Contemplative Practices in Action 7] Jewish Contemplative Practices and Well-Being

 7] “The Eternal Is with Me, I Shall Not Fear”: Jewish Contemplative Practices and Well-Being  

Zari Weiss and David Levy

Over the centuries, most religious traditions have developed practices that support the cultivation of a contemplative approach to life. Judaism is no exception. Indeed, many of the practices that have traditionally been considered central to living a Jewish life have a strong contempla- tive orientation, and such practices can be helpful in alleviating the stress of everyday life. In the following pages, we will look at three practices in particular—prayer, meditation, and Sabbath time—that we have found valuable not only in our own practice, but also in teaching and counsel- ing others.

The coauthors of this paper come to this exploration with distinct but overlapping backgrounds. Rabbi Zari Weiss was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1991, a five-year post- graduate educational institution, and has served as a rabbi in a number of capacities. Trained in the art and practice of Spiritual Direction at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, California (a Catholic-based institution), she also has worked as a spiritual director/companion with individuals and groups since 1993. She was a founding instructor, and taught for six years in a national program to train other Jews in Spiritual Direction from a Jewish perspective, and she has offered workshops and classes to rabbis and rabbinic students.

David Levy is a professor in the Information School at the University of Washington. Trained originally as a computer scientist (with a PhD from Stanford University), he too has been trained in Spiritual Direction

 

at Mercy Center, and has practiced as a spiritual director, although to a lesser extent than Rabbi Weiss. In his academic work for the past decade, he has explored how contemplative practices and perspectives may help us to understand and alleviate the stress of information overload and the acceleration of daily life.

Both authors, then, are teachers, spiritual directors, and practicing Jews. The religious and spiritual practices we explore in this chapter are ones that that we ourselves have engaged in and experienced. Because our backgrounds and practices are not identical, we ask the reader to understand that we have adopted the first-person plural—“we”—with consideration and care. In most of the issues addressed in this chapter, it is probably less important to know which of us has the greater experi- ence with a particular practice than that we both stand behind the asser- tion we are making. In certain cases, however, which will be clear below, we have found it useful to use “I” for both rhetorical and pedagogical purposes.

THE PRACTICES IN CONTEXT

It is challenging to summarize a long-standing and widespread reli- gious tradition such as Judaism in just a few words. But it might be said that Judaism’s central concern over the thousands of years of its existence has been in maintaining the sacred relationship between the Jewish people and God. Its central sacred texts, which include the Torah and the Talmud, recount the history of this relationship in its formative years and provide laws and guidance (called mitzvot, which we prefer to translate as “sacred obligations”) intended to maintain the vibrancy and sanctity of the relationship with the Divine. One of the central mitzvot, for example, obligates Jews to “love the Eternal your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5). Jews are told to speak this truth at all times, when they sit in their house and when they go out on the street, when they go to sleep at night and arise in the morning. In other words, they are to love God at all times. Many of the other laws and customs of Judaism reinforce the importance of fulfilling this sacred obligation in all areas of life: in their interactions with others, in their care of those less fortunate, in their responsibility toward the environment and natural world.

It needs to be said, however, that not all Jews—not even all practicing

Jews—observe all the mitzvot. Modern Judaism is divided into a number of “movements,” the best known of which are Orthodox, Conservative,

 

Reform, and Reconstructionist Judaism. These differ in a number of ways, including the extent to which they prescribe adherence to tradi- tional practices. The vast majority of American Jews, however, are unaf- filiated: they do not belong to any movement, do not attend religious services regularly, and observe few if any Jewish holidays. Such individ- uals may report that they are “spiritual” rather than “religious,” and to the extent that they recognize their Jewish identity, it may be more as cultural Jews (appreciating the food and the humor, for example) or in terms of a commitment to social justice, which remains a strong Jewish value.

Yet without question, Judaism’s rich treasure trove of practices has been a source of comfort and solace, strength and stability for thousands of years. Its texts, rituals, and daily practices have offered many people support in stressful and uncertain circumstances. One charming anec- dote illustrates this well:

Sam happened to meet his rabbi on the street one day, and told him of all the troubles he had suffered during the past year. He wound up with: “I tell you right now, rabbi, it’s enough to make a man lose his religion.” “Seems to me, Sam,” the rabbi told him quietly, “it’s enough to make a man use his religion!”1

Not all people, however, know how to “use religion” in a way that offers comfort and solace, strength and stability. Particularly in our modern, assimilated world, where many have been distanced, or worse, alienated from the rich resources that are a part of Jewish tradition, these texts, rituals, and practices may seem inaccessible or foreign. As Plante and Thoresen write, “The lack of skills in using spiritual prac- tices may be the single missing ingredient that inhibits the kind of spiri- tual growth that leads to better health and well-being”;2 this is as true for those in the Jewish community as it is for the broader population.

In our work as teachers and spiritual companions to others, we have had the opportunity and privilege of helping others gain access to these practices and make use of them in their own lives. In particular, it has been our growing understanding of what might be called a more con- templative approach to Jewish practice that has provided a valuable means to access the tradition in new ways. It is clear that a more con- templative approach can help bring about comfort and solace, strength and stability, and can reduce stress.

In this chapter, we will focus on three areas of Jewish practice: prayer, meditation, and Sabbath time. We could easily have chosen

 

three other practices, or three dozen examples of Jewish religious and spiritual practices. The tradition is vast, and many of  the customs and rituals that make up Jewish life provide opportunities for adding meaning and dimension to life.

Each of the contemplative practices we discuss has a long and diverse history. For most of Jewish history they were embedded in a complete Jewish “way of life” that was largely inseparable from the larger Jewish patterns of day-to-day living. Today, except for the most Orthodox Jews, this is no longer the case, and in today’s consumerist society, many Jews are likely to choose certain practices and reject or ignore others.

Jewish prayer is a form of both verbal and nonverbal communion that can be used to praise, petition, thank, or simply communicate with God. In biblical times prayer was largely spontaneous and unscripted (the Torah records, for example, that “Isaac went out into the fields and prayed” [Gen. 24:63]). In time, these spontaneous prayers were recorded and collected, and eventually organized into a set order of specific prayers to be recited at three different times of the day. It is this form of prayer that is most familiar to Jews today. However, there are various places within the tradition where other forms of prayer are described and even encouraged. These include spontaneous prayers from the heart, recitation of a verse from the liturgy or Scripture, and personal kavannot, or introductory meditations. The contemplative approaches to prayer that we will discuss below are largely from this latter group.

Jewish meditation has a long, complex, and somewhat confusing history. The first problem is simply the meaning of the term meditation. An often-cited passage in the Talmud (Berachot 5:1) states that in prepa- ration for prayer the ancient rabbis used to “incline their hearts to God” for an hour. This is now taken as evidence that some form of preparatory meditation was practiced more than 2,000 years ago. Others have sug- gested that the Tetragrammaton, the Divine name spelled out with the four Hebrew letters Yod Hay Vav Hay (often indicated in Roman letters as YHVH), was the sound of the breath, perhaps providing some further evidence for the existence of a form of breath meditation. Today, espe- cially under the influence of Western Buddhist practice, a number of Jewish practitioners have rediscovered or reinvented a wide variety of forms of Jewish meditation, including meditating on a phrase or verse (mantra meditation), visual focusing on the letters of God’s divine name (YHVH), and chanting. In the section on meditation below, we will highlight a few of these approaches.

 

Finally, probably no practice has deeper historical or spiritual roots than the observance of the Sabbath. Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Bible, states that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. From this came the understanding that Jews must emulate the Divine by themselves resting every seventh day. While the nature and extent of Sabbath practice differs widely today, the basic idea of separating one day a week from the hustle and bustle— and the stress—of daily living seems well suited for today’s 24/7 living.3 In our discussion of incorporating Sabbath time into our cur- rent busy lives, we suggest several contemplative practices that are based on traditional ways of observing the Sabbath.

DIMENSIONS OF THE PRACTICES

Before looking at the specific practices, we want to suggest that their role in health, well-being, and stress-reduction can be viewed and understood from three perspectives: spiritual or theological, physical or physiological, and emotional.

SPIRITUAL/THEOLOGICAL

Any particular practice may help the practitioner put life into a broader or more spiritual perspective. Various studies have shown that gaining a broader perspective is helpful in encouraging well-being and reducing stress. In their essay on meditation, for example, Shauna L. Shapiro and Roger Walsh write: “From a growth perspective, it is essential to learn ways to free ourselves from the artificial and unnec- essary limits we impose, as well as to learn to expand our world views. This liberation involves recognizing and letting go of old structures and boundaries and evolving to more complex worldviews.”4 We will see that various Jewish practices—such as meditating on a verse or line from Scripture, or observing Sabbath time—can help people experi- ence freedom from artificial limits and expand their worldviews.

At times a broader perspective is attained in a generalized way; it may entail a specific feeling or sense of God’s presence. In his article “Prayer and Health,” Kevin S. Masters writes that “persons who during their prayers felt like they were experiencing an interaction with God or had feelings of increased peace were also the ones more likely to report greater levels of well-being.”5 Indeed, cultivating a sense of

 

connection to God or God’s Presence is a core component of many Jewish practices: prayer, meditation, even Sabbath time.

PHYSICAL OR PHYSIOLOGICAL

Various studies have shown that spiritual practices create physio- logical changes or responses in the body, which by their very nature, reduce stress. In their article “Prayer as Medicine: How Much Have We Learned?” Marek Jantos and Hosen Kiat describe “the relaxation response,” one of the effects of meditation first characterized and named by Herbert Benson.6 “Meditation,” Jantos and Kiat observe, “is known to produce desirable physiological changes, such as slowed breathing, reduction in heart rate, a drop in blood pressure, peripheral warming, slower brain wave activity (marked by an increase in alpha and theta activity), and a hypometabolic state. People practicing medi- tation, irrespective of their religious persuasion, report feeling more spiritual and experiencing an enhanced sense of psychological and physiological wellbeing, peace and tranquility.”7 As we will see, a variety of Jewish practices, including prayer, meditation, and Sabbath time, can also create physiological changes in the body, leading to a state of well- being, a phenomenon that was noted by rabbis and teachers thousands of years ago.

EMOTIONAL

It is believed that religions and spiritual practices can also have a positive impact on our emotions. Jantos and Kiat write: “A third mecha- nism by which prayer is seen as exerting its positive impact on wellbeing is by means of the positive emotions it engenders.”7 One of the studies they cite is that of M. E. McCullough, whose research suggests that prayer improves mood and leads to a state of calm that extends to other areas of the life of the person praying.8 They also cite the work of Candace Pert, whose book Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine lays out some of the effects of positive emotions in the body; and they observe that “positive emotions generate physiologi- cal changes that have far-reaching consequences on our health and well- being. The positive emotions of peace, joy, hope, faith, trust and love, associated with prayer, can lead to physiological changes affecting a person’s state of wellbeing.”9 Such emotions are fostered by a variety of Jewish practices, including prayer, meditation, and Sabbath time.

