A good friend in my community, Al Braidwood, will lead our meditation circle in its practice this coming Saturday, June 9. In his preparatory letter to the members of the group, Al invoked the words of two well-known practitioners in the Christian contemplative tradition, Ronald Rolheiser and Thomas Merton. I want to share Al's letter with readers of Reckonings because I found it moving and instructive.
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Dear friends of the Meditation Circle —
This Saturday, June 9, the subject is going to be the practice of silence — and I’m drawing my source material mostly from contemplative Christian sources. The invitation to “be still and know God in our inner beings” is at the heart of what is being called forth today more than ever. It is perhaps even more crucial in these shadowy, tumultuous times when it sometimes seems that the only thing between us and utter chaos is the awakened soul. To give you a foretaste, I append for your review and reflection two outstanding quotations from men whom I have no hesitation in calling Christian mystics. They are short passages excerpted from their designated books whose words are of the highest significance in this connection. We will discuss this more deeply when we gather on Saturday.
Ronald Rolheiser ~ from Against an Infinite Horizon:
The one journey that ultimately matters is the journey into the place of stillness deep within one’s self. To reach that place is to be at home; to fail to reach it is to be forever restless. There is something inherently compelling about this: not to reach inner stillness is to be forever restless. The journey inward, to that quiet center, that central silence where one’s own life and spirit are united with the life and spirit of the cosmos, may be long and arduous. But this is the pilgrimage of silence that each of us is invited to undertake.
Thomas Merton ~ from The Road to Joy:
Words stand between silence and silence: between the silence of things and the silence of our own being. Between the silence of the world and the silence of God. When we have really met and known the world in silence, words do not separate us from the world nor from other men, nor from God, nor from ourselves because we no longer trust entirely in language to contain reality.
I look forward to seeing you on Saturday morning. Thank you.
Om Shanti,
Al