Contemplative Haven

“If no one told me who I was, who would I be? Quietly meditate on this by spending some time in the spaciousness of not knowing. Imagine that your subconscious mind is nonexistent and there is no storage receptacle for excuses during your life. There’s just an open and inviting clear space inside of you – a tabula rasa, or blank slate, with a magical surface that nothing adheres to. You might imagine that your everyday conscious mind simply doesn’t absorb the opinions of the folks you grew up with. In this little fantasy, there’s never been anyone telling you who you are. So who are you?”

[Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Excuses Begone!, pg. 25]

Yes, it’s what I want.  We’ve talked here often of contemplative prayer and its peeling away the layers of the false self.  We’ve talked of Holy Detachment.  Along with the question I placed in the previous post, another line from the video spoke to me:  “…nothing should ever be placed in such a way that it doesn’t express its own vitality and character.”   How can we express our own vitality and character, our true self rather than our false self, until the false is completely stripped away?  This is why I repeated the question asked near the end of the video:  “What actually is not needed, in order to see what is essential?”   Perhaps we could also ask, “What actually must die in order to reveal our essence?” 

I had seen the Ikebana video a while ago; it spoke to me, and so I saved the link in my drafts.  Recently, one of Lucy’s posts had me thinking deeply, and the video came back to mind.  Then one of those serendipitous events occurred.  Lucy had quoted Anne Morrow Lindbergh in her post:  “The most exhausting thing you can do is to be inauthentic.”   I didn’t know the source of the quote, but I had more than a few passing thoughts that I would like to read more of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s writings.  A couple of days later I was in the thrift shop looking for a small wicker basket and I took the time, as I usually do, to browse through the books.  Generally, I only look at the hardcover books, because the paperbacks are usually all genres which don’t appeal to me.  But for some reason I scoured the racks of paperbacks as well, and lo and behold, what did I see but Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “Gift from the Sea.”   And what a gift it was (and I’m not referring to the 49 cents I paid for it).  Now, I know I’m probably coming late to this book; many of my American online friends here, particularly the women, probably read it years ago, but “better late than never” certainly holds true in this case for me.  (Kristin, it is this book to which I was referring in a comment where I said it was helping me to centre and rebalance).

I know I’m making this post overly-long by doing so, but I’d like to share with you a couple of paragraphs from the book (I will be sharing more later) that coincide nicely with the Ikebana video in terms of how the artist was asking us to be curious about the weight and the fullness, to ask ourselves “where is the space, where is the line?”  Becoming aware of the weight, the fullness, the space and the lines in our day-to-day existence and doing whatever it takes to simplify and bring things into balance and harmony will lead to the same thing interiorly.  Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes:
 
“For it is only framed in space that beauty blooms.  Only in space are events and objects and people unique and significant – and therefore beautiful.  A tree has significance if one sees it against the empty face of the sky.  A note in music gains significance from the silences on either side.  A candle flowers in the space of night.  Even small and casual things take on significance if they are washed in space, like a few autumn grasses in one corner of an Oriental painting, the rest of the page bare.

My life in Connecticut, I begin to realize, lacks this quality of significance and therefore of beauty, because there is so little empty space.  The space is scribbled on; the time has been filled.  There are so few empty pages in my engagement pad, or empty hours in the day, or empty rooms in my life in which to stand alone and find myself.  Too many activities, and people, and things.  Too many worthy activities, valuable things, and interesting people.  For it is not merely the trivial which clutters our lives but the important as well.  We can have a surfeit of treasures – an excess of shells, where one or two would be significant.”
[Gift from the Sea; pgs. 114-115]

Ikebana, with Alexandra Shenpen.

“What actually is not needed, in order to see what is essential?” 

The following video is a discussion between Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., and Ken Wilbur, of Integral Institute, on aspects of contemplation and contemplative prayer, particularly in terms of the false self and spiritual stages.  Note, at approximately 6 minutes into the video, the little gasps and murmurs from the audience as they recognize the truth of what Father Keating has just said:  “And that’s why, to take a determination not to contribute to the messiness of the world by adding our own false-self projects to it, is one of the greatest gifts you could give to humanity.”

