Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian
by Paul Knitter
Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian was a fascinating read with the interesting premise that exploring another religious tradition can help better inform ones own religion. Knitter goes one step further in this part theological survey, part Buddhist apologetic, and part personal testimony by taking us with him on his spiritual journey from Roman Catholicism to Buddhism and back again.
True to the book's title, Knitter does not come back to Christianity unchanged by his Buddhist experience, but instead holds the two spiritual identities simultaneously in conversation and tension with each other. For Knitter, Buddhism gives a different lens through which to view Christian doctrines and practices that he found otherwise problematic or incomplete.
I think Knitter's book is most compelling as a personal account of one man's faith journey. As one who has also questioned and rejected much of the faith in which I was raised before being exposed to other ideas and experiences that eventually allowed me to return to it with a different understanding, I could relate to Knitter's descriptions of "passing over" into Buddhism and then "passing back" into Christianity. While I'm not interested in becoming Buddhist myself, I could appreciate Knitter's exploration of Buddhist ideas and was amazed at how well they sometimes enhanced and sometimes questioned traditional Christian ideas.
On the other hand, I sometimes found myself a bit skeptical reading this book, thinking to myself that perhaps there is not so much overlap between the two faiths after all, and maybe what I'm reading is more about liberal western notions of Buddhism having a lot in common with liberal western notions of Christianity. I found myself reacting to many of Knitter's "aha" moments thinking that there are already resources within the Christian tradition that come to similar conclusions, obviating the need to find the answer in Buddhism.
Without _________ I Could Not Be A Christian. Anyone who has left their childhood faith and later returned to a more mature understanding can fill in this blank. For me, I might fill the blank with "awareness of the full theological, historical, ethical, and cultural breadth of the diversity within the tradition," or "modern historical-critical biblical scholarship," or "mystical experience." I respect Knitter's answer even while I'm amazed that he can find it in dual religious citizenship. I recommend Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian for anyone interested in seeing how different religions can inform each other and the fascinating turns a spiritual journey can take.
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Oneworld Publications (July 16, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1851686738
ISBN-13: 978-1851686735
Showing posts with label spirituality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spirituality. Show all posts
The Wound of Knowledge
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15.12.04
The Wound of Knowledge: Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to Saint John of the Cross, by Rowan Williams
This was one of those books that, while difficult to digest, nonetheless opened up vast vistas of thought currently unknown to me. While I have done some reading about Christian thought from the Reformation to the present, and even did my master's thesis on religious radicalism and revivalism among American frontiersmen, I had never really done even a cursory reading of the patristics, the mystics, or the monastics of the early Christian centuries. I felt a bit out of my element, but I was still fascinated by the differences between the thought of these early Christians and typical conventional Christian thought today.
If this book made one impression on me, it was that while the pursuit of spiritual understanding and experience of God has remained fairly constant over the centuries, how they have been understood has radically changed over time. Furthermore, modern day Protestantism in both its evangelical and mainline forms seems far removed from the earliest thinkers!
What follows here isn't going to be my typical book review. Instead I'm going to just leave my notes and quotes in an unfinished form. These are the ideas that jarred me, grabbed me, and fascinated me. Take from them what you will. They have certainly given me further food for thought, and have impressed upon me the need for further readings in this area. I hope they will take hold of you, and inspire both reflection and further study. The items in quotes are from the book. What remains are my responses to what I read.
CHAPTER 1
"...the goal of a Christian life becomes not enlightenment but wholeness –an acceptance of this complicated and muddled bundle of experiences as a possible theater of God's creative work." (p. 12)
God is hidden.
To grow is to become more capable of both pain and love –just as the way of the cross represents extreme love and extreme pain.
What role does God play in our suffering? Ignatius of Antioch visioned God as a devourer, "to be in front of the wild animals [in the Colosseum] is to be in front of God." (p. 25)
"Thus martyrdom comes as the natural culmination of a more prosaic process of unselfing..." (p. 27)
Life is not suffering, but a task to be borne diligently and with grace, service, charity, culminating in a death symbolic of that life.
CHAPTER 2
The second century is the beginning of real systematic theology. Paul and Ignatius are letter writers, not theologians. Much early theology was a reaction to Gnosticism. Some of the problems early theologians saw with gnosticism was that it conceived the world as accidental, demeaned parts of human experience as illusory, meaningless and --most importantly-- irredeemable. Finally, it saw God as separate from creation.
Ireneus of Lyons (c 130-200 CE)
"There is no sort of human activity that automatically generates the vision of God, but there are actions that make one 'apt' for the vision of God" (p. 36) Acts of the whole person, not just the spirit emphasize that the connection with God's salvation is in our humanness, not in an attempt to escape from it because Christ transforms Adam's failure into the Imago Dei.