 

A CONTEMPLATIVE APPROACH TO JEWISH PRACTICE

What constitutes a contemplative approach to Jewish practice? Rather than starting by referencing what has been written on this topic over the ages, we prefer to illustrate it by drawing an example from our own work as spiritual directors and teachers. It concerns the use of a verse—“The Eternal is with me, I shall not fear”—as the subject of prayer and meditation.

Often in our work as spiritual companions, our directees (i.e., clients) come to the session frazzled from the stress of the day: their bodies are tense, their hearts are racing. Sometimes they are filled with anxiety, sometimes with fear; they may be coping with illness—their own or that of a loved one; they may be anticipating a major life change, such as a loss of employment or the end of a relationship. The stress is palpable— recognizable in their shallow breathing, their tense muscles, their rigid body posture.

In our role as spiritual directors, our job is not to fix, nor even neces- sarily to make people feel better—though often that happens as a result of this work. Rather, it is to help people see their lives or situations from a broader, spiritual perspective.

Most people who arrive with a high level of stress, anxiety, or fear have a desire—expressed explicitly or implicitly—to reduce their level of stress and live with a greater sense of peace, calm, or equanimity. When asked directly, they may acknowledge that they wish they could feel a sense of trust—in God, in the Universe, in Something Bigger— but they also admit that they do not have any idea how to access, or cultivate, such a sense. This is the opening for which we look and listen. It is an opening no bigger than the eye of a needle: the longing of the heart (or soul) for a connection to Something Beyond the Self. From a Jewish perspective, it is the longing for a life lived in relation- ship with God/The Mystery/Ein Sof. (Ein Sof, one of the Hebrew names for God, literally means “That Which is Without End.”) To live in this way is to live the contemplative life.

Though there are times that belief leads to experience, most often, we have seen, it is experience that leads to belief. And if experience doesn’t arise on its own, it can be invited, or perhaps better, awakened.

The following example illustrates this. It is based on a session one of us conducted with a directee who had entered the office feeling very stressed.

 

“I wonder,” I say out loud to the directee, “if there is a prayer or a phrase or some verses from a prayer that might help you feel that sense of calm or peace that you are seeking?” Many times, I haven’t thought consciously about any particular prayer or verses when posing the question; it is only afterward that something comes to mind. Some- times, the last four lines of a well-known prayer known as Adon Olam may come. It is a prayer that is traditionally said at the end of a service. (In some communities, it is also said at the beginning.) We don’t know for certain when the prayer was written or by whom; scholars believe that it is at least 1,000 years old. It has been a part of the service since the fifteenth century. During services, it is often sung to a very upbeat or even boisterous melody (perhaps because everyone is so relieved that the service is finally over!); as a result, the beauty and power of the words’ meaning is often lost. The last four verses of the prayer are quite beautiful; they suggest, almost more than any other verses from Jewish liturgy, the sense of trust that many of us long for—and the comfort that often comes with that trust.

“B’yado afkid ruchee”—“in His hand, I place my spirit.” I recite the first phrase to my directee. “Of course we know that God doesn’t have a hand and isn’t a He—it’s just a metaphor.” The person usually nods. “But can you imagine, for just a moment, placing your soul in God’s hand, in The Eternal’s hand?” I watch as the person shuts her eyes and brings the image to mind. “It’s such a beautiful image, isn’t it? Now .. . can you allow yourself to rest in it?” I continue gently. I watch as the directee’s breath becomes slower and her body begins to relax. “B’eyt eeshan v’ah’ee’rah—when I sleep and when I wake,” I continue translating. “Imagine what you would feel like, if you started and ended each day this way, allowing yourself to rest, for just a few minutes, in God’s hand.” “V’im ruchee g’vee’a’tee,—and with my spirit my body too.” The release of tension in her body is now visible. “Adonai lee, v’lo ee’rah—The Eternal is with me, I shall not fear.” I pause, and ask: “What would it be like not to feel fear?” My directee’s eyes well up with tears. “It means that no matter what happens, everything will be okay.” “Okay,” I repeat the word, knowing that it doesn’t neces- sarily mean that everything will be great, or even good, but simply that, on some level, against the larger backdrop of the greater Mystery of the world and of life, everything will be all right.

“Finally,” I then say, “I wonder if this is something you can return to throughout the day, when you are feeling stressed or anxious. Maybe you can recite these verses, which I’d be happy to write out for you, or perhaps you might just return to the image of resting in God’s hand.

 

Is this something that might be helpful?” She answers yes; our time together has given her access not only to Jewish Tradition, but also to God, in a new way. It is a way that is meaningful not only in terms of her Jewish way of life, but also in terms of specific practices that may help reduce her stress and, as a result, bring about a greater sense of peace and calm.

A life lived in relationship with Something Beyond the Self: for most people caught up in our rushed, overly busy, and stress-filled culture, this is an ideal that is hard to achieve. Many people assume that to live in such a way they must seclude themselves in a monastery or convent, or disengage from their daily routines by attending an extended retreat. And while these choices certainly can be helpful for some, they are not realistic for most. There are other ways that one can cultivate a more contemplative life, even in the midst of our ordi- nary, everyday activities. Indeed, in our work as spiritual companions and teachers, we have found three Jewish practices that are particu- larly helpful in cultivating the contemplative life: prayer, meditation, and Sabbath time. We now turn to these practices.

THREE JEWISH CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES

PRAYER

Traditional Jewish practice specifies that one pray three times a day: morning, afternoon, and evening (these prayer services are known as shacharit, minchah, and ma’ariv). Today, generally only those who are at the more observant end of the spectrum fulfill this obligation; most contemporary Jews probably do not pray at all, and only a small per- centage may set aside time for daily prayer.

Because people bring the real stuff of their lives to spiritual direction, and the stuff of life is, by nature, stressful, most people enter our office filled with stress. While the purpose of Spiritual Direction is not to alle- viate the stress, alleviating it and living with greater calm and equanimity is often part of the person’s longing or desire.

In our work as Spiritual Directors, then, we might ask in our first session if the person has any sort of a daily or regular spiritual practice. Most often, people do not. We ask if it might be reasonable to set aside some time, as little as five minutes and as much as an hour, for such a practice. Even a few minutes, particularly at the start and at the end of the day, we explain, can go far in creating a sense of greater calm or

 

equanimity, which can be accessed throughout the day. Together with the directee we think of what might be the most realistic time of the day to build it in, given the actual circumstances of their lives (family, work, etc.).

We have found prayer to be particularly helpful in leading to feel- ings of calm and equanimity. As Kevin Masters writes, “The English word prayer comes from the Latin precari meaning to entreat or ask earnestly. Curiously, this is the same root found in the word precari- ous. Indeed, many pray when life seems precarious and it is during times of illness or great need that prayer is perhaps most widely acknowledged and practiced. There seems to be an almost intuitive notion among people of faith in many cultures that prayer and health are related.”5

There are three prayers from Jewish tradition that we have found to be particularly helpful. The first prayer, part of the morning liturgy, is found in a section known as Birchot HaShachar, Blessings of the Dawn. Traditionally this prayer is said immediately upon awakening in the morning: “Modeh (modah for a woman) ani lifanecha: I am grateful before You, Sovereign that lives and endures, she’he’chezarta bi nishmati b’chem- lah, for you have restored my soul to me in graciousness, rabbah emuna- techa, great is your lovingkindness.” Though many Jews may, in fact, have grown up saying this prayer, most are unaware of its deeper mean- ing. They probably have always recited it in a rote or formulaic way.

We often begin with this prayer as a starting point for building a meaningful spiritual practice. The prayer can be said in just a minute, but its effects can last throughout the day.

We invite the directee to consider why the prayer might be recited immediately upon awakening. If they don’t know, we explain that upon awakening, a person realizes that she has not died during the night; on the contrary, she has been blessed with another day of life. Furthermore, we point out, the word nishmati, a contraction of nesha- mah sheli, my soul, is related to the word nishimah, breath: when we breathe in, we can become aware of our soul, the unique soul that is implanted within each one of us. As we then pause to become aware of the life-breath that flows through us, we also can become aware of the Ultimate Breath-of-Life, God/the Source, which has granted us the gift of another day. Often, as our awareness expands, the burdens which all- too-often weigh us down lighten, and our hearts somehow feel lighter, filled with gratitude instead. Gratitude is an almost guaranteed antidote to stress: when we take the time to become aware of the gift of life, of the life-breath that fills us, our breathing slows and grows deeper, our

 

“hearts” (in reality, probably, our muscle and nerve systems) become less tight, instead opening to whatever gifts the day may bring. This awareness may result in positive emotional feelings, which in turn may have physiological effects. As the feelings help reduce stress and anxiety, they can promote a more positive outlook, which in turn can strengthen the will to live life more fully, one more day.

We sometimes use a different prayer when the directee gives evi- dence of a negative self-image or depression, a prayer that can lead to a more positive self-image, and to feelings of acceptance and self- love. This prayer too comes from the section of prayers known as the Morning  Blessings.  “Elohai  neshamah  sh’natatah  bi .. . My  God, the soul that you have given me, it is pure,” it begins. This first line alone is sufficient to shift someone’s perspective. We invite the directee to become aware of his soul. This is something that most people have never even considered. “Think of your unique essence,” we might suggest, “the part of you that is uniquely you.” And then we repeat the words of the prayer, and encourage him to become aware, if he is able, of the pureness of his soul. “Separate from the layers of ‘stuff’ that we accumulate over the course of our lives, which result from our own behaviors or our personality flaws, Judaism teaches us that our soul is pure. And God knows that.” The tightness in his body begins to release; there is a letting go, a release. Again, we explain how in Hebrew the word for soul, neshamah, and the word for breath, neshimah, are related. Our breath connects us to our soul; every time we take a breath, we have the opportunity to remember the pure, precious soul inside us, the soul that also connects us to God. We sit patiently, watching as the directee’s breath gradually begins to flow more freely, and as the muscles begin to relax. There is a sense of acceptance and compassion; with these more positive feelings comes a softening of the heart, a release of the physiological tension that often accompanies self-judgment.

Finally, there is another prayer (actually a declaration) that we often draw upon in our work, the Shema. Often translated “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One,” the Shema, we believe, is a statement of equanimity. It affirms that all—the good, the bad, and the ugly—are a part of the Mystery of Life, a part of the underlying Unity (One, in Hebrew, Echad) that is present in all existence. Tradi- tionally Jews recite the Shema morning and evening: when they rise up (u’vkumecha) and when they lie down (uv’shachb’cha) (Deut. 6:4–9). In the bedtime version of this prayer, there is an additional prayer that can be found only in traditional prayer books; for some unknown reason

 

many liberal prayer books have left it out. In this version, there is a para- graph in which the person reciting it forgives those who have harmed her, and asks forgiveness of anyone whom she has harmed. “Can you imagine saying this at the end of every day?” we ask, knowing what a profound spiritual practice forgiveness can be. The opposite—not forgiving—creates tremendous stress in the body: it leads to repressed anger, guilt, hurt—all of which are emotions that cause restriction, tightness, as opposed to expansiveness, openness. To forgive—even just to make the effort to forgive—makes the heart soften into a more supple state; that suppleness ripples out through the muscles, and stress is reduced. With forgiveness comes a letting go. Affirming the Unity of Life, and letting go of anger and hurt—what more profound spiritual practice could there be?

