Comments on: Why Mysticism Matters

By: dFish

dFish — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:47:41 +0000

No. 3 is so incisive and empowering to me an analysis…Thank you for your effort…

By: stephanie jordan

stephanie jordan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:47:21 +0000

Carl,

What you wrote is wonderful and I am in complete agreement with it. I hope to see Protestants embracing spirituality in the future too. Growing up Protestant but now leaning toward Catholicism, I can see how we have missed out on the deep spiritual aspect and embracing the divine.

By: Carl McColman

Carl McColman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:48:29 +0000

Foster wrote the "classic" text on evangelical appreciation of ancient practices, Celebration of Discipline and many other books on contemplative spirituality for non-Catholics. Brian McLaren is best known as a leading voice in Emergence Christianity, but he is also the author of Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices. Like Foster, McLaren seems pretty dialed in to the idea that contemplative spirituality can thrive in a reformed context.

By: Martha Mason

Martha Mason — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:43:09 +0000

Well, now I have to research Brian McLaren and Richard Foster…but I wholeheartedly agree that religion without the experience of God is pretty useless and, I would think, probably unable to transform us into the likeness of Christ.

By: James

James — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:41:31 +0000

Thanks Carl. To add to what you’re saying I think Ignatian Spirituality – ‘finding God in all things’ – whether through the Christian Life Communities or even the everyday practice of the “examen” prayer, is another path that is helping people become the mystic Christians of the future Karl Rahner prophesised.

By: Infinite Warrior

Infinite Warrior — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:07:04 +0000

even though it has no “goal” other than learning to recognize and embrace the unconditional love of God

Respectfully, I don't believe that's the ultimate goal. The unconditional love of God is rather a given. There is another.

By: thegreeningspirit

thegreeningspirit — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:57:03 +0000

What a deep and penetrating post, Carl..I am in love with it! I resonated with this so much, as you named the spirit of a movement that is and has been unfolding and was hard to define..thank you once again for th keen eye of your Heart!
Christine Phoenix-Green

By: Carl McColman

Carl McColman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:29:46 +0000

I’ll have to check out Greg Boyd. And yes, daily practice is essential. Just as you can’t learn how to play guitar or lose weight or get into shape without a daily commitment to the behaviors necessary to achieve your goal, so too contemplation — even though it has no “goal” other than learning to recognize and embrace the unconditional love of God — only matters in our lives if it matters every day of our lives.

By: zoecarnate

zoecarnate — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:27:35 +0000

Awesome post, Carl! I've been re-reading Cynthia Bourgeault's magesterial Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening this week - part of my re-committing to a daily centering prayer practice at age 30 (!). And I'm being struck anew by the crucial, virtually unreplacable role daily contemplative prayer plays in authentic apprenticeship to Jesus - dying daily, or as the Amplified Bible puts it, 'Cease consulting with yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me.' Self-reflexive (egoic) consciousness is a b!tc# if not oriented in its proper place; I know of no other way to cease consulting with my 's'elf than a daily contemplative prayer practice - and if I could be more specific, apophatic prayer that doesn't fulfill the desires of the egoic/kataphatic self, but transcends them. But, here's where the evangelicals will keep us honest. While a lot of good work has been done in developmental and transpersonal psychology along these lines, and while we've gained much from looking at Hindu and Buddhist contributions to spiritual (and just plain human) growth, Christian mystics need to do a lot more solid theological and biblical reflection as to why this ego-transcendence is so necessary for spiritual growth and working for peace. The best resource I've yet found that begins this reflection: Repenting of Religion by Greg Boyd. Boyd's a controversial guy in evangelical circles, first for popularizing Open Theism and then for daring to say that Christians ought not be beholden to the political agendas of empire. This book is incredible though, a reflection on Bonhoeffer's Creation and Fall, looking at the fruit of the knowledge of Good & Evil as egoic judgment, and the life & spirituality of Jesus as the cure. Worth reading, I think, for your next & more accessible follow-up tome!

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:53:52 +0000

Carl,

As a board member of The Shalem Institute (contemplative leadership in today’s society) I believe you nailed this article. Well done! The world needs this more than ever…

http://www.shalem.org