CHRISTIAN MEDITATION:
PSEUDO-CONTEMPLATION
Brother
Max Sculley DLS
Note: This critique is best read in conjunction with the section
on yoga in my book Yoga, Tai Chi & Reiki: A Guide for Christians which have
a comprehensive glossary.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Two recent experiences have given me cause to examine Christian
Meditation [C.M] more closely. The first was my experience of it in the
Brisbane Archdiocesan Lenten programme this year 2012. At each of the weekly
sessions, the group was guided by a C.D to spend a few minutes ‘tasting’ C.M.
We were informed that this form of meditation involved the repetition of a
mantra under our breath. The word we were asked to repeat was ‘maranatha’ which
we were told means ‘Come Lord Jesus’. We were instructed to pronounce this word
in a stylized way, in a monotone as four equally stressed rhyming syllables:
Ma-Ra-Na-Tha. And it was made clear to us that we were not to attend to the
meaning of the word but instead to focus on the sounds of the resonating
syllables. A number of people in our group were not happy about repeating a
series of nonsense syllables preferring instead to repeat the vernacular
version, ‘Come Lord Jesus’. The technique proposed on the C.D gave me some
cause for personal concern. I knew from my research into yoga that this
approach if used for half an hour or so, is a very effective means of voiding
the mind and creating an altered state of consciousness. Such a state, as I
have indicated elsewhere, can expose one to demonic influence.
My second experience was a phone call from a friend. She had been
immersed in New Age for some 10 years during which time she had advanced in
Eastern meditation techniques to apoint where she could enter a trance-state at
will within three minutes. She believes that this practice had greatly
contributed to her becoming possessed to the point where she required three
exorcisms plus 18 months concerted personal prayer and fasting to complete her
deliverance. Within months of regaining her joy and freedom as a regenerated
Christian, she was invited by two parishioners to join them in attending a C.M
session in a neighbouring parish. She got more than she bargained for. The
leader gave the group the same instructions as we had received in our Lenten
group. The style of chanting reminded her of her former Eastern meditation practices,
and she felt uneasy that the word was being chanted in a foreign language which
she did not understand. The meditative music played throughout the 30 minutes
sounded very similar to that which she used to listen to in her Buddhist
meditation. After five minutes she could feel herself slipping into a deep
level of trance which terrified her. She remained in a state of high anxiety
till the time was up. She saw this form of ‘prayer’ as a New Age practice with
a Christian veneer. She vowed never to go near another Christian Meditation
session again.
It was in
the light of these two disturbing experiences that I decided to put C.M under
the microscope.
SITTING
WITH THE SWAMI
John Main,
a young, intelligent, Catholic Irishman working in Malaya in 1955, by chance
encountered one of the lesser known Eastern gurus Swami Satyananda who
impressed the Irishman by his 'peacefulness and calm wisdom'.1 The upshot of their amicable meeting
was that Main asked the swami to teach him the yoga way of meditating. The guru
accepted on two conditions: Main would meet and meditate with him weekly, and
would commit himself to a half-hour's meditation morning and evening daily.
At their
first meeting, Satyananda instructed his disciple:
During the
time of your meditation there must be in your mind no thoughts, no words, no
imaginations. The sole sound will be the sound of your mantra, your word. The
mantra is like a harmonic. And as we sound this harmonic within ourselves we
begin to build up a resonance. That resonance leads us forward to our own
wholeness. We begin to experience the deep unity we all possess in our own
being. And then the harmonic begins to build up a resonance between you and all
creatures and all creation, and a unity between you and your Creator.2
Main's
guru had spent some time in a Hindu monastery absorbing the teachings of
Ramakrishna, one of the most famous of the Hindu power gurus to export yoga and
its belief system to the West. Hence, in terms of Satyananda's Hindu belief
system, what he means in the passage quoted above is that by repeating a
meaningless sound while emptying the mind, a yogi will experience being totally
one with the cosmos and with Brahman, the supreme Hindu god. In the words of
the eminent guru Satyananda Saraswati (not to be confused with Main's guru), he
becomes a 'junior god'3. This
experience is both monistic and pantheistic, beliefs contrary to the teaching
of Christ. However, Main's guru has put the
matter so diplomatically to our Catholic Irishman that he probably
missed the Hindu overtones of the statement.
