Biological life on this planet, as far as I know, exists solely within a thin surface layer of earth, water and air. Relative to the size of the planet, this zone of habitation is miniscule, fragile and exposed. Yet billions of different life forms thrive in this biosphere. This planetary surface is so thin in comparison to the rest of the mass of Earth that it might be considered insignificant if it were not for the fact that this is where we humans live. We have a vested self-interest, therefore, in the condition of this biosphere.
When I teach about the Prayer of the Lamb, I talk about how this is an ecological form of meditational prayer, that this spiritual practice interconnects within the ecological system, that the context for meditation is a context of the whole. We cannot separate out this activity of meditation from the rest of the environment.
Another way of expressing this is: “It’s not about me.” It’s about us. I may think that I meditate for my own good, and yes, that it so. But whatever is for my own good is also for the good of all because we are intrinsically interrelated. Indeed when we continue long enough in this spiritual practice we can come to experience, not just have an insight about, but know experientially the unity of all manifest being. Then the only way we can offer the Prayer of the Lamb is to pray “have mercy on us.”
The Prayer of the Lamb, “Jesus/Yeshua, have mercy on us,” begins with an appeal for mercy to intervene in our condition, our situation, our environment. It is offering an intercession for what is seen as a need, and in saying “have mercy on us” it acknowledges that I myself am also impacted by the need seen in another. And continuing in meditation we can come to realize that the mercy, compassion, care, wisdom and grace needed are already abundantly present and available. In truth there is no separation or alienation from the compassion of God, just as much as it is not possible for any organism to exist separate from its ecosphere.
A key scripture text to support this is the first chapter of the Gospel of John.
3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being
4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
The darkness, may I suggest, is not some evil force or enemy, something that would pose a threat to the light, but nothing, no thing. What we objectify as darkness is rather our assumption that darkness is substantial and able to bind and limit life. It is our supposed separation and alienation from God. To quote my own teacher, “Darkness is a function of our ignorance about the truth of life. We think the world is dark, because we are dark in our awareness, and yet the world is all light, one radiant wholeness of love.” It is salvation to be freed of this self-limiting ignorance.
The condition of ignorance and darkness is within the state of awareness of the whole of our species. As our spiritual practice brings awakening, so too the compassion of this abundant mercy empowers us in our actions, translating meditation into compassionate service not only for other human beings but for the whole of the biosphere. The fruit of meditation is action on behalf of the whole bio-system intervening into the darkness of human hearts, shifting callousness, despair, rage, hatred, envy and greed into life-sustaining directions.
Each time you sit to meditate is a turning toward the light and a cooperation with divine self expression. Every time you meditate you are adding to growing awareness about the illusion of our separateness. Every time in meditation the individual, separate "I" of self identity is no more, and "we" as the miraculous union of all unique beings in the divine radiance of Yeshua becomes the substance of creation. Keep meditating!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Agnus Dei Vol. 5:5 Advent 07 Christmas Light
During the Christmas season one of the things I enjoy seeing is all the Christmas lights decorating homes and in windows. In the long December nights these lights bring a cheerful confrontation to the dark. The daylight hours again lengthen, and we are amazed at how much impact the amount of light can have on a sense of well being and disposition.
All the Christmas light that is outside is a small fraction of all the Christmas light that is within you.
Jesus/Yeshua says to us, “I offer life which expands in radiance and peace. I offer this expansion of my life in the mind and heart and awareness of those devoted to me as a way of self forgiveness, forgiveness of others, and abundant life in my light.”
John’s Gospel says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it… The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world… to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”
Light or radiance is the energy of communion and thus community. Each of us in Yeshua’s presence is a source of communion. Our meditation together enlivens the life communion between Yeshua and those who perform the devotional offering of meditation.
The radiant body of Yeshua goes beyond the physical body, and has a cosmic structure. That structure is manifest in each person as the image of God. But we live lives that are full of suffering, that are disoriented to the wholeness of the radiant body of Yeshua. That is why meditation is so important. In the spiritual practice and devotion of meditation we are in a process of consecration to God. This is healing and transcendence and awakening in the Mind of Christ.
