As Australians come out of lockdown and life returns to normal, there is a temptation to resume all our pre-COVID activity and social engagement. But we should not be in too much of a rush to escape solitude, as it can be a source of great blessing and spiritual growth.
‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’
The most important reason for a contemplative practice like meditation or mindfulness is that it taps into what author Maggie Ross has described as “deep mind”, a deep spring of love and compassion. Jesus called it “living water”. Thomas Aquinas said God is compassion, and that “Compassion is the fire that Jesus came to set on the earth”.
Silence a ‘source of empowerment; without it we are lost’
“We have got to the point where a soundless world has practically ceased to exist, and we are the poorer for it,” writes Cistercian monk and author Michael Casey in Balaam’s Donkey. “Recently I have read several accounts written by brave adventurers who have put aside their electronic devices for an hour, a day, or even a week and been astonished to discover the richness of a life without incessant interruptions and noise.”
Learning to love, not just tolerate, those who are ‘difficult’
One of Christianity’s most radical demands is that we are not merely to tolerate those we find difficult, but actually love them. No wonder the Catholic writer and philosopher GK Chesterton observed: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
Meditation – a glimpse of the Resurrection
At Easter we celebrate Resurrection and liberation from the fear of death – something we can experience through meditation by transcending the constant cycle of the death and rebirth of our thoughts, and abiding in what is eternal, says Benedictine monk Fr Laurence Freeman. He is also Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) and author of many books on meditation including Jesus the Teacher Within (Continuum, 2001), Light Within (Canterbury Press Norwich 2008) and First Sight – the Experience of Faith (Continuum 2011). This interview with Roland Ashby, which first appeared in 2002*, is reproduced here to mark WCCM’s 30th anniversary, which occurs this year.
Easter summons us to join the ‘gang of the crazy’
The mystical branch of Islam – Sufism – has produced one of the world’s great mystics: the 13th century Persian poet Rumi. His prayer calling for the Beloved to set him free by dragging him into the gang of those crazy with the ecstasy of love, provides a profound insight into Christ and the meaning of Easter.
Aligning ourselves with the Real is unimaginable bliss says Rowan Williams
Meditation is not about having “nice experiences” or becoming more “effective” in whatever we do, but about “aligning ourselves with the Real and the True”, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said on 9 February. He was speaking via zoom on the theme of ‘Meditation – with or without expectations’ as part of a monthly series of talks organised by the Bonnevaux Centre for Peace, the international home of the World Community for Christian Meditation in France.
‘Sacred activism’ the only way to save the world
If the world is to be saved then human consciousness must undergo a radical transformation, argues Indian-born author, teacher and mystic Andrew Harvey. He spoke to Roland Ashby about humanity’s exploitation of nature and addiction to greed, and how this ‘global dark night’ is a wake-up call to bring to birth a new consciousness.
The world needs ‘hunter-gatherers of goodness’
Getting on the ‘inside’ of faith and finding the ‘missing link’
After studying theology at Oxford, Dr Sarah Bachelard left the church. But then she encountered Christian meditation, which she says took her out of her head and into her heart. She went on to become an Anglican priest, and in 2012 began a new church in Canberra – Benedictus Contemplative Church, which incorporates silent meditation into its services. She spoke to Roland Ashby about her spiritual journey and her latest book A Contemplative Christianity for Our Time. You can watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/nXqK3KU8Lzk or read an edited transcript below.
Science, religion, contemplation and imagination all keys to unlocking the universe
That the universe is ordered, and that such order can be perceived, and its inner structures imagined, has profound theological significance, according to theoretical physicist Dr Tom McLeish, Fellow of the Royal Society and Inaugural Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of York in England. Professor McLeish, a Christian, whose recent books include Faith and Wisdom in Science (OUP 2014) and The Poetry and Music of Science (OUP 2019), here argues that the ‘conflict’ between science and faith is an invented illusion that melts away when the history and present experience of scientific imagination are considered seriously.
Zen, Christian meditation and depression
UK author and long-time meditator Jim Green has worked for many years in the field of mental health, including at the Open University and the BBC. Here, in this extract from his latest book Giving Up without Giving Up – Meditation and Depressions, he draws on his extensive experience in both the Buddhist and Christian traditions to explore the relationship between Zen Buddhism and Christian meditation, and how meditation can be both crucifixion and resurrection, especially for those suffering from depression.
Reconciling opposites in a polarised world
In our polarised culture, when opposing sides can be so self-righteously entrenched in their views that reconciliation seems impossible, Dr Sarah Bachelard argues that hope can be found through meditation. It offers, she says, a transformative encounter in which the essential dignity of every person, even the perceived enemy, is revealed. Dr Bachelard, whose latest book is ‘A Contemplative Christianity for Our Time’, is the founder of Benedictus Contemplative Church, in Canberra, Australia.
Dadirri our greatest gift to Australia, says Indigenous elder and 2021 Senior Australian of the Year
Congratulations to Indigenous elder, artist and educator Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann AM for being named the 2021 Senior Australian of the Year. Apart from her artwork, and work in education, she is perhaps best known for her reflections on dadirri – “inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness”. Dadirri, she says, “is perhaps the greatest gift [Aboriginal Australians] can give to our fellow Australians... dadirri recognises the deep spring that is inside us. We call on it and it calls to us. This is the gift that Australia is thirsting for. It is something like what you call ‘contemplation’”. The following reflection on dadirri, which is a speech she gave in 2002 when she was Principal of a Catholic primary school in Daly River in the Northern Territory, also seeks to integrate dadirri with her faith as a Christian.
Why the US needs a revolution – in consciousness
Celebrating the love that ‘heaven cannot hold’
After a year of COVID-19, and what has felt like a long Advent of waiting and longing, “heart-sick with hope deferred”, it’s time to remember that “Love was born at Christmas”. Carol O’Connor* reflects on how the poetry of 19th century English poet Christina Rossetti can speak to us afresh at this time, and help us come alive to what is most precious and dear.
Teetering on the brink, we await the coming of the Light
Meditation can transform our vision of work
Meditation connects us to a deeper sense of what it is to be human and to be in connection with others, writes author and retreat leader Dr Stefan Gillow Reynolds.* For this reason, he says meditation offers a bigger vision of work, and the possibilities that come from letting-go of ourselves and opening to ‘dynamic goodness and compassion in action’, something particularly important in a time of pandemic.
Advent – a time for rapture and giving birth to Christ within
Before Dorothy Day became the politically radical editor of the US newspaper The Catholic Worker, she was an atheist and a communist. She became pregnant during this time, and, theologian Matthew Fox says, “she was so overcome by the beauty of bearing a new living being inside her that she converted to Christianity. Why? ‘Because I had to give thanks to someone’, she said. God is the One to whom we render our thanks.”
Holding on to hope in a disintegrating world
Times are dire, but the Christian hope is that God is not just with us and for us, but also ahead of us. Advent, which started on Sunday, is a time of holding on to this hope, a space in which we are invited to be transformed, and begin to dream about and create a future that is of love, writes Dr Cath Connelly. Dr Connelly is author of Handbook of Hope: Emerging Stories Beyond a Disintegrating World and co-director of the Living Well Centre for Christian Spirituality*.