"...creative will is at the heart of human reality, as it is at the heart of God's reality; so that salvation is the encounter and union of these two wills, when human beings will to be God wills them to be." (p. 41)
Clement of Alexandria (c 150 -215 CE)
Christian gnosticism sees instruction as Christ's role. Unlike the view espoused by the heretic Gnostics, God cannot be manipulated through correct ritual. However there is still the conviction that God cannot be known -- "knowledge" of God is not the gathering of facts about God but the stripping away of what is known, finally "bearing God in himself and being borne by God." (p. 44) According to Clement, faith leads to gnosis, gnosis leads to love, and love leads to God. (p. 45) The faithful adherent is marked by a readiness to instruct and enlighten.
Clement was one of the first to write about wealth not being a problem for Christians, provided that it was seen properly as being irrelevant to ones spiritual state. While this eliminates poverty as a requirement for Christians, it is still a marked contrast to some modern notions of wealth as a sign of godliness, or "prosperity gospel."
Origen (c. 185-254/5 CE)
Love and spiritual knowledge go hand in hand, "the inner wound of love" drives us to seek direct and personal experiences of Christ. Origen's emphasis is on firsthand versus secondhand experience. Knowing Christ incarnate is the beginning of a progression that ends with knowledge of the eternal Word. The progression is from physical to spiritual. Physical and spiritual are major themes with Origen, with the spiritual always being superior (or perhaps the culmination of) the physical. Perhaps most famously Origen is known for saying that there are two ways to read the Scriptures, the physical (literal) reading and the spiritual (allegorical/symbolic) reading.
CHAPTER 3
Rowan Williams interprets Athanasius thusly: "the Son has not only to live a human life, but to die a human death, since without this, death would remain an area untouched and untransfigured by God, and we would never become inheritors of immortality and incorruption." (p. 59)
Gregory of Nyssa emphasized participation in the Divine as participation in what God does. "The man who shares with the poor will have his share in the one who becomes poor for our sake." (p. 63) Imitating what God does instead of who God is was foremost because for Gregory God is beyond intellect, and God is beyond being itself. The mark of having God in oneself is a life of compassion for others. Spirituality is visioned as one whose being is expanding and falling into an infinite God.
CHAPTER 4
Augustine of Hippo
Confessions was published in 401 CE. Augustine was groundbreaking in that he was the first to show an interest in childhood as significant in spiritual autobiography. A neo-Platonist, Augustine thought that the good in us is part of God, and our true selves lie in God. Yet unlike most neo-Platonists, who were logical and passionless in their arguments, Augustine recognized the irrational.
"To become Godlike is to accept crucifixion by the destructiveness of the world. There is, then, no route to God that does not pass under the cross. . ." (p. 91)
"The risk of irrationalism and quietism is great." (p. 95)
"Augustine's is rather the inscrutable God who speaks out of Job's whirlwind and makes himself known in a dying man. . ." (p. 97)
CHAPTER 5
Anthony (c. 305 CE)
St. Anthony was the founder of the monastic movement --"a time is coming when men will go mad when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, 'You are mad, you are not like us.'" (p. 103) Monasticism was a way to preserve Christianity from any cultural inroads, to attempt to assure against a version of the religion that is synonymous with culture.
"The monk has come to the desert to escape the illusory Christian identity proposed by the world; he now has to see the roots of illusion in himself. . . " (p. 105)
"Everyone has equal claim on the Christian's unconditional service, because of the unconditional self offering of Christ to all." (p. 111)
I ask, "where is the monastic vision of Christianity expressed today?" Conventional Christianity --the type taught in most churches and on display in most Christian bookstores seems to be totally synonymous with a capitalist, consumerist, market driven culture of overconsumption. There seems to be a book and a Bible study about every little whim, marketed to every little niche. When does a Christianity that has taken on all the trappings of our culture cease to be Christianity?
Benedict of Nursia (c 480-547 CE)
While most famous for his Rule, it was not strictly or uniformly applied until the Cisterian reform at the end of the 11th century.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153 CE)
Cisterians - a form of monasticism that had very clear definitions and rules for living, was of mass appeal to the uneducated classes. Only the love of God gives us proper perspective on loving self and neighbor. (p. 118)
CHAPTER 6
Dionysius the Aereopagite: "God is God, surpassing alike language, intuition, and being." God is too real to exist as things exist. God manifests through emanations. Seeking God is the abandonment of both sense experience and religious experience.