When we meditate with the Name of Yeshua we are offering our suffering that has destroyed our wholeness, peace and joy into the Name for healing and release for liberation. The Name is the wholeness of radiance/light. Meditating with attention to this Name the flow of devotional love - the devotional love that Yeshua has for us, his devotion to and for us - serves to heal the areas of life which cry out in the heart’s desire. This flow of love achieves communion between the whole person and the wholeness of Yeshua. The word Yeshua orients the heart’s desire, purifies it. The response of love by Jesus always transcends the desire, meeting it in its own place with love. The response of Yeshua’s love offering is a beam of his heart’s radiance/light arising from the fullness of his Name.
All the Christmas light that is outside is a small fraction of all the Christmas light that is within you.
Christmas blessings in the Lamb
The Rev. Beverly Hosea
All the Christmas light that is outside is a small fraction of all the Christmas light that is within you.
Jesus/Yeshua says to us, “I offer life which expands in radiance and peace. I offer this expansion of my life in the mind and heart and awareness of those devoted to me as a way of self forgiveness, forgiveness of others, and abundant life in my light.”
John’s Gospel says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it… The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world… to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”
Light or radiance is the energy of communion and thus community. Each of us in Yeshua’s presence is a source of communion. Our meditation together enlivens the life communion between Yeshua and those who perform the devotional offering of meditation.
The radiant body of Yeshua goes beyond the physical body, and has a cosmic structure. That structure is manifest in each person as the image of God. But we live lives that are full of suffering, that are disoriented to the wholeness of the radiant body of Yeshua. That is why meditation is so important. In the spiritual practice and devotion of meditation we are in a process of consecration to God. This is healing and transcendence and awakening in the Mind of Christ.
When we meditate with the Name of Yeshua we are offering our suffering that has destroyed our wholeness, peace and joy into the Name for healing and release for liberation. The Name is the wholeness of radiance/light. Meditating with attention to this Name the flow of devotional love - the devotional love that Yeshua has for us, his devotion to and for us - serves to heal the areas of life which cry out in the heart’s desire. This flow of love achieves communion between the whole person and the wholeness of Yeshua. The word Yeshua orients the heart’s desire, purifies it. The response of love by Jesus always transcends the desire, meeting it in its own place with love. The response of Yeshua’s love offering is a beam of his heart’s radiance/light arising from the fullness of his Name.
All the Christmas light that is outside is a small fraction of all the Christmas light that is within you.
Christmas blessings in the Lamb
The Rev. Beverly Hosea
Friday, November 9, 2007
Agnus Dei Vol 5:4 Meditation and Escape
The meditation course at the prison in Monroe is now well underway. This is an outreach service of the Community of the Lamb supported by you in your prayers and donations. And already I feel confident in saying that this ministry will thrive.
I can see right away that this meditation course will need to have great flexibility. I am quickly learning that the schedule in the prison is subject to instant changes for seemingly infinite numbers of reasons. The volunteer training prepared me for only just so much. Most of my familiarization with the prison environment will happen spontaneously as events occur.
The first session gave me a good example of this. I arrived in the middle of a lock down due to some incident, and so I sat with a number of other staff and a few volunteers in the waiting room until everything was clear for “inmate movement.” It was a good opportunity to get to know other staff, but left me with only about 45 minutes with the inmates. Since that first day, things have run more smoothly, and I have been able to have the full two hours with the inmates. Currently ten men are attending.
The men who have showed up for the class are ready to get down to business. For the most part they are clear about why they want to meditate. Essentially they are looking for an escape. What do men in prison think about? – Jail break, of course! And why wouldn’t they? The environment they live in is intense and stressful. There is little space for peace and quiet. The need and hunger for a time and space free from these stresses is consciously felt. We on the outside can pick and choose our environment with greater freedom. The work environment may be stressful, but we can escape at the end of the work day. Or the home environment may be a stew pot of stressful relationships, but we can always escape to work or school.
Prison walls are all around us, most of them invisible and interior. The men in Monroe can see their prison walls most clearly. We do not see ours. The advantage of seeing the walls is that one recognizes more readily the need for mercy, grace, healing, forgiveness. These are the ones about whom the Beatitudes are meant: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So spiritually we could say that these inmates are one up on us! If we want to break free into greater expansion of awareness and liberation, then may the Holy Spirit show us our own prison walls.
