Encountering the Still Point

Encountering the Still Point – A Practical Introduction to Christian Meditation

by Phil Dyer

ISBN: 0-473-06985-5

200 paged book, illustrated with four full colour icons by the author, that offers many practical and down to earth suggestions on a wide range of topics, such as:

how to meditate

how to keep a journal

how to understand your dreams

how to build and use a labyrinth

how to tap your inner source of wisdom

how to turn gardening into a source of healing

how to use incense, mandalas, music, mantras, icons and sacred circle dancing and more...

Click to read a REVIEW; the TABLE OF CONTENTS; the FOREWORD; the INTRODUCTION ; the CLOSING COMMENTS and LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Price: Sorry. Currently out of print. Please contact author for information regarding future availability

Order from:

The author at pdyer@inet.net.nz, Wangapeka Study & Retreat Centre, RD2 Wakefield 7096 New Zealand (+64 3 522 4221).

Book Review by The Rt Rev. David J. Moxon, Bishop of Waikato

Phil offers us the treasures of ancient and modern wisdom about Christian contemplative prayerin a compact, accessible and comprehensive resource.

This resource introduces us simply and clearly to the hospitality of Abraham, St Hildegard of Bingen, St Francis and Christ Pantocrator, as well as most of the well-trodden paths of interior Christian spirituality. The reader is invited to be aware of the theology of body prayer because our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are invited to remember the links between breathing and praying, between contemplation and action, between wisdom and discernment. There are deep wellsprings of grace in these ways, which lead to understanding dreams, discerning words of wisdom, healing life's hurts and dwelling more deeply in the words of the bible.

The resource is timely because the future of Christian prayer and Christian maturity will depend upon deep prayer and upon deep attention to God's Spirit within us. This is true to the way of Jesus; he drew strength and peace from times of quiet and stillness; time alone with God. In the gospel accounts we see Jesus in the desert for forty days, being prepared for his three-year ministry of inner and outward liberation. We see Jesus drawing apart for prayer in a quiet place a number of times, to refresh himself after great acts of self-giving or to prepare himself for times of prophetic witness or costly love. Finally, we see Jesus in Gethsemane, praying apart to receive the grace and vision to meet his own death, and all that this would involve; all that this would mean.

Phil's offering deserves to be widely used and enjoyed because our wholeness, energy and vision today, depend on a. peace, wisdom and strength which only God can give: in a fast moving, fast changing, restless world these are priceless gifts indeed.

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Contents

Foreword by The Rev Fr Peter J. Norris BA, BTheol, DipGrad (Otago), DipTchg (CTC), MA, PhD.(Notre Dame) Warden of St. Margaret's College, University of Otago.

Introduction

Part One: Contemplative Meditation

Section One: Passive Meditation:

Based on 4 practicums that progressively introduce the reader to the practice of contemplative prayer. Each practicum is followed by a commentary. The following topics are covered:

Silence and solitude, a context for prayer; The effect of being still; The Physical, Psychological & Spiritual Benefits of Meditation; Meditation is Holistic; Meditation v Relaxation Techniques; Stages of Meditation; Types of Meditation; Purpose; Meditation Tools: Posture; Journals; Timers, Meditation Aids: Sacred Space; Incense/Oils; Music, Use of the Breath; Dealing With Distractions; Remedies; St. Francis of Assisi, Mary, Mother of the Word; John Cassian; The Jesus Prayer; The Cloud of Unknowing; Chanting, Kenosis; Guidelines for a Contemplative Life; Guidelines for a Compassionate Lifestyle; Support Groups; Social Action

Section Two: Active Meditation

A practical guide to Walking Meditation; Labyrinths; Guidelines for walking a Labyrinth; Sacred Circle Dancing

Part Two - Reflective Meditation

This section covers Paradigms; St Francis; Lectio Divina; Ignatian Prayer; A Four Week Bible Reading Programme

Part Three - Creative Meditation

This section covers St. Hildegard of Bingen; Imagination, An Inner Sense of sight; Praying with Icons; Understanding Your Dreams; Meditating and Praying with your Dreams; Mandalas; Dialoguing with your Inner Source of Wisdom; Dialogue Prayer; Discerning Words of Wisdom; Healing Life's Hurts; Ten Ways to Heal your life; Herbalism

Closing Comments

Appendix

A Examples of Local Social Justice & Charity Groups

B Contemplative Meditation, A Synopsis

C Directions for making your own Labyrinth

D A Herbal First Aid Kit

Further Reading

References

Wide Web Resources

Index

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Foreword

Gandhi once said "A knowledge of religion, as distinguished from experience, seems but chaff in moments of trial". This insight was once brought home to me by a priest friend of mine who had been active teaching, counselling, and organising youth. His days were full and life was satisfying so he was surprised by an unexpected appointment as a hospital chaplain. His life was turned around when a patient asked him: "Father, tell me about God." He started to talk about the various activities in the parish and the woman said: "Father, I know all that. Tell me about God." My friend realised that his life had lost its focus. Teaching, counselling, and youth work were important but he could not answer the question: "Tell me about God?"

