for words that speak the unspeakable. Finally, advocacy is speaking for others, who may not have words of their own.

INTERCESSION: FROM ISOLATION TO COMMUNITY TO ACCOMPANIMENT

Suffering grinds people down. It is hard to experience anything but pain; it is hard for others to share that experience. The contemplative

 

practice of intercession invites people to ask for what they need, for themselves and for others. It follows from the practice of lamentation: having found a voice in lament, intercession encourages people to use it. The outer dimension of intercession is accompaniment, which incarnates its prayer.

1. Noli tangere! Don’t touch!

In the weeks after her husband died, the woman remembered grocery shopping at 5 a.m. She was awake anyway—but that was not the only reason. The truth was she could not stand to see anyone she knew. Their expressions of sympathy felt like body blows. When she had to go out later in the day, she wore sunglasses. In time, she noticed people giving her a wide berth: they nodded, but did not approach. That did not feel right either. She hated being alone.

From ancient times lepers were banished to the outskirts of villages and towns. In the Hawaiian chain, Molokai became an island leper colony. Anyone who had the disease was sent there with a one-way ticket. Suffering isolates people. They lose friends on top of every- thing else. While some can stand with them, others drop off the radar screen entirely. “It’s as if this were contagious,” the woman above observed. “If they get too close, they’ll lose their partners too.” The people she thought would be there couldn’t—and people she hadn’t even thought of turned up in their place.

People experiencing loss also isolate themselves, like the woman in this story. They exasperate friends who are able to be there. One of the woman’s friends—it was not one of her “best” friends either— finally got so frustrated, she phoned the house and simply started talk- ing to the answering machine: “I’m going to talk until you pick up the phone. I’m worried about you. We all are. We can’t figure out how to help. You have to tell us what you need.” Only then did the woman answer. Often people experiencing loss create what they most fear: isolation. Suffering imposes isolation; it takes a lot of determination on all sides to break through to connection.

2. Ask for what you need.

The adult children watched their parents diminish with growing concern. They still lived in the family home. But when the parents became too scattered to drive, the kids took away the car keys. Eventually, they even had to forbid their father to walk to the market, because he could not get across the street before the light changed.

 

When a crisis forced the children to deal with their mother’s gath- ering dementia, they had to find a nursing home that would accept Alzheimer’s patients. After intensive networking, interviews—and prayer, a bed opened in a nearby facility. “This is a godsend!” the eldest son exclaimed.

Crisis often clarifies need. Before their mother left a burner on all day, her six adult children had seven different opinions about what should happen. Then suddenly they knew what they needed. Finding the right facility took a lot of legwork, but for this particular family, it also took prayer. They asked for God’s help, confident that the Creator of the uni- verse would also be interested in finding the right place for their mother. After all, they had been raised in a tradition that taught them to “Ask, and it will be given you” (Matthew 7:7). They believed that God hears prayer. That did not mean getting what they had wanted all the time, but it did mean living in relationship with a God who responded, not always on demand, but in mysterious, even inscrutable ways.

3. It is important simply to ask.

The delegation from Santa Clara University had lunch at a tiny res- taurant in the highlands of Guatemala. The only other customers were a group of dirty, sweaty people who ate quickly and left in flatbed trucks with blue tarps lashed over the tops. Later that afternoon, they visited a village that was the site of a mass grave. As the villagers told the stories of the civil war, one of them mentioned that a team of forensic scientists had been there that morning, exhuming bodies for identifi- cation. The group quickly realized they had dined alongside the scien- tists earlier that day. Stunned, a delegate asked: “What do you need?” There was a ready answer, and they heard it through the translator: “Pray for us. Go back to your own country and tell our stories.”

Often what is needed is not as concrete as a care facility, a job, or a peace treaty. What comfort could this delegation offer a village ravaged by war? The villagers asked simply for their presence, their ability to be with them in their suffering. They asked for their voice, telling the delegates to share their stories. Finally, they asked for accompaniment in their struggle. Members of the delegation took accompaniment seriously, remembering the villagers’ stories in their presentations and their prayers back in El Norte. “Those people are still with me,” said a woman, “even after all these years.” Interces- sion reminded her that people depended on her to bear their pain.

 

She carried those people—and they carried her. When suffering pushes people beyond the limits of human effort, there is nothing to do but be with people in their suffering.

BREAKING THROUGH ISOLATION TO CONNECTION: THE PRACTICE OF INTERCESSION

The practice of intercessory prayer opens people to connection with God, to their own needs, and to the needs of others. It frees people to be present to the mystery of divine compassion, and it frees them to be compassionate with one  another.  In its  dimensions of address, praise, and petition, intercession leads necessarily to accompaniment.

Intercession begins in address; petitioners name the mystery to

whom they pray. As the chapters in this volume show, religious tradi- tions exercise great care in naming the one to whom they pray, because address simultaneously identifies both the speaker and the one spoken to. Historically, Jews refused to utter the name of God aloud, writing it as the unpronounceable YHWH. Human speech was inadequate. Muslims recognize the limits of language differently. According to a Sufi proverb, there are a hundred names of God. Humans know 99; only the camel knows the hundredth. The camel’s knowledge preserves a space of unknowing. Mosques often display the names of God in gold-lettered calligraphy around the dome, so that believers literally can stand in the presence of the many names of Allah. Christians gather in the name of a Triune God. During the course of a worship service, that name is spoken over and over again. Often it is a signal for believers to cross themselves, as if to inscribe that name on their bodies. Repetition of the name recognizes that there are a lot of other gods out there, each eager to stake its claim. Like a licked stamp waiting for an envelope, the human heart stands ready to adhere to all manner of unlikely gods. This first part of inter- cessory prayer reminds believers of the reality that claims them.

Naming God simultaneously identifies the speaker. Addressing God

as “Father or Mother” identifies the speaker as “child.” Addressing God as “Creator” states the creature’s derivative status. Addressing God as “Shepherd” claims the role of sheep, the chief characteristic of which is dithering. Whatever the name, intercession begins with address, and that address places the one praying in a certain posture before the mystery. Intercession invites connection.

 

After address comes praise, and praise both remembers and gives thanks. Praise flows naturally from address, for each of the names tele- graphs a story. For example, “Creator” plays back to the story of creation; “Deliverer” remembers  Exodus; “Father” or  “Mother” recalls Jesus’s unique and familiar way of addressing a sometimes dis- tant God. Praise fleshes out the connection that naming identifies, reminding us to whom we pray and recalling a history of relationship. Praise not only recounts the past; it minds believers toward a shared future. Like a magnet dragged through a pile of filings, praise orients them, turning toward connection. Parents train their children to “mind” them, so they do not have to watch the child’s every move. In time, children internalize parental instruction. They learn to act in any given situation as their parents might expect. They have been “minded.” The apostle Paul calls on this natural pattern, as he urges the community at Philippi to “mind” Christ: “be of the same mind, having the same love, being in  full accord  and of one mind. .. .

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:2, 5). Praise places people in the posture of “minding” the God to whom they pray.

Address and praise ground petition, for petition presumes the con- nection that address and petition create. Petition may be the hardest part of intercession. In part, a culture that values independence stum- bles over suffering. But in part, wants always get confused with needs. Actress Judi Dench recalls a holiday in Spain, where she sighted a pair of expensive shoes. She wanted those shoes with all the yearning of a 15-year-old girl. Her father suggested they consider the purchase over lunch. At a seafood buffet, shrimp caught her eye, and she wound up ordering the most expensive item on the menu. At the end of the meal, her father observed: “You’ve just eaten your shoes.” Wants take people everywhere, now to shoes, now to shrimp. What do we really need?