For the men in prison, meditation might look like an escape, but what I always say is whatever it takes to get you to start meditating, fine. The first rule of meditation is show up. Whatever the suffering, whatever the stress, whatever the hunger, show up, sit down, close your eyes and offer the Prayer. Jesus, Yeshua, have mercy on us. And we turn our attention to what is simply present before us – our breath. And as we sit and observe the breath as we silently repeat the Prayer, a quietness settles over the body. It is then in those moments that we may come to be more aware of the aching heart, and we offer compassionate and loving attention to the being who is sitting there. The Mercy begins to make its presence felt. The body relaxes, the breathing softens. A deep unseen spiritual healing is taking place.
Yeshua is the healer, and meditation opens the way for his healing love to move effectively in the wholeness of our lives, not just as we sit in meditation, but as we live each day. Meditation practice provides moments of perfect spiritual wholeness, healing, and communion: communion that flows from the one sitting in devotion to Yeshua and communion that flows from Jesus as the offering of his love. The healing is the result of our mutual, loving devotion there in that space and time of practice. This devotion places our suffering into a new setting of his love.
If we hear what is being said here and respond with further opening of devotion in our meditation practice, then this will draw us more closely into his heart. And we will experience more fully this spiritual healing in all aspects of our lives – in relationships in families, in work, in community, in prison. In all these places, as we offer our heart’s desire and suffering more fully to Yeshua, we become a source of radiance.
The men in Monroe in the prison may not realize it yet, but they are not meditating just for themselves. The healing effects of meditation within them is already becoming a radiance that will affect their environment. Please pray for them in this healing and transforming process of meditation.
I can see right away that this meditation course will need to have great flexibility. I am quickly learning that the schedule in the prison is subject to instant changes for seemingly infinite numbers of reasons. The volunteer training prepared me for only just so much. Most of my familiarization with the prison environment will happen spontaneously as events occur.
The first session gave me a good example of this. I arrived in the middle of a lock down due to some incident, and so I sat with a number of other staff and a few volunteers in the waiting room until everything was clear for “inmate movement.” It was a good opportunity to get to know other staff, but left me with only about 45 minutes with the inmates. Since that first day, things have run more smoothly, and I have been able to have the full two hours with the inmates. Currently ten men are attending.
The men who have showed up for the class are ready to get down to business. For the most part they are clear about why they want to meditate. Essentially they are looking for an escape. What do men in prison think about? – Jail break, of course! And why wouldn’t they? The environment they live in is intense and stressful. There is little space for peace and quiet. The need and hunger for a time and space free from these stresses is consciously felt. We on the outside can pick and choose our environment with greater freedom. The work environment may be stressful, but we can escape at the end of the work day. Or the home environment may be a stew pot of stressful relationships, but we can always escape to work or school.
Prison walls are all around us, most of them invisible and interior. The men in Monroe can see their prison walls most clearly. We do not see ours. The advantage of seeing the walls is that one recognizes more readily the need for mercy, grace, healing, forgiveness. These are the ones about whom the Beatitudes are meant: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So spiritually we could say that these inmates are one up on us! If we want to break free into greater expansion of awareness and liberation, then may the Holy Spirit show us our own prison walls.
For the men in prison, meditation might look like an escape, but what I always say is whatever it takes to get you to start meditating, fine. The first rule of meditation is show up. Whatever the suffering, whatever the stress, whatever the hunger, show up, sit down, close your eyes and offer the Prayer. Jesus, Yeshua, have mercy on us. And we turn our attention to what is simply present before us – our breath. And as we sit and observe the breath as we silently repeat the Prayer, a quietness settles over the body. It is then in those moments that we may come to be more aware of the aching heart, and we offer compassionate and loving attention to the being who is sitting there. The Mercy begins to make its presence felt. The body relaxes, the breathing softens. A deep unseen spiritual healing is taking place.
Yeshua is the healer, and meditation opens the way for his healing love to move effectively in the wholeness of our lives, not just as we sit in meditation, but as we live each day. Meditation practice provides moments of perfect spiritual wholeness, healing, and communion: communion that flows from the one sitting in devotion to Yeshua and communion that flows from Jesus as the offering of his love. The healing is the result of our mutual, loving devotion there in that space and time of practice. This devotion places our suffering into a new setting of his love.