Maximus the Confessor (d. 645 CE)
"The eternal Word first empties himself of his divinity to become human, then empties himself of instinctive human passions in accepting suffering and death. Human beings are called to share in his human kenosis, responding to the divine kenosis: we must empty away our lives in order to grasp what he has done. . ." (p 130)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 CE)
For God, being and acting are the same --for us there is a gap between these. We need to be stimulated to act. God can be his own focus.
In contemplation, therefore, is the "passage from 'rational' consideration of intelligible realities and the direct contact with divine truth; at the final level there is no concept for the reason to work on, therefore no work for the reason to do." (p. 138)
Meister Eckhart (c 1260-1327 CE)
A disciple of Aquinas, Eckhart emphasized that purity of soul, or "virginity of soul," causes God's spirit to conceive in them and become a child, the son of God. This is the model for the contemplative. "The true following of Christ is the following of the whole Christ, the eternal Word as well as the historical figure." (p. 143).
"The Trinity is God, but not Godhead." This concept is not clear to me. It seems to tease at the idea that there is a "God beyond God," meaning that the real God, the God that Is, goes beyond any of our conceptions of God, including the Trinity.
CHAPTER 7
Martin Luther (1500s)
"A God who could be loved, prayed to and trusted even as he smote and killed. A strange and terrifying God; yet a source of life and hope." (p. 157).
Luther was also a proponent of the idea that only "in hell" can one hear the good news. Given the context for Luther's spiritual breakthrough this is not surprising. Perhaps this is also a point Luther shares in common with Lars Levi Laestadius, a nineteenth century Finnish revivalist and pietist who is said to have preached extreme hellfire and damnation in his sermons so that the subsequent repentance and conversion would be deeper and sweeter.
CHAPTER 8
St. John of the Cross (1542-1591 CE)
Dark night of the soul, dark night of the spirit. "Illumination is the running-out of language and thought. . ." (p. 181)
"No 'spiritual' experience whatsoever can provide a clear security, an unambiguous sign of God's favor." (p. 182)
God as the enemy and oppressor of the spiritual seeker --union with God is annihilation of all the dross within a human that is not of God.
"God himself breaks and reshapes all religious language as he acts through vulnerability, failure, and contradiction." (p. 189)
Those are my notes. I finished this book with no strong or clear sense of what exactly the "Wound of Knowledge" is supposed to be. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that since according to these Christian thinkers God cannot really be known in the sense that we think of knowledge in the modern age, knowledge is a problem, or "wound." On the other hand, Christian spirituality in this period also seems to favor the idea that direct experience of the Divine involves the annihilation, or letting go, or burning away of all that is not Divine. Therefore as one is granted "knowledge" of God, ones old or false self is wounded in the process.
PUBLISHER: Cowley Publications, Massachusetts (1991); ISBN: 1-56101-047-2
This was one of those books that, while difficult to digest, nonetheless opened up vast vistas of thought currently unknown to me. While I have done some reading about Christian thought from the Reformation to the present, and even did my master's thesis on religious radicalism and revivalism among American frontiersmen, I had never really done even a cursory reading of the patristics, the mystics, or the monastics of the early Christian centuries. I felt a bit out of my element, but I was still fascinated by the differences between the thought of these early Christians and typical conventional Christian thought today.
If this book made one impression on me, it was that while the pursuit of spiritual understanding and experience of God has remained fairly constant over the centuries, how they have been understood has radically changed over time. Furthermore, modern day Protestantism in both its evangelical and mainline forms seems far removed from the earliest thinkers!
What follows here isn't going to be my typical book review. Instead I'm going to just leave my notes and quotes in an unfinished form. These are the ideas that jarred me, grabbed me, and fascinated me. Take from them what you will. They have certainly given me further food for thought, and have impressed upon me the need for further readings in this area. I hope they will take hold of you, and inspire both reflection and further study. The items in quotes are from the book. What remains are my responses to what I read.
CHAPTER 1
"...the goal of a Christian life becomes not enlightenment but wholeness –an acceptance of this complicated and muddled bundle of experiences as a possible theater of God's creative work." (p. 12)
God is hidden.
To grow is to become more capable of both pain and love –just as the way of the cross represents extreme love and extreme pain.
What role does God play in our suffering? Ignatius of Antioch visioned God as a devourer, "to be in front of the wild animals [in the Colosseum] is to be in front of God." (p. 25)
"Thus martyrdom comes as the natural culmination of a more prosaic process of unselfing..." (p. 27)
Life is not suffering, but a task to be borne diligently and with grace, service, charity, culminating in a death symbolic of that life.
CHAPTER 2
The second century is the beginning of real systematic theology. Paul and Ignatius are letter writers, not theologians. Much early theology was a reaction to Gnosticism. Some of the problems early theologians saw with gnosticism was that it conceived the world as accidental, demeaned parts of human experience as illusory, meaningless and --most importantly-- irredeemable. Finally, it saw God as separate from creation.
