Abhishiktananda chapters 8-9

 

Well, I finished the book, Swami Abhishiktananda:  Essential Writings.  I don't know what held me up but I'm done now.  It's strange, I vacilate back and forth between the contemplative approach to prayer, and the charismatic approach (which I actually know very little about).  One night this week I had insomnia and felt drawn to Francis MacNutt's book, Healing.  Strange...

 

Anyway, back to the book.  These two chapters really are a nice way to bring the book to a conclusion.  The chapter on prayer is excellent.  I can see the connections with John Main's teaching very clearly.  I may even want to get A's book, Prayer.

 

Some key passages from Chapter 8 on prayer:

The mystery of God is first of all the eternal call of the Father to the Son -- the call in which the Father and the Son essentially are:  'You are my Son' (Ps. 2:7; see also Mark 1:1-11).  It is also the response to this call, the eternal cry of the Son; "Abba, Father!" -- the ceaseless prayer of Jesus both on earth and in heaven, a prayer which expresses both the source and the fullness of his love, his sacrifice, and his unending intercession (182).

This passage reveals the deep Trinitarian understanding of prayer that A has.  We are swept up into the conversation of the Trinity.

The very reason for the coming on earth of Jesus the Son of God was to share with mankind that divine experience which was eternally his (181).

I share this foundational understanding of prayer.  A also stresses God's omnipresence.  God is everywhere:  beyond form, present in Creation...

A has an interesting comparison between the Jesus prayer and the prayer of namajapa as it is called in India (184-187).  He suggests that the Christian prayer has an emphasis on forgiveness, while the Hindu prayer focus on adoration.  The Christian Jesus prayer isn't about a morbid focus on sin but

it is one way of expressing a deeply personal experience of the love of God and the realization that in forgiving us he reveals most fully his love and almighty power.

While the Hindu focus on adoration

is rather a sign of total self-forgetfulness and of lack of concern for all that affects them personally -- in Christian terms, the complete trust of a child who knows that his father is caring for his needs and whose only personal wish is to continue gazing at him (186).

The chapter ends with an excellent discussion of the prayer of silence.

the main thrust of spiritual discipline and ascetic life should be to prepare man for the stillness of his faculties where he can be at the full disposal fo the Spirit (192).

Chapter 9:  "Awakening" was much more challenging.  It is apparent that his heart attack in July 1973 was a powerful spiritual experience for A.

I lived my heart attack in the first place as a marvelous spiritual adventure (199).

A returns again and again to the limitations, even the hinderances of concepts, ideas, and notions.

All notions are burned in the fire of experience (198).

There is only one awakening.  A doubts whether or not he is truly a Christian any more because for him doctrine has become completely relativized.  It is the experience of awakening that matters.  The freedom from self, from all situations, reveals an indwelling Trinity.

The Trinity is the ultimate mystery of oneself.  But in the very depth of this discovery of the Self-Trinity there lies the paradox:  in the mystery of the non-source, who still speaks of the Source?  It is only at the level of the Source, of the trickle of water springing up, that we speak of what is beyond.  In the beyond there is not beyond.  It simply is, etad vai tad!  That, just that! (203).

The symbol of the Grail is also introduces in the chapter.  It would be interesting to hear more of how this symbol played in A's thought.  He was obviously a seeker after the Grail and it seems that he found it at the end of his life.

The final selection in the book is a nice summary:

One who knows several mental (or religious or spiritual) languages is incapable of absolutizing any formulations whatever -- of the gospel, of the Upanishads, of Buddhism, etc.  He can only bear witness to an experience -- about which he can only stammer (205).

A does more than stammer.  He bears witness to a powerful experience of God and speaks the language of both Christianity and Hinduism well.  However, it is the experience, not the formulations, that are important for him.

Turning a Maze into a Labyrinth

I think that one of the things going on in my life is that I am starting to see my life more as a labyrinth than a maze. A maze is full of choices that are made. Some choices are "right" and others are "wrong." Some lead to dead ends, others take you closer to the goal.

Labyrinths, on the other hand, don't have wrong turns (or right turns for that matter). They are simply paths that twist and turn. You do arrive at your destination in spite of (or better because of) the twists and turns. The only choice in a labyrinth is to keep going, to stop, or to turn around. There is no other path.

The moral life, with its focus on freedom and choice, depicts life as a maze.

Spirituality depicts life as a labyrinth.

This decision to move to WI has made me rely much more on the image of the labyrinth. I am simply following a path that God has set out for me. This is a big turn in the road, but it is a turn in the road, not a turn I am choosing to make (other than to stay on the road).