The
technique which Satyananda gave Main is classic mantra yoga as described by
Saraswati: 'Mantra is a combination or assembly of powerful sound waves. As
such the intellectual understanding of the mantra is not at all necessary. It
is not the meaning — some mantras don't even have a meaning — but the sound
waves created by the mantra which influence the cosmos internally and
externally'.4 As the
swami teaches, the result of this technique is to create an altered state of
consciousness. And such is the effect on the mind of repeating 'maranatha' when
reduced to a set of nonsense syllables, Main himself indicates this when he
speaks of C.M. as producing an ‘expansion of consciousness’5. Father Lawrence Freeman O.S.B.,
Main's successor as leading promoter of the C.M. movement, affirms the same
reality when he informs us that C.M. initiates and steers practitioners in a
‘deepening movement of consciousness’6. The fact
that 'maranatha' has Christian overtones in no way alters the movement towards
an altered state of consciousness simply because we are here dealing with sound and not with
meaning, And it would be presumptuous to think that one would be protected from
the influence of demonic spirits by the Christian meaning of the mantra when
one deliberately enters a state which opens one up to such influence. Indeed,
the use of a Christian mantra can lull practitioners of C.M. into the false
belief that they are practising Christian contemplation, and this may lead to
spiritual pride. In such a situation, the Christian may be caught between two
conflicting belief systems — the one the fruit of demonic influence and the
other produced by one's Christian faith. Such appears to have been the case
with the French Benedictine priest Henri Le Saux, whose yogi name was
Abishiktinanda, who sought to climb the peaks of yoga under the guidance of
Hindu gurus and whose exploits are praised to the skies by Main.7
Richard
De Smet, familiar with the yogi's journey, said of him: 'He had gone far into
the [Hindu] Advaitic [non-dualistic] experience and was afraid it might be
impossible to" be true to it as well as his Christian faith. He felt, he
said; perched upon the knife-edge between the opposite slopes of Hinduism and
Christianity and it was agony’.8
THE
SLUMBERING SERPENT
Many
Eastern gurus with Saraswati believe that 'the ultimate purpose of yoga is the
awakening of the kundalini’9and he
lists mantra yoga as one effective way of doing this: 'The second method of
awakening it is through the steady regular practice of the mantra. This is a
very powerful and risk-free method'10.
Risk-free perhaps under the guidance of an experienced guru, but possibly quite
hazardous when attempted without one. And risk-free perhaps in the eyes of a
Hindu, but spiritually dangerous from a Christian perspective. There are now
one international New Age organization and a number of groups in different
countries in the West which have spontaneously arisen to cope with the growing
number of people who have had serious breakdowns through the unanticipated
awakening of kundalini.11
Now C.M.
is a form of mantric yoga. It is quite feasible that a person who has been
practising this for some time could experience the awakening of kundalini with
its roller-coaster physical, emotional and spiritual experience. In my
exploration of C.M. literature, I have yet to see any discussion of kundalini
awakening and how to handle it. Are C.M. leaders and mentors equipped to handle
such experiences? This applies particularly to schools (prep to senior secondary)
where C.M, is being practised. A failure
on the part of C.M. leaders and mentors in this area is highly irresponsible,
not to mention the moral dangers associated with kundalini practice.
MANTRA
YOGA TO CONTEMPLATION
Pick up
any piece of literature on C.M., listen to any of the movement's leaders
discoursing on the topic, and inevitably there will be reference Main's
'monumental discovery' that mantra meditation is an ancient form of Christian
contemplation. It is this event which justifies Christians using this form of
yoga. The only problem is that Main's claim is patently false. What Main
discovered was not a mantric form of meditation but a form of Christian aspirational
prayer.