MEDITATION

Meditation in Jewish tradition takes many forms. In our work as Spiritual Directors, we have found several meditative practices to be particularly helpful in creating a more expansive consciousness, a deeper sense of peace and equanimity. Many people come to Spiritual Direction with an expressed desire to feel a connection to God more often throughout their daily lives, not only during the time in the morning or evening when they are engaged in some sort of spiritual practice. When we meet with them, we often explain the age-old prac- tice of meditating on a verse, particularly the verse from the book of Psalms: Shi’vi’ti HaShem L’negdi Tamid. “I place the Eternal before me always” (Psalms 16:8). Some do this by sitting in front of a wall hanging, known as a Shi’vi’ti, a traditional wall card, poster, or plaque with the verse from Psalms on it. Some of these wall hangings are elaborate works of art, with beautiful illustrations and other scriptural verses surrounding Psalms 16:8. The Hebrew letters of God’s name (YHVH) are often arranged vertically; they become the focus for visual meditation. Various teachings throughout the ages describe this practice: “Many people write the name YHVH on a piece of parchment .. . and keep it in front of them while they pray, according to the way of ‘I have placed the Lord before me always.’ And this brings awe of God into their heart and clarifies your soul to purity.”10 They then strive to keep the image of God’s name before them throughout the day, without any external visual aids. Visualizing God’s name encourages one to be aware of God’s Presence—in every

 

action, in every interaction. One delightful folktale tells of the holy Rabbi Yaakov Koppel Hasid of Kolomaya, the disciple of the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Hasidism), who would repeat the line from Psalms at all hours of the day, nonstop. He would even repeat it during the hours of work and business. It is said that even the gentiles called him “The Shvittinik [the Shiviti person].”10 In our work with individuals, we might make a copy of a Shi’vi’ti that can be found in certain prayer books; we suggest they experiment with the practice of meditating on God’s Divine name as a means to remind them to strive to be aware of God’s Presence at all times.

Of course, one can enter into a meditative state without focusing on a particular verse, but rather, simply by immersing oneself in a con- sciousness of God’s presence or existence in the universe. Various great teachers from Jewish tradition spoke of this practice, known as hitbonenut. Following is one teaching of Moses Maimonides, the great thirteenth-century physician and philosopher:

What is the way to love and fear G-d? When a person contem- plates (hitbonen) His great, wondrous deeds and creations, seeing through them His boundless, infinite wisdom, he immediately loves, exults, and is ecstatic with a passion to know the great Name. This is, what King David meant when he said, “My soul thirsts for G-d, for the living Deity.” (Psalms 42:3)

When one thinks about these things, he immediately becomes awed and abashed. He realizes that he is but an infinitesimal creature, lowly and unenlightened, standing with his diminutive, deficient mind before the Perfect Mind. David thus said, “When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers .. . what is man that You consider him?” (Psalms 8:4–5)11

In other words, Maimonides suggests, by pausing and seeing beyond what appears on the surface a person can become aware of the various ways that God is or might be present: in any created object, in an event, in any experience of life. When he is able to do this, he will be filled with an awareness of God, and will realize his own minuteness relative to the magnificence of the Great Mystery of the Divine. His sense of self will recede, and his awareness of God will move to the forefront.

To help them imagine this state of consciousness, we might invite our directees to close their eyes and see themselves against the backdrop of the mystery of all life. We might ask if they are aware of God’s role in

 

that mystery, as well as their own place in it. Often they sink into silence, and we sit quietly together, humbly aware of the Mystery of Life of which they, and we, are a part.

Kevin Masters writes “persons who during their prayers felt they were experiencing an interaction with God or had feelings of increased peace were also the ones more likely to report greater levels of well being.”5 Indeed, we have found that from the meditative state that is achieved, whether through visualizing God’s name and becoming increasingly aware of God’s Presence, or sitting against the backdrop of the mystery of life, there often emerges a deep sense of calm and tranquility. With that sense of calm and tranquility often comes a letting go of the obses- sive concern with things that in our day-to-day lives seem so important.

SABBATH TIME

As noted earlier, the theological basis for Sabbath observance is found in Genesis: “The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and He ceased on the seventh day from all work that he had done. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done” (Genesis 2:1–3). This understanding has led Jews over the ages to emulate the Divine pattern and to abstain from all work from night- fall on Friday evening to nightfall on Saturday (the Jewish day begins at sunset). The English word “Sabbath” is a direct translation of the Hebrew “Shabbat,” which means “rest.”

Over the centuries there has been much discussion and debate about this apparently simple prescription. What exactly is meant by work, and what is meant by rest? Does work refer simply or primarily to physical exertion, or perhaps to paid labor? What about intellectual work? Does rest refer to the abstention from effort, or to leisure activ- ities? And what exactly is the purpose of the Sabbath? While it would carry us too far afield to discuss these points now, it is worth pointing to one traditional answer to the last of these questions. The intent behind Sabbath observance, the ancient rabbis suggested, is to cel- ebrate Creation. Jews, they argued, were to abstain from creative acts in order to savor and appreciate the created world—to enjoy it, as the following description points out:

Work can make man free, but one can also be a slave to work. When God created heaven and earth, says the Talmud, they went

 

on unreeling endlessly, “like two bobbins of thread,” until their Creator called out to them, “Enough!” (Talmud Chagigah 12a). God’s creative activity was followed by the Sabbath, when He deliberately ceased from His creative work It is thus not

“work,” but “ceasing from work” which God chose as the sign of His free creation of the world. By ceasing from work every Sabbath, in the manner prescribed by the Torah, the Jew bears witness to the creative power of God. He also reveals Man’s true greatness. The stars and the planets, having once started on their eternal rounds, go on blindly, ceaselessly, driven by nature’s law of cause and effect. Man, however, by an act of faith, can put a limit to his labor, so that it will not degenerate into purposeless drudgery. By keeping Sabbath the Jew becomes, as our Sages say, domeh l’Yotzero—“like his Creator.” He is, like God, work’s master, not its slave.12

One of the prayers from the Sabbath liturgy expresses this senti- ment well: “Those who keep Shabbat by calling it a delight will rejoice in Your realm. The people that hallows Shabbat will delight in Your goodness. For, being pleased with the Seventh Day, You hallowed it as the most precious of days, drawing our attention to the work of Creation.”13

Here then is an understanding, and a practice, that speaks to the stress of living in both the ancient and the modern world. For surely the work- ing day in all cultures, past and present, has been filled with the stress of physical and mental labor: continuously engaging in acts of creation and productivity, continually striving for achievement. The Sabbath is con- ceived as a day to let go of the willful striving for productivity; it is instead a day to appreciate the simple experience of being alive, to feel gratitude for the marvels and mysteries of the created world. Abraham Joshua Heschel’s well-known passage speaks to this understanding: “He who wants to enter the holiness of the day must first lay down the profanity of clattering commerce, of being yoked to toil      He must

say farewell to manual work and learn to understand that the world has already been created and will survive without the help of man. Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in the soul  Six days a week we seek to dominate the world, on the seventh

day we try to dominate the self.”14

In our work as Spiritual Directors and teachers, we have found some of the traditional practices and customs of Shabbat to be a valuable

 

starting place for helping to create islands of calm in the otherwise hectic and hurried lives of our directees. Here are three simple prac- tices that can be used to create a few moments, an hour, or a full day of Sabbath time.

One custom practiced by more observant Jews entails going to a mikveh, a natural or artificial body of water in which one fully immerses, in preparation for the Sabbath. Short of going to a mikveh, one can simply wash in hot water. The following description, based on various traditional teachings, helps explain the benefits—not only physical, but spiritual as well—of this practice:

It is a traditional practice to wash in hot water before Shabbat. The hot water will change your body-feeling, removing any neg- ativity and the weekday “set,” and ready you for the renewal that comes with Shabbat. Bodily cleanliness also has a spiritual effect. It is hard to feel spiritually pure when you are physically unclean; conversely, being clean in body natural conduces to a feeling of spiritual cleanliness.10

For those who hope to incorporate some sort of Sabbath time into their lives, we might suggest that they prepare by taking a hot bath, allowing themselves to linger in the water for a while. As is reflected in the above teaching, water—particularly hot water—can have healing and transformative qualities. As they relax in the water, preparing themselves physically, spiritually, and emotionally for the sacred time they are about to observe, their muscles relax, and stress is released.

Alternately, for a shorter period, they might simply do a ritual hand washing, to delineate sacred time from ordinary time. Even symboli- cally, pouring water over one’s hands can suggest a release from nega- tivity or a sense of letting go of the past (stress) and opening to the future (a new way of being). We might suggest singing a lovely melody set to a verse from the Prophet Isaiah: “Draw water in joy, from the living well. Mayyim Chayyim. Waters of Life. Shalom.”

The second suggestion is based on the traditional practice of wel- coming the Sabbath by lighting candles. The flame of a candle is a universal symbol of God’s Presence, as well as of the soul and the spiritual; indeed, there is something transformative that can happen when one lights candles, demarcating one period of time from another. One teaching, for example, says “On the holy Sabbath, whose inner meaning is the spiritual elevation of all the worlds .. . the

 

Sabbath candles serves to symbolize the elevation of the soul and of holiness.”10 We might suggest then, that to begin a period of sacred time, whether an hour or a day, our directees light a candle and sit in front of it for at least a few moments, meditating on the flame, open- ing to God’s Presence, or simply sitting quietly.

Finally, the third practice comes out of the traditional understanding of the Sabbath as a time to abstain from working. Over the centuries, to decide what was permitted and what was prohibited on the Sabbath, the ancient rabbis had to grapple with what exactly constituted work (the word for work in Hebrew is melakhah). While the details of their understanding is mainly relevant for Jews who fully observe a traditional Sabbath, the underlying principle they came up with is more broadly applicable: on the Sabbath, Jews are to abstain from the ordinary, task-oriented practices of the workweek in order to remember and feel gratitude for the gift of God’s creation. Thus Grunfeld, referencing the writings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, one of the foremost Jewish thinkers of the nineteenth century, writes, “Man .. . is engaged in a constant struggle to gain mastery over God’s creation, to bring nature under his control. By the use of his God-given intelligence, skills and energy, he has in large measure succeeded in this. He is thus constantly in danger of forgetting his own creaturehood—his utter and complete dependence on the Lord of all things. He tends to forget that the very powers he uses in his conquest of nature are derived from his Creator, in Whose service his life and work should be conducted.”12

Taking this principle into our work with directees, we may suggest that they create sacred time by unplugging for a period of time from all their devices: BlackBerry, computer, telephone, etc. For many this is a radical notion and takes some getting used to; it makes them realize that they do have some choice in whether they are always “on” or sometimes “off,” and forces them to confront their own addictions and attachments to these tools. We have found that for some, the prac- tice of unplugging is liberating, providing periods of quiet and calm.

THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL LITERATURE

There is an extensive and growing literature on the value of Buddhist meditation as a source of stress reduction and general wellness (see else- where in this volume). There is also an active literature that explores the efficacy of prayer, both from a specifically Christian and from a multi- denominational perspective. Yet as far as we know, there are no scientific

 

studies that have addressed specific Jewish practices of the form we have been discussing here.

A considerable amount of work, however, has been done over the last decade or two on the topic of healing from a Jewish perspective. This body of work may have some relevance for the subject of spiritual practice and well-being; as far as we know, however, scholarly studies have not yet been conducted. This would be an area that would be fruitful for further research and exploration.

APPLICATIONS

Our experience suggests that it is a select group of people who are drawn to a more contemplative approach to Jewish practice. But there are limited opportunities within the mainstream Jewish community for such people to study and experiment more deeply. Some more spiritu- ally oriented retreat centers do exist, and in addition to three or four programs training Jews in Spiritual Direction, there is also now an Institute for Jewish Spirituality, which introduces Jewish professionals (rabbis and cantors), and more recently, laypeople, to a more contem- plative approach to Judaism. This program is growing in popularity, and satellite programs are being offered at various places around the country.

It is currently hard to know to what extent this approach might be of interest to the majority of the Jewish population if it were to be more widely available. For such people, we would hope, there may be value in creating opportunities for ongoing learning and experi- mentation, as well as additional resources, such as this collection, for study.

CONCLUSION

The Jewish practices we have described in this chapter—prayer, meditation, and Sabbath time—are rich and multifaceted. While each of them clearly has correspondences in other traditions, the specifically Jewish manifestations we have discussed here have deep roots in Jewish history, texts, and culture. A Jewish person searching for solace, com- fort, and healing may well find it in non-Jewish practices; indeed, it is well known that many Western Jews now fill Buddhist and Hindu meditation halls well out of  proportion  to  their representation in the larger culture. But there is a kind of healing that we have both

 

experienced and witnessed that occurs when one makes peace with one’s own tradition and is able to find sustenance through it. It is the rare individual who, when looking for peace and stress reduction, is likely to embrace a full Jewish life. It is much more likely that such an individual may adopt one or more of the practices discussed here, and gain some of what she is looking for not only through the techniques themselves but through the power of their connection to a vast and life-giving tradition.

REFERENCES

1. Schur, T. G. (1993). Illness and crisis: Coping the Jewish way. New York: National Conference of Synagogue Youth, 79.

2. Plante, T. G., & Thoresen, C. E. (Eds.). (2007). Spirit, science, and health: How the spiritual mind fuels physical wellness (p. 6). Westport, CT: Praeger.

3. Muller, W. (1999). Sabbath: Finding rest, renewal, and delight in our busy lives. New York: Bantam Books.

4. Shapiro, S. L., & Walsh, R. (2007). Meditation: Exploring the farther reaches. In T. G. Plante & C. E. Thoresen (Eds.), Spirit, science, and health: How the spiritual mind fuels physical wellness (pp. 57–69). Westport, CT: Praeger. See p. 60.

5. Masters, K. S. (2007). Prayer and health. In T. G. Plante &  C. E. Thoresen (Eds.), Spirit, science, and health: How the spiritual mind fuels physical wellness (pp. 11–24). Westport, CT: Praeger.

6. Benson, H. (1975). The relaxation response. New York: Avon Books.

7. Jantos, M., & Kiat, H. (2007). Prayer as medicine: How much have we learned? Medical Journal of Australia, 186(10 Suppl.), S51–S53.

8. McCullough, M. E. (1995). Prayer and health:  Conceptual  issues, research review, and research agenda. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 23, 15–29.

9. Pert, C. B. (1999). Molecules of emotion: The science behind mind-body medicine. New York: Touchstone.

10. Buxbaum, Y. (1990). Jewish spiritual practices. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

11. Kaplan, A. (1978). Meditation and the Bible. New York: Samuel Weiser, 132–138.

12. Grunfeld, D. D. I. (2003). The Sabbath: A guide to its understanding and observance. Jerusalem: Feldheim, 16–17.

13. Mishkan T’filah: A Reform Siddur (2007). New York: Central Conference of American Rabbis.

14. Heschel, A. J. (1985). The Sabbath: Its meaning for modern man. New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, 13.

 

CHAPTER 8

Contemplative Practices in Action 5] Centering Prayer: A Method of Christian Meditation for Our Time

 5] Centering Prayer: A Method of Christian Meditation for Our Time  

Jane K. Ferguson

Thousands of people from a variety of backgrounds and ethnicities are gradually becoming aware of the Christian tradition of contem- plative prayer as a quieting practice in a fast-paced world. Having been exposed in the 1960s and 1970s to the value of meditation from Eastern religious practices, a steadily growing number of Christians are often surprised to learn that a meditation practice exists in their own faith tradition, based on the classical mystical theology of the church.1

This chapter focuses on a contemporary form of contemplative prayer known as Centering Prayer, which is based on the ancient Christian tradition of resting in God. The chapter explores the reli- gious context in which Centering Prayer arose, its historical roots in early Christianity, the method of the prayer, and its distinctive qual- ities and accompanying practices. Emerging empirical research about the spiritual and health effects of Centering Prayer is highlighted, including a study in progress on Centering Prayer’s effects on the brain’s neural networks and a published account of the prayer’s impact on stress. Everyday applications of Centering Prayer are reviewed within a variety of settings, from churches to prisons, hospitals to

Sections of Chapter 5 are reprinted with kind  permission  from  Springer  Science+Business Media:  Pastoral  Psychology,  “Centering  Prayer  as  a  Healing  Response  to  Everyday  Stress: A Psychological and Spiritual  Process,” June 9, 2009, Jane K. Ferguson, Eleanor W. Willemsen, and MayLynn V. Castaneto. Copyright (c) Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009.

 

psychotherapy sessions, and 12-step recovery workshops to college classrooms. Cross-cultural considerations of the practice in different settings also are touched upon.

Of course Centering Prayer is not the only form of Christian meditation. Modern teachers and authors who have helped advance understanding of a practical method to access the Christian mystical path are Benedictine monks and priests John Main and Laurence Freeman of the World Community for Christian Meditation, as well as Episcopal priest Tilden Edwards and psychiatrist and spiritual director Gerald May of the Shalem Institute. The contemplative prac- tice of the Jesus Prayer that grew out of Eastern Christianity in the early sixth century endures today. This chapter focuses on Centering Prayer because of my own familiarity with it as a trained presenter and my personal daily prayer practice the past nine years. I helped establish two Centering Prayer groups in my professional ministry at St. Mary Parish in Los Gatos, California, and conducted a doctoral study on the prayer’s spiritual and health effects in the lives of parishioners, discussed below.

RELIGIOUS CONTEXT

Centering Prayer’s emphasis on a personal relationship with God distinguishes it from some Eastern approaches to meditation that seek still-mind or observation of the present moment. While acknowl- edging this distinction, the terms contemplative prayer and meditation are used interchangeably in this chapter to recognize their similarity as a quieting practice.

Importantly, the Centering Prayer movement encourages dia- logue with the contemplative dimension of other religions and sacred traditions. In this climate, Centering Prayer developed in the mid- 1970s when Fr. Thomas Keating, then abbot of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, became engaged in interreligious dialogue with Buddhist and Hindu teachers and their students. What impressed Keating during these dialogues was a psycho-spiritual wisdom presented in Buddhist meditative disciplines that was not as readily available in the Christian contemplative framework in the same detailed and prac- tical way.2 Keating believed that he and his fellow Trappist monks, Basil Pennington and William Menninger, might be able  to  distill the essence of the Christian contemplative tradition into an accessible method, too, based on the Egyptian Desert experience that was the

 

basis of St. Benedict’s Rule. They were responding to Pope Paul VI’s request of monastics to share the contemplative life with the laity to encourage the spirit of church renewal promoted by Vatican II.

The method became known as Centering Prayer to reflect the classical contemplative experience of interior silence described in the sixteenth century by St. John of the Cross: “We are attracted to God as to our center, like a stone toward the center of the earth.”3 When through ongoing surrender to God we reach the very core of our being, there remains one more center that is deeper and greater than us, Keating adds. “This center is the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who dwells at the inmost center of our being. It is out of that Presence that our whole being emerges at every moment.”4

An estimated 150,000 people are now practicing Centering Prayer individually and in hundreds of small prayer groups throughout the United States and in 39 countries in Latin America, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. Keating’s books have been translated from English into French, Korean, Spanish, Croatian, Czech, and Polish. The Centering Prayer movement has grown largely through the grassroots efforts of laity and religious who are affiliated with Contemplative Outreach, the nonprofit organization Keating founded in 1984 to support the growing ecumenical base of practi- tioners from mainstream denominations, principally Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, and Presbyterian. Centering Prayer introduc- tory workshops are being offered on the Internet internationally, and Fr. Keating can be found on YouTube teaching the method of Center- ing Prayer.

While interest and practice of Centering Prayer is steadily growing, it generally is perceived as a peripheral practice within mainstream Christianity today, even though contemplative prayer was commonly practiced by devout lay men and women, as well as clergy, during the first 16 centuries of the church. Today’s ordained clergy and their congregants generally have not been introduced to the Christian con- templative prayer tradition in seminaries and churches, and so it is not well understood. Some fundamentalist sectors remain to be con- vinced that Centering Prayer is authentically Christian, viewing it as a New Age knock-off of Eastern meditation practices. Yet it is a rich and living vein of the Christian experience. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, for example, likens contemplative prayer to entering into the Eucharistic liturgy to abide in the dwelling place of the Lord: “We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to him as an offering to be purified

 

and transformed. .. . Contemplative prayer is silence, or  ‘silent love.’ ”5 Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, PhD, an Episcopal priest, author, and teacher of contemplative prayer, sees theological congruence between Centering Prayer and the biblical concept of kenosis (Greek for “to let go” or “to empty oneself”), which describes the very nature of Christ, who emptied himself to become human, and again in the Garden of Gethsemane turned his will over to God. This is the ges- ture of Centering Prayer: “It’s a surrender method, pure and simple, a practice based entirely on the prompt letting go of thoughts as they arise. I often think of it as kenosis in meditation form, a way of patterning into our being that continuously repeated gesture of, ‘let go,’ ‘let go,’ ‘let go,’ at the core of the path that Jesus himself walked.”6

HISTORICAL ROOTS OF CENTERING PRAYER

The biblical basis of Centering Prayer is Jesus’s intimate experience of God as Abba (Mark 14:36), his teaching of the prayer in secret (Matthew 6:6), and the final discourse of the Gospel of John describ- ing the divine indwelling (John 17:21–23a). Centering Prayer also is rooted in the spirituality expressed in the third and fourth centuries by the Desert Fathers and Mothers in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria who informed mainstream Christianity. The essence of desert spirituality is expressed by the term hesychia, the Greek word for rest as well as stillness or silence in prayer. This rest, however, has little to do with the absence of conflict or pain. It is a rest in God in the midst of intense daily struggle. Desert spirituality as an effective response to the tensions of daily existence came not through escape but from cultivating an interior “peace of the heart”7 during one’s trials. This spirituality is particularly fitting for contemporary Christians who seek respite from daily turmoil because “the real desert lies within the heart.”8 Here, one learns from the Desert Mother Syncletica of Egypt (380 to ca. 460) that “it is possible to be solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in a crowd of personal thoughts.”9

This awareness that one’s thinking has a profound effect on the body, mind, and soul is characteristic of the desert spirituality that was exported to Western Christendom by the desert monk John Cassian in the fifth century when he moved from Egypt to France and founded two monasteries near Marseilles. Cassian’s instructions on silent prayer, drawn from his interviews of other desert monks and chronicled in his

 

influential Conferences, focus on the prayer in secret that informs the method of Centering Prayer:

We need to be especially careful to follow the gospel precept which instructs us to go into our room and to shut the door so that we may pray to our Father. And this is how we can do it.