If we hear what is being said here and respond with further opening of devotion in our meditation practice, then this will draw us more closely into his heart. And we will experience more fully this spiritual healing in all aspects of our lives – in relationships in families, in work, in community, in prison. In all these places, as we offer our heart’s desire and suffering more fully to Yeshua, we become a source of radiance.
The men in Monroe in the prison may not realize it yet, but they are not meditating just for themselves. The healing effects of meditation within them is already becoming a radiance that will affect their environment. Please pray for them in this healing and transforming process of meditation.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Agnus Dei Vol 5:3 Meditation as Outreach Ministry
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' (Matthew 25:34-40 NRSV)
On August 4, members of seven different congregations came together for a Prayer of the Lamb retreat day in which we explored the spiritual foundation for outreach ministry, that is, how the meditation practice not only gives spiritual support and guidance for outreach ministry, but is also itself a form of outreach ministry.
This fall Prayer of the Lamb meditation as outreach will take flesh in a new program starting within prison walls. We are excited to announce that the Community of the Lamb has been approved for giving instruction in meditation at the Monroe Correctional Facility. I will be leading a six month pilot group starting this next month, instructing up to twelve inmates in the Prayer of the Lamb and leading them in meditation, reflection on practice and Bible study.
No one is more surprised than I that we are doing this. It seems very much like a Spirit-led blossoming of opportunity to meet an expressed need. Meditation in prison settings is becoming more widely recognized as an effective spiritual tool for stress reduction, personal spiritual growth and maturity, and modification in behavior among inmates. The purpose for teaching meditation in this setting is to bring greater faith, peace, order and social integration to inmate life, in this case specifically through a Christian context. I have heard that in prisons where meditation is taught and practiced, the positive effect is not just for those participating, but also there is an auxiliary effect on the whole prison.
The Board of Directors and I have laid the ground work for this first meditation course, which will be a pilot program. We will evaluate how it goes, make modifications where necessary and plan for more Prayer of the Lamb groups in the future if all develops as we hope. Already others have been asking me if they can also be involved in this outreach ministry. Jane York, President of the Board, has had previous experience in prison ministry and has been trained as a Prayer of the Lamb group facilitator, and I have asked her to participate with me in expanding this program.
How you can help – First, please keep this project in your prayers. Offer the Prayer of the Lamb for those participating in the pilot group, for the prison staff, and for me as I seek to be open to Yeshua’s Spirit as I lead these sessions. Second, I already have enough prayer beads for the size group I will lead this first time. But if you want to make malas for future groups or for seminars and retreats, let me know and I will get some supplies to you. Making prayer bead malas for others is good motivation for your own practice. Each bracelet or mala has at least one hour of meditation with the Prayer of the Lamb offered on it when it is made.
Third, financial support would be especially appreciated. Since this is an outreach program being offered to prison inmates, we will not be receiving the usual donations such as have funded all our seminars, retreats and groups to this point. Expenses for this ministry are not great, but we do have the cost of materials, office space, mileage, and hopefully an honorarium. If you are interested or excited about this ministry, donations would be a tremendous support.
Meanwhile meditation itself is a form of outreach ministry, especially when we are using the Prayer of the Lamb. Whether during sitting meditation or in the midst of the day’s events, this heart prayer offered into God’s mercy is without the encumbrance of our own agenda about what God should be doing. The Prayer is offered in simple innocence as an expression of faith in this tremendous mercy, and as such we are available for awakening in God’s will.
I live in an active part of the city, just a few blocks from a fire station, a police station and a hospital. I hear lots of sirens. My practice has been that each time I hear a siren I offer the Prayer for those responding and for the situation they are going to. All day long and sometimes at night if I am awakened by sirens, I offer this intercession. Where I live I do a lot of this kind of outreach ministry. Sometimes I would like to be out in the woods, in some quiet place where all one would hear would be bird sounds. But if I were out in the woods enjoying the fresh air away from the sound of traffic, I might forget to offer this ministry of intercession. So I give thanks for the opportunity for service that has been made available to me.