Meditation is one tool to help us find the answer to the question the patient was asking my friend, and Phil's book is more than an introduction. It is a textbook. It makes available our own tradition of meditation and prayer while also drawing on other traditions. The quotes from Western and Orthodox mystics remind us that our quest of drawing closer to God is not a solitary one. Antony, Hildegaard, the unknown author of "The Cloud of Unknowing" and many others also shared our task.

Many Christians who are engaged in ministry find that parish and church life absorbs much energy. Christians who are not engaged in full time ministry can be equally busy about many different things. All of us can get preoccupied with Christian life at the committee and organisational stage.

This book, Encountering the Still Point, challenges these preoccupations by its central question. How do we pray and meditate? Phil is widely read and brings to this book this fruit of his own personal search as well as evaluating and synthesising various traditions of prayer and meditation. His book appeals to different people. For some he offers a detailed schematic outline that can be worked though. It is a contradiction in terms to talk of a "do it yourself" meditation book when meditation, as Phil points out, is very relational. However this book is the closest I have seen to a "do it yourself" meditation book. For others, who are more eclectic, it can be browsed and tasted.

Scattered throughout the book are wonderful quotes that challenge as well as inspire. Phil has also included prints of some icons he painted. This art also lifts our minds and hearts and helps us grasp what Phil is writing about.

In our busy lives this book is a reminder of our call to God and cannot be read without soul searching. I am enthusiastic about recommending it to anyone who is searching for God.

The Rev Fr Peter J. Norris

BA, BTheol, DipGrad (Otago), DipTchg (CTC), MA, PhD.(Notre Dame)

Warden of St. Margaret's College, University of Otago.

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Introduction

To journey into this interior world within

love must be awakened.

For love to awaken in us:

Let go, let be.

Be still in gentle peace,

Be aware of opposites,

Learn mindfulness and forgetfulness.

St Teresa of Avila 1

Meditation is something that has fascinated me ever since childhood. I grew up in a vicarage family. The church building shared our family section, and as a child it was part of the area I roamed. The building had its own attraction, especially when no one else was there. When it was full of people doing religious things I found the place fairly tedious; when everyone had gone home, it was then that the place took on a stillness that was both fascinating and palpable.

The church was a "special" place and as such usually out-of-bounds for a youngster. There was one occasion I do remember, when I was in the church with my two older brothers. I would have been about 9 years old. We were playing around at the lectern, reading out our favourite verses. I recall finding Psalm 27 "I have asked the Lord for one thing: one thing only do I want: to live in the Lord's house all my life, and to marvel at his goodness, and to ask for his guidance." 2 "That was my favourite verse" I declared. Little did I know then that the quest mentioned in that verse lies at the very heart of Christian meditation.

It was around that age that my father taught me to play the piano. He gave lessons to local people to help supplement his meagre stipend. Having mastered a few of the basics it was a natural progression from the piano to the church organ. It also meant there was a valid reason for going to the church building whenever I wanted, and I particularly loved to go and practice in the early evening. It was then and there that I learnt to love the stillness and the presence that filled the stillness.

Several years later I discovered the writings of a retired English school master, F.C. Happold. He opened my awareness to the language of Christian mysticism and so helped me to begin to make sense of my own experiences. In Religious Faith and Twentieth Century Man, first published in 1966, he wrote: "It is likely that towards the end of this century the only religion acceptable to Western Man will be a mystical one, mystical in terms of experiential wisdom".

The sexist language now grates as we begin this new millennium, but part of my life's journey has been in search of that mystical way, and, seemingly according to the number of books available in the local city library, many others share that quest.

Bruce Davis offers the observation that there is a monk and a mystic within each of us.3 Carl Jung has given us tools to understand these archetypal figures of our unconscious who control the drama of our lives. We either make friends with them or are forever hounded by them. Perhaps it was that inner mystic and monk that led us as a family to sell all and go to join a Franciscan-based monastery in a remote corner of Arkansas, USA, in 1993.

This spiritual search is so common. While working as Chaplain to the British Embassy Church in Vienna, Peter Spink comments he met many young people going east for enlightenment, when the method they seek is already part of our Christian heritage.4 Yet the Christian Church has done a good job keeping it secret. How many parishes hold regular courses, or weekly meetings, on meditation? As explained to the peasant in The Way of A Pilgrim, how hard it is to find a good teacher. I do not claim to be one, yet it is into that vacuum these pages are offered.