We pray in our room whenever we withdraw our hearts com- pletely from the tumult and the noise of our thoughts and our worries and when secretly and intimately we offer our prayers to the Lord.

We pray with the door shut when without opening our mouths and in perfect silence we offer our petitions to the One who pays no attention to words but who looks hard at our hearts. Hence, we must pray in utter silence.10

Contemplative spirituality became the norm for the devout Christian and for clergy. This slowly began to change over the centuries with a continuing shift in emphasis from the experiential to the intellectual in spirituality beginning with the rise of Scholasticism in Western Europe in the thirteenth century. With the suppression of monasteries in many European countries during the Reformation, and the Inquisition’s pros- ecution of individuals who practiced certain forms of quiet prayer that were deemed suspect by the church, contemplative prayer faded into a rarefied practice appropriate for cloistered monks well advanced on the spiritual journey but not for laity.

THE METHOD OF CENTERING PRAYER

To revive the Christian contemplative tradition within the wider church, Keating and his fellow monks developed an accessible method for modern-day seekers. The method of Centering Prayer is recom- mended for 20 minutes, two times a day to deepen one’s intimacy with God and to manifest the prayer’s healing effects in one’s life. These are the four guidelines:

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

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

 

3. When engaged with your thoughts, return ever so gently to the sacred word.

4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.

Guideline 1. The sacred word is a one- or –two-syllable word selected beforehand. It may be a word of scripture, like “Jesus,” “Peace,” “Abba,” “Mary,” “Shalom,” or some other word that is meaningful but does not stimulate thought—for example, “let go,” “calm,” or “be.” The sacred word is “sacred” not because of its meaning but because it sym- bolizes one’s intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.11 Generally, one does not change the sacred word after it has been chosen because with use over time it becomes infused in the depths of one’s being, leading one to enter more willingly into contemplative prayer.

Guideline 2. The posture is relaxed yet aware. One sits upright. The eyes are closed to reduce external stimulation. The basic disposition is receptive and diffuse. One silently introduces the sacred word, without using the lips or vocal cords. “The sacred word comes from the heart and reverberates in the imagination only momentarily.”12 The method of Centering Prayer is not a technique that can be used to automatically produce either a relaxation response or a mystical experience. Instead, it is both a method and a form of prayer in itself to help dispose the prac- titioner to receive the divine gift of contemplation by quieting the mind through the use of a sacred word.

Guideline 3. Thoughts refer to any perception. This might be a feeling, sensation, emotion, image, memory, reflection, concept, com- mentary, or even spiritual experience. When one becomes aware of “engaging,” that is to say, becoming overly interested in, any kind of thought other than the original intention to consent to God, one renews the intention by returning to the sacred word ever so gently. The loving attitude toward oneself in this prayer is based on advice given to spiritual seekers 400 years ago by St. Francis de Sales: “Act with great patience and gentleness toward ourselves. We must not be annoyed by distrac-

tions or our failures but start over without further ado.”13

Guideline 4. The additional two minutes serve as a bridge to ease back into ordinary awareness and sustain the effects of silence into the day.14

For those interested in exploring the method more deeply, read Keating’s Open Mind, Open Heart and Bourgeault’s Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (referenced).

 

THREE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

1. Centering Prayer is often called a prayer of intention rather than attention, making it a receptive as opposed to a concentra- tive form of meditation. The only “action” on the part of the practitioner is to consent to one’s intention to open to God by returning to the sacred word as necessary. The sacred word does not function as a mantra in that it is not constantly repeated or used to focus one’s attention. Instead, it is introduced only on those occasions when one is “engaged” in thoughts. Otherwise, one simply lets the thoughts drift by as one continues to rest in God.

2. Centering Prayer is an apophatic (Greek for negative), as opposed to cataphatic (positive) form of prayer within the two classic streams of Christian theology. Cataphatic prayer is positive because it is everything that can be said or imagined of God, typical of the prayers recited in church. Apophatic prayer, by contrast, is a prayer of “no-thinking,” that is, without images or ideas of  any kind,  asserting  the  ultimate incomprehensibility of God, the mystery of mysteries whom we meet in a cloud of unknowing like Moses did on Mount Sinai. Though distinct, cataphatic and apophatic forms of prayer are profoundly comple- mentary. Centering Prayer, for example, can enhance one’s expe- rience of spoken prayer and overall faith commitment.

3. Keating has developed a conceptual framework of Centering Prayer called the divine therapy to offer an understanding of the classical spiritual path of purification that is accessible to today’s laity. He uses the jargon of popular psychology to unpack the spiritual insights of Thomas  Aquinas,  Teresa  of  Avila,  and St. John of the Cross in light of the modern theory of the uncon- scious and developmental psychology. This has helped many people incorporate the Christian spiritual tradition more easily into their twenty-first-century lives.

Thus, while Centering Prayer may promote deep relaxation as a side effect it does not stop there: the deep rest one experiences in the prayer encourages the healing of an individual’s emotional wounds of a lifetime through the purification of the unconscious. This process of purification is itself prayer, “not a preparation for the (divine) rela- tionship but the relationship itself,”15 leading to one’s true self in

 

God, as St. Paul describes, “It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

Those interested in a more extensive presentation of the divine therapy may reference Keating’s Intimacy with God as well as a lecture he delivered at Harvard Divinity School on The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation.16 As an individual progresses in a regular practice of Centering Prayer, both psychotherapy and spiritual direction may be supportive adjuncts in helping to integrate this transformational process. While Centering Prayer does not appeal to everyone because of its radically receptive method it is available to all who are attracted to it.

ACCOMPANYING PRACTICES

The positive effects of Centering Prayer are to be found not so much in the actual prayer period but rather in the transformation of one’s attitudes and behaviors in daily life. Friends and co-workers often notice these changes before the practitioner does, for example, greater peacefulness, patience, kindness, wisdom, compassion, and a desire to serve others. To help extend the effects of the prayer into daily life, several other spiritual practices have been elaborated by Contemplative Outreach to accompany a Centering Prayer practice.

1. Cultivation of Silence, Solitude, and Service

These traditional values of Christian monks are translated in practi- cal ways for lay people who live and work in the world. Silence means avoiding making a lot of noise when one is walking, sitting, or work- ing, and refraining from unnecessary chatter or gossip in order to be tranquil and open to God’s presence. Solitude is not a withdrawal from ordinary life but taking moments apart like Jesus did when he withdrew from crowds to be with God, for it is in solitude that God renews one. Contemplative service is prayer in action. It is comprised of forming an intention to be open to God’s will as the “why” of one’s activity at a business meeting, for example, teaching a class, or reach- ing out to the homeless; and paying attention to “how” one is doing the activity through listening and presence, which allows one’s rela- tionship with God to be developed at the contemplative level even as one is actively engaged.17

 

2. Lectio Divina

One of the classical sources of Centering Prayer is the monastic practice of lectio divina, Latin for “sacred reading,” characterized by four interwoven moments: lectio (reading), meditatio (reflecting), oratio (praying), contemplatio (resting). The process involves a deep listening from one’s heart to the word of God in scripture, leading to moments of simply resting in God, beyond words and thoughts.

Practitioners of Centering Prayer often use lectio divina as a way to end a prayer period. The quiet time spent in Centering Prayer pre- pares one to savor scripture, or even a poem, more deeply, either indi- vidually or in small groups. At the small prayer group at my parish, for example, we practice lectio divina for a half hour after a 20-minute Centering Prayer period. The scriptural passage is selected from the lectionary for the upcoming Sunday Gospel, linking the prayer prac- tice to participants’ overall worship life.18

3. Welcoming Prayer

The Welcoming Prayer is a nonsitting practice known as “consent on the go.” It describes a way to surrender to God in the present moment during the activity of daily life, inspired by the eighteenth-century spiritual classic, Abandonment to Divine Providence, by Jean-Pierre de Caussade. The method of the Welcoming Prayer includes noticing the feelings, emotions, thoughts, and sensations in one’s body, welcoming them, and then letting them go. Practicing the Welcoming Prayer helps a person respond instead of react to the present moment. I have found it to be useful in transforming inner turmoil to greater peace and accep- tance when I am emotionally upset. Here is the method:

• Focus, feel, and sink into the feelings, emotions, thoughts, sensa- tions, and commentaries in your body.

• Welcome the divine indwelling in the feelings, emotions, thoughts, commentaries or sensations in your body by saying, “Welcome, welcome, welcome.”

• Let go by repeating the following sentences:

“I let go of my desire for security, approval, and control.” “I let go of my desire to change this situation or person.”

• Repeat the prayer as often as you need it.

 

4. Active Prayer Sentence

The active prayer is also a nonsitting practice involving a phrase or short sentence drawn from scripture and comprised of five to nine sylla- bles, which one says aloud or silently in harmony with one’s heartbeat. Examples include, “O Lord, come to my assistance”; “Abide in my love”; “Jesus, my light and my love.” The advantage of repeating the active prayer phrase frequently during the day is that, “it eventually becomes a ‘tape’ similar to the ‘tapes’ that accompany one’s upsetting emotions. When this occurs, the aspiration has the remarkable effect of erasing the old tapes, thus providing a neutral zone in which common sense or the Spirit of God can suggest what should be done.”19

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

While extensive research exists on the health benefits of Eastern religious practices, only a small number of experimental studies have explored the bio-psycho-social correlates of Judeo-Christian prac- tices. Empirical research is beginning to emerge on the promising impact of Centering Prayer, exemplified in three instances:

1. The subtle but distinguishing feature of intention in Centering Prayer is being studied by Michael Spezio, a social neuroscientist at Scripps College and the California Institute of Technology. Spezio, who is also an ordained Presbyterian minister, is investi- gating the effects of Centering Prayer on the brain’s neural net- works, using magnetic resonance imaging and other methods to discover how the brain contributes to such complex activities as returning to one’s intention to be with the divine in Centering Prayer and how this compares to an attentive practice. Spezio’s hypothesis is that the brain activation in Centering Prayer is statis- tically different than an attentive practice. Experimental research is in progress.