Where in your life are those opportunities for offering the outreach ministry of intercession? Where in your daily activities are you reminded of the needs, suffering, want, strife, anxiety, fear, alienation, and grief of the world? Increase your outreach ministry – Yeshua, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Hierarchy of Godly Service
During the summer retreat I presented a list that described levels of generosity in giving or offering service to others. As we move from self-motivated service to others through progressively more selfless ways of offering service, we can reflect on our own generosity of heart and what makes a difference for healing, reconciling and empowering others in a world of need. Others have asked that I share this list more broadly. Admittedly I cannot give a citation or reference for this list, as I do not recall its exact source. So if anyone else knows where this comes from, let me know. This list may not fully be in the correct order, but I know that it begins and ends correctly.
You do an act of kindness, generosity, service for another.
Level 1: You know for whom you are doing this,
and they know who has given to them.
Level 2: You know to whom you are giving,
but they do not know who has given to them.
(ex. an anonymous gift)
Level 3: You do not know to whom you are giving,
but they do know who has given to them.
(ex. a benefactor giving through a charity)
Level 4: You know to whom you are giving,
but they do not know that they have been the recipients of a gift,
so masterfully has the gift been given.
(a good teacher does this)
Level 5: You do not know to whom you are giving,
and they do not know from whom they have received.
(ex. an unrestricted gift to the Episcopal Relief and Development fund)
Level 6: You do not know that you have given,
but others know they have received from you.
Level 7: You do not know that you have given,
and others do not know that they have received from you.
Nevertheless you have given and others have benefited.
This last level, I would propose to you, is the kind of ministry offered through meditation with the Prayer of the Lamb. We offered the intercession in faith and will not see the results directly. Nevertheless there has been intervention for the world. No one may know that healing and reconciliation have been taking place. Nevertheless peace and wholeness, love and mercy are being poured out.
On August 4, members of seven different congregations came together for a Prayer of the Lamb retreat day in which we explored the spiritual foundation for outreach ministry, that is, how the meditation practice not only gives spiritual support and guidance for outreach ministry, but is also itself a form of outreach ministry.
This fall Prayer of the Lamb meditation as outreach will take flesh in a new program starting within prison walls. We are excited to announce that the Community of the Lamb has been approved for giving instruction in meditation at the Monroe Correctional Facility. I will be leading a six month pilot group starting this next month, instructing up to twelve inmates in the Prayer of the Lamb and leading them in meditation, reflection on practice and Bible study.
No one is more surprised than I that we are doing this. It seems very much like a Spirit-led blossoming of opportunity to meet an expressed need. Meditation in prison settings is becoming more widely recognized as an effective spiritual tool for stress reduction, personal spiritual growth and maturity, and modification in behavior among inmates. The purpose for teaching meditation in this setting is to bring greater faith, peace, order and social integration to inmate life, in this case specifically through a Christian context. I have heard that in prisons where meditation is taught and practiced, the positive effect is not just for those participating, but also there is an auxiliary effect on the whole prison.
The Board of Directors and I have laid the ground work for this first meditation course, which will be a pilot program. We will evaluate how it goes, make modifications where necessary and plan for more Prayer of the Lamb groups in the future if all develops as we hope. Already others have been asking me if they can also be involved in this outreach ministry. Jane York, President of the Board, has had previous experience in prison ministry and has been trained as a Prayer of the Lamb group facilitator, and I have asked her to participate with me in expanding this program.
How you can help – First, please keep this project in your prayers. Offer the Prayer of the Lamb for those participating in the pilot group, for the prison staff, and for me as I seek to be open to Yeshua’s Spirit as I lead these sessions. Second, I already have enough prayer beads for the size group I will lead this first time. But if you want to make malas for future groups or for seminars and retreats, let me know and I will get some supplies to you. Making prayer bead malas for others is good motivation for your own practice. Each bracelet or mala has at least one hour of meditation with the Prayer of the Lamb offered on it when it is made.
Third, financial support would be especially appreciated. Since this is an outreach program being offered to prison inmates, we will not be receiving the usual donations such as have funded all our seminars, retreats and groups to this point. Expenses for this ministry are not great, but we do have the cost of materials, office space, mileage, and hopefully an honorarium. If you are interested or excited about this ministry, donations would be a tremendous support.
Meanwhile meditation itself is a form of outreach ministry, especially when we are using the Prayer of the Lamb. Whether during sitting meditation or in the midst of the day’s events, this heart prayer offered into God’s mercy is without the encumbrance of our own agenda about what God should be doing. The Prayer is offered in simple innocence as an expression of faith in this tremendous mercy, and as such we are available for awakening in God’s will.
