Why We Meditate

-
I'm reading James Finley's Christian Meditation. Do you know it?

Wow. It's been a long time since I've underlined something on every page of a book. I even copied one paragraph and laminated it, and it's now nearby when I meditate in the morning:

**We sit in meditation so that the last traces of our tendency to identify with egocentric consciousness might finally dissolve as our habitual base of operations.
**We meditate that we might continue thinking, but no longer live by thought and all that thought can comprehend.
**We meditate that we might continue remembering, but no longer be limited to memory or all that can be remembered.
**We sit that we might continue willing, but no longer be limited to our own will or what our will is capable of attaining.
**We sit that we might continue feeling, but no longer be limited to our feelings or all that can be felt.
**We sit that we might continue being our bodily self as long as our life on this earth shall last, but no longer be limited to our bodily self and all the bodily self can be.
**We sit that we might live in God, and for God, and by God in all we do and say.
**We meditate that we might live in a habitual awareness of God living in us, for us, and by us in all that we simply are.

Comments

Jennifer said…
Wow! Sounds like a great resource. Reading this excerpt makes me wonder if I have ever truly meditated.
November 18, 2008 at 7:37 AM
Jan said…
Those quotes are wonderful. Hit me inside. What I want, but also what I avoid--like the cartoon I put on my blog about the "cloud of unknowing." I balk and don't.
November 18, 2008 at 8:09 AM
Elaine (aka...Purple) said…
It is a powerful spiritual practice whether individually or in a group. I find it is always the ego part which is the last to go.
November 19, 2008 at 1:30 PM
RevDrKate said…
Oh. My. Goodness. Bring on the laminator!
November 19, 2008 at 8:24 PM
Jan said…
Katherine, there's an award for you over at my blog.
November 20, 2008 at 9:22 PM
Carolyn said…
I got to catch up tonight by reading your last entries. Your honesty and willingness to discover and grow inspire me. Thank you for your most recent post, the Finley quotes, that call me to begin meditating again. CCW
November 21, 2008 at 11:03 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"The Bible does not close discussions; it seeks to open them"

-
From William Sloan Coffin in The Courage to Love: The opposite of love is not hate but fear. If we are to broaden our vision and enlarge our hearts, we must allow risk to enter our lives, permit doubt to walk hand in hand with belief. It is a mistake to sharpen our minds by narrowing them. It is a mistake to look at the Bible to close a discussion--the Bible seeks to open one.... The Bible is no oracle to be consulted for specific advice on specific problems; rather, it is a wellspring of wisdom about the ambiguity, inevitability, and the insolubility of the human situation. It sings praises to God who...provides minimum protection but maximum support.... Finally, the Bible is a signpost, not a hitching post. It points beyond itself, saying "Pay attention to God, not me." And if, as the Bible claims, "God is love, and she who abides in loves abides in God, and God abides in her," then revelation is in the relationship. In all Scripture there is no injunction more fu...
Read more

Mother's Day...and Children Everywhere, It Seems!

-
Image
Diane has such a beautiful post, " Mother's Day Reflections from a Non-Mother. " She expresses so eloquently much of my own feelings. Thank you, Diane. I blogged last year about the grief I finally was able to experience at not being a mother. (See: Two Souls ) And I was so blessed to receive comments from dear Lovely Passionate Feminist and from blogging friends that, to this day, have stayed with me and given me such solace. LPF, GannetGirl, Linda, Jan, thank you. (GG, I am holding you in prayer, holding you in prayer, holding you in prayer...) This past year I have seen mothering in new ways. Although I am childless, children are playing an increasing role in my life. The children at my church, to whom I am "Pastor Katherine," are amazing. I'm with them for a couple of hours once a week, but many have revealed their hearts to me. It's probably the best thing about my "job," relating to these children, loving them. This picture shows some of ...
Read more

Returning?

-
Giving birth has always been a powerful metaphor for me. Not that I relate it to physical pregnancy, but since I started awakening, 20 years ago now, in my early thirties, I could feel the creative element in life moving within me, making me something new. I'm listening to Jennifer Berezan's CD, "Returning." She chants throughout: returning, returning, returning to the Mother of us all... This music is haunting, smoky, with rhythms that sink to the beginning of time itself. She recorded the music is a subterranean temple/tomb used by the Neolithic people of Malta. The 3-level labyrinth has 33 chambers, stairs, passageways, all carved out of the limestone with flint and antler tools. Some of the chambers, 5.25 meters beneath the surface, are egg shaped. Maybe now you can begin to imagine the haunting quality of this elegant sound. Our local public radio station aired an interview yesterday with a scientist who is using DNA markers to track human populations movements ...
Read more