Recent decades have seen many people turning away from established church structures in the West. Many of them have turned to Eastern traditions and to alternative new age teachings in their search for a vibrant and transformative spiritual path. At the same time spiritual seekers within the Christian tradition have been slowly rediscovering contemplation - the inner wisdom dimension of Christianity.
As exemplified by the early Christian monks who went to the desert to escape the corruptions of the state-sponsored church, and by mystics throughout the centuries such as our own Julian of Norwich, contemplation holds to the timeless wisdom that our essential being is rooted and grounded in love. Through the practice of contemplation, we gradually come into union with this Ultimate Reality which, in the Christian tradition, we call God.
Expressing our Christian mission through action has always been and continues to be a crucial means of manifesting Christ in the world – answering the call of the poor and those who are marginalised and in need. But more and more it seems that the problems of our world are not to be solved by more ‘doing’ – indeed it is our ‘doing’, especially in the affluent Western world, that has caused many of the problems in the first place. Increasingly, people are coming to realise that, at this point in history, we need to learn simply how to ‘be’ in order to come back into alignment with our true selves and so with God. Only from that place can authentic action to save ourselves and our planet arise.
The World Community for Christian Meditation and the Centering Prayer movement (Contemplative Outreach) are part of a global movement to revive and develop this older wisdom path. They have emerged from the grass roots, driven by ordinary people who are hungry for a spiritual way that can help bring about radical healing and change. They offer a genuine alternative for Christians who want to breathe fresh life into the old narratives and structures, and for post-Christians who are unfulfilled by the values of a consumerist secular society and who seek a more meaningful relationship with truth.
Both approaches teach meditation as a discipline that we follow every day. Through regular practise we find ourselves being gently unhooked from the endless wearying struggles of the ego and we slowly let go of the emotional and psychological wounds of a lifetime. ‘As we realise who we are,’ says Laurence Freeman, director of WCCM, ‘we come to realise who God is and who Christ is - the fully realised one who has completely transcended the ego’. This knowledge that we all long for – of our true self and of God - can ultimately only be found, not from books or gurus, not through possessions or money, nor through success, power or fame, but deep within us.
‘These depths of Love’, says the 20th century monk and mystic Thomas Merton, ‘form a wide, impregnable country. There is nothing that can penetrate into the heart of that peace...’ Meditation frees us not only to find peace within, but also to be peacemakers. It leads, through silence and simplicity, to the still point where all faith traditions converge. It is the humble and simple work which transforms our life, and it offers profound hope for our troubled times.