I live in an active part of the city, just a few blocks from a fire station, a police station and a hospital. I hear lots of sirens. My practice has been that each time I hear a siren I offer the Prayer for those responding and for the situation they are going to. All day long and sometimes at night if I am awakened by sirens, I offer this intercession. Where I live I do a lot of this kind of outreach ministry. Sometimes I would like to be out in the woods, in some quiet place where all one would hear would be bird sounds. But if I were out in the woods enjoying the fresh air away from the sound of traffic, I might forget to offer this ministry of intercession. So I give thanks for the opportunity for service that has been made available to me.
Where in your life are those opportunities for offering the outreach ministry of intercession? Where in your daily activities are you reminded of the needs, suffering, want, strife, anxiety, fear, alienation, and grief of the world? Increase your outreach ministry – Yeshua, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Hierarchy of Godly Service
During the summer retreat I presented a list that described levels of generosity in giving or offering service to others. As we move from self-motivated service to others through progressively more selfless ways of offering service, we can reflect on our own generosity of heart and what makes a difference for healing, reconciling and empowering others in a world of need. Others have asked that I share this list more broadly. Admittedly I cannot give a citation or reference for this list, as I do not recall its exact source. So if anyone else knows where this comes from, let me know. This list may not fully be in the correct order, but I know that it begins and ends correctly.
You do an act of kindness, generosity, service for another.
Level 1: You know for whom you are doing this,
and they know who has given to them.
Level 2: You know to whom you are giving,
but they do not know who has given to them.
(ex. an anonymous gift)
Level 3: You do not know to whom you are giving,
but they do know who has given to them.
(ex. a benefactor giving through a charity)
Level 4: You know to whom you are giving,
but they do not know that they have been the recipients of a gift,
so masterfully has the gift been given.
(a good teacher does this)
Level 5: You do not know to whom you are giving,
and they do not know from whom they have received.
(ex. an unrestricted gift to the Episcopal Relief and Development fund)
Level 6: You do not know that you have given,
but others know they have received from you.
Level 7: You do not know that you have given,
and others do not know that they have received from you.
Nevertheless you have given and others have benefited.
This last level, I would propose to you, is the kind of ministry offered through meditation with the Prayer of the Lamb. We offered the intercession in faith and will not see the results directly. Nevertheless there has been intervention for the world. No one may know that healing and reconciliation have been taking place. Nevertheless peace and wholeness, love and mercy are being poured out.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Agnus Dei Vol 5:2 Penecost 07 Dog Awareness
When we sit in silence with the Prayer of the Lamb we are offering this prayer in a meditational style. We are not concerned about holding any mental intention of intercession for others throughout the time of sitting, although we may have begun with offering specific intentions. At my first morning meditation I offer the Prayer of the Lamb for each name or situation on my prayer lists and each prayer request that has come to me. Then I set that all aside and give my attention only to the meditation practice and the silent, mental recitation of the Prayer of the Lamb or the Name of Yeshua alone or a simple “Yeshua, have mercy,” offered gently, slowly and rhythmically into the time of silence.
After a short while inevitably what comes up are thoughts emerging out of the background of awareness making flash appearances in that ocean of silence. Many are the times when the Prayer or the Name drop into the background and the emerging thought has grabbed attention.
One of the issues that comes up again and again with meditators is a perceived problem with thoughts. “Clear your mind of thoughts.” “I try but I can’t,” I hear. “Thoughts keep distracting me.” “I have ‘monkey mind’ every time I try to meditate.” “At first it seemed so easy and so peaceful, but now every time I sit down the mind is filled with one thought after another.” These expressions reflect the idea that one is the victim of one’s own thoughts.
In some traditions of meditation the emphasis is on controlling and subduing the mind and the thoughts, holding them in check. There can be heroic effort put into directing attention away from thoughts. I can’t say that I have seen this work for many people, and with those for whom their efforts bring some measure of success, I harbor the suspicion that they have reinforced their own ego strength, so that in place of an expansion of awareness and ease of practice, there is a constriction of awareness into a tight band of control. However, it may also be very good to try as hard as one can to check thoughts, control the mind, and set aside all distractions, and to keep trying until one has utterly failed and comes to the realization that this is beyond capability. Then we can come to a place of grace and compassion for ourselves. Certainly telling people to control the mind serves to bring attention to the way the mind dominates and brings present awareness to what currently is foremost in the mind. It shows us our condition and engages us in some intentionality about our spiritual condition so influenced by the mind.