A woman whose partner was dying confided: “I don’t know what to ask for.” As she sorted wants and needs, she realized she could always ask for prayer. Like the villagers, she knew she was surrounded by people who would carry her. All she had to do was let them. She discovered a prayer for such situations: “Behold and bless.” It was the prayer she finally offered for her dying partner; it was the prayer people offered for her.

Intercession works to connect. It first establishes a connection with a God “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). In connecting to this God, people find themselves drawn into the whole of creation. The member of the Santa Clara delegation put it

 

well: “They  are still with  me.”  Intercession bears one  another’s burdens, accompanying people in their suffering.

I am that child

with a round face and dirty

who on every corner bothers you with his “can you spare a quarter?”

I am that child with the dirty face certainly unwanted that from far away contemplates coaches,

where other children emit laughter and jump up and down considerably.. . .

I am that repulsive child that improvises a bed out of an old cardboard box and waits,

certain that you will accompany me.10

PILGRIMAGE: FROM CONTROL TO SURRENDER TO IMMERSION

Suffering means loss, whether of one’s abilities, one’s relationships, one’s homeland, one’s sense of security. Whatever the tragedy, loss introduces the element of contingency. Nothing can be taken for granted; everything could change in a moment. Finally, all loss is a loss of control that defies competence and remedy, diplomacy and persuasion. The responses to sudden helplessness range from paralysis to manipulation to resignation.

1. “We admitted we were powerless.”

He sat glumly in the meeting, listening intermittently to the speaker’s story. He did not want to be here, and the precipitating events were a blur. Then, words his wife shouted last night in the midst of a lot of yelling floated to the surface: “You’re out of control!” She’d threatened to leave if he did not come, and now he was part of a whole new family: the family of Alcoholics. That’s how everyone introduced themselves. As the meeting closed, everyone read the 12 Steps, and the first step echoed his wife’s words: “We admitted we were powerless.”

If he sticks it out, this man will learn a valuable lesson: he is not in control. For years, alcohol controlled his life, and his resulting behav- ior has controlled his family. If he stops drinking, they have all got to

 

change. His addiction was a center  of  gravity  for  the  whole family; no one can imagine what recovery looks like. But no one will get there without taking a first step.

2. From grief to?

She lost her husband of 25 years just 25 months ago, she thought ruefully. Despite the age difference, they had been a great match, sharing professional interests like business, personal hobbies like golf and hiking. Now he was gone. Initially, she had been devastated, losing weight even as she lost herself in work. Now she just felt an aching loneliness, grief in a different key. People were beginning to “set her up” with people or opportunity or even travel. She turned everything aside that felt like going backward. She knew that after 25 months people expected some kind of plan of where she was going. She had none. All she knew was to keep going forward, destination unknown.

Popular literature reminds people that “grief is like a fingerprint”: everyone’s experience is distinctive. Yet there are some commonalities, and this woman’s story displays them. Early grief feels like shattered glass. Gradually, time rounds the rough edges. A lot of people grieve the acute pain of early grief: it makes them feel somehow closer to the one they mourn. Yet, the physical and emotional intensity of early grief is hard to maintain over time. Even if they do not know where they are going, people move forward. Sometimes they fast-forward to a “New Normal,” catapulting themselves into a new relationship or situation. Addiction literature calls this “doing a geographic”; inevi- tably, unresolved grief catches up. A better strategy is to limp ahead, without knowing exactly where the path leads. Often, as in this case, the only direction available is the certain knowledge that there is no going back.

3. “Core of love”

“She had four children in five years. The most significant thing that happened to her in her life, she told us, was losing one of those children to cancer when he was five years old. ‘I don’t talk about this very easily,’ she said, looking down and speaking very quietly, ‘but it was pivotal for me. It changed my life—jelled it in a profound way. I have an image that comes to mind about that time. It’s of a white fire roaring through my life and burning out what was superficial, frivolous or unimportant and leaving a core of .. . I don’t think

 

there’s any other word for it than love. A core of love. It’s hard to convey what that means.’ ”11

The loss of a child ranks as one of the cruelest, and this woman puts it graphically. Yet, the “huge fire” she describes could have left a lot of things in its aftermath: rage, bitterness, despair, or simply black ashes. How did she find herself in this space of love? Love symbolizes ulti- mate connection between two people. It is a delicate balance between enmeshment, where one self dissolves into another, and narcissism, where every other self functions as nothing more than a mirror.

THE PATH FROM CONTROL TO SURRENDER: THE PRACTICE OF

PILGRIMAGE

What points the path from control to surrender? The ancient reli- gious practice of pilgrimage offers a compass. Understood as “a trans- formative journey to a sacred center,”12 pilgrimage may take people to sites held holy by a religious tradition, Mecca or Jerusalem. Or pilgrim- age may take them to sites made holy by intense struggle or bloodshed, like Auschwitz, the killing fields in Cambodia, the battlefields at Gettysburg or the beaches of Normandy. Pilgrimage can also be more personal. People use the term to describe visits to the residences of authors or statesmen or even celebrities. Indeed, the homes of Emily Dickinson or Jane Austen attract a kind of reverence usually seen in places of worship. Finally, whether it floats to consciousness or not, people who visit gravesites are on pilgrimage.

Whatever the destination, pilgrimage involves a journey, with the planning travel requires and the dislocation it brings. Further, pil- grimage involves some kind of physical effort, often walking, whether on a trail, through a graveyard, or from room to room. Even journeys described as “inner pilgrimages” employ some regular physical prac- tice, like mantram repetition, yoga, or Centering Prayer.13 As is the case with all spiritual practices, pilgrimage invites “the body to mentor the soul.”14

Many world religions look on pilgrimage as a spiritual practice, and Islam recommends that every pious Muslim make the hajj at least once a lifetime. Medieval Christians made their way to Rome or Jerusalem or Santiago de Compostela. They walked to do penance, seek healing, visit holy sites or the relics of saints. Their journals recount stories and companions along the way. At the outset, the point of pilgrimage

 

seemed to be reaching the destination. Along the way, though, the journey became an end in itself. Wherever its destination, pilgrimage taught believers to travel light, be receptive, and rest.

Since pilgrims carry everything they need on their backs, they find out very quickly to travel light. Pilgrims physically feel the weight of their possessions, and as they plod along they may well begin to pon- der how their possessions in fact possess them. Everything borne on the back registers on the feet. In a spirit of surrender, pilgrims learn to let go of all but the essentials.

Like pilgrimage, loss strips everything away. The mother above remembers that the death of a child hollowed her out. It cleared away everything “superfluous, frivolous, or unimportant,” leaving behind only emptiness. Janis Joplin (1970) put it more bluntly: “Freedom is just another word for nothin’ left to lose.”15

The experience of loss creates a terrible freedom. Just as the pilgrim chooses what she will carry, one whom suffering has hollowed out chooses what will fill the emptiness. That is the freedom. The danger is that anything can fill that hollowed space: love, peace, bitterness, despair. That is the terror.

It is not clear that Bill W., founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, stud- ied pilgrimage, but he certainly understood emptiness. Alcoholics Anonymous speaks of that “God-shaped hole” in every person. Twelve Step programs encourage people in recovery to fill that hole with spirit and not spirits, with divine mystery and not substances: “Let go and let God.” Alcoholics Anonymous also picks up on another dimension of pilgrimage: receptivity.

