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Emphasis Mine In Bible Verses
Mysticism
Contemplative Prayer
The Claimed Importance
The Why
The How
The Spread
An Introduction to Mysticism
The word mysticism is a combination of mystic and ism. Mystic (Greek mystes) originally referred to an initiate of a mystery religion - one of many secret cults in the Greco-Roman world that offered religious experiences largely unknown in the official public religions.
In today's world, mysticism is often understood as being a religious or spiritual experience - touted by some factions of Christianity as a way to get closer to and communicate with God. To that end many modern believers are being introduced to ancient practices such as Lectio Divina (Latin for 'Divine Reading'), Contemplative Prayer, Labyrinths etc. See More About Lectio Divina In Footnote I
Contemplative “Prayer”
Differing from Lectio Divina only in methodology Contemplative Prayer, also known as centering prayer, listening prayer, breath prayer etc., is one of many mystical practices taught as part of the Contemplative Spirituality movement. However, both the words ‘contemplative and 'prayer' are very misleading.
The dictionary meaning of 'contemplate' is to look at attentively and thoughtfully; to consider carefully and at length; to ponder; to view or consider with continued attention.
However, teachers of contemplative prayer teaches practitioners to do exactly the opposite. The goal being for people to go beyond thinking and understanding and into the realm of experiencing
As far as being a ‘prayer’ is concerned, CP does not resemble any prayer in the New Testament. In fact, it is not prayer at all, but a supposed mystical encounter with the Father.
Although not meant to replace ‘regular’ prayer or talking to God, Contemplative “Prayer” promotes the emptying of the mind and the suspension of critical thinking thus enabling the paractitioner to totally center their mind on God - not by conscious thought but by simply feeling God within. In the words of author Jan Johnson who holds a D. Min. in Ignatian spirituality .
Contemplative prayer, in its simplest form, is prayer in which you still your thoughts … this puts you in a better state to be aware of Gods presence, and it makes you better able to hear God's voice correcting, guiding, and directing you. Instead of coming with a "to do" list for God, you come with no agenda. The fundamental idea is to simply enjoy the companionship of God, stilling your own thoughts so you can listen should God choose to speak. For this reason, contemplative prayer is sometimes referred to as "the prayer of silence". [01]
The following analogy given by the Catholic Encyclopedia may prove helpful in understanding what is meant.
Thus it is that in mystical union we feel God within us and in a very simple way. The soul absorbed in mystical union that is not too elevated may be said to resemble a man placed near one of his friends in an impenetrably dark place and in utter silence. He neither sees nor hears his friend whose hand he holds within his own, but through means of touch, he feels his presence. [02]
The Claimed Importance
Proponents of Contemplative Prayer consider it to be extremely important - nay crucial - in one's relationship with God.
"Adherents are taught that while reason has some value, truly knowing God can only come through experiencing Him" [03]
The November 2013 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 78, No. 11, pages 18-22) published an interview with Fr. William Meninger who was asked whether he thought contemplative prayer was more valuable than prayer for other people’s needs? His answer...
Yes. In Chapter 3 The Cloud says, “This form of prayer is more pleasing to God than any other form, and it does more good for the church, for the souls in purgatory, for the missionaries than any other form of prayer.” And then it says, “Although you may not understand why.” [04]
Note: The Cloud of Unknowing is a 14th century manual on contemplative meditation written by an unknown English monk in the late fourteenth century.
More about Fr. William Meninger in chapter 2
In more modern times, the late Brennan Manning, best selling author and once ordained Franciscan priest, went as far as to state (Emphasis Added)
Quaker minister Richard J. Foster was not far behind when he stated that the "masters of the interior life" (as he called them) were the only ones who had discovered the true path to spiritual growth.
A Question
In regard to all three of the above statements I only have one question - How do they know? Anyone can make verbal pretentious statements (watched any TV recently?) however, if there is not a shred of evidence to back up those claims they have to be considered with extreme caution. The claimant might just be full of hot air.
What we need to do is stop checking our brains in at the door and ask the million dollar question... what evidence supports these claims?