Ireneus of Lyons (c 130-200 CE)
"There is no sort of human activity that automatically generates the vision of God, but there are actions that make one 'apt' for the vision of God" (p. 36) Acts of the whole person, not just the spirit emphasize that the connection with God's salvation is in our humanness, not in an attempt to escape from it because Christ transforms Adam's failure into the Imago Dei.
"...creative will is at the heart of human reality, as it is at the heart of God's reality; so that salvation is the encounter and union of these two wills, when human beings will to be God wills them to be." (p. 41)
Clement of Alexandria (c 150 -215 CE)
Christian gnosticism sees instruction as Christ's role. Unlike the view espoused by the heretic Gnostics, God cannot be manipulated through correct ritual. However there is still the conviction that God cannot be known -- "knowledge" of God is not the gathering of facts about God but the stripping away of what is known, finally "bearing God in himself and being borne by God." (p. 44) According to Clement, faith leads to gnosis, gnosis leads to love, and love leads to God. (p. 45) The faithful adherent is marked by a readiness to instruct and enlighten.
Clement was one of the first to write about wealth not being a problem for Christians, provided that it was seen properly as being irrelevant to ones spiritual state. While this eliminates poverty as a requirement for Christians, it is still a marked contrast to some modern notions of wealth as a sign of godliness, or "prosperity gospel."
Origen (c. 185-254/5 CE)
Love and spiritual knowledge go hand in hand, "the inner wound of love" drives us to seek direct and personal experiences of Christ. Origen's emphasis is on firsthand versus secondhand experience. Knowing Christ incarnate is the beginning of a progression that ends with knowledge of the eternal Word. The progression is from physical to spiritual. Physical and spiritual are major themes with Origen, with the spiritual always being superior (or perhaps the culmination of) the physical. Perhaps most famously Origen is known for saying that there are two ways to read the Scriptures, the physical (literal) reading and the spiritual (allegorical/symbolic) reading.
CHAPTER 3
Rowan Williams interprets Athanasius thusly: "the Son has not only to live a human life, but to die a human death, since without this, death would remain an area untouched and untransfigured by God, and we would never become inheritors of immortality and incorruption." (p. 59)
Gregory of Nyssa emphasized participation in the Divine as participation in what God does. "The man who shares with the poor will have his share in the one who becomes poor for our sake." (p. 63) Imitating what God does instead of who God is was foremost because for Gregory God is beyond intellect, and God is beyond being itself. The mark of having God in oneself is a life of compassion for others. Spirituality is visioned as one whose being is expanding and falling into an infinite God.
CHAPTER 4
Augustine of Hippo
Confessions was published in 401 CE. Augustine was groundbreaking in that he was the first to show an interest in childhood as significant in spiritual autobiography. A neo-Platonist, Augustine thought that the good in us is part of God, and our true selves lie in God. Yet unlike most neo-Platonists, who were logical and passionless in their arguments, Augustine recognized the irrational.
"To become Godlike is to accept crucifixion by the destructiveness of the world. There is, then, no route to God that does not pass under the cross. . ." (p. 91)
"The risk of irrationalism and quietism is great." (p. 95)
"Augustine's is rather the inscrutable God who speaks out of Job's whirlwind and makes himself known in a dying man. . ." (p. 97)
CHAPTER 5
Anthony (c. 305 CE)
St. Anthony was the founder of the monastic movement --"a time is coming when men will go mad when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, 'You are mad, you are not like us.'" (p. 103) Monasticism was a way to preserve Christianity from any cultural inroads, to attempt to assure against a version of the religion that is synonymous with culture.
"The monk has come to the desert to escape the illusory Christian identity proposed by the world; he now has to see the roots of illusion in himself. . . " (p. 105)
"Everyone has equal claim on the Christian's unconditional service, because of the unconditional self offering of Christ to all." (p. 111)
I ask, "where is the monastic vision of Christianity expressed today?" Conventional Christianity --the type taught in most churches and on display in most Christian bookstores seems to be totally synonymous with a capitalist, consumerist, market driven culture of overconsumption. There seems to be a book and a Bible study about every little whim, marketed to every little niche. When does a Christianity that has taken on all the trappings of our culture cease to be Christianity?
Benedict of Nursia (c 480-547 CE)
While most famous for his Rule, it was not strictly or uniformly applied until the Cisterian reform at the end of the 11th century.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153 CE)
Cisterians - a form of monasticism that had very clear definitions and rules for living, was of mass appeal to the uneducated classes. Only the love of God gives us proper perspective on loving self and neighbor. (p. 118)
CHAPTER 6
Dionysius the Aereopagite: "God is God, surpassing alike language, intuition, and being." God is too real to exist as things exist. God manifests through emanations. Seeking God is the abandonment of both sense experience and religious experience.