Because they carry so little, pilgrims learn to receive. Dependent on others for food, for shelter, for companionship, pilgrims relinquish control over their surroundings. Wrestling with pain and fatigue, they relinquish control over their own bodies. Whatever the weather and whomever the company, pilgrims move forward into a space of sur- render. On the way, they discover the daily graces. Grace comes incar- nate in the person of shopkeepers and concierges, hospitalers and fellow travelers. Unbidden and unmerited, the kindness of strangers sustains pilgrims along their way: a sign of divine compassion.

Physically and spiritually, walking is work, and pilgrims relish reach- ing the day’s destination. Rest becomes a mini-sabbath, and pilgrims learn to honor it. Tutoring people in rest and sabbath, pilgrimage emphasizes being rather than doing. Pilgrims are not doing anything. They may begin by thinking they will achieve  their  goal of  making it to Mecca or Jerusalem, but it does not take long to be disabused of

 

that idea. The point is as much making the journey as reaching the destination.

A woman who climbed Kilimanjaro put it this way: “The other members of our party spoke of conquering the mountain, I think the mountain let itself be climbed. I understood ‘majesty’ after that climb.” Only in retrospect did she identify the climb as pilgrimage, but she put its sense of sabbath into words. Just as she leaned into the moun- tain, pilgrims lean into the holy.

Together traveling light, learning to receive, and honoring rest: these aspects of pilgrimage cultivate a spirit of surrender that is at the heart of pilgrimage. Surrender works to unclench the grip of con- trol, acknowledge life’s contingency, giving thanks for what has been and being hopeful for what lies ahead. In these three aspects of letting go, receptivity, and rest, pilgrimage is similar to Centering Prayer, itself an inner pilgrimage. Jane Ferguson’s chapter in this volume sug- gests striking similarities.

Pilgrimage extends outwardly into immersion. Many colleges and universities offer opportunities for “immersion experiences,” which take students abroad for an in-depth encounter with another culture. Minneapolis’s Center for Global Education offers immersion experi- ences to interested adults, and Director Orval Gingerich is quick to distinguish them from mission trips or service learning projects: “We encourage people to go as receivers. We want to disabuse them of the idea that they have something to offer. We want them simply to receive” (O. Gingerich, personal communication, July  10,  2009). The Ignatian Colleagues Program runs a curriculum for college and university administrators, part of which involves a 10-day immersion in a Third World country. Director Edward Peck calls this part of the program “pilgrimage,” and he reminds participants: “You’re not there to give; you’re there to receive” (E. Peck, personal communication, July 7, 2009).16

Why do this? Immersion affords a kind of deep knowing of some- thing else, and that knowledge has a double edge. It opens both to beauty and to pain. Describing a sport he loves, long-distance runner Richard Askwith (2008) captures that double-edged knowing: “The man who is truly at home in the mountains .. . enters into an intimate relationship with them is so deeply in touch with himself.”17 Such inti- macy bears pain as well as beauty. Askwith claims it is crucial to get “cold, or wet, or lost, or exhausted, or bruised by rocks or covered in mud.      The point is not the exertion involved, it’s the degree of

involvement, or immersion, in the landscape. You need to feel it; to

 

interact with it, to be in it, not just looking from outside. You need to lose yourself—for it is then you are most human.”17

Immersion returns to incarnation, for this athlete gives a luminous description of the divine immersion in humanity, living deeply into the beauty of being human—but also into the suffering. Through Jesus Christ, the divine-human, God became one of us, even to the point of death. Jesus laments, and he draws on the psalms to give voice to his suffering. Jesus asks for his own suffering to be lifted, interced- ing with the divine parent for his burden to be lifted. Then, as he dies, he intercedes for the very people who put him to death, asking his divine parent to forgive them. Finally, his entire life on earth was a pilgrimage. Some would say it led only to Jerusalem and his death. We argue that it led deeper and deeper into the human soul. God knows suffering, because God has been there. In these contemplative practices we walk in the steps of an incarnate God, a God who suffers with us. This was how God came to know the beauty and pain of being human.

CONCLUSION

Retrospectively, we recognize that the entire journey from suffer- ing to solidarity with others and with God has been a pilgrimage. These contemplative practices invite us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who leads us deeper into the mystery of being human. At the same time, as they did for Jesus, they take us further into solidarity with the suffering of all people. Poet, essayist, and farmer Wendell Berry has a beautiful poem that ends with the counsel to “practice resurrection.” These contemplative practices invite us to “practice incarnation.”18

REFERENCES

1. Weil, S. (1977). The love of God and affliction. In G. A. Panichas (Ed.),

The Simone Weil reader (p. 440). Mt. Kisco, NY: Moyer Bell.

2. Burghardt, W. (2008). Contemplation: A long loving look at the real. In G. W. Traub (Ed.), An Ignatian spirituality reader (p. 93). Chicago: Loyola Press.

3. Loyola, I. (1970). The constitutions of the Society of Jesus (G. E. Ganss, Trans.). St. Louis, MO: Institute  of Jesuit Sources. (Original  work  published in 1556)

 

4. Kubler-Ross, E. (1997). On death and dying. New York,: Simon & Schuster.

5. Gourevitch, P. (2006). Just watching. The New Yorker. http://www

.newyorker.com/archive/2006/06/12/060612ta_talk_gourevitch (accessed August 5, 1009).

6. Rolheiser, R. (1999). The holy longing: The search for a Christian spirituality. New York: Doubleday.

7. Anderson, H. (1993). What consoles? Sewanee Theological Review, 36(3), 374–384.

8. Pleins, J. D. (1993). The Psalms: Songs of tragedy, hope, and justice (p. 15). Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press.

9. Augustine. (1975). In Psalmo 37:13–14. In The liturgy of the hours

(p. 303). New York: Catholic Book.

10. Schnabel, J. (Director). (2000). Before Night Falls [Film]. New York: Fine Line Features.

11. Ray, P. H., & Anderson, S. R. (2000). The cultural creatives. New York: Three Rivers Press/Random House.

12. Cousineau, P. (1998). The art of pilgrimage: The seeker’s guide to making travel sacred (p. xxiii). San Francisco: Conari Press.

13. Several chapters in this volume emphasize the importance of specific physical disciplines: rhythmic breathing (e.g., T. Anne Richards, “The Path of Yoga”), silence (e.g., Jane Ferguson, “Centering Prayer”), or the repetition of a word or phrase (e.g., Jill Bormann, “Mantram Repetition,” Tim Flinders et al., “The Eight-Point Program of Passage Meditation”), or even repetitive motion (e.g., Amy Wachholz, “Shaking the Blues Away”).

14. Brown, P. (1988). The body and society: Men, women, and sexual renunci- ation in early Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press.

15. Kristofferson, K., & Foster, F. (1970). Me and Bobby McGee [Janis Joplin]. On Pearl [CD], New York: Columbia (1971).

16. For more information on the Center for Global Education, see http:// www.centerforglobaleducation.org. For more information on The Ignatian Colleagues, see http://www.ignatiancolleagues.org.

17. Coffey, M. (2008). Explorers of the infinite. New York: Penguin.

18. Berry, W. (1994). Manifesto: The mad farmer liberation front. In

Collected Poems: 1957–1982 (pp. 151–152). San Francisco: North Point Press.