This
'discovery' is to be found in the writings of the 4th century desert monk John
Cassian. Cassian addressing beginners in the monastic spiritual life
recommended the constant repetition of a single psalm verse, 'O God come to
our aid, O Lord make haste to help us.’12
The
novice in prayer should take this as the sole topic for his meditations. The
continual repetition of this verse throughout the day ‘keeps the mind
wholly and entirely upon God... [ this verse] carries within it all the feelings
of which human nature is capable’13. [
emphasis added] Over time this sentence and its meaning become a part of one's
personality.
As Cassian
states, the repetition of this sentence focuses the mind, it does not empty it.
And the focus is on meaning and the affections, not on the sound as in mantra
yoga. The use of a sentence in the vernacular and not in a dead language lends
itself to the stimulation of ideas and feelings and possibly images, this in
contrast to mantra yoga which seeks to remove all these from the mind. The idea
of focusing on the sounds of all the syllables in this sentence would be
ludicrous.
What Main
'discovered' was not mantra meditation but aspirational prayer in which a
meaningful phrase is constantly repeated so that the meaning and affections
eventually sink into one’s unconscious and one may even repeat it in one's
sleep. And aspirational prayer did not begin with the desert fathers. It goes
back to the beginnings of Christianity. Jesus in his agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane used this form of prayer when he cried out repeatedly to His Father
for an hour or so:
'Father,
if it be possible let this chalice pass me by, nevertheless not my will but
thine be done’.14
And such
was the prayer of the tax-collector who stood at the back of the temple beating
his breast and repeating, 'Lord be merciful to me a sinner’.15 Likewise, the blind man at Jericho
kept crying out to Jesus for healing, 'Son of David, have mercy on me'.16 These all differ from a mantra in
that the focus is on a limited meaning, not on the sound of syllables.
It is
obvious, then, that Main's claim to have discovered mantra meditation in
Cassian's form of aspirational prayer is quite spurious. And hence his justification
for using mantra meditation as a form of Christian contemplation is without
foundation. And it is worthy of note that despite all the hoo-ha about Main’s
monumental discovery’, Cassian’s verse is never recommended for us in Christian
Meditation! And the reason is obvious – the verse makes sense!
Not
satisfied with misinterpreting Cassian, Main indulges in further wishful
thinking in interpreting a section of The Cloud of Unknowing in which
the author of this classic encourages his disciple to pray merely with a single
word. Main interprets this advice thus: 'Throughout The Cloud of Unknowing
the author urges us to choose a word that is full of meaning; but once you have
chosen it, to turn from the meaning and associations and to listen to it as a
sound.’17 The first
part of Main's sentence is quite true; the second part patently false.
The Cloud in
addressing one who is in the early stages of contemplative prayer encourages
him if he so desires, to repeat a single word such as sin or God.
And the author goes on to explain: So when we ardently desire to pray for
the destruction of evil, let us say and think and mean nothing else but this
little word 'sin'. And when we intend to pray for goodness, let all our thought
and desire be contained in the one word 'God’.18 The author intends that these words
be a cry from the depths of one's heart in much the same way as a person cries
out 'Fire!' when lives are in danger. Nowhere in The Cloud does the
author propose that the reader 'turn from the meaning and associations and
listen to it as a sound'. This is a figment of Main's imagination.
C.M. - A
SHORT-CUT TO CONTEMPLATION?
It is
repeatedly claimed by the promoters of C.M. that it is a form of Christian
contemplation. A glance at the Christian Church's tradition makes it quite
clear that it is not contemplation in the Christian sense.
C.M. is
based on a human technique designed to alter one's state of consciousness.
