In the past month, I’ve really begun to feel the weight of the responsibilities in my life…..I just want God to make my life better – not super or even great – just plain steady and peaceful – of course I want it right now too.

J.H.

This is from a dear friend of mine, a generous, beautiful man who will gladly give you everything he has if you need it and expect nothing in return. So my friend, let’s see if The Practical Mystic can be of any help to you….in five minutes or less, preferably.
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I have seen much confusion about prayer based in misinterpretations of the following verse from the Bible:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours Mark 11:24

Often taken out of context, this has led many to ask me: “Is my belief just not good enough? Why doesn’t God give me what I ask for?”

Here.s what I have learned: Prayer is not anything like wish-full thinking. Prayer is neither easy nor reflexive. Prayer, the sort of prayer that God hears and longs for, changes us. It is a discipline we grow into and grow from and we need a life time to learn it.
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There is no wrong way to pray. The simplest, purest prayer is this: Help Me. This may be the only prayer you need for some time. Take a deep breath, turn your attention to your heart and simply ask .Help Me..

The beginning of prayer is petition – the prayer of supplication, in the words of St. Issac the Syrian – which is anxious, and weighed down with preoccupations and fears. This is no more than a preparation for true prayer – spiritual prayer – and consists in a gradual ascent towards God in seeking and effort.

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When I was a college student, a wise man told me: “All truth is God’s truth.” The current mind-set of our government would lead us to be suspicious of science and to embrace a literal view of scripture, as if the Bible were a book of science or history rather than sacred scripture. When I’m not totally shocked that such a mind-set has seemingly taken over our government, our seminaries, and our churches, I am angry and frightened. Mostly, I tell myself, “this too shall pass” and hope it once again becomes fashionable to have a brain and use it.

Recently, I saw a video of pictures from the Hubble Telescope set to music. The beauty was so powerful that I was moved to tears. God creation is generously beautiful, wastefully so if it is just for us. And it is science that makes it possible to view this creation.

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 11:33 12:3 NRSV

We are cautioned to be wary of paranormal phenomena throughout scripture. The Powers Triolgy by Walter Wink and the People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck give deep insight into these matters. I do not trust phenomena. Magicians and fakirs, mood-altering drugs, and some types of deep meditation can create phenomena that divert us from our divine calling. Things like “speaking in tongues” from the charismatic tradtion, or the use of mediums to speak to the dead in occult practices can feed our ego’s need for attention and create a psuedo-spirituality.

Paranormal activity is NOT evidence of spiritual maturity or even of being a “spiritual” person. We are all, according to the divine image, spiritual beings living in these mortal bodies. This is not to say that paranormal activity isn’t real but it isn’t necessarily of Christ, the Divine Light. Beware of such things.
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“…faith in God can actually be a liberating thing, a breaker down of barriers, a refusal to accept fragmentation as the last word, a stimulus to look beyond understanding, a promise held out to us that truth is one, and truth is great and will prevail.”

John Habgood, Confessions of a Conservative Liberal

Such faith, in my experience, requires spiritual disciplines of prayer, scripture reading, silence, worship (even when we know the church is totally messed up), serving others, and practicing the presence of God through the Jesus Prayer. Without these things, confusion can easily prevail.
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Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions by Gerald May
A Different Christianity by Robin Amis; originally published by State University of New York , Albany1995; currently published by Praxis Institute Press, Chicago 2003
Job and the Mystery of Suffering by Richard Rohr
Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament; Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Powers That Determine Human Existence; Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination by Walter Wink
On the High Road to Surrender by Frances J. Roberts
Prayer: Finding the Hearts True Home by Richard Foster
The Book of Mystical Chapters: Meditations on The Soul.s Ascent from the Early Church Fathers; Translated by John Anthony McGugkin; published by Shambala Press2003
The Forgotten Desert Mothers by Laura Swan; published by Paulist Press 2001
The Jesus Sutras by Martin Palmer; The Ballantine Publishing Company 2001
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimir Lossky
The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell
The Road Less Traveled & Further Along the Road Less Traveled & People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck

How have you proceeded to develop your relationship with God and enhance your sense of His presence – is meditation the central method or other means?

This has been a very, very long journey. Having been grounded by a chronic illness (fibromyalgia) I have had a great deal of time and inclination to go deeply into spiritual practice. In addtion, I allowed myself to ask questions of faith and to not be afraid of the answers, nor to be afraid of there not being any answers. I can point to books and spiritual practices (see Resources) However, each person needs to “carry their own cross,” i.e. live one’s own indivitual life with all your own foibles and frustrations.
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Turning ourselves over to God is in reality returning to our original self. As the Christian faith moved across the globe toward the East and toward the West, there developed a theological division in understanding of our true nature in the 11th century. The church to the West, under the authority of the Roman papacy, took the path of emphasizing “original sin” . The church in the east, which we now know as the Orthodox Churches, knew none of this. This church considered the doctrine of original nature, known also as Imago Dei as foundational to understanding our relationship to God.
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I received the following from a friend who has known me for almost 20 years:

Terming your self “The Practical Mystic” is very descriptive. I once described you as being perhaps the most spiritual person I knew and yet grounded in the realities of human life. I certainly have seen evidence of the gifts of the spirit in you.

I do have some questions that might also be of interest to visitors to your web site: I wonder how the spiritual gifts described in the Bible fit in with being a Christian mystic? Are some of them integral to the Christian mystic or are they independent? Also, how have you proceeded to develop your relationship with God and enhance your sense of His presence – is meditation the central method or other means?

I would encourage you to write on the practice of Christian meditation. (Some are practicing transcendental meditation: they open their minds and souls without being specific about the spirit they seek, a practice I consider dangerous.)

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