Some have likened the mind being distracted by thought to a puppy dog following whatever is set in front of it. When training a dog, I was told, you have about four seconds of dog attention in which to reinforce a desired action or to discourage an unwanted behavior before the window of opportunity closes. Response time has to be pretty close to the event. So likewise in meditation we might do well to practice the “four second rule” or remind ourselves quickly that we need not follow this thought that just emerged before us, but to let it go, let it drift off untouched or only slightly considered. Once there is the awareness that I am thinking a particular thought, that particular thought is over. To go back to that thought now becomes a matter of willful choice rather than the spontaneous arising of the stream of thoughts that the mind, or the mechanism of the brain, continually spews out.
I hope you can see the subtle difference between a spontaneously arising thought and a planned, premeditated or developed thought. It is the difference between the thought that I need to figure out what to fix for dinner and the actual planning of the dinner menu. It is the difference between a flash of memory from childhood of the gathering eggs in the hen house on Cousin Jack’s ranch in Montana and the expansion of that memory into a reminiscence about the time my sister picked up an egg so freshly laid that its shell had not yet hardened and how it broke in her hand, and the beauty of the sun appearing over the tops of the mountains in the morning there in the Flathead Valley and walking back to the farm house where Cousin Grace had breakfast preparing for us, and stopping to check our shoes before coming in the door and pumping water for washing our hands. It is the difference between a sudden remembrance emerging in consciousness of a comment with a barb to it that a colleague had made earlier, and working out what I wish I had said at the time and what I would say to that person next time we met.
Thoughts will arise, and we need not pounce on each one as it does. We can let them go. And we can also know that many times, much of the time, we don’t let them go until farther on down the road when we finally recognize that for the last several minutes attention had been totally engrossed in the development of some thought. Lord, have mercy.
So when thoughts arise and the puppy dog of attention starts following it, one way then to work with the situation is neither to berate ourselves nor to reject what has happened. Instead one could look at the thought as a piece of information reflecting one’s current condition. At that moment we could check what we are feeling right then. Is there any tension, concentration of energy, or reactivity occurring within our awareness? There is no need to do anything about our condition except observe it and accept the truth of our condition and honor our master by letting Yeshua do the work within us through the Holy Spirit.
So the mind is like a puppy dog in terms of stability of attention, having an attention span of less than four seconds. There is an advantage to this: dog awareness. Take your dog out for a walk and what does the dog do? It seems to want to examine everything, sniff everything. It doesn’t have the same agenda that you do. It doesn’t naturally walk along at a steady pace, keeping to the sidewalk, crossing streets only at corners, not being distracted by neighborhood cats or squirrels scrambling up tree trunks. The dog does not have the human’s agenda of going from point A to point B. To the dog everything is new right then. Even from one day to the next what was there when you went out for your walk yesterday is today as though it is brand new. With an attention span of four seconds everything is new. This is a way to stay present to the moment, to live in the now.
Meditation is “non-doing.” In meditation the idea on our part is to approach that state of non-doing by our subsequent refinement of still body, closed eyes, quiet environment and non-development of thoughts. Non-doing includes letting go of desire, hopes, struggle, and both clinging and rejection. But the silence is a gift; it is what is given. So the best advice of all, one could say, is to give up all hope of getting anywhere. We will not accomplish the quiet mind by our own efforts. Meditation is a faith practice.
After a short while inevitably what comes up are thoughts emerging out of the background of awareness making flash appearances in that ocean of silence. Many are the times when the Prayer or the Name drop into the background and the emerging thought has grabbed attention.
One of the issues that comes up again and again with meditators is a perceived problem with thoughts. “Clear your mind of thoughts.” “I try but I can’t,” I hear. “Thoughts keep distracting me.” “I have ‘monkey mind’ every time I try to meditate.” “At first it seemed so easy and so peaceful, but now every time I sit down the mind is filled with one thought after another.” These expressions reflect the idea that one is the victim of one’s own thoughts.
