silence Archives - Page 9 of 10

Keeping Silence, Not Passing Judgment (Part III)

02/11/2014

Again and again the monks sing the praises of silence. For them silence is the way to encounter themselves, to discover the truth of their own hearts. But silence is also the way to become free from constantly judging and condemning others. We are always in danger of evaluating, estimating, and judging every person we meet. And often enough we find ourselves on the verge of condemning and passing sentence on them. Silence prevents us

ON GUARDING AGAINST THE RE-ENTRY OF VANQUISHED EVIL

02/03/2014

THE first time you are victorious over self may be a sign to you: Now I am on the way! But do not consider yourself virtuous, only thank God, for it was He who gave you the power; and do not rejoice beyond measure, but swiftly go on. Otherwise the vanquished evil may come to life and conquer you from the rear. Remember: the Israelites received the command from God to drive out all the

Keeping Silence, Not Passing Judgment

10/25/2013

One sign that asceticism has led a monk to God is the refusal to pass judgment. However severely monks fast and however hard they work, all of that is useless if they nonetheless go on judging others. Asceticism has merely gotten them to the point where they can exalt themselves over others. It has served to satisfy their pride, to heighten their feeling of self-worth. Those who have encountered themselves in their asceticism, those who

Living Prayer

10/14/2013

Worship to me means a relationship. I used not to be a believer, then one day I discovered God and immediately he appeared to me to be the supreme value and the total meaning of life, but at the same time a person. I think that worship can mean nothing at all to someone for whom there is no object of worship. You cannot teach worship to someone who has not got a sense of

How to Pray

07/18/2013

I think the one thing the Church should do is teach people how to pray. Contemplative prayer in particular can give people back their birthright as children of God (inherently connected to and created by God). That is the only way to know your birthright experientially. Prayer is not something you do; it’s finally something you are whenever you collapse back into the very Ground of your being. Unfortunately, we flee into our minds instead—to

Resting in God

07/09/2013

The final word for mysticism, after the optimistic explosion that we usually call hope and the ensuing sense of safety, is an experience of deep rest. It’s the verb I’m told that is most used by the mystics: “resting in God.” All this striving and this need to perform, climb, and achieve becomes, on some very real level, unnecessary. It’s already here, now. I can stop all this overproduction and over-proving of myself. That’s Western

“. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part V)

03/28/2013

Everyone will no doubt agree that the whole style of family existence has been radically altered by radio and television. These media of “mass communication” permeate today our whole life. One does not have to “go out” in order to “be out.” The whole world is permanently here within my reach. And, little by little, the elementary experience of living within an inner world, of the beauty of that “interiority,” simply disappears from our modern

“BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK” (REV 3:2, Part II)

03/06/2013

As our practice deepens we see that thoughts are as porous as screen, porous to their grounding Silence. Realizing this, we are not quite so compelled to react or push away or grasp. Yet the externals of our practice remain basically the same; whenever we are aware that the attention has been stolen, we bring the attention back, whether or not we need to repeat the prayer word. While the externals of our practice are

“BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK” (REV 3:2, Part I)

03/05/2013

“Delve deeply into the Jesus Prayer,” says the Russian monk Theophan. He obviously intends the Jesus Prayer as the prayer word. At an earlier doorway of practice such a statement would have made no sense. We might have recited it, been dedicated to it, been consistent in bringing the attention back, but to “delve deeply into” it would imply that the prayer word had some sort of dimension or depth. This is precisely the sort

“KNOCK AND THE DOOR SHALL BE OPENED”

02/19/2013

“KNOCK AND THE DOOR SHALL BE OPENED” (MT 7:7; LK 11:9) “Let us sit still and keep our attention fixed within ourselves,” says Evagrius. Simone Weil describes prayer in much the same spirit when she says “Prayer consists of attention,” and “the quality of the attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer.” The practice of contemplation begins with our attention and our bodies. The basics are simple. We sit down and assume

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Keeping Silence, Not Passing Judgment (Part III)

ON GUARDING AGAINST THE RE-ENTRY OF VANQUISHED EVIL

Keeping Silence, Not Passing Judgment

Living Prayer

How to Pray

Resting in God

“. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part V)

“BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK” (REV 3:2, Part II)

“BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK” (REV 3:2, Part I)

“KNOCK AND THE DOOR SHALL BE OPENED”

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