This report touches on a subject which should be discussed more often by those promoting contemplative prayer and meditation. I am a practitioner of such prayer, and indeed contemplation and meditation constitute the majority of my prayer after nearly forty years of practice (and I am by no means proficient even now, as my failures indicate). But today meditation, centering prayer, and mindfulness are urged in a variety of contexts, religious and (troublingly) non-religious, without proper mention of the difficulties and dangers for some. Most of us need capable, discerning teachers, at least at the outset; and some persons simply are not psychologically equipped to take on the effort for a number of reasons. The chief thing to remember is that these forms of prayer have existed for ages, before all else, to purify the mind and heart of passions and evil thoughts, and without that earnest intention as the guiding principle there can be no progress in the work, and possibly mental disaster. Trying to hold on to ones passionate life while practicing meditation is inviting into oneself the wrong influences. There were serious reasons why the early Fathers, for example, warned contemplatives of evil spirits (i.e., evil breaths or evil thoughts) and even turned some would-be contemplatives away, and the warning is still relevant.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 18:30:13 +0000