2. A study funded by the Templeton Foundation and the Fetzer Insti- tute is investigating how involvement in spiritual practices such as Centering Prayer—and the lay communities that support them— influence people’s health, life, and well-being over a one-year period. The study, called the “Spiritual Engagement Project,” is directed by psychologists John Astin and Cassandra Vieten of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. It involves 50 practitioners of

 

Centering Prayer, as well as 100 practitioners from two other groups, Religious Science/Science of Mind, and Contemplative Non-Dual Inquiry.

3. A published study based on a doctoral dissertation by this author, in collaboration with Eleanor Willemsen, PhD, professor of psy- chology and advanced statistics at Santa  Clara University,  and May Lynn Castan˜ eto, a PhD candidate in psychology at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, reports the impact on Catholic parishioners (n = 15) of a three-month program focused on Cen- tering Prayer.20 The study explores the  connection  between health, stress, and the unconscious  using Keating’s paradigm of the purification of the unconscious and psychologist Richard Lazarus’s theory of stress.  It hypothesizes that a  regular practice of resting in the arms of a loving God may inspire an unburdening of emotional wounds from the past, which in turn may lower a per- son’s susceptibility to stress.

To test this hypothesis, participants received guidance in twice-daily Centering Prayer. The project used quantitative and qualitative mea- sures to assess the prayer’s effects. The quantitative measures included Kenneth Pargament’s Relationship-With-God Coping Styles (Col- laborative, Self-Directing, Deferring). Qualitative measures involved open-ended questionnaires and observation of participants by  the author and an interdisciplinary team. A comparison group of other parishioners (n = 15) filled out pre- and postmeasures but did not have a Centering Prayer experience.

The study concludes that participants in the first three months of their introduction to a twice-daily Centering Prayer practice experienced:

(a) Change in their style of relationship to the divine as measured by an increased Collaborative Style. The Collaborative Style is based on an interactive relationship with God that is consis- tent with Centering Prayer’s theological grounding where those praying establish an increasingly intimate relationship with God. It is associated with reduced stress and the greatest overall sense of well-being among the three styles.

(b) Healing of stress through the effects of this relationship, corroborated by qualitative results indicating signs of purifica- tion of the unconscious and positive coping behavior. For example, unexpected tears emerged “all of a sudden” for one participant—“I just needed to let go and let it flow.” Several

 

participants said thoughts “came up, and were let go,” of child- hood flashbacks and of people and events that they had not entertained in years.

Participants relayed that their detachment from thoughts during the prayer period also became a habit in daily life as they disengaged from reactive patterns of behavior with their children, co-workers, and spouses. This resulted in less conflict and greater intimacy in their interactions with others, which indicates an overall reduction in stress since interpersonal relationships are a  prime  source  of  source.21 For example, one participant reported the experience of a double awareness of her outward behavior on the one hand, and her inward, observing self, on the other: “I’m not as ‘engaged’ in my children’s dramas like I used to be. I can step back more, and if I do start arguing unproductively with my kids, I can catch myself sooner, and stop.”

Many of the participants found that in letting go of their expectations for stress relief or other goals, they were better able to relax by surren- dering to God, which brought them rewards beyond their expectations. This included a desire for a relationship with God in and of itself.

APPLICATIONS

It is primarily laity who practice the prayer and have found ways to share it in a variety of settings as church members and as psychothera- pists; volunteers in prisons and 12-step recovery workshops; health professionals in hospitals and educators in high schools, universities, and seminaries. Here are some examples:

TEACHING MODEL IN A UNIVERSITY CLASSROOM

Vincent Pizzuto, PhD, professor of theology and religious studies at the Jesuit University of San Francisco, teaches Centering Prayer in his semester-long course, “Mystery of God.” The course involves thirteen three-and-a-half-hour sessions that revolve around the theology of Keating with references to his inspiration from the scriptural and tradi- tional roots of Christian mysticism. Each class opens with a 10-minute Centering Prayer group practice. This is followed by lecture and dia- logue on required readings that include Keating’s books and texts by other authors such as Martin Laird’s Into the Silent Land and selections from Harvey  Eagan’s Anthology of Christian Mysticism. A series of

 

20-minute DVDs featuring interviews with Thomas Keating sets the weekly class themes of Centering Prayer, the human condition, the pur- suit of happiness, sin, suffering, redemption, Trinitarian love, divine indwelling, and divine transformation. The course also invites students to attend a day-long field trip in nearby Marin County to hike in meditative silence on nature trails leading to a mountaintop. The point of the trip is to get students away from cell phones and text messaging in order to experience nature as a sacred place to encounter the divine. Grading is based on class participation (40%), written critical reflec- tions on all of the readings (50%), and a final exam (10%) in which stu- dents are observed practicing Centering Prayer for 15 minutes in order to demonstrate their “skill set” of being able to quiet the body, mind, and emotions—to “be” instead of “do.” Students especially appreciated integrating Centering Prayer meditation into the classroom experience because it helped them experience the theological concepts and ideas that they were studying, and appropriate the course material on a deeper

level contributing to their own personal development and learning.

CENTERING PRAYER SUPPORT GROUPS

There are Centering Prayer groups worldwide to support individ- uals in the daily practice of the prayer. Most of them meet in churches, generally for an hour a week, but Centering Prayer groups also gather in prisons, hospitals, and other locations. Typically, groups range from 6 to 12 participants, with chairs arranged in a circle in a quiet place. Formats include a 20-minute period of Centering Prayer followed by either lectio divina (described above) or a walking meditation in which participants walk slowly and mindfully before returning to a second Centering Prayer period.

IN A PRISON

Prison outreach has been integral to the Centering Prayer movement for decades, currently involving 187 volunteers who teach contemplative prayer to inmates in 69 state, county, and federal prisons across the United States. Reduced recidivism and a lessening of violent behavior among inmates who practice Centering Prayer has been observed by prison staff, but firm statistics have not been compiled to corroborate this. Savario Mungo began volunteering in prisons after his retirement as a college professor. He now leads a Centering Prayer group attended

 

by 180 inmates of different ethnicities and religious backgrounds who gather each week and sit together in silence in the gym at the McConnell Prison Unit in Beeville, Texas: “It’s amazing how they respond to silence because it gets them away from the chaos. This is a private prayer they can do on their own.” Prisoners themselves have written about the inner freedom and healing they have found through a Centering Prayer practice.

IN A HOSPITAL

At Santa Fe’s Christus Saint Vincent Regional Medical Center, hospital chaplain Susan Rush leads a weekly Centering Prayer group on Wednesday evenings for patients, their caregivers, hospital staff, and the wider community.  Participants have found  the practice to be restorative on all levels in a hectic medical setting. The chaplain also teachers the prayer to her hospice patients: “In Centering Prayer, we consent to God’s presence and action within. In dying, it is the same consent, the very same surrender. We do the prayer in life, we become the prayer in death.” At the final stages of death, Rush does not teach Centering Prayer to patients, but through her own practice of the prayer she is able to extend to the dying her own compassionate and contemplative presence.

AS AN ADJUNCT IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

Len Sperry, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Florida Atlantic University, used Centering Prayer and other spiritual interventions in his treatment of a 45-year-old Roman Catholic woman with chronic depression and an eating disorder.22 The focus of the therapy was reducing the stressors related to the patient’s symptoms. Several spiritual disciplines were employed during the three-year psychotherapeutic treatment process, including Centering Prayer, a focusing body awareness practice, journaling, and participation in a faith community. Sperry attributes the spiritual practices to the quieting effect that helped derail his patient’s ruminative, internal mental chatter. At the beginning of therapy, the woman indicated that her image of God was, “judge and taskmaster .. . emotionally withholding, unsupportive, and critical.”23 By the end of therapy this image gradually changed to that of a “smiling, caring grandmother.”24 Her depression and eating disorder lessened considerably and she stopped taking antidepressants.

 

12-STEP RECOVERY

Contemplative Outreach offers Centering Prayer workshops for people in 12-Step Recovery groups. The 11th Step seeks “through prayer and meditation to increase our conscious contact with God.” Workshop presenters are people in recovery themselves, and their vocabulary is tailored to the culture of Alcoholics Anonymous, for example, surrendering to God as a Higher Power. The purpose is to integrate the 12 Steps with the Christian contemplative tradition of Centering Prayer in order to elaborate a journey of healing. Recom- mended further reading is Keating’s Divine Therapy and Addiction: Centering Prayer and the Twelve Steps.

CROSS-CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

While the method of Centering Prayer itself remains the same across cultures, it sometimes is contextualized differently depending on the country or denomination. For example, a Pentecostal pastor found that his congregation did not like the term Centering Prayer and so he renamed it “Abiding Prayer,” which they embraced. In France Center- ing Prayer is called Prier dans le Secret (Prayer in Secret).

The choice of language in conveying the theology of the prayer can be crucial in making it “tasty” enough to try, observes Hee-Soon Kwon, professor of pastoral care and counseling at the Methodist Theo- logical University in Seoul, Korea, where Kwon has offered Centering Prayer to seminary students and the wider community. Kwon consid- ered the first Korean translation of Open Mind, Open Heart to be abrasive to some South Korean Protestants because of its Catholic terminology. So she translated a second version with a Protestant sensibility. For example in South Korea, the Catholic name for God is “God in Heaven” (Hanunim), while the Protestant name is “Only One God” (Hananim).

At a workshop in the Philippines, Fr. Carl Arico, cofounder of Contemplative Outreach, remembers needing to use the affective practice of lectio divina first in order to engage participants in Centering Prayer; whereas in Great Britain, his audience preferred a more intel- lectual theological discussion of the prayer’s value before they warmed up to the prayer.

One has to be open-minded in teaching the prayer in order to meet people where they are, concludes Isabel Castellanos of Exten- sio´ n  Contemplativa  Internacional,  the  Spanish-speaking  arm  of

 

Contemplative Outreach. Latin America has a strong charismatic move- ment and sometimes people come to the Centering Prayer workshops looking for experiences when they begin the prayer: “ ‘I see these clouds and angels,’ they say. ‘Well if you see clouds and angels, you let them go and return to the sacred word,’ ” Isabel responds. “ ‘What?!’ ” partic- ipants incredulously ask. “Yes,” Isabel replies, ever so gently.

CONCLUSION

Centering Prayer is a form of Christian meditation that provides a practical way to rest in God in a hectic world and offers a psycho- spiritual healing paradigm that has been embraced by thousands of individuals from a variety of backgrounds, ethnicities, denominations, and countries. Centering Prayer’s ancient biblical and theological sources prove it to be an integral Christian practice that is easily acces- sible using four guidelines, with recommended accompanying daily practices. Promising empirical research into the prayer’s beneficial bio-psycho-spiritual effects include its healing impact on stress. The relevance of Centering Prayer to today’s world is shown in examples of its applications inside the church setting and outside in a university classroom, psychotherapeutic treatment plan, prison, hospital, and 12-Step recovery workshop.

