Wordless Prayer
I can't get away from the thought that contemplative prayer holds something important for me. In one sense it is completely foreign to my frenetic imagination and non-existent attention span. In another sense, though, prayer without words might provide a lens, if not a "vocabulary", for navigating my disorientation of the last several years. That for which the current categories and frameworks have consistently failed me.
1 Comments:
Karl,
I found my way to faith in Jesus via contemplative channels. It was during the time I was thinking very seriously about Xty, and I went to a bookstore to buy a Bible. Instead, a book on the works of St. John of the Cross caught my eye. I bought that instead. God knew I needed a contemplative to usher me into the Kingdom, I think. He certainly speaks of the limitations of words in prayer. You might find his two (yes, count 'em, two) "dark nights" worthy of consideration.
Faith is a nuanced enounter with God, with layers and layers of meaning, ultimately as "simple" as trusting Jesus. There are pitfalls with contemplative prayer, at least for our mostly agnostic mindset in the West, (i.e., it lends itself very easily to relativism and spiritual torpor), but much of that is a product of who we are, not what contemplative prayer is meant to be. Blessings to you, on the journey!
--Thomas
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