Much of the material that follows is based on handouts I have prepared for various courses. The title, Encountering the Still Point, reflects a Greek word used in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, "Hesuchia", meaning "stillness" "rest" or "tranquillity". It is a common thought in the writing of mystics from both the western and eastern Christian traditions that there is within us, at the centre of our being, a place where God resides. St. Teresa expressed this when writing Interior Castle.

The word "meditation" is an ambiguous word. Meditation in one form or another is common to all religions. Yet you do not have to read too widely to discover that the word is used to describe quite different things. In traditional western Christianity it has generally meant to "reflect discursively", using predominantly our thinking mode, such as when we explore a topic or Bible verse. It comes from the Latin word "meditari", which means "to think" in a way that leads to change.

This is certainly true if we examine its use in the Old Testament.5 The Hebrew word for meditation comes from two separate roots. The first,"hagah", literally means "to utter in a low sound". It is used in Isaiah 31:4 to refer to the sound a lion made as it "growls" over its prey, or in Isaiah 38:14 for the "moaning" sound of a dove. There was a practice in Jewish rabbinical study where students would chant the Talmud aloud as they memorised it; as they took the passage, word and meaning, into their hearts making it their own. The word "hagah" was used to refer to the sound of this murmuring chant. It is interesting to note that this practice of reciting the scriptures out aloud also occurred in Christian monasteries, and even until recent times the Daily Office, when said alone, was required to be read with moving lips.

The second root word "sia" means "to be occupied with" or "concerned about". Together the two words carry a sense of repeatedly mulling a matter over in one's mind because it is an important concern of life. We find this practice of repeatedly recalling God's past deeds referred to often in the Psalms, not just as a way of committing something to memory, but because the practice also produces new confidence and faith.6 In the New Testament the word for meditation is only mentioned twice7 but its practice is found in many instances 8.

This discursive connotation of meditation continues into the life of western Christianity with the development of the practice of Lectio Divina, a process where one begins by prayerfully reading, then meditating (prayerfully reflecting) on scripture, that then leads into prayer and finally contemplation. This method is covered in Part Two.

There is a secondary meaning of the word "meditation" which is to "gaze upon intently". This is closer to the use of the word in our wider contemporary world, where it means a process through which one seeks to quieten one's thinking and simply become still. This is how the word is used in oriental traditions.

Peter Spink helpfully identifies three types of meditation: reflective, creative, and contemplative, based on whether we are predominantly using our intellect, or our imagination or our intuition. When the intellect is put into operation then the activity is described as reflective. When the imagination is employed the process is creative. With the bringing into operation of the intuitive faculty then meditation becomes contemplative. So we may speak of three distinct practices which qualify the word meditation: reflective, creative, and contemplative.9

I find those classifications helpful and have used them in arranging the material that follows. The first section of the book will deal with the mechanics of Contemplative Meditation, or what is also known as Prayer of the Quiet or Imageless Prayer. This is probably the most difficult and yet the most rewarding way of prayer for a westerner to learn. It is the way of prayer that has also attracted so many former Christians to non-Christian faiths. The practicums that follow in this first section will help someone unfamiliar with this form of prayer to take their first steps in contemplative meditation. Hopefully, this will help them through the doorway on to a journey that will be both new but strangely familiar.

The second section will deal with Reflective Meditation, and includes the discursive reflection described above and gives practical examples of using this method in the forms of Lectio Divina and Ignatian Prayer. The last part of the book includes what is sometimes referred to as Prayer of the Imagination or cataphatic prayer, and gives a number of practical examples of using our senses and imagination in extending our practice of prayer.

You will also find many references to teachers and saints, both past and present. I have done this because it gives a sense of connection to the people who have lived over the centuries who have begun this same journey. They have left a legacy of wisdom as they have charted this journey of prayer. They now offer their silent encouragement to you.

This is primarily a "How to do it" book. Its emphasis is first and foremost practical. For some, it may not have the depth or studied presentation you would wish. Hopefully the many references will help you find what you seek.

I do add a word of caution. Mystics in all religious traditions insist that this interior journey should not be undertaken without the close support and guidance of a spiritual director. The Cloud of Unknowing10 repeatedly insists on this. If you do not already have such a spiritual guide, your church Christian Education Office, local Religious House, or minister should be able to provide the names of qualified people. It is good to share one's inner longings, struggles and growth with such a confidant and friend.

One last thing, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing also warns that the approach to contemplative prayer found in Part One is not for everyone. Most people should benefit physically and psychologically from the techniques outlined in the practicums that follow. Whether you find it is a way of prayer for you or not will depend upon a number of things, including your temperament. A useful outcome of the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator is the recognition that people are attracted to a variety of prayer forms depending on their personality type. This is not just a Christian phenomenon. Buddhist writers also acknowledge that unless a person has a special gift or potential no amount of teaching and practice will help people who are temperamentally or intellectually unsuited to contemplation.11 The techniques are not automatic nor infallible. You will not know if this approach to prayer is for you unless you give it a serious try for a minimum of at least a month, preferably for six months.