If "feelings" are the sole arbitrator of spiritual truth, a lot of people may be in very big trouble - just because something makes you feel good doesn't mean it is good for you. A sense of emotional and physical well being does not necessarily mean that this spiritual path is wise in the long run, much less that it leads to Deity. The reality is that there is no evidence that tells us these experiences are from God or even have anything to do with Him.
What most people do not seem to realize is that Christianity is perhaps the only religion that does not demand 'blind faith' from its followers. See Faith And The Bible - Chapter Three of Choose Life That You May Live
And a Comment
One unfortunate outcome of these teachings is that as people become more immersed in the subjective experiences of these mystical practices, they seem to become less interested in the objective spiritual knowledge found in the Bible. In some circles, studying the Bible, fasting, or praying no longer seem to be considered necessary prerequisites for spiritual growth.
Contemplative Prayer - The Why
The sad thing is that many believers who learn and practice these methods are motivated by a genuine desire to get closer to God. They feel a dryness or barrenness in their spiritual lives that they do not know how to deal with. They are told that these mystical practices and techniques will lead them to an experiential union with the Father thus the inner peaces they may experience causes them to believe that they achieved divine intimacy. See Chapter 6 - Drawing Nearer to God
It is unfortunate that so many think their relationship with God is only validated by feelings and emotional experiences. A few minutes of clearing our minds and we fondly imagine that we can step into His presence.
Our once functioning brains now tell us that as long as we 'feel' right or good about something, it has to be okay. What needs to be borne in mind is that relying of feelings makes a person a prime target for the enemy who can easily use experiences to deceive. The Word of God is the sole litmus test for all things spiritual.
Contemplative Prayer - The How
One of the most common Biblical verses cited in support of Contemplative Prayer is Psalm 46:10, "Cease striving and know that I am God" (see next chapter)
The "cease striving" part is supposedly achieved by learning to ignore all exterior distraction and, at the same time, clearing one's mind of all interior distraction so that God's presence may be felt and His voice more easily heard. Practitioners are instructed to follow the following four steps, preferably for twenty minutes twice a day. Pay close attention to the methods - they will come up later in the article.
1. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of intention to consent to Gods presence and action within. This 'sacred' word could be something like God, Jesus, Abba, Love, Peace, Faith, Trust, etc. (IPS Note some claim that these sacred words are not constantly repeat as mantras, but as a reminder of ones intention to remain open).
2. Sit comfortably with closed eyes and silently introduce the sacred word. Closing one's eyes is symbolic of letting go of what is going on around and within us.
3. If distracted by thoughts, feelings, images, memories, etc. gently return to the sacred word. The word "gently" is used to stress using a minimum of effort. Do not try to analyze the experience which is also a distraction.
4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence for a couple of minutes with your eyes closed giving yourself time to readjust to the external senses and bring the peacefulness and stillness into your daily life.
The goal is to keep practicing until all thoughts and feelings disappear. In his book Open Mind, Open Heart Thomas Keating abbot of St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, CO. wrote that "All thoughts pass if you wait long enough."
Eventually, the practitioner reaches a state of pure consciousness in which the thinking process is suspended which is supposed to put the person into direct contact with God. Incidentally, Open Mind, Open Heart has sold over half a million copies in English and has been published in 10 foreign-language editions (Croatian, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesia, Italian, Korean, Polish, and Portuguese).
Contemplative Prayer - The Spread
Although classical mysticism survived for centuries within small pockets of Roman Catholicism, it went largely unnoticed by evangelicals. That is, until the later 20th century when one man (virtually single handedly) introduced it into the church. In 1978, Quaker minister Richard J. Foster (founder and past president of Renovaré) published Celebration of Discipline, the Path to Spiritual Growth that was
"... hailed by Christianity Today as one of the ten best books of the twentieth century and voted by the readers of that magazine as the third most influential book after the Bible".
