Liturgies

My name is Brian O’Hanlon, and Angela, my wife and I coordinate the St Mary’s ‘Understanding Meditation gatherings’.

In recent homilies there has been the theme of connecting to the true self/real self, the ‘I am’. This homily continues that theme.

In this homily I am going to explore the experience of meditation towards the knowing of spirituality- What is it like as the ‘I am’ presents – but let me start at the beginning. So why take up meditation at all, because you can get by without it – well indulge me for a short time while I outline a few propositions. Meditation seems to be natural to human beings, at least natural in the sense that the practice arose independently in many different parts of the world – in ancient India, China, in the mystical traditions of Islam and Judaism, in the Eastern Orthodox church (indeed they expect to be defied in this lifetime), and there is a potted history in the Western Christian tradition through the Desert Fathers, St John of the Cross, Mister Eckhart, the Cloud of Unknowing, St Ignatius, the Benedictine and Trappist monks and many other mystics and teachers, all telling us that the way to experience God is to empty and quiet the mind. Modern knowledge also informs us that meditation is natural.

Mindfulness meditation is the awareness that arises through PAYING ATTENTION on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally. Paying attention leads to neurogenesis-brain plasticity which practically translates into: improved memory, improved creativity/ efficiency, improved resilience/flexibility, improved problem
solving skills, better relationships, calms the body, creates happiness and inner peace, lowers stress and the list goes on.

Thomas Keating a Trappist monk proposes that our life experience, our personal history is full of EGO, chasing security, power, control, affection, and approval, and as one moves into adulthood with this baggage of possessive attitudes towards one self and others, then such attitudes can only possibly cause conflict in the world. The real problem according to Keating is that we live with seven billion other people who have the same problem – no wonder there are social problems, he exclaims. That’s why, he says, to take a determination not to contribute to this messiness of the world by adding our own false self project to it, is one of the greatest gifts you could give to
humanity. If enough people do it then society will be transformed. According to Laurence Freeman, leader of the world community of Christian meditation, the recovery of the contemplative tradition is a source of renewal for Christianity – out of the church’s chronic crisis a contemplative Christianity will join other faiths as a mediator of compassionate action and healing wisdom in the world.

More specifically Freeman points out, meditation as a form of prayer is not so much concerned with our relationship to God, as with our union with God. The Kingdom of God is an experience not a place. The Chinese call it chi, the Indians prana, Dave Tomlinson, the author of Re-Enchanting Christianity put it this way – in the Jewish tradition it is known as ‘ruach’; prayer is about making connection with the ‘spirit of life’, the life force in all created beings. In a way there is nothing particularly historic about life force – it is simply an energy present everywhere in the universe, a fundamental force which pervades all air space and matter. It seems to be at the core of everything, a kind of underlying ocean of energy from which the universe has arisen. Is this what the quantum physicists are chasing; zero point energy everywhere in the universe, or the dark energy of cosmology, or in the teaching of our tradition the Holy Spirit who Jesus has given us; a non-physical force. The indigenous people of this country seem to know of this life force in their stories and dreaming.

Jesus, I believe, knew of this life force so well and he loved it so much, that to influence those of his day he called it Abba father. Normally our senses are switched off to it. However in spiritual experiences this life force becomes an obvious reality. The expression of our life energy within as it vibrates with the life energy of all that is around us. For Freeman the most important aspect of meditation of connecting with this life force, is that it is utterly simple – a quietening of the mind (and body) – the joy and peace beyond understanding is what happens.

So what is this sensation of quietening the mind? Through the practise of meditation i.e. once you have slowed down your own flickering/chatty mind to some degree you will begin to feel a pleasant sensation of inner well being with a sense of peace and freedom and flow of bliss. This experience can eventually slide from mild to moderate to intense depending on the unique constitution, personal history and regular practise of the mediator, usually moderate to intense takes a long time. With a quiet calm mind there is an increased freedom of the life force (now not used up by the mind), now available to our senses and body which for some provides an external perceptual shift, an openness – the world around us comes to life, everything around seems more real, more beautiful, colours seem brighter patterns and object stand out.

You can be awe struck by the beauty in your garden or in the sky – sunlight has a special quality – everything is filled with a sense of meaning and harmony, we have a powerful sense of inner well-being. We have an awareness of the life force in all, including ourself, so we are in union with this life force and all things – for those who generate very intense experiences; there is a sense of a radiant harmonious force. The ground of all being – the essential reality full of compassion and love. For others the experience is within their own being, again there are different intensities. There is inner well-being with peace and bliss. Also there could be a clearer sense of freedom, a sense of spaciousness – there is an identity shift to the knowing of self that has been with us all our lives, the knowing that you are present, it is the I am the witness that knows that I am having this life, my own life force. When our mind is clear, empty and silent we move beyond freedom and bliss and experience the oneness of all – not so much a oneness though perceptual shift but one with the external life force – the life force of our own knowing flows into the life energy of all – all is one, all is compassion and love. Short temporary experiences of any intensity of the outer perceptual or the inner life energy expression, are very common, we all know someone who could tell us about such experiences. Most likely some of you in this room have had such experiences. Permanent transformations into an intense blissful connectedness with All at this point in our (human) journey, are very rare – however recall Thomas Keating’s plea ‘to seek such peace and freedom is the greatest gift you could offer humanity’.

So to finish up I thought we might spend the last few minutes doing some of this – would you just sit comfortably in the chair, upright if you can or with the support of the back of the chair. Now the only task you have to do for a short time is to (don’t look at it) put your attention in your left hand, concentrate and sustain your attention in your left hand – notice how it becomes more alive, just as in the perceptual shift everything becomes more alive, perhaps warmer, energetic, marked out, clearer boundaries, stronger sensitive – your hand is more present – life force though attention gives your hand more presence. Second paying attention to your bodies breathing rhythm, just attend to the IN rhythm and the OUT rhythm that is the only task In-Out, no correct way, just the uniqueness of your pattern. If you are distracted off task, just acknowledge gently and come back on task IN-OUT, with enough practices the calmness, the stillness of mind and body will arise,

When we practise such utterly simple attention, as the Christian Mystics inform us, to empty and quiet the mind is to experience God-the life force, or to paraphrase Micah, with a quiet mind, one can act justly, love mercifully and walk humbly.