The cross-cultural aspects of this prayer, while lightly touched upon in this chapter, open a vista to research that remains to be done in this area, for example, looking at the importance of cultural context in the appeal of beginning and sustaining a contemplative prayer practice. Another promising area is exploration of the similarities of the theologies that undergird the meditation practices of different mystical traditions, for example the emptying practices in Buddhist

S´ u¯ nyata¯, Jewish Ayin, and Christian Kenosis.25 What implications does

a shared experience of silence through different meditation methods have in healing a world broken by wars and theologies?

REFERENCES

1. For a scholarly treatment of the ancient origins of Christian mysticism, see McGinn, B. (2007). The foundations of Christian mysticism: Vol. 1. The presence of God: A history of Western Christian mysticism. New York: Crossroad. For a pas- toral treatment of the subject, see Arico, C. (1999). A taste of silence: A guide to the fundamentals of centering prayer. New York: Continuum.

 

2. Miles-Yepez, N. (Ed.) (2005). The common heart: An experience of interre- ligious dialogue (p. 41). New York: Lantern Books.

3. Kavanaugh, K., & Rodriguez, O. (Trans.) (1991). The collected works of St. John of the Cross (p. 645). Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies.

4. Keating, T. (1981). The heart of the world: An introduction to contemplative Christianity (p. 233). New York: Crossroad.

5. Catechism of the Catholic Church. (1997). 2nd ed. (pp. 651–652). United States Catholic Conference. Washington, DC: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

6. Bourgeault, C. (2008). The wisdom Jesus: Transforming heart and mind— a new perspective on Christ and His Message (p. 142). Boston: Shambhala.

7. Wong, J. (2005). The Jesus Prayer and inner stillness. Religion East and West, 5, 86.

8. Ibid., 88.

9. Swan, L. (2001). The forgotten desert mothers: Sayings, lives, and stories of early Christian women (p. 58). New York: Paulist Press.

10. Cassian, J. (1985). Conferences (pp. 123–124). C. Luibheid, Trans. New York: Paulist Press.

11. Keating, T. (1986). Open mind, open heart: The contemplative dimension of the Gospel (p. 43). New York: Continuum.

12. Keating, T. (1994). Intimacy with God (p. 68). New York: Crossroad.

13. Keating, T. (2008). A traditional blend. In Spirituality, contemplation, & transformation: Writings on centering prayer (p. 5). New York: Lantern Books.

14. Keating, T. (n.d.). The method of centering prayer: The prayer of consent. [Brochure]. Butler, NJ: Contemplative Outreach. Available online at http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/site/PageServer?pagename

=about_practices_centering.

15. Bourgeault, C. (2004). Centering prayer and inner awakening (p. 94). Cambridge: Cowley.

16. Keating, T. (1999). The human condition: Contemplation and transfor- mation. The Harold M. Wit Lectures, Harvard University Divinity School. New York: Paulist Press.

17. Frenette, D. (Speaker). (n.d.). Contemplative service: Intention/ attention. In The practices that bring the fruits of centering prayer into daily life (CD recording available at http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/site/ PageServer?pagename=store). Butler, NJ: Contemplative Outreach.

18. A brochure published by Contemplative Outreach outlining a format for both individual and group practice of lectio divina may be found online at http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/site/PageServer?pagename

=about_practices_lectio.

19. Keating, Open mind, open heart (pp. 133–134).

20. Ferguson, J., Willemsen, E., & Castan˜ eto, May Lynn V. (2009). Centering prayer as a healing response to everyday stress: A psychological and spiritual process. Pastoral Psychology, DOI: 10.1007/s11089-009-0225-7. See also J. K. Ferguson. (2006). Centering prayer as a healing response to everyday

 

stress at a Roman Catholic parish in Silicon Valley. Unpublished doctoral disserta- tion, Pacific School of Religion, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.

21. Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophic living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness (p. 368). New York: Dell.

22. Sperry, L. (2004). Integrative spiritually oriented psychotherapy: A case study of spiritual and psychosocial transformation. In P. Scott Richards (Ed.), Casebook for a spiritual strategy in counseling and psychotherapy (pp. 141–152). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

23. Ibid., 144.

24. Ibid., 146.

25. Cynthia Bourgeault is  exploring  the  similarities  of  contemplative prayer practices from different world religions in her work at Spiritual Paths Institute in Santa Barbara, California, http://www.spiritualpaths.net/.

 

CHAPTER 6

A Monk in the World by Wayne Teasdale - Ebook | Scribd

A Monk in the World by Wayne Teasdale - Ebook | Scribd


Start reading
Remove from Saved
Add to list

Download to app
Share

A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life


By Wayne Teasdale

3.5/5 (3 ratings)
286 pages
10 hours

Included in your membership!
at no additional cost



Also available as...Audiobook

Description
The Mystic Heart chronicled Brother Wayne Teasdale's journey into a multifaceted spirituality blending his traditional Catholic training and the Eastern way of sannyasa (Indian monkhood). A Monk in the World tells what the journey has meant for him — living as a monk outside the monastery, integrating teachings from the world's religions with his own Catholic training, combining his vigorous spiritual practice with the necessities of making a living, and pursuing a course of social justice in a major American city. In telling his story, Teasdale shows how others can find their own internal monastery and bring spiritual practice into their busy lives.
New Age & Spirituality
All categories
PUBLISHER:
New World Library
RELEASED:
Sep 24, 2010
ISBN:
9781577317043
FORMAT:
Book

---

About the author

Wayne Teasdale

Wayne Teasdale was a lay monk and best-selling author of The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions, Bede Griffiths: An Introduction to His Interspiritual Thought, and A Monk in the World. As a member of the Bede Griffiths International Trust, Teasdale was an adjunct professor at DePaul University, Columbia College, and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Wayne Teasdale was editor of Awakening the Spirit, Inspiring the Soul: 30 Stories of Interspiritual Discovery.

===

A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life

 Want to Read

Rate this book

1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars

Preview

A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life

by Wayne Teasdale, Ken Wilber (Foreword)

 3.90  ·   Rating details ·  154 ratings  ·  16 reviews

The Mystic Heart chronicled Brother Wayne Teasdale's journey into a multifaceted spirituality blending his traditional Catholic training and the Eastern way of sannyasa (Indian monkhood). A Monk in the World tells what that journey has meant for him -- living as a monk outside the monastery, integrating teachings from the world's religions with his own Catholic training, combining his vigorous spiritual practice with the necessities of making a living, and pursuing a course of social justice in a major American city. In telling his story, Teasdale shows how others can find their own "internal monastery" and bring spiritual practice into their busy lives.

(less)

GET A COPY

KoboOnline Stores ▾Book Links ▾

Paperback, 237 pages

Published September 18th 2003 by New World Library (first published May 2002)

Original TitleA Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life

ISBN1577314379  (ISBN13: 9781577314370)

Edition LanguageEnglish

Other Editions (8)

A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life 

A Monk in the World: Finding the Sacred in Daily Life 

A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life 

111x148 

A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life

All Editions | Add a New Edition | Combine

...Less DetailEdit Details

FRIEND REVIEWS

Recommend This Book None of your friends have reviewed this book yet.

READER Q&A

Ask the Goodreads community a question about A Monk in the World

54355902. uy100 cr1,0,100,100 

Ask anything about the book

Be the first to ask a question about A Monk in the World

LISTS WITH THIS BOOK

I Am That by Nisargadatta MaharajThe Power of Now by Eckhart TolleTao Te Ching by Lao TzuA New Earth by Eckhart TolleThe Ultimate Human Secrets - The Hidden Power in our Mysterio... by Ramzi Najjar

Best Books on Spiritual Enlightenment / Awakening

342 books — 449 voters

Quiet by Susan CainThe Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen ChboskyJane Eyre by Charlotte BrontëThe Book Thief by Markus ZusakThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Books for the INFJ

614 books — 328 voters

More lists with this book...

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Showing 1-30

 Average rating3.90  ·  Rating details ·  154 ratings  ·  16 reviews

Search review text

All Languages

More filters | Sort order

Sejin,

Sejin, start your review of A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life

Write a review

Mary Overton

Apr 01, 2011Mary Overton added it  ·  review of another edition

"I distinguish between two forms of awareness - horizontal and vertical. Vertical awareness always relates to the transcendent Mystery, while the horizontal relates to our relationships to others, whether they be people, other sentient beings, the natural world, or even the entire cosmos. Most important, horizontal and vertical awareness become integrated in the contemplative process as it matures, when we encounter the Divine in everyone and everything. And both directions display themselves in four dimensions of knowing, each implicating and reflecting the others like a hologram.

"These are the four elements present in awareness: metaphysical, epistemological, mystical, and moral dimensions - four ways of revealing, or 'translating,' the mystery of the Divine and applying it to our human condition. First, the metaphysical, as grounded in the transcendent One, is limitless vertical truth. The epistemological, or what we can know, is moment by moment a horizontal reality pointing to its vertical Source. The mystical, from the horizontal into the boundless, is the spacious verticality of the Divine. Finally, the moral combines transcendent vertical awareness with the horizontal - appropriate attitudes and actions in everyday life. In its spiritual expression, developing from its moral character, awareness is love in action, and the attributes of limitless sensitivity, kindness, compassion and mercy - actual acts of living." pp.198-9 (less)

flag4 likes · Like  · comment · see review

Katy

Jun 02, 2015Katy rated it really liked it

In the Book a Monk in the World, Wayne Teasdale is the main narrator. He became a lay monk and mainly combined the traditions of Christianity and Hinduism, and took Sannyasa. Most of his drive and determination came from the fact that he was encouraged to explore the spiritual dimensions of any religion. In this book, he connects with us by explaining the monk within us and how we can practice this spirituality wherever we are. He lived outside of the Monastery for the majority of this book.