 

CHAPTER 14

Contemplative Practices in Action 11] The Impact of Meditation Practices in the Daily Life of Silicon Valley Leaders

 11] The Impact of Meditation Practices in the Daily Life of Silicon Valley Leaders   

Andre L. Delbecq

Earlier chapters focused in detail on specific contemplative practices, elaborating on their spiritual and psychological character as well as impacts on individual growth and functioning. The purpose in this chapter is to share how a group of varied practices become integrated into the lives of business leaders in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley has a unique culture familiar to those who read the business press. Fast moving, entrepreneurial, innovation driven, wired, hectic, and internationally linked, it is a frenzied intersection of engineering,  science,  business  acumen,  and  entrepreneurship. At its best the Valley is a place that unleashes the human spirit through a culture of decentralization and empowerment, enabling creative development of products and services for humankind.1 At its worst, the Valley can be a destructive stew laced with greed, opportunism, and activism. The Valley can be a dangerous place for the spiritually confused. Without an inner compass, the unaware will lead a life of increasing stress and quite often join the ranks of “burned-out” refu- gees fleeing in a state of brokenness.2

INTRODUCING MEDITATION

In the last decade over 450 working professional MBAs, divided equally between men and women, and 350 senior executives have par- ticipated in an elective seminar called Spirituality for Organizational

 

Leadership at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit and Catholic school located in Silicon Valley in Northern California. The average age is 34. Most are high-achieving engineering, scientific, and functional business managers—knowledge workers in their career prime who drive the core strategic business units in the Valley. A few are entrepreneur- owners. Occasionally a participant is between positions (e.g., has sold a company, has been laid off, or is seeking a job change). Typically two or three consultants and two or three CEOs also join the seminar.3

The seminar meets from 8:30 to 2:20 on five Saturdays, so a pre- cious day is sacrificed by highly stressed Valley leaders who otherwise would be available “for catch-up” and attention to personal matters. Yet they fill a classroom each quarter the course is offered, largely through word-of-mouth encouragement  from  earlier  participants. A frequently reported reason is to learn meditation practices.

The participants encompass diverse religious backgrounds. Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, Jews, a variety of Hindi faiths, Christians, agnostics, and a few self-proclaimed atheists are usually represented. The Christian tradition is embraced by approximately 40 percent of the attendees.

By means of quotations taken from reflection assignments, this chapter provides exemplification of how meditation/contemplative practices reshape consciousness and behavior. It is assumed readers have familiarity with the practices themselves (or similar meditation forms) in order to give attention to context, pedagogy, and the devel- opmental sequence achieved through a combination of practices.

THE OVERALL PEDAGOGY

Each seminar meeting is composed of three modules, two topical lecture modules and one contemplative/meditative practice module. The fourth seminar varies, as it is a 12-hour retreat. The module topics together with the meditation/contemplative practice form central to each are:

1. An overview of the Faith/Spirit at Work movement as a societal trend, and as an interest group within the Academy of Management Meditation on being present to the “Now” (guided)

2. Investigating business leadership as a calling within a spiritual journey

Meditation on light and darkness in organizations (guided)

 

3. Listening to the voices of future generations impacted by business practices

Meditation on “Living Voices of Future Generations” (guided)

4. Spiritual/psychological development associated with transforma- tional leadership

Meditation on personal calling to leadership (guided)

5. Discernment as an overlay on strategic decision making

Introduction to “Lectio Divina” (thereafter self-directed)

6. Approaches to prayer and meditation in the lives of transforma- tional leaders

Introduction to the “Examen” (thereafter self-directed)

7. The spiritual challenges of leadership power and potential distortions of hubris

Introduction to “Apophatic” Meditation (e.g., Zen, Centering Prayer, Mantra Meditation, etc.)

8. The spiritual challenges of wealth creation and the need for poverty of spirit

“Apophatic” Meditation (self-directed)

9. Contemplative practice in the hectic space of leadership

“Apophatic” Meditation (self-directed)

10. Group retreat

“Lectio Divina,” Breath Meditation, Walking Meditation, Meditation on Calling (group and self-directed), “Apophatic” Meditation

11. Exploring the mystery of suffering as part of leadership

“Lectio Divina” with spiritual writings focused on suffering (self- directed), “Tong Len” (self-directed)

12. Summing up

Following each gathering participants are given two assignments. The first is to reflect on the lectures, seminar dialogue, and readings. (The course has an extensive reading list. Participants are allowed to pursue each topic through the lenses of different spiritual traditions.) Participants are asked to indicate how their perspectives have been influenced, and what behavioral changes they have integrated into their leadership within the workplace during the two weeks following the seminar. The primary orientation is “action learning” rather than simply theoretical synthesis.

The second assignment is meditation based. Participants are given forms of meditation to practice each day until the next seminar

 

meeting. Again they are asked to reflect on how their leadership per- ceptions and behaviors have been influenced during the two weeks as a result of the meditation experience.

Normally assignments when submitted are two to four pages in length. (There are other traditional term paper assignments, but they are not our focus here.)

Space precludes treating in detail all the meditation/contemplative practice forms included over the three months. Here we will describe just two meditation forms together with the topics covered by the lec- ture to illustrate through quotations how meditation impacts on perceptions of leadership.

PRESENCE MEDITATION

The first module of the seminar deals with definitions of spirituality, the contemporary literature regarding Spirit/Faith at work, motivations for exploring the topic in the context of organizational leadership, and norms of appreciative inquiry in interreligious conversation. The mod- ule closes by noting how the “Spirit at Work” movement has grown in North America. It reviews the current manifest interest in the topic by both management scholars and business professionals.4

Participants are told that spirituality is about “experience,” not simply knowledge. Just as they cannot learn to sail a boat simply by reading about boats and oceans, they cannot enter into the spiritual unless they embrace spiritual disciplines and experience. So in every module participants share a meditation form.

The first meditation focuses on “presence.” With music, the profes- sor leads a reflection on the importance of being present to the “now.” Asking participants to return to a place and time when they experienced inner peace in their earlier lives, they are encouraged to examine the burdens that have accumulated in mind, heart, and spirit since that time and place, and invited to let go of fears, anxieties, work concerns, frus- trations, etc. They are invited to experience the freedom of just “BE- ing.” After this five-minute meditation they are asked to gently return to the seminar and to be completely present to the ensuing lecture and shared dialogue; to step away from multitasking and concern with the past and their future. The implications of why it is important for a leader to be fully present for each subsequent task are then discussed.

For many participants this is already new ground. They readily admit they are often not fully present in the frenzy of daily work.

 

It is an important lesson they continue to examine while engaging this meditation form during the two weeks before the seminar meets again.

Quotations taken from participants’ reflection assignments received two weeks later indicate new perspectives.

The meditations in class have set me up for a more personal expe- rience of the material than I had expected. I had envisioned a more lecture-based approach instead of the more active experience and participation that is needed for this class. My initial reaction was “this puts me way out of my comfort zone.” I don’t think I would have been able to jump into the meditation assignments without the practice of the “Now” meditation during the lecture.

My life is a circle. I run around and around. Each day is the same. Month and years all appear the same. I am in a rut. The first meditation brought something to light inside of me. I discovered life does not begin in the future, but now. I began to think that I can break the circle apart.

Multi-tasking is something I feel comfortable with; feel like I am good at. I now see it sometimes is getting in the way of my connections to others. Being present to the moment means putting less priority on multi-tasking and paying closer attention to the people with whom I work in order to understand and appreciate them.

Thomas Merton sums up exactly what I am thinking. I am work- ing on finding my true self, but there are so many distractions at work that I’m not always sure which of my feelings are real. How do you overcome all of the fears, obsessions and addictions in order to find yourself? Part of the answer has to be to be “present” so you can listen to God in the “now.”