With this book, Foster introduced the church to the beliefs and practices of the medieval mystics and in doing so completely changed the evangelical's understanding of spirituality. He went so far as to declare that the "masters of the interior life" - as he called the ancient mystics, [06] were, as said earlier, the only ones who had discovered the true path to spiritual growth.
Over the next few years, Foster managed to convince hundreds of thousands that he was right, assuring them that these practices are "classical" forms of Biblical meditation. (Section paraphrased from "Mysticism" by pastor Gary Gilley.
Over time, Contemplative Prayer infiltrated virtually every corner of the church - rapidly spreading across denominational lines. In fact, the pendulum swung so far in the opposite direction that...
"Mystical practices are now widely embraced and taught in secular and professed Christian seminaries, colleges, universities, organizations, ministries and seminars, etc. throughout the United States. Academic promoters have introduced these practices into the fields of medicine, business and law while countless secular and Christian books, magazines, seminars, and retreats are teaching lay people how to incorporate them into their daily lives. Promoters promise physical, mental and spiritual benefits desiring to bring about positive social change". [07]
Recent books and articles on spirituality are replete with quotations from a large number of Catholic mystics and, of course, Quaker Richard Foster. It is an extremely regrettable fact that whenever well known and respected church leaders directly or indirectly quote teachers of mysticism, it immediately makes them models to be emulated.
As a very small example,
The Evangelicals: Rick Warren promotes "Breath prayers" (No surprises here). In his book The Purpose Driven Church, he says that Richard Foster and Dallas Willard (among others) have "underscored the importance of building up Christians and establishing personal spiritual disciplines" [08]. Rick Warren's wife, Kay Warren, endorses Henri Nouwen's book In the Name of Jesus, saying that she "highlighted almost every word."
The Southern Baptists: David Cloud reported that on a February 2000 research visit in to the Golden Gate Theological Seminary in San Francisco, a Southern Baptist school, he found that
"most of the required reading materials for the course on "Classics of Church Devotion" are books by Roman Catholic authors. These included Spiritual Exercises by Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits), The Cloud of Unknowing (by an unknown 14th century Catholic monk), New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton (a Catholic convert from Anglicanism), Confessions of Saint Augustine (one of the fathers of the Roman Catholic Church), The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis, Selected Works of Bernard of Clairvaux, and The Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila.
[09]
The Emerging Church: Emerging church leader Spencer Burke founder of the aptly named theooze.com, said
"I stopped reading from the approved evangelical reading list and began to distance myself from the evangelical agenda. I discovered new authors and new voices at the bookstore-Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen and St. Teresa of Avila. The more I read, the more intrigued I became. Contemplative spirituality seemed to open up a whole new way for me to understand and experience God. I was deeply moved by works like The Cloud of Unknowing, The Dark Night of the Soul and the Early Writings of the Desert Fathers." [10]
Youth Specialties: Nor have our youth escaped. From a very small beginning in the 60', Youth Specialties has grown to the point that every year they "serve more than 100,000 youth workers worldwide" through their training "seminars, conventions, resources, and online communities". [11]
Co-founder Mike Yaconelli once said Henri Nouwen's In the Name of Jesus, was one of the two most pivotal book in his life - the other one being When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd. In his words,
I turned to the bibliography and with my highlighter marked all the books she (his wife) kept referring to. Then I went out and bought them all until I had this huge stack of books. There were authors like Saint John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Thomas Merton, and all these others. [12]
The "she" he is referring to is Sue Monk Kidd - a well known New Ager who promotes worship of the goddess. In her book The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, she wrote,
Today I remember that event for the radiant mystery it was, how I felt myself embraced by Goddess, how I felt myself in touch with the deepest thing I am. It was the moment when, as playwright and poet Ntozake Shange put it, "I found god in myself/ and I loved her/ I loved her fiercely" [13]
Continue On To - Chapter II - The Source of The Tradition
Modern practitioners of Contemplative Prayer believe it to be unique to Christianity, largely because Christian mystical teachers claim that Contemplative Prayer is rooted in the tradition of the Desert Fathers thus it is unique to Christianity. This is as far from the truth as it gets. The fact is that Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, & Sufism, as well as Occult/New Age devotees have long practiced an almost identical form of 'prayer'. Many 'Christian' centering prayer as taught and practised in so much of the church today was learned from Eastern and Occult meditation practitioners. Any differences are superficial at best. HERE
Footnote I - Lectio Divina
(Latin for Divine or holy reading) is a practice derived from the ancient Roman Catholic monks and hermits called the Mothers and Fathers of the Desert. It is an ancient method of slowly reading the scriptures in a repetitive fashion not, as one might suppose to gain understanding and knowledge through the plain meaning of the words, but in order to (supposedly) open one's mind to what God may be telling the person through the text.
