In the early 5th century Cassian brought the teachings of the Desert to the western church, through establishing the twin monastic foundations (for men and women) at Marseilles and, above all, through his great work: the Conferences of the Fathers.
In the 9th and 10th Conferences of Cassian ‘On Prayer’, John Main found a Christian expression of a universal spiritual wisdom—the prayer of one word, or monologistic prayer as the scholars call it—leading through a radical simplicity to the first of the Beatitudes: poverty of spirit. Without diluting the simplicity or radicality of this prayer, John Main presented it in a way that continues to deepen and transform the spiritual life of many people today almost 29 years after his death.
Monasticism was originally a lay movement in Christianity. Its being over-clericalised helped it to spread, but diminished its spiritual influence. Today the essential monastic spirit is in resurgence: the centrality of contemplation; the love of solitude; the courage to live in community; the equal respect for marriage and other forms of life; and perhaps, as our community has found, the opportunity to live as a monk for a period of time before marriage, while remaining thereafter in the same community. One of John Main’s proven insights was to see the connection between contemplative prayer and a transformation of the way we live with others. He believed that ‘meditation creates community’.
Apart from the Christian contemplative tradition itself, the very words of Jesus, on prayer, indicate that he was a teacher of contemplation. Going into our inner room, reducing our prayer-babble because we trust that God knows our needs even before we ask, eschewing anxiety, being mindful, living in the present—these are his teachings. And they form a powerful endorsement of the contemplative life of the Christian vocation.
As his disciples, is meditation justifiable, in terms of our commitment to be peace-makers and to feel a thirst for justice? It would fail this test if the regular practice of meditation did not lead to a greater personal freedom and courage—to love and to serve. To understand how this happens we need to return to an early Christian understanding of prayer itself. Origen, in the second century, said: ‘We do not pray in order to get benefits from God, but to become like God. Praying itself is good. It calms the mind, reduces sin and promotes good deeds.’ The early monks called meditation ‘pure prayer’.
Over the years our community has been led, not only into inter-religious dialogue—a necessity for global peace today—but also to close collaboration in places of conflict, such as Belfast and Sarajevo. In Haiti, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Indonesia, which I have recently visited, the teaching of meditation is quite evidently a direct, if hard to measure, contribution to social and political change.
This is not through direct action, although many meditators are also activists, but above all through a transformation of awareness. Such change in consciousness is not so much part of a war of words or propaganda, as the effect of the power of silence. If you want to get the meal on the table, and if you want it to be good, then Martha and Mary need to work together.
With much love
Laurence