MEDITATION ON THE ROLE OF CONTEMPORARY ORGANIZATIONS

In the second module, attention turns to the importance of the contemporary organization to modern society and why accepting leadership within these institutions can be an important life calling.5 We reflect on how the goods and services our neighbors depend on are created within and distributed through organizations. We remind ourselves that religious traditions see meeting the real needs of others (e.g., educational, health, housing, nutritional, transportation, etc.) as

 

important service. However, in modern life, these needs are often met through complex chains of causation enabled by organizations whose ultimate clients are at a distance beyond personal contact. A mystic’s eye is required by a leader to understand organizational roles as forms of service so that work is not hallowed of transcendent purpose.

We reflect on how charism/gift/talent is unleashed or inhibited within organizations through appropriate decision processes that support the unfolding of individual creative expression.

We reflect on how the contemporary organization is a central “community” replacing former villages or neighborhoods as the dom- inant primary group for most of the workweek. We remind ourselves of the role of leadership (formal and informal) in creating nurturing group experiences, and of the high psychological cost of pernicious work settings.

Finally, we examine issues of justice and injustice and the impacts of organizations on broader societal well-being. We examine the obliga- tions of stewardship in global business organizations that sometimes control more wealth than smaller nation-states. We look at wealth cre- ation and how it supports governments, the arts, health, social services, and education.

The dark side of the contemporary global business organization is also discussed; e.g., the distortions of power, greed, employee exploita- tion, environmental degradation, and negative impacts on indigenous cultures caused by global business practices.6 We come to an under- standing that those who accept organizational leadership are not called to a second-rate spiritual path. We discuss the spiritual writers who admonish us to avoid any false dualism between day-to-day work within organizations and the spiritual journey.

These discussions and readings end with a guided meditation that par- ticipants practice each day prior to the next class gathering. It is a “Daily Reflection on Light and Darkness in the Organization in Which I Work.” A detailed description of this meditation is provided in the Appendix to give the reader a sense of what is meant by “guided” medi- tation in the context of the seminar. Participants are asked to spend a few minutes, either seated in their car or on a bench outside their work- place before entering to undertake their daily duties, engaging the medi- tation. They are also encouraged to practice the “Presence to the Now” meditation after they complete one important leadership activity during the day and before they undertake the next critical meeting or activity.

The following quotations are again taken from students’ assign- ments received two weeks following the first seminar gathering:

 

My workdays were more productive because I focused my thoughts and tasks for the day toward contributing to organiza- tional light at the very beginning of the work day [sic]. I stopped my rush to quickly enter my office without attention to the over- all purpose of my organization. With focused thoughts my days were more productive.

It was common when I was growing up to hear people talk about teaching as a vocation, or hear people say about some occu- pations comments like “that nurse is wonderful, you can see her vocation.” I have begun to long for “my vocation.” It never really occurred to me that a vocation is both something that is offered and something that is received. I am beginning to see my organi- zational leadership calls me to serve others both within my com- pany, and by serving my company clients, and that this requires spiritual development. I am very excited to see how this new insight develops in my business life.

I have realized my personal relationship with God has been deteriorating as I consumed myself in daily work. I seem to have entirely separated my spiritual life from my work and it has resulted in an unfulfilling path “on the road to success and career progression.” I recognized this only after deep, careful thought stimulated by the meditations following our last seminar gathering. Starting with the lecture, the idea that really struck me was a note that I wrote down: “If I am going to take that much of myself to work it has to mean something. Is my work worth giving so much of my deep self to? I give myself to my job creatively and intellectually, but I have not given my heart. The meditations then helped me to start to see that I don’t dislike my job as much as I thought. I just haven’t been looking at it from the perspective

on how I impact on my client’s [sic] lives.”

It is true that time pressures at work are extreme. However, this is a problem with respect to my spiritual growth only because I have compartmentalized the spiritual aspect of life into a separate box that needs it’s own place and time. I now realize that my spir- ituality needs to be integrated into everything that I do at work. This especially includes the one component that is demanding the most of my present time—my leadership challenges.

My meditation is teaching me that the problem has not been with my work but rather my approach to work. I have been forc- ing myself to be someone whom I desperately do not want to be at work by leaving my spirituality at the door before I went into

 

the office building everyday [sic]. In essence I have been putting on a mask as soon as I walk in.

Embracing my spirituality as integral to my organizational work is helping me react more positively to different situations. It is helping me view the situation with the greater good in mind, not just to focus on narrow tasks that center around myself. I am reaf- firming my respect for my organization that enables technologies by producing the semiconductors that enrich our daily lives.

I have had dreams of a vocation that provides for the common societal good, but felt myself mired in the reality of making a living and trying to find a way to get where I want to go. Now I begin to understand I am sitting on my dream—my biotechnol- ogy, scientific and engineering roots are embedded in the dream I have been seeking. I just didn’t recognize the dream of spiritual fulfillment was hidden within the day to day of my organiza- tional life.

OTHER MEDITATION FORMS IN THE SEMINAR

Space precludes a detailed description of the remaining course con- tent and forms of meditation in order to preserve space for a summa- tion of the overall inner journey participants move through, and a description of how practices are incorporated into the leader’s day.

Again, the guided meditations incorporated into the seminar are guided meditations and contemplative practices.

GUIDED MEDITATIONS

Meditation on Being Present to the “Now”

Meditation on Light and Darkness in Contemporary Organizational Life

We have discussed the first two guided meditations—Meditation on Being Present to the “Now,” and Meditation on Darkness in Contem- porary Organizational Life—and the related seminar topics. The remaining forms are:

Meditation on Impacts of the Organization on Future Generations Meditation on Personal Calling to Leadership

The Examen

 

Lectio Divina Tong Len

A quick summary of these additional remaining meditation/con- templative practice forms follows:

The meditation “Impacts on Future Generations” builds on a Lakota Sioux “Circle of Living Voices” asking leaders to consider the meaning of today’s decisions for those whose “faces have not yet emerged from the earth, seven generations from now.”7 Participants in the seminar find this reflection a powerful reminder that what is done today in their leadership role has implications for the future that is “veiled” but that a mature leader must take into consideration. In a time of increasing sensitivity to environmental concerns, the medita- tion resonates with participants.

The meditation on Leadership Calling is a guided meditation wherein participants examine personal gifts, the needs of others whose voices they have become conscious of, and steps that might be taken to deepen a response to the calling (either within a present organization or later in another organization). The emphasis in using the medita- tion is not to “answer” the questions but rather to allow the questions to flow over one’s consciousness in order to become increasingly aware of responses in mind and heart.

The Examen is a meditation formulated by the Spanish Mystic

Ignatius of Loyola.8 In the form used in the seminar, it is a mental review at the end of the leadership day, hour by hour, to become aware of blessings/light found in the day expressing gratitude to confront difficulties/darkness that were present and then to commend all of the day to the Mercy of the Spirit that bears a thousand names. Participant reflections indicate that the practice helps to elevate consciousness regarding the day’s leadership efforts.

Lectio divina9 is the ancient monastic practice consisting of four

steps: (1) reading out loud a short passage from scripture or a wisdom text, finding in the passage words or a phrase that you are particularly attracted to (lectio); (2) reflecting on why that passage has caught your attention, and what lessons might be suggested for your life and lead- ership (meditatio); (3) speaking as inspired to the Mystery that bears a thousand names with complete sincerity (oratio); (4) and then entering into silence, simply being present (meditatio). Participants particularly like this form of meditation, which provides a different way of con- necting their active minds as knowledge workers to spiritual writing that inspires a movement into heart and silence.