Although one or more Biblical passages are used as a starting point, practitioners tend to disconnect these passages from their natural meaning, wrench them from their context, and apply them in a subjective and very individualistic way. In other words, the same passage can mean different things to different people which was never how the Bible was intended to be used.
As said by the Trinity Episcopal Church.
The passage itself is not as important as the savoring of each portion of the reading, constantly listening for the "still, small voice" of a word or phrase that somehow speaks to the practitioner. [14]
Besides which, as will be shown later in this article, born of the great desire to hear God's voice, the dangers of "listening for the still, small voice" is that what one hears may not be of God at all. Certainly some Hindus believe God speaks when we meditate. Sri Chinmoy, a well known Indian-born spiritual leader, once described the difference between prayer and meditation,
"When I pray, I talk and God listens. When I meditate, God talks and I listen". Meditation is that listening, attentively and in silence, to the voice of the Absolute within us. There is a special way to listen to the Voice of God, and that is to meditate in silence" [15] {PLACE IN TEXT}
End Notes. Chapter One
[01] Please Contemplate This ~ by T.A. McMahon, The Berean Call Newsletter.
http://rejoiceforevermore.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/please-contemplate-this-by-t-a-mcmahon-the-berean-call-newsletter/
[02] Poulain, Augustin. "Contemplation." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 10 Jan. 2017. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04324b.htm]
[03] Please Contemplate This by T.A. McMahon. The Berean Call Newsletter, 03/00
http://rejoiceforevermore.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/please-contemplate-this-by-t-a-mcmahon-the-berean-call-newsletter/
[04] Interview with Father William Meninger. US Catholic.
http://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201311/sit-down-and-be-quiet-how-practice-contemplative-meditation-28077
[05] Brennan Manning, The Gentle Revolutionaries. p. 104
[06] Celebration of Discipline, the Path to Spiritual Growth. Pg. 98
[07] Christine A. Narloch. Contemplative Prayer: Seducing Spirits And A Doctrine Of Devils. http://www.earnestlycontend.com/cp.html
[08] Rick Warren. The Purpose Driven Church. Pg. 126. Publisher: Zondervan (November 27, 1995)
[09] David Cloud. Way of Life Literature. Beware of the Ragamuffin Gospel.
https://www.wayoflife.org/reports/beware_ragamuffin_gospel.html
[10] Spencer Burke. From the Third Floor of the Gargage- The Story of Theooze. April 28, 2009
https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/from-the-third-floor-of-the-gargage-the-story-of-theooze/
[11] Youth Specialties . About Us. https://youthspecialties.com/about/
[12] A Conversation With Mike Yaconelli. Interviewed by Michael J. Cusick Copyright © 1995 Mars Hill Review 2 May 1995 · Issue No. 2: pgs 67-87. http://www.leaderu.com/marshill/mhr02/yacon1.html
[13] The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine. Publisher: HarperOne; Rev Upd edition (September 20, 2016) Pg. 158
[14] Rev. Dr. Myron Penner . Lectio Divina: Praying Through Scripture. St. Paul's Anglican Church.
https://www.stpauls-anglican.ca/blog/lectio-divina-praying-through-scripture#:~:text=The%20passage%20itself%20is%20not,the%20text%20say%20as%20text%3F
[15] Alan Spence. Hindu meditation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/ritesrituals/meditation_1.shtml
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