In some traditions of meditation the emphasis is on controlling and subduing the mind and the thoughts, holding them in check. There can be heroic effort put into directing attention away from thoughts. I can’t say that I have seen this work for many people, and with those for whom their efforts bring some measure of success, I harbor the suspicion that they have reinforced their own ego strength, so that in place of an expansion of awareness and ease of practice, there is a constriction of awareness into a tight band of control. However, it may also be very good to try as hard as one can to check thoughts, control the mind, and set aside all distractions, and to keep trying until one has utterly failed and comes to the realization that this is beyond capability. Then we can come to a place of grace and compassion for ourselves. Certainly telling people to control the mind serves to bring attention to the way the mind dominates and brings present awareness to what currently is foremost in the mind. It shows us our condition and engages us in some intentionality about our spiritual condition so influenced by the mind.
Some have likened the mind being distracted by thought to a puppy dog following whatever is set in front of it. When training a dog, I was told, you have about four seconds of dog attention in which to reinforce a desired action or to discourage an unwanted behavior before the window of opportunity closes. Response time has to be pretty close to the event. So likewise in meditation we might do well to practice the “four second rule” or remind ourselves quickly that we need not follow this thought that just emerged before us, but to let it go, let it drift off untouched or only slightly considered. Once there is the awareness that I am thinking a particular thought, that particular thought is over. To go back to that thought now becomes a matter of willful choice rather than the spontaneous arising of the stream of thoughts that the mind, or the mechanism of the brain, continually spews out.
I hope you can see the subtle difference between a spontaneously arising thought and a planned, premeditated or developed thought. It is the difference between the thought that I need to figure out what to fix for dinner and the actual planning of the dinner menu. It is the difference between a flash of memory from childhood of the gathering eggs in the hen house on Cousin Jack’s ranch in Montana and the expansion of that memory into a reminiscence about the time my sister picked up an egg so freshly laid that its shell had not yet hardened and how it broke in her hand, and the beauty of the sun appearing over the tops of the mountains in the morning there in the Flathead Valley and walking back to the farm house where Cousin Grace had breakfast preparing for us, and stopping to check our shoes before coming in the door and pumping water for washing our hands. It is the difference between a sudden remembrance emerging in consciousness of a comment with a barb to it that a colleague had made earlier, and working out what I wish I had said at the time and what I would say to that person next time we met.
Thoughts will arise, and we need not pounce on each one as it does. We can let them go. And we can also know that many times, much of the time, we don’t let them go until farther on down the road when we finally recognize that for the last several minutes attention had been totally engrossed in the development of some thought. Lord, have mercy.
So when thoughts arise and the puppy dog of attention starts following it, one way then to work with the situation is neither to berate ourselves nor to reject what has happened. Instead one could look at the thought as a piece of information reflecting one’s current condition. At that moment we could check what we are feeling right then. Is there any tension, concentration of energy, or reactivity occurring within our awareness? There is no need to do anything about our condition except observe it and accept the truth of our condition and honor our master by letting Yeshua do the work within us through the Holy Spirit.
So the mind is like a puppy dog in terms of stability of attention, having an attention span of less than four seconds. There is an advantage to this: dog awareness. Take your dog out for a walk and what does the dog do? It seems to want to examine everything, sniff everything. It doesn’t have the same agenda that you do. It doesn’t naturally walk along at a steady pace, keeping to the sidewalk, crossing streets only at corners, not being distracted by neighborhood cats or squirrels scrambling up tree trunks. The dog does not have the human’s agenda of going from point A to point B. To the dog everything is new right then. Even from one day to the next what was there when you went out for your walk yesterday is today as though it is brand new. With an attention span of four seconds everything is new. This is a way to stay present to the moment, to live in the now.
Meditation is “non-doing.” In meditation the idea on our part is to approach that state of non-doing by our subsequent refinement of still body, closed eyes, quiet environment and non-development of thoughts. Non-doing includes letting go of desire, hopes, struggle, and both clinging and rejection. But the silence is a gift; it is what is given. So the best advice of all, one could say, is to give up all hope of getting anywhere. We will not accomplish the quiet mind by our own efforts. Meditation is a faith practice.
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