Father Keating also speaks of the Great Commandment, and on the subject of loving the Lord our God with our whole mind, heart, soul and with all of our strength, he says:  “…it is impossible to do without contemplative prayer and the insight that that brings.”

At approximately seven-and-a-half minutes into the video, Ken Wilbur describes the stages of growth and development that men and women tend to go through spiritually, and how these stages (of nearness to the Divine presence) can now be “measured” scientifically, at least “on the psychological side of the street”.  He is very sincere and excited about this, because, as he sees it, this scientific data can now be used in arguments about the effectiveness of contemplative prayer - the measurable results can counter non-believers’ statements that the whole thing is merely “wishful thinking”. 

Yet Father Keating brings the discussion back to the spiritual reality of the hardships and difficulties facing those who follow the contemplative path, and of the necessity of growth in humility.  Notice how he does this gently, with an exquisite sense of humour. 

And remember – if you are growing in your contemplative practice and in humility, and find your life unmanageable as you’re living it, take heart in one of Father Keating’s final remarks, that “this is a triumph, not a disaster.”

Direct to YouTube for this video is here.

Excerpt from:  Abandonment to Divine Providence (Jean-Pierre de Caussade)

“It is true that a canvas simply and blindly offered to the brush feels at each moment only the stroke of the brush.  It is the same with a lump of stone.  Each blow from the hammering of the sculptor’s chisel makes it feel – if it could – as if it were being destroyed.  As blow after blow descends, the stone knows nothing of how the sculptor is shaping it.  All it feels is a chisel chopping away at it, cutting it and mutilating it.  For example, let’s take a piece of stone destined to be carved into a crucifix or a statue.  We might ask it:  What do you think is happening to you?  And it might answer:  Don’t ask me.  All I know is that I must stay immovable in the hands of the sculptor, and I must love him and endure all he inflicts on me to produce the figure he has in mind.  He knows how to do it.  As for me, I have no idea what he is doing, nor do I know what he will make of me.  But what I do know is that his work is the best possible.  It is perfect.  I welcome each blow of his chisel as the best thing that could happen to me, although, if I’m to be truthful, I feel that every one of these blows is ruining me, destroying me and disfiguring me.  But I remain unconcerned.  I concentrate on the present moment, think only of my duty, and suffer all that this master sculptor inflicts on me without knowing his purpose or fretting about it.”

I have absolutely no interest in pop psychology, nor the latest “gurus” being touted by the media.  I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen even a segment of Oprah’s show, for instance.

What I am interested in, and desire to share, is anything that can bring the truth and the teachings of Catholicism into better focus for people.  The media can label Eckhart Tolle any way they please, but there is no question in my mind that he is a mystic.  One of my pet peeves (well, deep frustrations, actually) is that, because the secular media and also many “spiritual practitioners” themselves have no knowledge of our Catholic contemplative/mystical tradition, they have no foundation, no basis, no frame of reference in which so-called “new” knowledge and practices can be properly placed.  Ultimately, everything and everyone gets slotted into ”New Age”.  It would be laughable if it weren’t so very sad.

Quite frankly, and I am not ashamed to admit it, I had never heard of Eckhart Tolle before I accidently came across some sound clips, which prompted me to check for YouTubes.  I had no idea he was even popular let alone famous, and I had no idea he was being touted by the celebrities as the “new” spiritual guru, because I don’t watch television and rarely frequent anything other than Catholic bookstores.  I simply recognized him as a mystic; I recognized the Catholic contemplative/mystical teachings within his message, and realized he was someone I could “use”.  I have no qualms about using a teacher from any religious tradition or even no religious tradition if I can do so to elucidate our Catholic faith.  If celebrities are embracing Tolle, so be it; perhaps it is an indication that their spirits are crying out for a deeper relationship with the Divine.  Perhaps, through Tolle, they may experience a conversion of heart, experience metanoia; perhaps even find their way to Christ our Lord.  I cannot even say that I would embrace Tolle’s message in its entirety, because I do not know it in its entirety.  What I have used on my blog I have used for a specific purpose.