The author of 'The Cloud of Unknowing' makes it patently clear that
'techniques and methods are ultimately useless for awakening contemplative
love'.19 This
sentiment is echoed in the then-Cardinal Ratzinger's document directed to
Christians who were practicing yoga, Zen meditation and Transcendental
Meditation:
Without a
doubt, a Christian needs certain periods of retreat into solitude to be
recollected and, in God's presence, rediscover his path. Nevertheless, given
his character as a creature, and a creature who knows that only in grace is he
secure, his method of drawing closer to God is not based on any 'technique' in
the strict sense of the word. That would contradict the spirit of childhood
called for by the gospel. Genuine Christian mysticism has nothing to do with
technique: it is always a gift of God, and the one who benefits from it knows
himself to be unworthy.20
In her
teaching endorsed by the Church, St Teresa of Avila covers all stages of the
spiritual life. For beginners she recommends discursive [conversational] forms
of prayer which should bear fruit in the practice of the Christian virtues.
This she considers the best foundation for contemplative prayer. However, she
hastens to add that 'however diligent our efforts we cannot acquire it...lt is
given only to whom God wills to give it when the soul is least thinking of it'.21 And she issues a strong warning to
those who would seek to empty the mind of all thought: If His
Majesty has not begun to absorb us [in contemplative prayer] I cannot
understand how the mind can be stopped.
There's no
way of doing so without bringing more harm than good...However, once God graces
the person with the gift of infused prayer, the intellect ceases to work
because God suspends it. Taking it upon oneself to stop and suspend thought is
what I mean should not be done; nor should we cease to work with the intellect
because otherwise we would be left like cold simpletons and be doing neither
one thing nor the other.’22
To give
the impression that C.M. is but a new name for traditional forms of infused
contemplative prayer is both untrue and quite misleading. Current Church
teaching indicates that C.M. is neither Christian nor prayer. Cardinal
Ratzinger's document on Christian meditation quotes John Paul 2 who taught that
creating a mental void in prayer ‘has no place in Christianity'.23 The Catholic Catechism (2726) echoes
this view stating that 'the effort of concentration to reach a mental void' is
an erroneous notion of prayer.
THE C.M.
CULTURE
One of the
most disturbing features of the C.M. culture is its willingness to embrace a
number of mind-emptying practices characteristic of Eastern meditation and New
Age. The one who has given the lead in
this is John Main himself. Early in his journey of C.M. he lectured on it at Gethsemani
Abbey U.S.A. to the Trappist monks there. This was the monastery where Merton
had lived for years. In the last decade
of his life Merton had embraced the mind-altering practice of Zen meditation
with a view to renewing monastic and Christian contemplative prayer. Though
dead for some years, his spirit was still very much alive in Gethsemani. It was
the inspiration of Merton which inspired Main
to promote his form of mind-altering in the Church: 'What Father John
had learned at Gethsemani was that he must follow Merton's lead in teaching
contemplative prayer for whatever years he had left in his life..’24 And as we know, Merton exerted a strong
influence in leading Christians into New Age and still does.25 My fear is that Main's form of
altering the state of consciousness may soften people up for New Age in a similar
way. As well, Main's high praise for Abishiktananda could well encourage
members of his movement to take up yoga.26
Freeman
has taken up where Main has left off. In the C.M. handbook, he recommends the
practice of hatha yoga as an immediate preparation for a C.M. session: 'The
yoga positions and breathing exercises ...are an ideal preparation for
Christian Meditation.’27 The
reason is obvious: both are highly compatible because they both lead to altered
states of consciousness. And Freeman's disciples in the C.M. Movement take his
advice seriously. Yoga is commonly practised on retreats28. And as well, another mind-emptying practice,
tai chi, is encouraged29.
