Such an important piece of counsel here, thanks Addison. The post might be old, but the wisdom is timeless. The Western mystics such as John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and many others, are, of course, all aligned on this. Your critique so aptly identifies the danger of seeking experience as an end, a temptation as old as the mystics themselves. Even the most sublime consolations can become idols if they are pursued for their own sake.
But the Christian alternative is not a rejection of experience altogether (which you do not assert here), rather, it’s the reorientation of desire toward the Thou, who cannot be possessed, only received. The darkness of faith is not the absence of God but the overwhelming presence of a light too bright for mortal eyes.
One wonders, though, whether the Zen teacher’s hatred of religion was not, at its core, a hatred of the personal, the unbearable weight of a universe that answers back. To reduce all things to illusion is to escape the terror of relationship, the vulnerability of love. But Christianity offers no such escape. The God of the Gospels does not dissolve into the void… He dies on a cross, and in that death, He reveals that even suffering, even dereliction, is shot through with meaning.
In the end, the difference between these two paths is the difference between resignation and resurrection. The nihilist’s meditation leads only to the silence of the tomb. The Christian’s prayer, even in its darkest night, waits for the dawn.
Very informative and helpful, with important distinctions laid bare. Thank you. When I lived in the Bay Area, I got buckets full of a kind of smug, lazy, self-indulgent, narcissistic, anti-western lifestyle Zen/Buddhism that too often had little noticeable impact on the goodness and maturity of a person, especially its more vocal practitioners. It was good to call bullshit on (that version of) it. But you and Merton put some necessary detail on what's missing. Appreciated.
"Every man who is not attracted and illuminated by God is not touched by love, and does not possess the active penetration of desire [...]. When a man is naked and free from images in his senses, empty and inactive in his highest faculties, he enters into rest through mere nature. This rest can be found and possessed by all creatures, within themselves, in mere nature, without the grace of God, whenever they strip themselves of self and of all activity.
[...]
But a rest practiced in this way is illegitimate, for it brings with it blindness and ignorance, a sinking into oneself without activity. Such rest is nothing but indolence, into which man has fallen, and he forgets himself and God and all things in general that must be done with activity. This rest is completely contrary to supernatural rest, which possesses God... The rest in God is actively sought with inner longing. [...] This rest in itself [mere natural emptiness] is not sin, for it exists in all men by nature whenever they become empty. But when man desires to practice and possess it without acts of virtue, he falls into spiritual pride and self-complacency, from which he is hardly cured... When such a man possesses this rest in false quietude, and every loving union seems to him an obstacle, he clings to his rest and lives contrary to the primary way in which man is united with God, and this is the beginning of all spiritual errors. Now consider a likeness of this: the angels who turned inward toward God in love and fruition, with all that they received from Him, found beatitude and eternal rest; but those who turned toward themselves, and sought rest in themselves with self-complacency in natural light, their rest was brief and illicit. And they were blinded, and a wall of separation arose between them and the inner light, and then they fell into darkness and eternal unrest. This is the first path that a person takes when he rests in false quietude. Now mark this well: when a man desires to possess interior rest in indolence, without an inner desire for God, then he is ready for all errors, for he is turned away from God, and inclined toward himself, in natural love, seeking and desiring consolation and sweetness in all that is pleasing to him."
The example you chose to represent Eastern contemplative practice is so extreme, so dysfunctional. . .kind of sad to spend so much time describing his experience and so little on the highly functional contemplative practices of Zen and Hinduism and even secular forms, such as Unified Mindfulness (I'm trained in that, as well as being a practicing Christian). These practices have incredible sophistication and transformative power, when taught by competent leaders. It's quite difficult for most people to benefit fully from contemplative prayer, unless guided by a highly trained priest or other experienced leader. Having a spiritual director or coach or teacher is as important for these practices as it is for learning math. Yes, grace is sufficient, but poor leadership harm countless number of people--it's less about the form than the application of it.
As relayed by numerous Orthodox converts (including those who have become monks/nuns and practice within a so-called contemplative tradition), the meditation practices of Buddhism and Hinduism are to be avoided by Christians. There are multiple dangers in these practices, including opening yourself up to demonic spirits or mistaking the light within oneself to be that Light.
As I noted, it is the leadership and guidance that keep those mistakes from occurring. Look at what happens in the Church, largely, when wise leadership has been missing. The dangers you note can happen under all the Christian practices. . .
To be fair and to balance your present view, I would like to recommend a book by Keiji Nishitani, one of the leaders of the Kyoto school of philosophy. The book is entitled “Religion and Nothingness.”
