“What the world needs from the church is not busy people but
deep people.”
—Richard Foster
“Take away the life lie of the average person, and you take
away their happiness.”
—Henrik Ibsen
There has been a growing interest, in the last few decades,
in the contemplative traditions of the East. Some of this interest is silly,
shallow and a form of romanticism. There is, though, much depth in the East
that the West can learn from. The turn to the East does reflect an inner
longing and hunger that is not being addressed by many forms of Western
Christianity. There is a frantic form of busyness and activity in the West, and
Christianity often, sadly so, apes and echoes it in its worship and addiction
to church growth. But, there is a conscious quest these days to a contemplative
way of knowing God from within Christianity. This comes as a questioning and
countercultural "No" to the "much ado about nothing" that so besets many forms of
religion these days.
The publication of Lost
Christianity: A Journey of Rediscovery to the Centre of Christian Experience (1980),
by Jacob Needleman, goes straight to the core and heart of the problem. The
contemplative depths of Christianity have been lost in the last few decades,
and there is a desire to refind and rediscover the ancient paths. Lost Christianity points the way to such
paths, and to those who have hiked such paths. Needless to say, such a journey
will take the curious to the ancient and time tried wells of the Christian
Tradition.
It was at such places that the contemplative and mystical
centre of the faith pilgrimage was warmly supported, graciously taught and
authentically lived. Tragically so, since the Reformation, much of this
contemplative way has been obscured and lost.
It is often when we face suffering, tragedy or our inner
restlessness, fears, insecurities and drivenness that we begin to ask questions
about deeper things, and turn to those places and sites where the deep places
often are. Much has been overgrown and forgotten in the last few centuries,
but, gratefully so, there is a conscious and deliberate turn, these days, once
again, to the contemplative. Those who have turned their backs on the West
because of its religious thinness and shallow activism might have turned too
quick. There is, at the core and centre of Christianity, a deep contemplative
place. Needless to say, such a finding means much must be let go of, the ego
must die and the seed must press deep into the soil for the new life and
harvest to emerge.
The contemplative journey goes much deeper and further than
a fastidious commitment to disciplined meditative techniques (even though these
have their role to play as rafts that might take one to the other shore). But, such
techniques and disciplines (and there are all sorts of them) can be tantalizing
distractions and diversions from the deeper and more demanding journey. Such a
journey means facing our shadow and dark sides. Such a quest means dealing with
the many fictions, illusions, mirages and inner busyness, we often equate with
our deeper, more real and authentic self. The best of the spiritual directors
within Christianity are clear about one thing: if a deeper and fuller life is
ever going to be lived, each and all must courageously face the life lies,
idols and religious fictions that so distort and distract people from the real
thing. There must be many deaths if the fullness of life is to be found and
lived forth.
Contemplative Christianity is about rediscovering and
recovering the ancient paths. If Lost
Christianity points the way to such paths, New Seeds of Contemplation and The
Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation, by Thomas Merton, will guide the
curious and spiritually hungry to the wells where such a thirst can be slaked.
It is from such places that a truly catholic understanding of the church will
emerge. And, it is from such an anvil that prophets of justice and peacemakers
will be made, shaped and mature.
rsd