Interestingly,
Father Freeman in his Handbook of C.M. proclaims on the first page that the
practice of C.M. can help to open one 'up to a richer dimension of consciousness'30. This clearly implies that in the
process one is altering one's state of consciousness. And yet in two other
places in the Handbook31 he
defensively claims that C.M. does not involve an altered state of
consciousness. One wonders why Freeman is being so defensive when- all yoga
authorities, including Main's guru Satyananda stress that the key strategy of
yoga is altering the state of consciousness and C.M. is a thinly disguised form
of manta yoga. Perhaps he is conscious of the warnings given in the most recent
Vatican document on New Age which warns of the dangers of engaging in altered
states of consciousness, mentioning mantric meditation in particular and
indicating that such 'creates an atmosphere of 'psychic weakness (and vulnerability)’32.
However,
the person who has proved most dangerous in this respect is the outspoken
founding Patron Of the World Community for Christian Meditation, Father Bede
Griffiths O.S,B. Not only does he proclaim to the movement that yoga is a valid
method of contemplation 'tested over thousands of years to help us discover
God'33, but
practices and endorses the practice of kundalini yoga with its accompanying occult psychic powers34. As well, and contrary to the
Church's teaching re voiding the mind,
he endorses as short-cuts to contemplation such mind-voiding practices as zen,
vipassana, and transcendental meditation with its subtle Hindu worship.35 The same Griffiths has erected in his
Indian ashram a statue of Jesus Christ in the lotus position sitting on a
coiled cobra representing the Hindu goddess Kundalini. The cobra's head hovers
over the top of Jesus' head.36 The obvious
blasphemous implication is that Christ is performing kundalini yoga. Added to
that, Griffiths has no hesitation in using the mantra '0m', an invocation of
all Hindu gods. Indeed, such is his veneration
for it that his religious
congregation of Benedictine yogis has as its official badge a cosmic cross with
'om' in Sanskrit embellishing the centre.37
In terms
of Eastern forms of meditation, Griffiths has publicly put himself at odds with
the teaching authority of the Church. In 1989, the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith under the leadership of the then-Cardinal Ratzinger
issued a letter to Bishops entitled On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation.
Among other things, it pointed that out that certain human techniques such as
yoga,
Transcendental
Meditation and Zen which create a void in the mind are not valid forms of Christian
prayer much, less Christian contemplation. Griffths, while being quite
dismissive of the letter as a whole, makes it emphatically clear that emptying
the mind by such techniques leads to 'something of supreme significance’38 and that through such, Christians and
non-Christians alike can plumb the depths of 'Christian mysticism' i.e.
contemplation. In support of his assertion he holds up as a model John Main. It
was within two years of making this declaration in the U.S.A. National Catholic
Reporter that Griffiths was made a Patron of the World Community of
Christian Meditation, of which he is now regarded as the inspirer and spiritual
leader.39
It was
Bede Griffiths who claimed that 'John Main is the best spiritual guide in the
Church today’40. Coming
from one with such a track record, this endorsement does not exactly flatter
Main.
YOGA SLIPS
UNDER THE RADAR AS CONTEMPLATION
Satyananda
succeeded admirably in converting Main to a yogic form of meditation. One
reason for the success may well have been
the spiritual spell which this guru weaved over Main during a period
of 18 months exposure to his influence. And
the other factor which probably enabled the guru to fly under Main's
discernment radar was the use of a Christian mantra. And Main's foggy
discernment exemplified in his claim that his form of 'contemplation' finds
justification in Christian spiritual tradition has been uncritically accepted
not only by Main's Benedictine superiors but also by his numerous disciples
which includes leaders in the Catholic Church.
One cannot
doubt Main's good intention. His fundamental mistake was to confuse an altered
state of consciousness with Christian contemplation.
ENDNOTES
1.
John Main, The Gethsemani Talks, Medio Media
Singapore, 2001, p. 13.
2.
Main, ibid., p. 14.
3.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Kundalini Tantra,
Yoga Publications Trust, 2007, p; 20.
4.
www.satyananda.net/prospectus , p. 1.
5.
John Main, The Inner Christ, Darton
Longman & Todd, 1987, p. 29.