I invite you to do just that. Give the journey a try for it is one of the ancient ways into the mystery we call God.

NOTES:

Campbell, Meditations with Teresa of Avila, p. 44
Psalm 27:4 The Translation used here is Good News. I use it because the meaning is clearer. In reality I would have read the K.J.V.
See Davis, Monastery Without Walls - daily life in the silence.
Spink, Beyond Belief - How to develop mystical consciousness and discover God within.
While a wicked individual meditates upon violence (Prov. 24: 2), the meditation of a righteous person contemplates God or His great spiritual truths (Pss. 63:6; 77:12; 119:15,23,27, 48,78,97,148; 143:5), and he hopes to please God by meditation (Ps. 19:14). Most references to meditation occur in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms.
Pss. 104:34; 119:15,23,48,78,97,99,148; Pss. 63:6-8; 143:5.
Luke 21:14 and 1 Tim. 4:15.
E.g. Jesus often goes off alone to pray (eg. Matt 4; 14:23.) In the garden of Gethsemane, he is recorded as repeatedly praying a short prayer (Mk 14:36). Many other Bible references will follow in this book.
Spink, p.72
The Cloud of Unknowing, also referred to as The Cloud is a fourteenth century anonymous writing from a spiritual director to the person they are directing.
Armstrong, The English Mystics of the Fourteenth Century. p.3

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^{Closing
Comments}

"Live fully, love wastefully, and have the courage to be all that God created you to be"

Bishop Jack Spong

The purpose of this book is to offer an introduction to ways of discovering God who is already there in the depths of all creation including your being. Julian of Norwich tells us that God is the ground in which our soul is planted 1.

What have been offered are techniques, and no technique is infallible. We cannot manipulate God, or moments of grace. All we can do is make ourselves available, then suddenly when we least expect it Love finds and holds us. "We cannot find God", Henri Nouwen says, "we can only be found by him." 2

The icon that has been kept until last is the familiar one of the Hospitality of Abraham, also known as The Holy Trinity. The early Fathers of the Church saw the incident described in Genesis 18 as a foreshadowing of the later theological understanding of the Trinity. In the story we read how the Lord finds Abraham by the oak of Mamre. Abraham is met by three men and offers them hospitality. This Hospitality of Abraham is seen as a significant meeting of God with Abraham, and by the late fourth century the theme is found in wall paintings and soon becomes a common theme in Christian art. It tells us much about the way of prayer.

As we examine the icon we first notice there is an open space at the table. This symbolises a silent invitation for the viewer to join the meal. This is true also with the invitation to meditate. When we meditate it is a response to an invitation to a banquet; a place where we sit with God, are nourished by God, and also enter into an intimate sharing of fellowship with God.

In the story of the Hospitality of Abraham we find two traditions have been woven together. One refers to the visitors as the "Lord", the other as "three men" who are also strangers. When we use the meditation techniques outlined in this book they will initially feel strange but in the strangeness God is present, waiting to "break bread" with us; to find us, to enter into fellowship with us, to bring news about new birth that will come out of the shared time of fellowship.

The visitors came to Sarah and Abraham unannounced. The visitations of the Spirit will likewise come to us as unannounced moments of grace, beyond our control, liberating, life enriching moments, which we may miss unless we have learnt to be still and attentive.

When the visitors left, Sarah and Abraham's life was never the same again. Prayer is not some quiet interlude in our life, it is a dynamic that calls us and changes us, renews us and leads us on. St. Theophan said: "Growth in prayer has no end. If this growth ceases, it means that life ceases."

Finally, it would have seemed to Sarah and Abraham as if nothing at first had changed. Sarah even laughed at the improbability of change; she was far too old to conceive new life. One of the experiences of prayer is that it often seems nothing is happening, but when you stay with it and look back over a long period of prayer, you suddenly realise that something has happened. Henri Nouwen understands that this paradoxical situation occurs because God is often too close to experience, closer than we are to ourselves so beyond the power of feelings or thoughts. It is only as we stand back from the experience we discover that "something very important has taken place". 3

Be encouraged, then, to persevere in these ways of prayer. Some days it will feel like nothing is happening, other days heaven will feel very close at hand. My hope for you is that through perseverance you find a new love of God, a delight for prayer and food for your life's journey.

Trust in God

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing frighten you

All things pass

God never changes

Patience achieves all it strives for.

Those who have God find they lack nothing.

God alone suffices.

St Teresa of Avila.

NOTES: