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becoming a mystic

“We become mystics or contemplatives only through the grace of God as work in our lives. Any effort we make to do it strictly on our own is likely doomed to failure. Indeed, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing has stern words for those who, through pride and the folly of their own imagination, try to become mystics or contemplatives without humbly relying on the guidance of the Spirit. He calls these pseudo-mystics the ‘devil’s contemplatives’. Contemplation and mysticism are always gifts from God. But God will never force those gifts on anyone God is not in the business of spiritual coercion.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 176.

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contemplatives convert

“I’m also reminded of the lesson of St. Francis where he says that it is not the preachers who will be rewarded by God for converting the masses but the contemplative brothers in the far-off and isolated hermitages scattered throughout the mountains and hills. Often it is our sacred stillness that brings the greatest missionary activity.”

Talbot, John Michael. The Universal Monk: The Way of the New Monastics. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2011, p. 72.

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unmoored from the old

“Even where the contemplative is not expressly forbidden to follow what he believes to be the inspiration of God (and this not rarely happens), he may feel himself continually and completely at odds with the accepted ideals of those around him. Their spiritual exercises may seem to him to be a bore and waste of time. Their sermons and their conversation may leave him exhausted with a sense of futility: as if he had been pelted with words without meaning. Their choral offices, their excitement over liturgical ceremony and chant may rob him of the delicate taste of an interior manna that is not found in formulas of prayers and exterior rites. If only he could be alone and quiet, and remain in the emptiness, darkness, and purposelessness in which God speaks with such overwhelming effect! But no, spiritual lights and nosegays are forced upon his mind, he must think and say words, he must sing ‘Alleluias’ that somebody else wants him to feel. He must strive to smack his lips on a sweetness which seems to be unutterably coarse and foul: not because of what it aspires to say, but simply because it is secondhand.” (p. 77)

Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. NY: HarperOne, 2003, page 77. (NOTE: Merton wrote this text in 1959)

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changes in solitude

"It is even possible that in solitude I shall return to my beginning and rediscover the value and perfection of simple vocal prayer–and take greater joy in this than in contemplation.

“So that the cenobite may have high contemplation, while the hermit has only his Pater and Ave Maria. In that event I choose the life of a hermit in which I live in God always, speaking to Him with simplicity, rather than a life of disjointed activity sublimated by a few moments of fire and exaltation.”

Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1958. (pbk ed 1999), p.110.

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divine presence

“Since the reigning presence of God is within us, any approach to exploring the mystical life will naturally include exercises and practices such as meditation and contemplation, intended to help us become more open to the hidden (mystical) presence of God within. As worthy as such practices are by themselves they are incomplete. Our journey to divine union also needs to be nourished by participation in some sort of community of fellow seekers who are trying, as best they can, to figure out what living and following Jesus is all about.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 203.

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living the practices

“Begin by consenting to God’s presence and action in your life, in your heart, in your mind and body. How do we express this consent in real, concrete ways? Traditionally, the means by which mystics have lived a mystical or contemplative life has been through regular spiritual practices. And while different mystics have focused on or emphasized different practices, all in all there are just a few basic ways of responding to the mystical call.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 336.

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openness

“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.

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purpose of contemplative spirituality

“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.

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contemplation and trances

“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.

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prayer is not obsolete

“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.