6.
The Gethsemani Talks, op.cit., p.8.
7.
The Inner Christ, op.cit.,
p. 93.
8.
Richard De Smet, The Trajectory of My
Dialogical Activity, pp. 10-12.
9.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama
Mudra Bandha, Yoga Publications Trust,
2008, p. 10.
10.
Kundalini Tantra, op.cit.,
p. 39.
11.
There are over 50 New Age Spiritual Emergency
Centres established by Stan and Christina Grof. 40% of calls deal with
kundalini breakdowns; there are kundalini help-groups in Scandinavia and
Denmark.
12.
Psalm 70:1.
13.
John Cassian Conferences,
&ans. Colin Luibheid, Paulist Press, 1985, pp. 133, 140.
14.
Lk 22: 42.
15.
Lk 18: 13.
16.
Mk10: 47
17.
The Gethsemani Talks, op.
cit., p.39
18.
The Cloud of Unknowing and the Book of Privy
Counselling, ed. William Johnston, Image Books, 1973, p. 98.
19.
Ibid., p.92.
20.
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, 1989, online, No. 7.
21.
The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, trans.
Kieran Kavanaugh O.C.D. & Otilio Rodriguez
O.C.D.,
l.C.S Publications, 1980; vol. 2, pp.
325-326.
22.
Ibid., vol.l, p. 121.
23.
On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, op.
cit., footnote 12
24.
John Main: A Biography in Text & Photos, ed. Paul
Harris, Medio Media, 2011, p. 44.
25.
Max Sculley DLS, Yoga, Tai Chi & Reiki:
A Guide for Christians, Connor Court, 2012, p.63.
An ex-New Ager who has been an advisor
for my book informs me that a number of her
Catholic
acquaintances justify their New Age involvement by referring to Merton's
involvement with Zen.
26.
See footnote 7,
27.
Laurence Freeman OSB, Christian Meditation:
Your Daily Practice, Medio Media, 2008, p.35.
28.
Newsletter of World Community of Christian
Meditation, July 2012, p.9
29.
ibid., p. 7
30.
Christian Meditation: Your Daily Practice, p.
7
31.
ibid., pp. 11, 40
32.
Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life, St Paul's
Australia, 2003, p. 63
33.
Bede Griffiths OSB, The New Creation in
Christ: Christian Meditation and Community, Templegate Publishers, 1994, p.
19.
34.
Sculley, op.cit., pp. 54-55.
35.
Griffiths, op.cit., p. 19.
36.
Shirley du Boulay, Beyond the Darkness: A
Biography of Bede Griffiths, Random House, 1998.
A photo of this statue is contained in
the pictures section.
37.
Sculley, op.cit., p.56.
38.
Bede Griffiths OSB: Vatican letter
disguises wisdom of East religions, National Catholic
Reporter
[USA], 11.5.1990, p.12.
39.
The New Creation in Christ, op.cit.,
p. 12.
40.
The Inner Christ, op.cit.,
cover-blurb.
Copyright
2012 Max Sculley
Permission
is hereby given for limited non-profit distribution of this article.
FILL YOUR MINDS
“Fill your minds with
Everything that is true,
Everything that is noble,
Everything that is good and pure,
And everything that we love and
honour,
And everything that can be thought
virtuous or
Worthy of praise ….
Then the God of peace will be with you.’
(Philippians 4: 8-9)
APPENDIX
ON CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
In a
book entitled Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgeault
there is a foreword by Abbot Thomas Keating who is regarded by Bourgeault as Centering Prayer’s “principal architect
and spokesperson”. With the death of Abbot Keating, Cynthia Bourgeault is now
perhaps the “Keating spokesperson”. The Abbot in the above book thanks “Cynthia
for her monumental contribution to the better understanding of the Centering
Prayer Practice”.
In her
book pages 63-65 Cynthia Bourgeault has a cautionary note about Fr John Main
O.S.B founder of “Christian Meditation”.