Such an important piece of counsel here, thanks Addison. The post might be old, but the wisdom is timeless. The Western mystics such as John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and many others, are, of course, all aligned on this. Your critique so aptly identifies the danger of seeking experience as an end, a temptation as old as the mystics themselves. Even the most sublime consolations can become idols if they are pursued for their own sake.
But the Christian alternative is not a rejection of experience altogether (which you do not assert here), rather, it’s the reorientation of desire toward the Thou, who cannot be possessed, only received. The darkness of faith is not the absence of God but the overwhelming presence of a light too bright for mortal eyes.
One wonders, though, whether the Zen teacher’s hatred of religion was not, at its core, a hatred of the personal, the unbearable weight of a universe that answers back. To reduce all things to illusion is to escape the terror of relationship, the vulnerability of love. But Christianity offers no such escape. The God of the Gospels does not dissolve into the void… He dies on a cross, and in that death, He reveals that even suffering, even dereliction, is shot through with meaning.
In the end, the difference between these two paths is the difference between resignation and resurrection. The nihilist’s meditation leads only to the silence of the tomb. The Christian’s prayer, even in its darkest night, waits for the dawn.
Amen.
This is actually the topic of the next essay I am working on. Thanks again.
I look very much to reading it!
Very informative and helpful, with important distinctions laid bare. Thank you. When I lived in the Bay Area, I got buckets full of a kind of smug, lazy, self-indulgent, narcissistic, anti-western lifestyle Zen/Buddhism that too often had little noticeable impact on the goodness and maturity of a person, especially its more vocal practitioners. It was good to call bullshit on (that version of) it. But you and Merton put some necessary detail on what's missing. Appreciated.
"Every man who is not attracted and illuminated by God is not touched by love, and does not possess the active penetration of desire [...]. When a man is naked and free from images in his senses, empty and inactive in his highest faculties, he enters into rest through mere nature. This rest can be found and possessed by all creatures, within themselves, in mere nature, without the grace of God, whenever they strip themselves of self and of all activity.
[...]
But a rest practiced in this way is illegitimate, for it brings with it blindness and ignorance, a sinking into oneself without activity. Such rest is nothing but indolence, into which man has fallen, and he forgets himself and God and all things in general that must be done with activity. This rest is completely contrary to supernatural rest, which possesses God... The rest in God is actively sought with inner longing. [...] This rest in itself [mere natural emptiness] is not sin, for it exists in all men by nature whenever they become empty. But when man desires to practice and possess it without acts of virtue, he falls into spiritual pride and self-complacency, from which he is hardly cured... When such a man possesses this rest in false quietude, and every loving union seems to him an obstacle, he clings to his rest and lives contrary to the primary way in which man is united with God, and this is the beginning of all spiritual errors. Now consider a likeness of this: the angels who turned inward toward God in love and fruition, with all that they received from Him, found beatitude and eternal rest; but those who turned toward themselves, and sought rest in themselves with self-complacency in natural light, their rest was brief and illicit. And they were blinded, and a wall of separation arose between them and the inner light, and then they fell into darkness and eternal unrest. This is the first path that a person takes when he rests in false quietude. Now mark this well: when a man desires to possess interior rest in indolence, without an inner desire for God, then he is ready for all errors, for he is turned away from God, and inclined toward himself, in natural love, seeking and desiring consolation and sweetness in all that is pleasing to him."
-- Jan van Ruusbroec
The example you chose to represent Eastern contemplative practice is so extreme, so dysfunctional. . .kind of sad to spend so much time describing his experience and so little on the highly functional contemplative practices of Zen and Hinduism and even secular forms, such as Unified Mindfulness (I'm trained in that, as well as being a practicing Christian). These practices have incredible sophistication and transformative power, when taught by competent leaders. It's quite difficult for most people to benefit fully from contemplative prayer, unless guided by a highly trained priest or other experienced leader. Having a spiritual director or coach or teacher is as important for these practices as it is for learning math. Yes, grace is sufficient, but poor leadership harm countless number of people--it's less about the form than the application of it.
As relayed by numerous Orthodox converts (including those who have become monks/nuns and practice within a so-called contemplative tradition), the meditation practices of Buddhism and Hinduism are to be avoided by Christians. There are multiple dangers in these practices, including opening yourself up to demonic spirits or mistaking the light within oneself to be that Light.
As I noted, it is the leadership and guidance that keep those mistakes from occurring. Look at what happens in the Church, largely, when wise leadership has been missing. The dangers you note can happen under all the Christian practices. . .
To be fair and to balance your present view, I would like to recommend a book by Keiji Nishitani, one of the leaders of the Kyoto school of philosophy. The book is entitled “Religion and Nothingness.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_and_Nothingness
I've read it. I cited it in this post: https://addisonhodgeshart.substack.com/p/ouija-on-steroids-ai-and-the-ascetical
Thank you, thank you.