Maximus the Confessor (d. 645 CE)
"The eternal Word first empties himself of his divinity to become human, then empties himself of instinctive human passions in accepting suffering and death. Human beings are called to share in his human kenosis, responding to the divine kenosis: we must empty away our lives in order to grasp what he has done. . ." (p 130)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 CE)
For God, being and acting are the same --for us there is a gap between these. We need to be stimulated to act. God can be his own focus.
In contemplation, therefore, is the "passage from 'rational' consideration of intelligible realities and the direct contact with divine truth; at the final level there is no concept for the reason to work on, therefore no work for the reason to do." (p. 138)
Meister Eckhart (c 1260-1327 CE)
A disciple of Aquinas, Eckhart emphasized that purity of soul, or "virginity of soul," causes God's spirit to conceive in them and become a child, the son of God. This is the model for the contemplative. "The true following of Christ is the following of the whole Christ, the eternal Word as well as the historical figure." (p. 143).
"The Trinity is God, but not Godhead." This concept is not clear to me. It seems to tease at the idea that there is a "God beyond God," meaning that the real God, the God that Is, goes beyond any of our conceptions of God, including the Trinity.
CHAPTER 7
Martin Luther (1500s)
"A God who could be loved, prayed to and trusted even as he smote and killed. A strange and terrifying God; yet a source of life and hope." (p. 157).
Luther was also a proponent of the idea that only "in hell" can one hear the good news. Given the context for Luther's spiritual breakthrough this is not surprising. Perhaps this is also a point Luther shares in common with Lars Levi Laestadius, a nineteenth century Finnish revivalist and pietist who is said to have preached extreme hellfire and damnation in his sermons so that the subsequent repentance and conversion would be deeper and sweeter.
CHAPTER 8
St. John of the Cross (1542-1591 CE)
Dark night of the soul, dark night of the spirit. "Illumination is the running-out of language and thought. . ." (p. 181)
"No 'spiritual' experience whatsoever can provide a clear security, an unambiguous sign of God's favor." (p. 182)
God as the enemy and oppressor of the spiritual seeker --union with God is annihilation of all the dross within a human that is not of God.
"God himself breaks and reshapes all religious language as he acts through vulnerability, failure, and contradiction." (p. 189)
Those are my notes. I finished this book with no strong or clear sense of what exactly the "Wound of Knowledge" is supposed to be. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that since according to these Christian thinkers God cannot really be known in the sense that we think of knowledge in the modern age, knowledge is a problem, or "wound." On the other hand, Christian spirituality in this period also seems to favor the idea that direct experience of the Divine involves the annihilation, or letting go, or burning away of all that is not Divine. Therefore as one is granted "knowledge" of God, ones old or false self is wounded in the process.
PUBLISHER: Cowley Publications, Massachusetts (1991); ISBN: 1-56101-047-2
Open Mind, Open Heart
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29.2.04
Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel, by Thomas Keating
I've been interested in the contemplative aspects of Christianity for some time. Ever since I experienced my first Taize service, I have had a strong sense that silence and stillness can be very powerful avenues for experiencing God. Questions raised by that first encounter led to Thomas Keating's book, which explains centering prayer and contemplative prayer in detail. Open Mind, Open Heart is available free online from Contemplative Outreach, and it is also published in book form, available at Amazon.com and other booksellers.
Drastically boiled down, a thumbnail definition of contemplation is the idea echoed by the Psalmist, who writes: "Be still and know that I am God." When one practices centering prayer one sits quietly, intending to empty the mind and heart of all thoughts, expectations, and demands, waiting for God to respond or not respond in any way God chooses. Through the practice of centering prayer one hopes to undergo "a process of interior transformation, a conversation initiated by God and leading, if we consent, to divine union. . . A restructuring of consciousness takes place which empowers one to perceive, relate and respond with increasing sensitivity to the divine presence in, through, and beyond everything that exists." (see Introduction). This state of being is called contemplation. Resting in this state is the essence of contemplative prayer. It is the hope of those practicing centering prayer that they might receive contemplative prayer.
One aside which might be helpful --the words "contemplation" and "meditation" are often used differently in the Christian tradition than they are used in Eastern religions such as Buddhism. Sometimes Christians will talk about "meditating" on the Scriptures. The act of "meditation" here means to ponder, study, or ruminate over. When a Buddhist talks about meditation, they are talking about clearing the mind of thoughts and emotions. Christians use the word "contemplation" to describe the same practice.
