“Appetite is rooted in wonder and has intimacy with some creature or ensemble of creatures as its end. Knowledge, in turn, on its Christian construal, is a particular kind of intimacy between one creature and another.”
Griffiths, Paul J. Intellectual Appetite: a Theological Grammar. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009, p. 125.
“Stillness teaches us restraint, and in restraint we are able to discern what appropriate engagement looks like.”
Heuertz, Christopher L. The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2017, p. 172.
“Eckhart remains ‘a man for all seasons’ not because he rejected the deepest sources of spiritual wisdom in the Christian tradition, but because he embodied them.”
Woods, Richard. Meister Eckhart: Master of Mystics. New York: Continuum, 2011, p. 186
“And it’s been my experience that mystical or contemplative Christians tend toward an openness to the wisdom of other religions; however, this openness remains–at least for Christians–rooted in the central wisdom teachings of Jesus, the Bible, and the Christian mystics. Contemplative Christians explore the wisdom of other faiths not to dilute or weaken the wisdom teachings of Jesus, but to strengthen and deepen our appreciation of those teachings.”
McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 22.
“If one takes anything to the woods to read, he seldom reads it; it does not taste good with such primitive air.”
Burroughs, John. “A Bed of Boughs” in “Locusts and Wild Honey” Volume 4 of The Writings of John Burroughs. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1907, p. 176.
Comment: I’ve read of new hikers taking along a weight of books and not reading them. One thinks one will have all the time in the world to read, but doesn’t reckon on being weary at the end of the day and still needing to collect water, prepare a meal, and so on. Burroughs, I think, was reaching back to something even more basic: that the idea of books clashes with the raw vibrancy of the woods. Maybe it was the idea of paper – the remnants of dead trees – up against the throbbing life of still standing trees.
“I admit that it is possible and necessary for many Christians to live immersed in ‘the world’ and all that it implies, but they are precisely the ones who ought to practice the most difficult asceticism.”
Merton, Thomas. “The White Pebble.” (1950) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, p. 10.
Comment: The medieval monastics and the hermits out in wild places have been thought of as the champions, the hard-working prayer warriors, the real ascetics giving up everything for God. Merton turns that on its head by pointing out that it is actually harder to live a Christian life in ‘the world’ amidst the noise.
“The purpose of contemplative and mystical spirituality is to foster greater intimacy with and devotion to God, which in itself is a universal goal of all religious and spiritual traditions that are God-centered (Buddhism does not require belief in God, so in a sense it’s a philosophy). Mystical, contemplative spirituality invites us deep into the wisdom of a path without insisting that it is the only path. This is true for contemplative Christians as well as for contemplatives of other traditions.”
McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, pp. 297-298.
“All teachers of the Scriptures conclude that prayer is nothing else than lifting up the heart or mind to God. But if the lifting up of the heart constitutes the essence and nature of prayer, it follows that everything else which does not invite the lifting of the heart is not prayer. Therefore, singing, talking, and whistling, when devoid of the sincere uplifting of the heart, are as unlike prayer as scarecrows in the garden are unlike human beings. The essence is wanting; only the appearance and name are present.”
Luther, Martin. “An Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer for Simple Laymen” (1519) Luther’s Works Vol. 42. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, page 25.
“In genuine contemplation one normally begins with quiet and detached intuitions, simple peace, interior silence. There is little or no preoccupation with self. If one finds himself reflecting too much on himself, he instinctively breaks the false absorption by turning to a book, a picture, or some external reality or, interiorly, to some objective thought. The contemplative, too, on a bad day, can fall into a daze. But it takes the form of weariness and sleep. His deepest absorption is not trancelike, but something clean and wakeful, with nothing strained or pathological about it.”
Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. NY: HarperOne, 2003, pp. 112-113.
“It’s important to remember, however, that contemplation does not make other ways of praying obsolete or superfluous. If we abandon the more word-centric ways of praying, we are acting like sailors who launch a boat into the open sea without bothering to bring a compass or a GPS. Contemplative prayer needs to be anchored in an overall spiritual practice just as a successful journey needs to be guided by useful and effective navigation tools.”
McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, pp. 286-287.
Comment: Bear in mind that the Irish monks of old launched their coracles without compass or GPS. Bear in mind that they were making an act of faith. Bear in mind that abandoning your “more word-centric ways of praying” might be an act of faith on your part.
Pathology: the Study of a Path 