Maybe that is why the labyrinth is speaking to me these days.

Abhishiktananda Chapter 7 "God" Notes

This short chapter takes a very apophatic approach. At times, A sounds like a Pantheist but he isn't because he always notes that God is beyond all things as well as the source of all things. The paradoxes abound in this chapter. It starts off well with

"God is beyond all notions. They are only the spring-boards to be used for
diving -- and the spring-board is not the lake" (169).

A makes the claim that God is more self evident than our selves. In fact, we flee God because His reality makes us aware of our own unreality.

"The absoluteness of being is as terrifying to him [our selves/souls] as
non-being, since it as surely destroys all that he wants himself to be, or
rather, wants to feel that he is" (170).

This fundamental reality of God is infinitely mysterious and transcendent, yet it is revealed through all created things. This reality of God is difficult to discover because

"God is too close to us. That is why we constantly fail to find him"
(175).

We fear this intimacy that strips us and threatens to destroy us. I am reminded of John of the Cross' description of the dark nights of the soul and spirit where we are blinded by God's presence and experience this presence as an absence. Again,

"We can only be distant from our conception of God, never from him" (173).

I wonder what this says about sin. From at least one perspective, sin does separate us from God. In fact, that is part of the definition of sin. And yet, to the degree that we continue to exist we are in relationship with God. All that exists is good, even us when we sin, although we are less "real" beings due to our sin.
A also writes about the contemplative call.

"A contemplative is not one who shuts himself away with the idea that he has
formed of God and takes pleasure in it. The real contemplative is the man
who has allowed the spirit of God to carry him off and to deprive him of every
kind of prop, even in what he calls his contemplation" (174).

The chapter ends with two very powerful prose poems: "Everywhere He Is, And Only He" and "Seek God." These would be great sources for contemplation and reflection and even discussion on the nature of our relationship with God.

Catholicism and Pop Culture

The average American spends 2.6 hours per day watching TV and 9 minutes in prayer or other spiritual activities.  With this as a starting point, Cathleen Kaveny, a professor of Law and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, writer, and blogger discussed five ways that Catholicism can relate to pop culture, drawing on the work of the theologian Reinhold Neibuhr.

These included two ways that see the church and culture primarily as adversaries:

• 
  
  "Christ against Pop Culture" sees pop culture and TV as irredeemable.  All TV and all aspects of the popular culture, in this view, are sources of temptation and corruption.
  
  
• 
  
  "Christ within Pop Culture" is a mirror image of this view.  It is the perspective that sees the values of Pop Culture as the values of the Gospel.  "The values of Friends or Seinfeld are seen as the values of Jesus," Kaveny said.  These values are then used to critique the church.

Two less antagonistic options for the relationship of the church and culture were:

• 
  
  "Christ above Culture" where religion is placed on the distant horizon.  In this view, religion is seen as a good thing, but "not yet" for me.  Kaveny cited St. Augustine's famous phrase, "Make me chaste, but not yet" as an illustration of this point of view.  "I'll live in the pop culture today, but maybe when I'm 65 I'll get religious."
  
  
• 
  
  "Christ and Pop Culture in Paradox" was the second less antagonistic option.  This is the all too familiar experience of living by the values of the popular culture on Monday through Saturday and reserving Sunday for "God" or "Church."  Pop Culture and religion exist side by side but do not engage one another.  There is a schitzophrenic relationship between religion and pop culture.

The final view that Kaveny presented was the viewpoint she saw as the most helpful:

• 
  
  "Christ engaging (or transforming) Pop Culture."  This point of view has its basis in the Catholic belief that the story of Jesus, the Christian story, is the ultimate expression of the human story.  "The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the men of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well.  Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts"  (Vatican II Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World).  This search for anything genuinely human can lead to an enriching conversation with popular culture.

How are Catholics to engage with the popular culture?  The key, for Kaveny, lies in an authentic understanding of the human being.  This includes the understanding that all human beings are made in the image of God, are effected by sin, and seek happiness (although usually in the wrong places).  TV, movies, and other elements of the popular culture explore the perennial themes of the human condition.  Kaveny cited Friends, Entourage, and Sex in the City as struggling with the question of the relationship of friendship and erotic love.  The Sopranos explored and subverted cultural and religious ideas of redemption. Popular culture gives us insight into our situation.  What they dramatize and what they make fun of can challenge us to reflect on our faith more deeply.

While not everyone needs to engage the popular culture, it is important that some people do.  A conversation between Catholicism and popular culture has the potential of deepening and transforming all of those involved.

This lecture, given on the campus at the University of Wyoming, was made possible by the Commonweal Speakers Program due to the generous gift of James H. Duffy.

Abhishiktananda Notes Chapter 6 - Christianity

This chapter develops A's thought on Christianity. It has a strongly mystical thrust with a focus on experience. It also places the doctrine of the Trinity at the center of A's worldview.

"There is but one Reality and one alone, the community of life which exists at
the heart of Being, between the Father and the Son, in the unity of the
Spirit. That alone is; and it is within this community of life that the
man who is has his existence." (150)

This central reality is radically mysterious. The entire creation points to this Mystery at the heart of creation and as the individual soul awakens to this ultimate reality, this soul percieves the mystery signified more and more clearly but all things and even in the soul itself. Ultimately, the soul is united with this Mystery,

"... there is no place left, no spot in which she may declare "I, Me."
Before ever this "I" is evidenced within her the abyss is already resounding
with the I which God utters to himself from all eternity." (152)

The Christians task is simply to radiate this ultimate reality more and more clearly to the world.

"He has no other raison d'etre in this world than to recieve and transmit to all
his powers of body and soul and extend through them to the whole world the
radiance of this glorious awakening-to-being in the depths of the self in the
blessed place of resurrection." (153)

This is a profound vision and I share it. The challenge I see is the individualism inherent in it. It is the individual soul which awakens to ultimate Reality. I think this is because it is, like all of A's work, an experiential approach. The individual experiences himself as an individual which as gradually drawn into the abyss of community.

The rest of the chapter spins out this vision in various ways. He uses the example of Francis of Assisi as someone who lived this vision by responding the the radical call of the Gospel. I struggled with this because, while Francis is clearly an example of following God's radical call, it is difficult to see how "normal" men and women can respond to this call. This example limits the applicability to a select few and I believe that is its fatal flaw. He does move beyond the example in stating that

"Only the one who has been reborn in the Spirit and has allowed himself in the
same Spirit to sound the very depths of God can bear witness to the mystery of
the Father and the Son, and can pass on the consuming fire of the Christian
message, which speaks at once of God's inaccessibility and of his nearness."
(156)

This broadens the vision to include anyone who takes the Gospel call seriously, no matter what there state in life.

This chapter also approaches the question of the uniqueness of Jesus and relativizes the question.

"If, as non-Christians maintain, Jesus is only a man, then whatever natural
endowments he possesses must necessarily be available to every man. And if
he is the Son of God, as Christians believe, then they must not forgete that,
according to their faith, Jesus shares with them by grace all that he possesses
by right of his divine Sonship." (158)

In other words, the theoretical question of Jesus ontological status doesn't matter on the practical level. The important thing is to follow His teaching and have a spirit of discipleship.

There is also much discussion in this chapter of Saccidananda (Sat=Being, Cit=Consciousness, and Ananda = Bliss). This provides a new perspective on Trinitarian doctrine. A states,

"... just as Judaism and Hellenism have made their contributions, so the divine
preparation of India in its turn will serve to lead believers to contemplate the
mystery in a new depth." (164)

The chapter concludes with a description of Mass celebrated with a friend on the banks of the Ganges.

Jakobshavn Fjord, Greenland, Iceberg, Photo of the Day, Picture, Photography, Wallpapers - National Geographic

Jakobshavn Fjord, Greenland, Iceberg, Photo of the Day, Picture, Photography, Wallpapers - National Geographic

This is a beautiful picture of an iceberg.

First Private Post

Well, I made this blog private yesterday. I am the only reader now. I did start "Exploring the Kingdom" for developed reflections and essays, but I wanted this to be a place for my own notes, etc. and a place to experiment.

That said, I don't know what else to say. I do my longhand writing every day, so that is not what this is for. I think continuing to take my reading notes and other things I discover from the web and my own thoughts.

As I read Abhishiktananda, I am challenged by the idea of interreligious dialogue. I experience the same tension - although to a much lesser degree - that A did. He found truth, beauty, and goodness outside of Christianity, in particular in the religions of India. While I haven't travelled to the far East, I've also found resonances with my own soul in the teachings of their religion. However, the tension isn't so great for me, because I am pretty confident that Jesus would have appreciated their insight as well. He does not seem like a dogmatic teacher, but a wise man who was open to truth, beauty, and goodness wherever he found it. The issue isn't as acute for me because I have been taught a less exclusive view of Christianity. Catholic, after all, means "universal."

