contemplative prayer practices | The Contemplative Writer

Contemplative Profiles: The Cloud of Unknowing

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

One of the most influential books on contemplative prayer was penned anonymously in Middle English in Midland England during the latter half of the 14th century. The monk, presumed to be a Carthusian dedicated to constant silence and contemplation, shared a series of instructions presumably with a student.

A series of 17 manuscripts preserved the book, and a handful of scholars and contemplatives studied it over the years. However, it finally took on a wider notice in the 1900’s as the contemplative prayer movement sought to make the prayer practices of the historic church accessible for all. While contemplative prayer was quite common among all Christians until the 1600’s, it has enjoyed a revival thanks to the faithful work of this solitary monk and those who have continued to practice the loving search for God.

We read the following about this anonymous monk in Christian History:

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“His intentional anonymity illustrates his main message: Christ must become more visible as his followers grow kinder and humbler. Anonymous wants readers “sincere in their intentions to follow Christ” in love. A series of letters written by this master teacher to his student, the Cloud represents the ancient tradition of Christian contemplative wisdom.”

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We can’t think our way to God. That’s why I’m willing to abandon everything I know, to love the one thing I cannot think. He can be loved, but not thought. By love, God can be embraced and held, but not by thinking.

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You only need a naked intent for God. When you long for him, that’s enough. If you want to gather this focus into one word, making it easier to grasp, select a little word of one syllable, not two. The shorter the word, the more it helps the work of the spirit. God or love works well. Fasten it to your heart. Fix your mind on it permanently, so nothing can dislodge it.

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Read more about the Cloud of Unknowing in the updated work by William Meninger, The Loving Search for God: Contemplative Prayer and the Cloud of Unknowing.

Reflection

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you a word or phrase you can focus on for five minutes today.

Featured Contemplative Book: 100 Days in the Secret Place

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Week Three: Turning to God First

Whether you are encouraged or discouraged, living in holiness or living in sin, the first step in spirituality is always the same: turn to God. In fact, Jeanne Guyon suggests that fighting temptations directly is the sure way to lose.

How is this so? Because temptations flee in the presence of God. As we abide in Christ, we are protected and renewed.

Gene Edwards, author of Divine Romance, has gathered together key writings from three notable Christian mystics from the seventeenth century: 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life by Gene Edwards. Here are several quotes to consider today:

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“The more clearly you see your true self, the clearer you also see how miserable your self-nature really is; and the more you will abandon your whole being to God. Seeing that you have such a desperate need of Him, you will press toward a more intimate relationship with Him.”

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“If you attempt to struggle directly with these temptations, you will only strengthen them; and in the process of this struggle, your soul will be drawn away from its intimate relationship with the Lord. You see, a close, intimate relationship to Christ should always be your soul’s only purpose.”

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“What does a little child do when he sees something that frightens him or confuses him? He doesn’t stand there and try to fight the thing. He will, in fact, hardly look at the thing that frightens him. Rather, the child will quickly run into the arms of his mother. There, in those arms, he is safe. In exactly the same way, you should turn from the dangers of temptation and run to your God!”

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“Once the heart has been gained by God, everything else will eventually take care of itself. This is why He requires the heart above all else.”

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Learn more here.

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For Reflection

Friday Favorites for Prayer and Writing

Posted on May 13, 2016May 12, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Each Friday I share some of my favorite finds related to praying or writing. If I think it could help you pray or write better, then I’ll include it below.

Do you have someone else’s article or post to share? Join the Contemplative Writers Facebook group, comment on today’s post on my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter (@edcyzewski) to nominate your favorite articles, blog posts, and books by Thursday at noon each week.

Benedictine Stability: When the Going Gets Tough, Stay

Change Is Not for the Faint of Heart

John Wesley on Conversion and Spiritual Formation

Facebook Has 50 Minutes of Your Time… It Wants More

Doctors Explain How Hiking Changes Our Brains

Looking for more recommendations? Check out our Prayer Resources page.

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How Exercising Helps Us Pray and Write

Posted on May 11, 2016May 10, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Don’t let today’s featured article about running and writing turn you away if you can’t fathom the practice of running daily. Nick Ripatrazone writes in The Atlantic about the benefits of running for writers and the ways that the flow of running connects with the flow of writing.