Another way to look at contemplation is in terms of "consent." In the same way that Christians consent to have Christ be born and live in them, the contemplative person consents to the Spirit's desire to pray in them. By clearing away the obstructions that appear on the conscious level, they are able to experience the Spirit on a more direct level that bypasses the mind, the ego, and consciousness.(see Chapter 2)
Keating spends some time in this book tracing the history of contemplative Christianity, and explaining why it eventually fell into disfavor. Blaming both Catholic Scholasticism in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, Keating explains how prayer became understood more and more as a discipline to occupy ones conscious mind. The theologically vague yet more comprehensive way of "praying the scriptures" (lectio divina) more prevalent in the early centuries of the church gradually slipped away (see Chapter 3.1) and was replaced by discursive forms of prayer that could more easily fit into philosophical, theological, or doctrinal categories.
Despite the lamentable state of prayer today, Keating is convinced that if one uses the conscious modes of prayer faithfully enough, one will eventually be driven to what John of the Cross called "the dark night of the soul." Counter-intuitively, Keating writes that when one is unable to pray and feels unconnected to God, the devout practitioner may potentially be at the gateway to a deeper, more mature relationship with God --a relationship marked by contemplation. Keating implies that Christianity's collective amnesia regarding the mystical, contemplative modes of prayer has contributed to people leaving Christianity for Eastern religions where meditation is more readily available. One gets the sense that there are ecumenical as well as evangelistic imperatives behind promoting a more contemplative dimension to Christianity. (see Chapter 3.3)
Moving from theory to practice, Keating outlines a basic method for centering prayer. The method consists of finding a quiet space to sit comfortably, relax, and let go of conscious thoughts. When unavoidable thoughts occur, gently think about a pre-chosen "sacred word" or phrase. Keating recommends two periods of centering prayer per day; one in the morning and one in the early evening. While requiring no small commitment, this put contemplation within the realm of possibility for ordinary people. One does not need to be a monk or nun living in a cloister to be contemplative --some of the most contemplative folks Keating knows are married people living busy and active lives. (see Chapter 4.1) "Contemplative prayer is a way of tuning in to a fuller level of reality that is always present and in which we are invited to participate. Some discipline is required to reduce the obstacles to this expanded awareness. One way is to slow down the speed at which our ordinary thoughts come down the stream of consciousness. If this can be done, space begins to appear between the thoughts, enabling an awareness of the reality upon which they are resting." (see Chapter 4.2)
The remaining chapters of the book deal with such practical matters at choosing a sacred word, dealing with distractions and thoughts that may arise, and keeping disciplined in one's practice of centering prayer. While these chapters are very useful as a "how to" guide, I also saw a more universal, Jungian theme emerge as Keating outlined the solution to most problems in terms of acknowledgment and acceptance. Specifically, for every problem that arises it is central that one recognize it and acknowledge it. Then, perhaps counter intuitively, one much accept it. Only once one can accept problems and accept oneself as they truly are, is there any possibility for the problems to recede into the background and for spiritual growth to occur. "Every response to God, whatever it is, must begin with the full acceptance of reality as it actually is at the moment." (see Chapter 6.1)
In one very down-to-earth example, Keating compares maintaining interior silence and listening to God to conversing with a friend near a busy street. It is easy to get angry at the noise of the passing cars, but anger won't stop the noise and will ruin the conversation. Yet by being able to accept the noise for what it is, one is freed to carry on the conversation. In the end, the noise is unimportant. "So it is with the rumbling that goes on in our heads. It is so bad sometimes that many people will not put up with it. They say, 'Interior silence and contemplative prayer are for the birds. I cannot endure this barrage of tiresome thoughts going through my head.' So they get up and leave. If they would just hang on and give themselves a little more time, they would get used to the noise." (see Chapter 6.1)
In the last third of the book Keating draws some interesting comparisons and contrasts between contemplative Christianity and the charismatic movement. While Keating credits charismatic renewal for opening up ordinary Christians to the possibility of the Spirit moving powerfully and being active in people today, he puts charismatic gifts (especially the gift of speaking in tongues) in the context of being primitive forms of contemplation, or gateways to contemplation. When one speaks in tongues, Keating says, one doesn't understand what one is saying. Therefore one can't have thoughts about what they are saying. This is similar to clearing the mind of thoughts during centering prayer. Keating seems open to the possibility that both contemplative Christianity and charismatic Christianity can lead to experiencing visions, ecstasies, and other unusual spiritual experiences. However, Keating puts great stress on accepting such experiences for what they are and not dwelling on them or analyzing them, lest one become full of pride for one's perceived spiritual accomplishment. For in the end, (see Chapter 8.1) "God is incomprehensible to our faculties. We cannot name Him in a way that is adequate. We cannot know Him with our mind; we can only know Him with our love. That is what some mystical writers call unknowing. It is by not knowing Him in the ways that we now know Him, that we do know Him. Visions, locutions or ecstasies are like frosting on a cake. The substance of the journey is pure faith."