“A
Cautionary Note, However . . .
But
while the Desert Fathers clearly practiced intentional silence, I am myself not
comfortable in moving from this to the assumption that they therefore taught
meditation per se---at least in the form that it is now understood and taught
in both Centering Prayer and Christian Meditation. This is the assumption made
by John Main, the founder of Christian Meditation, when he searched the
teachings of the fifth-century desert master John Cassian and found there what
he believed to be an explicit reference to the practice of meditation. In the
passage in question (the Tenth Spiritual Conference) Cassian recommends as a
means to attaining continuous attention in prayer the repeated use of a versicle
from Psalm 70: “Oh God, come to my assistance, Oh Lord make haste to help me.”
Describing this as a practice “which has been handed on to some of us by the
oldest of the Fathers,” he stresses its powerful efficacy: “This short verse is
an indomitable wall for those struggling against the onslaught of demons. It is
an impenetrable breastplate and the sturdiest of shields.”
“Aha,
a mantra!” John Main concluded, and in his teachings on Christian meditation he
has subsequently referred to it as such, giving the impression that the Desert
Fathers actually used the word mantra and specifically sanctioned and
taught a practice of meditation.
But
there is one small catch, evident in the sentences immediately following, which
are always deleted in John Main’s commentaries. For Cassian goes on to explain:
it is not without good reason that this verse has been chosen from the whole of
scripture as a device. It carries within it all the feelings of which human
nature is capable . . . It carries within it a cry to God in the face of
every danger. It expresses the humility of a pious confession. It conveys the
watchfulness born of unending worry and fear. It conveys a sense of our
frailty, the assurance of being heard, the confidence in help that is always
and everywhere present. . . . This the voice filled with the ardour of love and
charity. This is the terrified cry of someone who sees the snares of the enemy,
the cry of someone besieged day and night and exclaiming that he cannot escape
unless his protector comes to his rescue.
In
other words, while it is certainly true that Cassian is describing intentional
silence, it is also clear that he is describing cataphatic rather than
apophatic prayer. While the phrase “O God, come to my assistance. O Lord make
haste to help me” superficially resembles a mantra, it is not used as a
mantra---i.e, as a way of tethering the mind so as to bypass ordinary thinking.
Rather, it is intended to work with the feelings---much more like the zikr
of Sufi ecstatic prayer, or the Jesus Prayer of later Orthodox tradition---so
concentrating and intensifying the feelings and they actually “implode” into
that level of deeper spiritual awareness. This method is called “bringing the
mind down into the heart,” and it is the classic path in both the Christian
East and the Christian West for passing from the cataphatic to the apophatic.
While
this may seem like a nuance, it is a fairly important one. In his attempt to
find a solid contextual grounding for meditation in Christian tradition, I
believe that Dom Main has slightly shifted the sense of this passage and hence
its solid fidelity to the classical tradition of Christian contemplative
prayer. In classic Christian practice one does not immediately access the
apophatic by simply tethering the faculties; one takes the more circuitous
route of concentrating them and intensifying them until they are finally
overwhelmed in the divine love. Eventually, of course, one comes out in the
same place: in the complete transcendence of the egoic realm and the opening of
one’s heart to become “all flame.”
It is
probably safer simply to concede that Christian Meditation and Centering Prayer
are slightly innovative in terms of the classical tradition; they represent a
definite expansion and development of the traditional methodology of
contemplative prayer”.
Postscript.
As
regards the last sentence: that Christian Meditation and Centering Prayer are
slightly innovative in terms of the classical tradition,” this is a huge
understatement. Traditional Christian Meditation is filling the mind (with all
that is true noble, good etc. Phil. 4:8f) and Centering Prayer is emptying the
mind to achieve an altered state of consciousness.
See
Centering Prayer and Cynthia Bourgeault
(google: sineglossa.blogspot.com).