 

Tong Len is a Buddhist practice of compassionate presence in the face of suffering, breathing in the suffering of the other(s) dropping the story line (this isn’t fair, shouldn’t happen, etc.), and breathing out in compassion on behalf of all sensate beings who share a similar form of suffering.10 It is used in connection with the module that deals with forms of suffering associated with leadership.

CONTEMPLATIVE  PRACTICES

The contemplative practices are:

Centering Prayer Mantra Prayer Zen

Walking Meditation

These contemplative practices (apophatic forms, i.e., meditation moving away from thought, feelings, and sensation into inner quiet) are intro- duced midway and become the dominant forms for the remainder of the seminar.11 Specific instruction is given in Christian Centering Prayer, Zen, and Walking Meditation. If participants already engage another contemplative practice (e.g., Transcendental Meditation, Buddhist Mindfulness, A Vedic Form, Breath Meditation, etc.), they are encouraged to use the practice they have already appropriated. Par- ticipants’ reflections affirm the frequently reported benefits of this form of practice (e.g., greater ability to listen and be present to others, greater freedom to create and focus, lessened dysfunctions of fear and anxiety, higher perceived quality of life, etc.).

THE UNFOLDING OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

The spiritual journey in the Christian tradition is often described as encompassing stages or cycles.12 There is variation in the language, but the following descriptors are representative. (Again, space pre- cludes dealing with parallel conceptualizations in other traditions, though excellent current efforts in this regard are available.)13

Conversion—Answering a Call to Spiritual Deepening and Service Purification—Admission of Brokenness

 

Illumination—Glimpsing the Presence of the Transcendent in Day- to-Day Life

Unification—Living Continually in the Presence of the Transcendent

However, thinking of these experiences as stages can be misleading so I prefer the term cycle or rhythm. New awareness associated with a particular stage is often not permanent; nor are the cycles perfectly sequential. For example, even the advanced spiritual traveler cannot remain always with the consolation of sensing the presence of Tran- scendence. Nonetheless, it is helpful as we conclude our discussion of the experiences of seminar participants to group some quotations around these rhythms within the spiritual journey.

CONVERSION

Many of the quotations already cited are suggestive of conversion, an initial opening to the “Inner Voice” beckoning participants to live in new awareness. Now we turn our attention to participant reflec- tions representative of later cycles.

PURIFICATION

Progress in the spiritual journey requires one to be in touch with personal brokenness. We need to acknowledge the messes that entan- gle our lives. In the Christian tradition, a sense of this “brokenness” and its attendant suffering is often the prelude to a deeper turning toward God. Otherwise, we remain in the delusion that we can resolve our quest for happiness through our own efforts, focused on the needs of the false self.14

As we become aware of the suffering in our life, there is a tempta- tion to embrace a false resolution: blaming the problems on the organization and on others. For the most part, participants in the seminar come to confront the darkness in self without seeing them- selves as victims of others or as victims of the organization.

The following quotations provide examples:

I feel a sense of guilt for my own insensitivity. It has been a rare thing for me to think of others. My drive toward success has domi- nated my life. I learned the valuable lesson from my meditation that I could not go on in this manner. I need people in my life,

 

but as a consequence of my self-centeredness I am alone at work. I am in horrible, self-imposed, isolated space, and I need to change my ways.

I must confess that my work ethics have been warped during the Internet boom. Prior to the boom, I had a very pure view of my engineering career. After my meditation I prayed to God for guidance to regain the passion and the purity I once possessed for my engineering work because I want to be performing my work in a way that glorifies Him.

In my meditation and reflection I felt that I was decaying in my work. I could not see beyond all the immature actions and selfish petty ambitions. As I zoom into the darkest spot within my com- pany, I realize that it is myself that is eating up the light. I have been bitter for the last weeks. The source of darkness that was

me is starting to show a glimmer of light. I realized how awful my attitude was, and how much it harmed me and all the people around me. The idea that we should be spiritual at work starts to ring in my mind. I no longer want to contribute to darkness, but want to be a source of light at work the way I was earlier in my employment.

In many occasions I have given into anger and loss of control. I realize I have to spend time reflecting on the root cause of my behavior. I need to come to understand the pressures of my work life. I am coming to the realization that “helping others” rather than devoting my career to just satisfying my own self-interests will be an upheaval in my life. My preoccupations with presenting myself as a shrewd business  player  who  understands  the  financial  aspects of a business has [sic] made me disregard the true intent of this organization.

In another of my meditations on Light and Darkness at work I saw the difference between working out of ego and working out of freedom. I realized that I bring darkness to my organization when I work from ego. I need to change and bring light to my organization and everyone I come in contact with. I now realize that this is possible when I work from freedom.

I see work as so busy and boring. My work seems almost the same everyday, yet I know there are many challenges I should open up to. Even though I am doing well and my superiors are satisfied with my work, I don’t experience any joy in my career.     But

now I am beginning to understand I can approach all of this as a relational challenge. Work can be a place where we can meet friends, communicate, learn and teach. I myself may be a source of some

 

darkness. I have been complaining with my friends in the company. So my emotion influences others, or may discourage them.

Holding back, procrastinating, daydreaming, avoiding involve- ment—these are ways I protect myself from the pain of failure. But of course I am also cutting myself off from the joy of putting my heart into my work.

These quotations parallel the classic stage of purification. The pur- pose of the italicized type (added for emphasis) is to make clear that purification does not stop with simply recording, complaining about, or giving into organizational darkness. Rather, the movement has led participants to undertake to change their leadership behavior.

ILLUMINATION

Another cycle in the spiritual journey is characterized by “illumina- tion.” In the Christian tradition this cycle is reflected in two movements of The Spirit:15

• the ability to see God at work in creation

• movement away from focus on self toward a focus on serving others

The journals show seminar participants experiencing this cycle within the spiritual journey as well:

I was seeing the main office in San Francisco from a bird’s eye view, at first focused on the immediate organizational setting like we did in class. But then I started seeing the hundreds, thousands of connections to all the people, other organizations, government offices, planning departments, everywhere influenced by every- thing our work touches. Not only in the present, but I saw these connections in the past as well. I was almost overwhelmed with the magnitude of our mission, the impacts that we have that I have not been conscious of. Now I have a sense that my work touches hundreds, maybe thousands of people every day. This is a wonderful and empowering feeling. I realized I need this image, this awareness of the bigness of my work, to sustain me through the day to day of what I do.

Clearing my mind before work has been an absolutely enlight- ening experience. I enter each work-day [sic] when I complete the

 

Light and Darkness meditation with a new sense of purpose. I have changed my outlook on my job. In my heart I am no longer simply a Program Manager, but rather I am an enabler of col- laboration and communication. I help others see their place on teams and how valuable they are to the company and how their job helps society as a whole. I have stopped bringing my laptop to meetings and I have tried to attend more meetings in person to let others know I am entirely there. I feel as though people are appreciating the fact that I am giving them the attention they would like. I have also noticed myself listening to people com- pletely rather than formulating my answer or opinions before they have completed what they have said.

With new understanding that work can be spiritual, happiness has settled in my inner self. I could not but reflect that my life is exactly as I need it to be to begin the new “me.” One of our clients recently sent us a letter praising our work. In the past I wouldn’t have thought about the letter. Now, everyday [sic] I think about that letter when I come into work. My meditation has given me a purpose, a mission possibly. I am exactly where I should be.