KEYWORDS: Centering prayer, contemplative prayer, mystical prayer, spiritual practices, disciplines
PUBLISHER: Continuum Pub Group; (July 2002) ISBN: 0826414206
LINK: http://www.centeringprayer.com/OpenHeart/index.htm
Superman for all Seasons
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28.5.03
Superman for all Seasons, by Jeph Loeb (writer) and Tim Sale (artist)
I've been a fan of Superman since I was a kid, but lately I've been more attracted to stories that explore the emotions, spirituality and psychology of the characters, versus the more traditional action-packed superhero type story. Superman for all Seasons delivers on this promise surprisingly well, granting the reader an inside look into the tale of a superhero who comes of age, told from the point of view of Jonathan Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luther, and Lana Lang. The graphic novel is divided into four parts, named after each season of a year, and metaphorically representing the seasons of our lives.
Part 1, Spring is narrated by Pa Kent and outlines his struggle in coming to terms with his special adopted son. In this version Clark slowly comes into his powers and is actually relatively normal until his senior year of high school. Thus it's a slow discovery that the whole family learns to cope with. Like in the Smallville TV series, Clark learns of new abilities rescuing someone from a tornado.
After the twister, Clark feels he should have done more to save the town from destruction. He talks to his pastor, Pastor Linquist, posing the question --"Pastor, what if one man --just one man-- could've stopped all this destruction? And he didn't..." (p. 41) His pastor somewhat dismissively replies that we each respond according to our gifts, but that in the end when God sets a course no one can stop it. This provides a rare glimpse into the spirituality of the Kents, and paints a kind of generic protestant religious background. Slightly earlier in the narrative, we find out that Martha is the devout one in the family, while Jonathan "didn't put too much stake in being a churchgoing sort." (p. 29)
Spiritual or not, Clark really grapples with the question of how best to use his gifts. In this story, Clark confides in Lana and tells her of his super-powers. The revelation is bittersweet however, since Clark's conviction that he must use his gifts for good means that he will leave her, and leave Smallville.
Part 2, Summer is narrated by Lois Lane. Clark is in Metropolis, just starting his career at The Daily Planet. The rivalry is fierce between Lex Luther and Superman - each competing against each other and for the adulation of Metropolis' citizens. While it also seems like they are competing for Lois' love, Lois' relationship with Lex and with Superman seems to be based more on "shock and awe" than on genuine affection. As on the Smallville television show, this Lex (at least in his own mind) wants to do good and be a hero --but is constantly being shown up and upstaged by Superman.
In this section of the story, we discover that Clark's Fortress of Solitude is Smallville. He flys home to spend time with his parents and regroup. Ironically, Clark is famous in Smallville for being Clark, not Superman. As Pastor Linquist relates to Clark in a kind moment, "We're probably the only town in Kansas that gets The Daily Planet every morning at the general store... Nobody from Smallville has done what you've done." (p. 92)
Part 3, Fall is narrated by Lex Luthor. Jealous of Metropolis' love of Superman, he unleashes a plague on the city in true comic book fashion. Superman is manipulated to believe it's his fault. Like on Smallville, this rendition of Clark seems to have a lot of guilt. While the city is saved with Luther's antidote, Clark returns home to his parents, defeated, while Lex takes credit for rescuing Metropolis.
Part 4, Winter is told by Lana Lang. In this chapter we discover that Lana's dream had been to marry Clark --finding out his secret and his plans to leave crushed her dreams. Having previously left home to wander the world alone, she returns to Smallville and helps Clark come to terms with his limitations and his gifts. The graphic novel truly transcends the genre here as the real struggle is won when Clark takes action to save his parents and Lana from a flood that hits Smallville. Adding a spiritual dimension, the family attends a vigil where Pastor Linquist reflects on the seasons of a life, their meaning, and how our choices define our lives.
PUBLISHER: DC Comics, New York, 1999. ISBN: 1-56389-529-3.
I've been a fan of Superman since I was a kid, but lately I've been more attracted to stories that explore the emotions, spirituality and psychology of the characters, versus the more traditional action-packed superhero type story. Superman for all Seasons delivers on this promise surprisingly well, granting the reader an inside look into the tale of a superhero who comes of age, told from the point of view of Jonathan Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luther, and Lana Lang. The graphic novel is divided into four parts, named after each season of a year, and metaphorically representing the seasons of our lives.