He ...more

flag2 likes · Like  · comment · see review

Amy

Dec 01, 2016Amy rated it it was ok

I wish I could rate this book higher but the book didn't live up to its name "A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life". Very few chapters dealt with the practicalities of living a contemplative life in a secular world. Most of the book consisted of the author's options on what should be done concerning the Catholic Church, social justice, interfaith sharing, friendship, and helping the homeless. All very important topics, but the author lost me on chapter 3, where he states that the Catholic Church should be more open in practicing and exploring other faiths (among other options on what the Church should do). I disagree, I think definitely there should be dialogue and support between all religions however the Church should not adopt practices from other religions, the Catholic Church should focus on becoming solidly Christian, following the Gospel. Christianity has such a rich history of Saints that we don't need to look elsewhere, all we need is to follow Christ. I enjoyed a few of his chapters: his intro was interesting and chapter 2 where he writes about spiritual practice and experiences was fun to read, and I enjoyed chapter 8 about the contemplative understanding of suffering. My opinion is that if you follow Christ, I don't think you need to read this book. If you are still searching, it might be an interesting read. (less)

flag1 like · Like  · 1 comment · see review

Alison 

Jan 03, 2013Alison rated it liked it

I liked the fact that this book sheds light on the modern endeavor to live as a "lay monk" or nun in the midst of society/the world, though I found that he veered off into discussions of interspirituality that were redundant or elementary for me based on my life experience. Rather than a discussion of inclusion and extraction and the universality of religion, I would have liked more to read of the every day challenges of incorporating spiritual practice and perspectives, particularly a chapter that I was eager to read and seemed to have missed somehow, on "dealing with challenging people". (less)

flag1 like · Like  · 5 comments · see review

Kate Bednarski

Jan 30, 2011Kate Bednarski rated it really liked it

Shelves: on-hold

Great read from an important interfaith voice with a direct message to me about my destiny

flag2 likes · Like  · comment · see review

Kathy

Jun 02, 2019Kathy rated it liked it

Shelves: inspirational

The author has four main interests in this book - contemplation and meditation, inter-religion dialog, homelessness and Tibet. He definitely connects the first two to the second two world problems. I think the author's message is important, but the book did not really resonate with me. He seemed very dry to me. (less)

flagLike  · comment · see review

David Edgren

Jul 09, 2021David Edgren rated it it was amazing

This book inspired me. What a wonderful way to walk the path of this life - as a monk in the world. Filled with great stories and interspirituality that challenges all forms of personal, tribal, denominational and faith-based elitism. I'm very glad I read this book! (less)

flagLike  · comment · see review

Christian Deysson

Jan 24, 2021Christian Deysson rated it liked it

Das Buch hält leider nicht wirklich, was der Titel verspricht: Die ersten Kapitel lesen sich zwar sehr gut und mit spirituellem Gewinn, doch dann driftet der Autor vom Thema ab und schreibt m.E. zu viel über Hinduismus und Glaubensbezüge zwischen Katholizismus und östlichen Religionen.

flagLike  · comment · see review

Edward

Apr 11, 2016Edward rated it liked it

A monk in the world? Isn't residing in an isolated monastery the habitat of a monk? Not necessarily according to Teasdale, himself a monk, who argues that we do too much categorizing and that the monastery and the world can complement one other. The world, specifically the city, is where most people conduct their everyday lives, but at the same time can engage in the life of a monk - interludes of silence, meditation, and a compassionate reaching out to others. (less)

flag2 likes · Like  · comment · see review

David

Apr 01, 2016David rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2016-nonfiction

"Monk in the World: Finding the Sacred in Daily Life" by Wayne Teasdale was dull. It wasn't that I disagreed with Teasdale: much if not most I did agree with. I really wish Teasdale made much more use of examples and stories. He didn't. And I found it tough going with writing that was too often vague. (less)

flagLike  · comment · see review

Leanne Hunt

Mar 23, 2012Leanne Hunt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: religion-and-spirituality

I consider this book to be essential reading for anyone who is struggling to live out his faith in a meaningful way in the world. It is informative, inspirational and challenging,calling the reader to an ever higher level of awareness and action. A definite candidate for rereading.

flag1 like · Like  · comment · see review

Emillam

Jan 22, 2008Emillam rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone interested in pursuing their spiritual journey

A great guide for better understanding Interspirituality and the practices for being a contemplative within society....Superb!

flag1 like · Like  · comment · see review

Noel

Jan 07, 2011Noel rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction, traded-through-paperbackswap

have tried to read this and couldn't get into it. Will try again this winter.

Did finally read and thought it was just OK. (less)

flagLike  · comment · see review

Kris

Jan 06, 2008Kris rated it really liked it

This is a wonderful book that is written by a Catholic Monk living in Chicago, but that transcends spiritual traditions.

flag1 like · Like  · comment · see review

Cathy

Jan 04, 2009Cathy rated it liked it

What does true spirituality look like? It is not running from reality. It is becoming in reality. This book gives me clues as to what this may look like.

flag1 like · Like  · comment · see review

==

A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life Paperback – September 18, 2003

by Wayne Teasdale  (Author), Ken Wilber (Foreword)

4.1 out of 5 stars    35 ratings

See all formats and editions

Kindle

from $9.99

Read with Our Free App

 

Paperback

$9.95 

32 Used from $1.48

2 New from $10.99

1 Collectible from $4.87

In A Monk in the World, Teasdale explores what Griffiths’ charge has meant for him — to live as a monk outside the monastery, to integrate teachings from the world’s religions with his own Catholic training, to combine his vigorous spiritual practice with the necessities of making a living and pursuing a course of social justice in a big American city—as well as how readers can find their own spiritual path amidst the rigors of everyday life. Along the way, Teasdale explores the real world topics of friendship; time, work, and money; the problem and opportunity of the homeless; a contemplative understanding of suffering; the struggle to promote personal and social change; as well as the as the role of the church and nature in building spiritual understanding.

Building on the success and insights of his first book, The Mystic Heart, Teasdale gives a compelling glimpse of the unique spiritual path he has followed, and how everyone can find their own internal monastery and bring spiritual practice into their busy lives.

Read less

 Report incorrect product information.

Print length

224 pages

Language

English

Next page

Customers who viewed this item also viewedPage 1 of 2Page 1 of 2

Previous page

The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions

The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions

Wayne Teasdale

4.7 out of 5 stars 114

Paperback

107 offers from $1.35

Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Thich Nhat Hanh

4.8 out of 5 stars 3,058

Paperback

$14.29

Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jun 21

$9.47 shipping

The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

Abraham H. Maslow

4.6 out of 5 stars 125

Paperback

60 offers from $1.80

Next page

Customers who bought this item also boughtPage 1 of 11Page 1 of 11

Previous page

The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions

The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions

Wayne Teasdale

4.7 out of 5 stars 114

Paperback

107 offers from $1.35

The Mystic Hours: A Daybook of Inspirational Wisdom and Devotion

The Mystic Hours: A Daybook of Inspirational Wisdom and Devotion

Wayne Teasdale

4.1 out of 5 stars 11

Hardcover

21 offers from $2.24

Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Thich Nhat Hanh

4.8 out of 5 stars 3,058

Paperback

$14.29

Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jun 21

$9.47 shipping

Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation (Sacred Activism)

Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation (Sacred Activism)

Adam Bucko

4.4 out of 5 stars 50

Paperback

59 offers from $3.09

The Cloud of Unknowing: With the Book of Privy Counsel

The Cloud of Unknowing: With the Book of Privy Counsel

Carmen Acevedo Butcher

4.7 out of 5 stars 331

Paperback

42 offers from $7.00

Next page

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This wonderful book helps us learn how to integrate the fundamental principles of contemplative spirituality into our modern lives."

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1577314379

Publisher ‏ : ‎ New World Library; 53078th edition (September 18, 2003)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781577314370

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1577314370

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.52 x 0.73 x 8.42 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,190,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#11,532 in Catholicism (Books)

#47,832 in New Age & Spirituality

#74,986 in Christian Living (Books)

Customer Reviews: 4.1 out of 5 stars    35 ratings

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Follow

Wayne Teasdale

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Sponsored 

How would you rate your experience shopping for books on Amazon today?

Very poor Neutral Great

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars

4.1 out of 5

35 global ratings

5 star

 48%

4 star

 28%

3 star

 14%

2 star

 4%

1 star

 6%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Write a customer review

Sponsored 

Read reviews that mention

spiritual traditions great book teasdale spirituality interspirituality living catholic monk

Top reviews

Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

Emil Toth

5.0 out of 5 stars Walking in Christ's footsteps

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2009

Verified Purchase

Br. Wayne Teasdale inspires and encourages us to lead the mystic life, while living a life outside the walls of an abbey or convent. He is a loving revolutionist who entices us to be more than we thought we could be. His exemplary life is expressed beautifully within the confins of the book's covers. Br. Teasdale has chosen to walk in Christ's footsteps. I've walked next to him and was awed by the sincerity and kindness he shared with those in his 'neighborhood'. This world needs more men and women who want to incorporate his ideals into their lives. Teasdale has left us with his love and understanding of what we can aspire to. The book is a wonderful read.

BATU: The Transformation

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse

Brian

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2020

Verified Purchase

Great book. Neatly explores mysticism for those living in the world/outside of a monastery. And a parallel exploration of interspirituality. His familiarity with other interspirituality leaders is an important aspect of this book. He writes as a Catholic. However, since he is about as open minded a Catholic as might be found, his Catholicity will likely not trouble readers with an interspirituality bent.

Helpful

Report abuse

Alexandra Hepburn

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and supportive

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

Well worth the read, by a well-respected advocate of interspirituality and dedication to the spiritual life. His own experience, and inspiration for others seeking to live a spiritual life in the modern world.

Helpful

Report abuse

Sheldon

5.0 out of 5 stars Interspirituality

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2013

Verified Purchase

I like the simple way in which Teasedale moves to

express the beauty of diversity we experience in

the presence of the divine. I felt the best chapter

was the one on "Interspirituality." It is so good

that he did the work to show us how to go about

being faithful in our relationships with friends of

other religions.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse

STACYB

5.0 out of 5 stars Being a Monk in the modern day world

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2013

Verified Purchase

This was an excellent recounting of his personal experiences of trying the live the dedicated Christian life in the real world. He believes passionately that monks should be in the real world contributing (as Christ did) to the welfare of their fellow men. He does not see the need to hide in a monastary away from real life. He compared it to living in a hot house, which is an apt metaphor for the traditional monk's life.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse

Jennifer C.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent product!!!

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

Excellent product!!!

Helpful

Report abuse

robert hart

1.0 out of 5 stars Chock full of Anti-Communist Propaganda while at the same time ignoring Western Imperialism

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

I assume he was just misinformed or brainwashed.

Helpful

Report abuse

Michael T. McMahon

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

Excellent. Thank you.

Helpful

Report abuse

See all reviews

Top reviews from other countries

Amy VG

2.0 out of 5 stars didn't live up to it's title

Reviewed in Canada on December 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

I wish I could rate this book higher but the book didn't live up to its name "A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life". Very few chapters dealt with the practicalities of living a contemplative life in a secular world. Most of the book consisted of the author's options on what should be done concerning the Catholic Church, social justice, interfaith sharing, friendship, and helping the homeless. All very important topics, but the author lost me on chapter 3, where he states that the Catholic Church should be more open in practicing and exploring other faiths (among other options about what the Church should do). I disagree, I think definitely there should be dialogue and support between all religions however the Church should not adopt practices from other religions, the Catholic Church should focus on becoming solidly Christian, following the Gospel. Christianity has such a rich history of Saints that we don't need to look elsewhere, all we need is to follow Christ. I enjoyed a few of his chapters: his intro was interesting and chapter 2 where he writes about spiritual practice and experiences was fun to read, and I enjoyed chapter 8 about the contemplative understanding of suffering. My opinion is that if you follow Christ, I don't think you need to read this book. If you are still searching, it might be an interesting read.

Report abuse