I always thought we just made “electronic widgets.” Nothing spiritual about that! Now my meditations help me to see that our product is important to medicine, education—practically every important societal sector. I realize that I need to see that we are engaged in a very important service that helps many people.

I now complete my work without complaint, and in a positive manner. I help my work team to become more of a big family. Life is not always filled with champagne and flowers, but I foresee a future at work with greater warmth.

Finally, a litmus test of spiritual growth is growth in humility, which must underpin progress. One sign of humility is that the less glamorous aspects of one’s work can be embraced as being equally meaningful as more notable actions. As expressed in the Christian tradition, Mother Teresa of Calcutta speaks of “small actions done with great love.” This is likewise an aspect of St. Therese of Lisieux’s “little way.”16 So in clos- ing I offer the following ode to humility written by a participant:

With regard to hubris, I find myself trying to contain and dissolve occasions of feeling irritated at little things. I did a direct mail campaign and I have chosen to enter my own data in the database. Humbling I can tell you. I’m learning “garbage in garbage out”

 

and what that statement really means. Before I thought I under- stood it, but now I realize that I didn’t have a clue. I’m put to test about this. I find I want to do it right. I also say a silent prayer asking forgiveness for the times in the past, on other jobs, when I was in charge and expressed irritation to the data entry person while asking “why can’t I have this by the end of the day?” Now, with having to put my own “regal” fingers to the keyboard I know why!

INTEGRATING PRACTICES INTO THE LEADERSHIP DAY

The discussion has focused how participants have been exposed to a variety of meditation and contemplative practice forms, and reported changes in consciousness and behavior over the course of the seminar.17 The chapter will close by sharing how a variety forms become integrated into the leadership day of an average participant following the seminar. Of course there are differences across individuals, and some drift away from any practice. However, many do incorporate continuing practice and a typical description would be as follows.

Following the seminar most participants begin their leadership day with an apophatic form of contemplative practice consistent with their (non)religious tradition. Whatever the form (e.g. Breath, Mantra, Zen, Christian Centering Prayer, Hesychia, Kabbala, etc.) participants indi- cate that since the seminar a morning contemplative practice shapes the rest of the day. These intellectually gifted and action-oriented lead- ers know that without such a practice, the ego easily leads them into patterns of hubris and hyperactivity. So they see an anchoring contem- plative practice as critical.

When arriving at the workplace, before entering, they quickly return their consciousness to the overarching purpose of their organi- zation, the light that is encompassed by their important social institu- tion, and the darkness that must be wrestled with. They recommit to leadership as a form of vocational service within their organization.

Throughout the day before each subsequent critical task, they pause to recenter in order to be fully present to the “now” of the next task and to the next individual or group with whom they will be collaborat- ing. Without this practice, the intense experiences of one task overrides attention on the next task. Since leadership is a constant movement across complex shared problem solving, they find this practice essential.

 

As the day draws to a close, in their office or as they get into their car to leave work, they replay the day in the spirit of the Examen in order to find closure and inner peace. Like oncologists and burn unit personnel, they have discovered that unless they book-end the day with this type of spiritual practice, the stresses of the day will flow over into their return to home, precluding their being fully present to fam- ily and the opportunity for rest. They find that some form of practice parallel to the Examen allows them to avoid both repression and obsession.

Finally, most participants include a bit of spiritual reading before retiring in the spirit of Lectio. They report that this practice helps move them into refreshing sleep.

In all of this, they are not compulsive about a particular form. Who would want to do sitting meditation after hours of business travel? So they might substitute walking meditation after being on an airplane. Who would want to do spiritual reading when one could meditate with nature during a meeting at a beautiful resort? So they make use of nature as a form of Lectio.

Thus participants flexibly use of a variety of meditation forms dis- covered in the seminar (and after the seminar). However, they are aware that unless they build forms of practice into their leadership day the pressures of contemporary organization life can rapidly lead to anxiety, ego–distortion, and decreased spiritual meaning.

CLOSING

Often meditation practice is learned in settings where the primary focus in on the “inner life” of the individual. In this chapter we shared how a variety of meditation/contemplative practice forms have been introduced in the context of workplace leadership challenges. We illustrated how resultant spiritual growth, viewed through the lens of classic stages referenced in the Christian tradition, is enhanced through a combination of practices throughout the day.

Future research might fruitfully explore the motivational power of learning practices contextually in occupational settings. It might also address the advantages of juxtaposing a variety of meditation forms, encouraging individuals to use a form that has a natural resonance with different challenges. The seminar experience reported here sug- gests that learning a combination of forms has been mutually reinforc- ing and enriching.

 

APPENDIX I

Daily Reflection on Light and Darkness in the Organization in Which I Work

Andre L. Delbecq Santa Clara University

E-mail:  adelbecq@scu.edu

© 4/6/03

Place yourself in the presence of “The Light” that enlightens all people.

(the Transcendent Mystery, Spirit, as you understand it)

Spend a moment meditating on the revelation of this Light in the day-to-day of your organization at work. Where do you see the manifestation of Light in your organization?

Let us remind ourselves that without this Light, our organization becomes a cold place, devoid of creative energy, mutual caring, and enduring courage, a place unable to maintain a commitment to noble purpose and service to others.

Express gratitude for the presence of this Light in your organization.

If you have lost the sense of “Light” in your organizational setting, due to darkness in the organization, or darkness in yourself, ask that your sight might be restored. Ask for the blessing to be present to this Light so that at the beginning of each day/each Monday morning, you can enter into your organizational world with a renewed sense of joyful freedom to undertake work that matters within an important contem- porary institution.

Spend a moment reflecting on the wholeness of your organiza- tion through this Light. Ask for the sight to see the organization in all its dimensions and to witness the presence of Light in each dimension.

Examine the nobility of the mission of the organization in which you work and its creative potential to be a force for good in the world.

 

— its centrality in providing an important product or service that truly serves society

— its power over resources: financial, time, energy, decision agendas, human talents

— its locus as a place that should call on your fullest expression of individual creativity

— its influence on the presence (or absence) of community that nourishes your spirit and that of others

Spend a moment examining the presence of Darkness in yourself and in your organization.

Confront Any Darkness in your organization.

Is there darkness in your organization that diminishes its potential for goodness and service to society?

Who are the “poor” and oppressed in your organizational setting (not necessarily economically only)? Whose gifts are ignored; who cannot be part of the agenda? Who is marginalized in your organizational setting?

Have you personally contributed to organizational darkness?

Have you given undue power to organizational darkness by failing to witness to Light at decisive decision moments?

Are there aspects of the overall organization that you ignore or fail to support because of lack of reflection, fear and anxiety, or preoccupation with a narrow, private agenda?

Is there darkness within yourself, such as concern with self- importance, careerism, ambition, or activity wherein you anxiously depend entirely on yourself, that casts a shadow on your contribution to the organization?

Have you been a source of darkness for others by failing to include, mentor, encourage, or respond to your organizational neighbor?

Spend a moment meditating on the call to “holiness” (Wholeness) through and within the busyness of day-to-day organizational life.

 

We are told by the spiritual masters we will discover everything we need to know about Light, and have all the experience we need perfect our spiritual journey exactly “where we are today” ... in the “eternal now.”

Even in the case where later discernment may suggest that at a future point in time you need to change your organizational setting, it is in today’s organizational experience that you must see the Light of the transcendent. Ask for greater openness to this Light.

Expression of Gratitude

Spend several moments in gratitude for all the ways that the Light of insight, truth, wisdom, joy, compassion, and courage reveals itself in the organiza- tional setting in which you work—in the many blessings and opportunities of which you have become aware in your meditation.