The other challenge I find is the individualism of this path A describes. It is ultimately done for the good of the world, but seems very much like it is something one achieves. One works their way to holiness. Now, that I write that, it is not that simple. The path is through the heart and is always a response to God discovered there. Service does come, but as a fruit of the Spirit found in the heart. Any other form of service is incomplete, and can even be destructive.

I am struck by A's courage. He was a little cooky, but he took the Gospel with ultimate seriousness. There is no doubt that God was the central reality for A and that he discovered God in his Sad-guru Jesus. I have a similar temperament. I am at times obsessed with God. All that ultimately matters to me is doing God's will, or even better, becoming and instrument for God's goodness and love.

As the book comes to a conclusion, the basic insights remain the same. Dialogue of experience at the depth of the soul is the key to this path. Experience, experience, experience. The thing that sets A apart from other Empiricists is the type of experience he allows. He is more interested in inner, or spiritual experience (what Lonergan would call the "data of consciousness" than in outward experience. He is interested in the soul and spirit more than in the body. I also share these interests. I admire A a lot, and more than admiring him, I want to follow a similar path in my own life.

Lord, grant me a joyful, gentle, grateful heart that knows and does Your Will.

Lotus Flowers

I found some incredibly powerful images of lotus flowers. Check these out!

Pilgrimage, Dialogue, and Solitude

Abhishiktananda (Notes 4)

 

Pilgrimage

This section (the end of Chapter 4 "Immersion in Hinduism" and Chapter 5 "The Life of the Hermit") continues to develop the theme of "personal experience."  Writing from his experience as a pilgrim in India, A writes,

"[Pilgrimage] is the universal response of man to the call which comes from the hills whose summits he instinctively connects with the dwelling place of God, his Creator" (115-116).

  This universal call seems to be central to A's thought and forms part of his struggle with Christian exclusivity.

 

Dialogue

The tension between Hinduism and Christianity continues to be reflected in his writing.  In an excerpt from his book Saccidananda, A writes from a Christian perspective.  In this selection he states that Hinduism belongs to the "Cosmic Covenant."  These

"Cosmic religions essentially consist in the worship of God as he manifests himself in nature, and reach their highest point in contemplating him in the deepest center of the heart" (119).

This perspective is consistent with the view of natural theology.  A even adds,

"no prophet or seer of the cosmic covenant has ever received or taught anything substantially new.  All was given from the beginning:  his task is only to recognize that which is and to decipher its mystery" (119). 

Nothing new is added. There is no revelation as such. God is entirely immanent. A has profound appreciation of the advaitic experience found at the heart of Hinduism.  It is

"beyond question the highest point attainable by man in the contemplation of the mystery of man and nature" (120).

 

 

Yet A also articulates the Hindu point of view as well.  This is clearly brought out in a tongue in cheek book review he writes of his own book "Hindu-Christian Meeting Point."  This review reveals just how much A identifies with and understands the Hindu perspective.  He writes as a Hindu in a Hindu "voice."  For example,

"We [Hindu's] realize, naturally, that it is difficult for a Christian to accept that his own Christian dharma should be itself transcended.  We are familiar of course with that theme which has gained ground among them in the past years [the concept of "anonymous Christians" articulated by Rahner] ... that all religions, including Hinduism, are tending by means of their own spiritual development and under the impulse of the 'Holy Spirit' towards Christ and Christianity as their fulfillment and culmination, and that those who are saved meanwhile even outside the fold of Christianity are saved 'implicitly' through Christ and the church.  Before Christianity even existed, Sri Krishna Bhagavan had already explained to Arjuna that all worship was really directed towards Himself even when outwardly addressed to any deity of any name whatsoever.  As a friend of mine answered a Christian priest who was developing this theory before him:  'Father, I agree with you in everything, except for a minor detail.  I feel that my master Sri Aurobindo has shown better than any of your theologians that the universe is growing towards a final point, the point Omega as you now say.  Only you call that point Christ, whereas I call it Vishnu!  ... Christianity has only relative value -- which is just what we Hindus are constantly pointing out" (122-123)

 

 

A is able to see with both Christian and Hindu eyes and this dual vision gives him true depth perception.  He does not resolve one perspective into the other, each point of view lives within him.  It appears that he refuses to abandon the "scandal of particularity" of Christianity.  But he also embraces the radical openness to mystery of Hinduism.

Solitude

Chapter 4 "The Life of the Hermit" deals with basic monastic themes.  "Solitude", A writes, "is only worth anything when filled with the presence of the Lord" (138).  A uses the phrase "alone" often to describe the solitary as well as God.  In a poem/prayer entitled "Naked as a Stone is Naked," for example, A writes of solitude being

"... alone with the self, at the source of its being, alone with the Absolute, alone in the aloneness of the Alone" (135).