I did a bit of googling late last night, afraid that perhaps I had gone offtrack, been deceived, and was perhaps leading others to be deceived.   Many places I looked, Tolle popped up with the label “New Age”.  But not everywhere.  For instance, we can find Eckhart Tolle’s, “The Power of Now”, listed on the Basilian Fathers’ website as Recommended Reading.  They write:

“This book is quite similar in concept to “Practicing the Presence of God” ; however, it does approach our ability to live in the “now” using a more intellectual and scientific method.  It could best be summed up like this:  Start with Brother Lawrence for the spiritual understanding, then turn to Tolle for the “how”.”

The Redemptorists also list Eckhart Tolle’s, “A New Earth”, on their website under Recommended Reading.

I opened my previous post with quotations from The Cloud of Unknowing and from Abandonment to Divine Providence.  I did not use these Catholic writings in order to validate Eckhart Tolle.  I used Eckhart Tolle, because he is here and now and available on YouTube, to help explain our own Catholic contemplative/mystical teachings.

“Therefore, be attentive to time and the way you spend it. Nothing is more precious…God, the master of time, never gives the future. He gives only the present, moment by moment, for this is the law of the created order, and God will not contradict himself in his creation.”  (The Cloud of Unknowing, Anonymous)

“For at each moment our hearts are at peace in God and completely abandoned to all creation.  Therefore each of these moments contains all things.”  (Abandonment to Divine Providence, Jean-Pierre de Caussade)

The Momentum of “No”  (Eckhart Tolle)

The direct link to YouTube for this video is Here .

Quelque chose pour un ami qui n’a pas dix minutes.  En tout cas…

A sound clip from Eckhart Tolle’s, “Through the Open Door to the Vastness of Your True Being.”

This, and my prayers.

Mystical Landscape (Johannes Tanner)

“Contemplation presupposes a dying to self: a dying to one’s own will and to all of the gifts of understanding and seeing bestowed on man. To desire to exist, not in the I, but in the Thou; without restriction, without a measuring of distance, without a feeling of one’s own unworthiness, and thus in the faith of a child who has been called and, through the call, has been drawn forward.

It is no game; it is no make-believe; rather, it is an integration that God himself has demanded: we have to contemplate the Lord with the Lord’s own eyes.”
(Adrienne von Speyr: Light and Images. Elements of Contemplation)

Wall Painting from Pompeii

Just who exactly is this person beside me?  Any of us who are, or have been married, may have asked ourselves this question from time to time.  Our spouses have undoubtedly wondered the same thing.

I once heard a standup comic say that men were really silly, because they married a woman thinking she would never change, but that women were even sillier, because they married a man believing he would change. 

Anyone, married or not, can begin to peel away the layers of the false self with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, with contemplative prayer, with a deepening of self-knowledge, and often with the help of a trusted friend, psychologist, or spiritual director.  Those who are married, however, have the additional help inherent in the married state.  The love, trust and intimacy in the relationship provide a perfect environment for taking off the masks,  revealing deep-seated fears and anxieties, and for baring our souls.  Because of the intimacy and trust between the spouses, much of the false self can slip away, many wounds from childhood and youth can be healed, and a new level of inner freedom can be attained.  This is a huge function of marriage, and this is one of the reasons why marriage is a vocation.  There will undoubtedly be periods during the marriage when the stripping away of the false self of one or both of the spouses causes almost unbearable pressure; it may seem as if the marriage cannot be sustained, but Father Thomas Keating, in, “Invitation to Love.  The Way of Christian Contemplation”, helps us to understand what is really happening, and how very important it is:

“Actually, difficulties arise whenever a committed relationship is succeeding.  Love makes you vulnerable.  When you feel loved by God or by another person, you do not have to be self-protective.  Your defenses relax and the dark side of your personality arises, not only into consciousness, but also into your behaviour, to the dismay, perhaps, of your spouse.  Hopefully, your spouse is having similar experiences.  One purpose of the sacrament of marriage is to provide the grace to process each other’s dark side.  In this way, marriage becomes a school of purification and transformation.  When a couple bears with each other’s failures, dark sides, and weaknesses, they minister the love of God to each other.  Human love is the symbol of God’s love in the sacrament of marriage and communicates it to the other person.  The committment to marriage enables one to get through the process of self-knowledge and to reap the benefit of this enlightenment.”