Sharing and Comment on Your Meditation Experience

For group reflection, participants may wish to share insights that emerged in their meditation. Members should listen with a spirit of “appreciative inquiry”—openness to the truth within another’s experience.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to Michael Naughton, Director, the John A. Ryan Center for Catholic Thought, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, for accepting a first discussion paper  on this topic and for allowing me to incorporate here material from this prior essay. Delbecq, A. L. (2003). Crossing the frontier to vocational awareness. Fifth International Symposium on Catholic Social Thought and Manage- ment Education, Universidad de Deusto, Bilboa, Spain (later included in e-book proceedings, Michael J. Naughton and Stephanie Rumpza, Business as a Calling: Interdisciplinary Essays on the Meaning of Business from the Catholic Social Tradition, http://www.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/ cst/publications/businessasacalling.html).

NOTES

1. Delbecq, A. L. (1994). Innovation as a Silicon Valley obsession. Journal of Management Inquiry, 3(2), 266–275; Delbecq, A. L., & Weiss, J. (2000).

 

The business culture of Silicon Valley: A turn-of-the-century reflection.

Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(1), 34–44.

2. Delbecq, A. L., & Friedlander, F. (1995). Strategies for personal and family renewal. Journal of Management Inquiry, 4(3), 262–269.

3. Delbecq, A. L. (2000). Spirituality for business leadership: Reporting on a pilot course for MBAs and CEOs. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(2), 117–128.

4. Mitroff, I., & Denton, E. A. (1990). A spiritual audit of corporate America: Multiple designs for fostering spirituality in the workplace. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass (Chapters 1 and 2); Delbecq, A. L. (2009). Spirituality and business: One scholar’s perspective. Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Business, 6(1), 3–13.

5. Weiss, J. W., Skelley, M. F., Haughey, J. C., &  Hall,  D. T.  (2004). Calling, new careers and spirituality: A  reflective perspective for organiza- tional leaders and professionals. In M. Pava (Ed.), Spiritual intelligence at work: Meaning, metaphor and morals: Research in ethical issues (Vol. 5, pp. 171–201). New York: Elsevier; McGee, J. J., & Delbecq, A. L. (2003). Vocation as a critical factor in a spirituality of executive leadership in busi- ness. In O. F. Williams (Ed.), Business, religion and spirituality (pp. 94–113). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

6. Delbecq, A. L. (2000). Spirituality for business leadership: Reporting on a pilot course for MBAs and CEOs. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(2), 117–128.

7. Aschenbrenner, G. (1972). Consciousness examen. Review for Religious, 33, 14–21; Gallagher, T. M. (2006). The examen prayer: Ignatian wisdom for our lives today. New York: Crossroad.

8. Loyola, I. (1970). The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. (G.E. Ganss, Trans.). St. Louis, MO: Institute of Jesuit Sources. (Original work published in 1556).

9. Pennington, B. M. (1998). Lectio divina: Renewing the ancient practice of praying the Scriptures. New York: Crossroad.

10. Chodron, P. (2001). The places that scare you: A guide to fearlessness in difficult times. Boston: Shambhala.

11. Fontana, D. (1999). The meditator’s handbook: A comprehensive guide to Eastern and Western meditation techniques. Boston: Element.

12. Ware, K. (2002). The orthodox way. Crestwood: NY: St. Valdimir’s Press, 105–133.

13. Fry, L. W. J., & Kreiger, M. P. (in press). Toward a theory of being- centered leadership: Multiple levels of being as a context for effective leadership. Human Relations.

14. Keating, T. (2002). Open mind, open heart. New York: Continuum, 127–132; Haughey, J. (2002). Housing heaven’s fire: The challenge of holiness.

Chicago: Loyola Press, 11.

15. Keating, Open Mind, 127–132; Ware, The Orthodox Way, 105–133.

 

16. Teresa, M. (1998). Everything starts with love. Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press; Gorres, I. F. (1959). The hidden face: A study of St. Therese of Lisieux. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

17. Delbecq, A. L. (2006a). Business executives and prayer: How a core spiritual discipline is expressed in the life of contemporary organizational leaders. Spirit in Work, 6, 3–8, and 7, 3–7.

REFERENCES

Aschenbrenner, George. (1972). Consciousness examen. Review for Religious, 33, 14–21.

Chodron, Pema. (2001). The places that scare you: A guide to fearlessness in difficult times. Boston: Shambhala, 55–60.

Delbecq, Andre L. (1994). Innovation as a Silicon Valley obsession. Journal of Management Inquiry, 3(3), 266–275.

Delbecq, Andre L. (2000). Spirituality for business leadership: Reporting on a pilot course for MBAs and CEOs. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(2), 117–128 (provides a description of the overall seminar).

Delbecq, Andre L. (2006a). Business executives and prayer: How a core spiri- tual discipline is expressed in the life of contemporary organizational leaders. Spirit in Work, 6, 3–8, and 7, 3–7 (provides a more detailed description of the daily integration of spiritual practices).

Delbecq, Andre L. (2006b). The spiritual challenge of power: Humility and love as offsets to leadership hubris. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion, 3(1), 141–154.

Delbecq, Andre L. (2009). Spirituality and business: One scholar’s perspec- tive. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion, 6(1), 3–13.

Delbecq, Andre L., & Friedlander, Frank. (1995). Strategies for personal and family renewal. Journal of Management Inquiry, 4(3), 262–269.

Delbecq, Andre L., & Weiss, Joseph. (2000). The business culture of Silicon Valley: A turn-of-the-century reflection. Journal of Management Inquiry, 9(1), 34–44.

Fontana, David. (1999). The meditator’s handbook: A comprehensive guide to Eastern and Western meditation techniques. Boston: Element.

Fry, Louis W., & Kreiger, Mark P. (in press). Toward a theory of being- centered leadership: Multiple levels of being as a context for effective leadership. Human Relations.

Gallagher, Timothy M. (2006). The examen prayer: Ignatian wisdom for our lives today. New York: Crossroad.

Haughey, John. (2002). Housing heaven’s fire: The challenge of holiness. Chicago: Loyola Press, 11.

Keating, Thomas. (2002). Open mind, open heart. New York: Continuum, 127–132

 

McGee, James J., & Delbecq, Andre L. (2003). Vocation as a critical factor in a spirituality of executive leadership in business. In O. F. Williams (Ed.), Business, religion and spirituality (pp. 94–113). Notre Dame: IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Mitroff, Ian, & Denton, Elizabeth A. (1990). A spiritual audit of corporate America: Multiple designs for fostering spirituality in the workplace. San Francisco: Jossey Bass (Chapters 1 and 2).

Naughton, Michael, & Rumpza, Stephanie Rumpza (Eds.). (2005). Business as a calling: Interdisciplinary essays on the meaning of business from the Catholic social tradition. St. Paul, MN: Center for Catholic Studies, St. Thomas University.

Pennington, M. Basil. (1998). Lectio Divina: Renewing the ancient practice of praying the scriptures. New York: Crossroad.

Ware, Kallistos. (2002). The orthodox way. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Press, 105–133.

Weiss, Joseph W., Skelley, Michael F., Haughey, John C. Haughey, & Hall, Douglas. (2004). Calling, new careers and spirituality: A reflective per- spective for organizational leaders and  professionals.  In  Moses  Pava (Ed.), Spiritual intelligence at work: Meaning, metaphor and morals: Research in ethical issues in organizations (Vol. 5, pp. 171–201). New York: Elsevier.

 

CHAPTER 12