Saturday, June 7, 2008

Support for Practice

Not everyone who prays the Prayer of the Lamb has been through the comprehensive 12 week course, but all have received some sort of training, teaching and initiation into the practice. Whenever I teach the Prayer of the Lamb I also make myself available for follow up for questions and consultation regarding practice. I also make a point of saying that the Prayer of the Lamb is a form of spiritual practice that needs to be incorporated into daily practice and ideally connected to a community of others engaged in the same spiritual practice. Meditation to be fruitful is best connected to a teacher and community. When practiced alone as individuals there are many ways in which we can simply strengthen our own ego identification, miss our self delusion, use the meditation only as a relaxation technique, make assumptions about spiritual attainment, or misinterpret experiences that may occur during meditation.

In meditation we sit with openness to the Holy Spirit and trust in our Lord. The more we sit in this faith, the more we may come to recognize that underneath the initial peace and relaxation lie fears, anxieties, hopes, anger, despair all waiting to be compassionately addressed. Hence the need for the resource of guidance in practice.

Also we have a tendency to take a particular spiritual practice and the teaching which defines it, and adapt it to our own preferences. This most usually hinders the potential and potency of the practice as it has been developed from its tested and proven source tradition.

If any of you have questions or would like consultation about how your meditation practice is going, you may email me at PrayeroftheLamb1@mac.com or call 206-713-5321.

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