I have personally found that most of this article also applies to contemplative prayer. Both writing and prayer can thrive when we immerse ourselves in a simple, repetitive practice that allows our minds to be clear and our imaginations to wander.

Whether you walk, swim, bike ride, run, or do something else to exercise, your writing and your prayer will benefit over the long term. It may take a while to train your mind alongside your body, but I was personally shocked at all of the benefits I saw after only three months of running four days a week. Here are a few key quotes from Ripatrazone’s article:

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“In many ways running is a natural extension of writing. The steady accumulation of miles mirrors the accumulation of pages, and both forms of regimented exertion can yield a sense of completion and joy. Through running, writers deepen their ability to focus on a single, engrossing task and enter a new state of mind entirely—word after word, mile after mile.”

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“Once I built a tolerance for distance my runs became incubators for writing ideas. The steady, repetitive movement of distance running triggers one’s intellectual autopilot, freeing room for creative thought. Neuroscientists describe this experience as a feeling of timelessness, where attention drifts and imagination thrives.”

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“Writing exists in that odd mental space between imagination and intellect, between the organic and the planned. Runners must learn to accept the same paradoxes, to realize that each individual run has its own narrative, with twists and turns and strains.”

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Featured Contemplative Book: 100 Days in the Secret Place

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Week Two: Overcoming Distraction During Prayer

When I ask subscribers about their greatest struggles for prayer, I routinely hear about distraction. If we aren’t already struggling with feeling worthy before God, focusing our attention on prayer is extremely difficult. The quotes from our book of the month should prove helpful with their simple advice.

The short version is this: Are you distracted during prayer? Of course you are. Just try again.

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Your imagination may ramble over an infinite number of thoughts, yet, I assure you, the Lord has not left. Continue your perseverance in prayer. Remember that He prays within you, and He prays in spirit and in truth. The distraction of the mind—which is not intended—does not rob the prayer of its fruit.

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Faith and intention are always enough.

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If you should sin (or even if it is only a matter of being distracted by some circumstances around you), what should you do? You must instantly turn within to your spirit.

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Do not become distressed because your mind has wandered away. Always guard yourself from being anxious because of your faults. First of all, such distress only stirs up the soul and distracts you to outward things

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Learn more here.

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For Reflection

Friday Favorites for Prayer and Writing

Posted on May 6, 2016May 5, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Each Friday I share some of my favorite finds related to praying or writing. If I think it could help you pray or write better, then I’ll include it below.

One Googler’s Take on Managing Your Time (I included a really helpful bit below)

Your energy levels run the course of a wave throughout the week, so try to plan accordingly: Aim to do the following:

Monday: Energy ramps out of the weekend — schedule low demand tasks like setting goals, organizing and planning.
Tuesday, Wednesday: Peak of energy — tackle the most difficult problems, write, brainstorm, schedule your Make Time.
Thursday: Energy begins to ebb — schedule meetings, especially when consensus is needed.
Friday: Lowest energy level — do open-ended work, long-term planning and relationship building.

Always bias your Make Time towards the morning, before you hit a cycle of afternoon decision fatigue. Hold the late afternoon for more mechanical tasks.

How to Pray through Interruptions via Lisa Deam

The Curious Blessing of Rejection via Tanya Marlow

What Slowing Down Teaches You That Rushing Never Will via Amy Julia Becker

Off Brand by Sarah Bessey (Let’s just give the entire Internet to Sarah.)

Religion Is the Only Hope for the American Church by Morgan Guyton

The Slant Letter by Stephanie Smith

Looking for more recommendations? Check out our Prayer Resources page.

Why We Need the Restoration of Silence

Posted on May 4, 2016May 3, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

I’m somewhere in the middle of the Highly Sensitive spectrum, so I’m very aware of how noise impacts my anxiety levels and ability to concentrate. However, some of the most recent research in neuroscience is finding that we don’t just need silence as a break from the noise. We need silence in order for our brains to process information and to more or less “recover” from the noise of life.