  In speaking of the call to solitude,

"That he should 'remain there' is enough for God; and anyone for whom that is not enough has understood nothing of his 'call' to solitude.  If God wishes to use him in the world of men, it is for God to make him understand this; so long as the 'inspiration' to act, write, study, make foundations, is not clear, the solitary ought not to stir from his place." 

If a call is authentic, God will make it clear.  There is no need to be anxious.  Solitude teaches us to wait for clarity.

Notes (3) Abhishiktananda Essential Writings

East meets West in chapter 3 of the Essential Writings of Abhishiktananda. My reading has slowed lately as work gets busier. Chapter 3, "East-West" presents some excellent selections for reflection. This section is tension filled as A is caught in the tension between the Eastern (inward experience) and Western (outward revelation) explanations of salvation and in this tension is driven deeper into mystery. In a letter written in 1966, A writes,

"What contrasts! I do my best to be at ease everywhere, but there is an inevitable tension. But it is precisely this being torn apart between India and Europe, between Vedanta and Christianity which enables me to live the fundamental experience and to express its mystery to some extent." (86)

He attempts to integrate this strain at the deepest level of his being.

"No exchange is truly profitable unless it takes place as communion at the deepest depths of people's beings" (79).

As a monk, A isn't primarily concerned about a conceptual integration at the level of the intellect, but about experiential integration at the level of being. He challenges Christianity to find a way to integrate the experience of the Vedantic tradition. This tradition does relativize the value of other religions, even itself.

"From a Vedantic point of view neither Hindu scriptures and worship nor Christian dogmas and sacraments have an ultimate value." (76)

Unfortunately, in my opinion, A does not engage the Christian mystical tradition here. Maybe it is simply this selection, but I kept asking myself as I read, "What about John of the Cross?" or other streams of the Christian mystical tradition.



However, the level of engagement with Hinduism becomes very clear in chapter 4, "Immersion in Hinduism." This chapter begins with a brilliant letter on inculturation (a term probably not used during A's time). Born out of his own experience of wanting to transplant the Benedictine way to India, this letter repeatedly calls for the individual coming to India to be "transparent," "open," "teachable," and "recpetive." I wish I would quote the entire letter. Here is a sample section:

"What we need are monks, souls who have opened themselves, in their very depth, to the life of the Spirit within, who have listened within to the voice of the Spirit calling to the Father, who have heard within the very silence of the Father. There is no need for transplanted trees' we need the seeds, the seeds which will be entrusted to the rich soil of India and which in time will bear a wonderful harvest, always provided the seed is good and the ground well chosen." (89)

The theme of "within" and "interiority" are keys to A's understanding of India. They are the gift that India has for the West which cannot be appreciated without an attitude of openness and receptivity.



This chapter continues with descriptions of the way A incorporated Hindu ritual into the worship of Shantivanam. For example,

"He [the priest] emerged from the chancel carrying the brass plate on which the flame was burning itself out. Each of the faithful approached and stretched out his hands respectfully over the flame. With his palms thus sanctified by the sacred touch, each one touched his own eyes and then taking a pinch of the holy ash reverently marked his forehead." (98)

The next section deals with the concept of the guru. This section shed new light on the Christian understanding of all people being made in the "image of God" and Christ dwelling in all people. There is a profound mystical theology embedded in this section. The guru is an instrument of the transcendent. They convey their own experience to the disciple and there is a non-dual relationship between the guru and disciple. Within Christianity, Christ is the true or essential guru (sad-guru) who dwells in the disciple's heart. The church, at its best, is a manifestation of Christ (his "body").

"The 'external' guru is only the temporary form taken by the essential guru to make himself recognized, and at the moment of that recognition there is no longer either guru or disciple. [I couldn't help thinking about the Emmaus story and Jesus' disappearance when the disciples recognized him in the breaking of the bread.] In Christianity it is the church -- i.e. individuals in the church and those whom God expecially brings into contact with himself -- that is the manifested guru, the form actualized in space and time which Jesus takes to reveal himself. The Christian guru is never anything but the manifestation of the Lord, and the moment he forgets this he becomes a thief, no longer a shepherd. (114)

Paula D'Arcy's statement that God comes to us disguised as our life also popped into my mind at this point. Maybe the experience of encountering Christ the specific person of the guru is a particular case of the general principle that God can be encountered in all things. Everything is a guru to the true disciple. Hmmm.



Anyway, that is as far as I got. More later...