Part 1, Spring is narrated by Pa Kent and outlines his struggle in coming to terms with his special adopted son. In this version Clark slowly comes into his powers and is actually relatively normal until his senior year of high school. Thus it's a slow discovery that the whole family learns to cope with. Like in the Smallville TV series, Clark learns of new abilities rescuing someone from a tornado.
After the twister, Clark feels he should have done more to save the town from destruction. He talks to his pastor, Pastor Linquist, posing the question --"Pastor, what if one man --just one man-- could've stopped all this destruction? And he didn't..." (p. 41) His pastor somewhat dismissively replies that we each respond according to our gifts, but that in the end when God sets a course no one can stop it. This provides a rare glimpse into the spirituality of the Kents, and paints a kind of generic protestant religious background. Slightly earlier in the narrative, we find out that Martha is the devout one in the family, while Jonathan "didn't put too much stake in being a churchgoing sort." (p. 29)
Spiritual or not, Clark really grapples with the question of how best to use his gifts. In this story, Clark confides in Lana and tells her of his super-powers. The revelation is bittersweet however, since Clark's conviction that he must use his gifts for good means that he will leave her, and leave Smallville.
Part 2, Summer is narrated by Lois Lane. Clark is in Metropolis, just starting his career at The Daily Planet. The rivalry is fierce between Lex Luther and Superman - each competing against each other and for the adulation of Metropolis' citizens. While it also seems like they are competing for Lois' love, Lois' relationship with Lex and with Superman seems to be based more on "shock and awe" than on genuine affection. As on the Smallville television show, this Lex (at least in his own mind) wants to do good and be a hero --but is constantly being shown up and upstaged by Superman.
In this section of the story, we discover that Clark's Fortress of Solitude is Smallville. He flys home to spend time with his parents and regroup. Ironically, Clark is famous in Smallville for being Clark, not Superman. As Pastor Linquist relates to Clark in a kind moment, "We're probably the only town in Kansas that gets The Daily Planet every morning at the general store... Nobody from Smallville has done what you've done." (p. 92)
Part 3, Fall is narrated by Lex Luthor. Jealous of Metropolis' love of Superman, he unleashes a plague on the city in true comic book fashion. Superman is manipulated to believe it's his fault. Like on Smallville, this rendition of Clark seems to have a lot of guilt. While the city is saved with Luther's antidote, Clark returns home to his parents, defeated, while Lex takes credit for rescuing Metropolis.
Part 4, Winter is told by Lana Lang. In this chapter we discover that Lana's dream had been to marry Clark --finding out his secret and his plans to leave crushed her dreams. Having previously left home to wander the world alone, she returns to Smallville and helps Clark come to terms with his limitations and his gifts. The graphic novel truly transcends the genre here as the real struggle is won when Clark takes action to save his parents and Lana from a flood that hits Smallville. Adding a spiritual dimension, the family attends a vigil where Pastor Linquist reflects on the seasons of a life, their meaning, and how our choices define our lives.
PUBLISHER: DC Comics, New York, 1999. ISBN: 1-56389-529-3.
Amazing Grace
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28.6.02
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, by Kathleen Norris
In this well-written, interesting volume, Kathleen Norris takes the timeless words of Christian vocabulary such as grace, perfection, belief, doubt, and Bible (just to name a few) and defines them in the light of her own experience and struggle to reconnect with her faith.
Drawing on her own spiritual journey back to Christianity as an adult, Norris explains how certain words erect barriers to faith, and how imaginative re-appropriation of these words can tear the barriers down.
Each essay is very short, which makes the book easy to read in short bursts. While I also read long stretches, it's the perfect book to put on one's nightstand and read a chapter or two each night.
While I found the "definitions" in her "lexicon" interesting, the most useful thing to me was her method --the way she allowed herself the freedom to roam freely around a word, finding a way to appropriate it creatively and intelligently into her spiritual vocabulary.
PUBLISHER: Riverhead Books; ISBN: 1573227218; (February 12, 1999)
In this well-written, interesting volume, Kathleen Norris takes the timeless words of Christian vocabulary such as grace, perfection, belief, doubt, and Bible (just to name a few) and defines them in the light of her own experience and struggle to reconnect with her faith.
Drawing on her own spiritual journey back to Christianity as an adult, Norris explains how certain words erect barriers to faith, and how imaginative re-appropriation of these words can tear the barriers down.
Each essay is very short, which makes the book easy to read in short bursts. While I also read long stretches, it's the perfect book to put on one's nightstand and read a chapter or two each night.
While I found the "definitions" in her "lexicon" interesting, the most useful thing to me was her method --the way she allowed herself the freedom to roam freely around a word, finding a way to appropriate it creatively and intelligently into her spiritual vocabulary.
PUBLISHER: Riverhead Books; ISBN: 1573227218; (February 12, 1999)
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