Studies are finding that children who grow up near airports, highways, and other noisy environments have higher levels of stress and tend to struggle to concentrate in school. Without down time, our brains become overloaded.

One of the most important benefits of practicing contemplative prayer has been a greater awareness of my mental state and when I need to take a break. Prayer is much easier when my brain isn’t spinning out of control! Here are a few helpful quotes from a LifeHacker article on the importance of silence:

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When the brain rests it is able to integrate internal and external information into “a conscious workspace,” said Moran and colleagues.

When you are not distracted by noise or goal-orientated tasks, there appears to be a quiet time that allows your conscious workspace to process things. During these periods of silence, your brain has the freedom it needs to discover its place in your internal and external world.

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It has been found that noise can have a pronounced physical effect on our brains resulting in elevated levels of stress hormones. The sound waves reach the brain as electrical signals via the ear. The body reacts to these signals even if it is sleeping. It is thought that the amygdalae (located in the temporal lobes of the brain) which is associated with memory formation and emotion is activated and this causes a release of stress hormones. If you live in a consistently noisy environment that you are likely to experience chronically elevated levels of stress hormones.

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According to the attention restoration theory when you are in an environment with lower levels of sensory input the brain can ‘recover’ some of its cognitive abilities. In silence the brain is able to let down its sensory guard and restore some of what has been ‘lost’ through excess noise.

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Read the rest of the LifeHacker article here.

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Featured Contemplative Book: 100 Days in the Secret Place

Posted on May 2, 2016April 30, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Week 1: Healing through Our Suffering

If you’re looking for a book that will offer a challenge to seek the deeper spiritual life with God and to make prayer a higher priority, 100 Days in the Secret Place is at the top of my list.

Gene Edwards, author of Divine Romance, has gathered together key writings from three notable Christian mystics from the seventeenth century: Miguel de Molinos, Madame Jeanne Guyon, and Francois Fenelon: 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life by Gene Edwards.

This week I’m highlighting a series of quotes on the ways that God works with us in the midst of suffering, failure, and disappointment.

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Do you want to experience true happiness? Submit yourself peacefully and simply to the will of God, and bear your sufferings without struggle. Nothing so shortens and soothes your pain as the spirit of nonresistance to your Lord.

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Let God use trials to help you grow. Do not try to measure your progress, your strength, or what God is doing. His work is not less efficient because what He is doing is invisible.

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With people you love you do not need to continually say, “I love you with all my heart.” Even if you do not think about how much you love Him, you still love God every bit as much. True love is deep down in the spirit—simple, peaceful, and silent.

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Do not disturb yourself by trying to manufacture an artificial sense of God’s presence. Slowly you will learn that all the troubles in your life—your job, your health, your inward failings—are really cures to the poison of your old nature. Learn to bear these sufferings in patience and meekness.

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God wants to build a relationship with you that is based on faith and trust and not on glamorous miracles.

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These mystics don’t suggest that God intentionally brings suffering to us. Rather, God remains with us in the midst of our sufferings, bears our burdens, and ministers to and through us as we bear hardships.

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For Reflection or Sharing

How is God reaching out to you today?

Saturday Prayer from St. Francis

Posted on April 30, 2016April 30, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

This Saturday’s prayer from St. Francis comes from Jon Sweeney’s biography: The Road to Assissi:

“Great and glorious God, and you, Lord Jesus,

I pray you, shed abroad your light in the darkness of my mind. . . .

Be found in me, Lord, so that in all things I may act only in accordance with your holy will.”

Friday Favorites for Prayer and Writing

Posted on April 29, 2016April 23, 2016 by Ed Cyzewski

Each Friday I share some of my favorite finds related to praying or writing. If I think it could help you pray or write better, then I’ll include it below.

When the Darkness Lifts by Kelly J. Youngblood

The Liturgists Podcast: An Interview of Richard Rohr

How Our Salvation Begins by Kelly Chripczuk

Rest Easy, You’re Loved No Matter What by Aundi Kolber

Keep Showing Up and Finishing Stuff by Me (Read the comments!)

13 Powerful Women Mystics Who Helped Shape Christianity

Looking for more recommendations? Check out our Prayer Resources page.