In our practical mysticism session this coming Saturday, we are going to be looking at the stages of prayer through the lens of Teresa of Avila’s teaching.
Teresa was a 16th century Spanish mystic who led an astonishing life. She was a prolific writer, a powerful leader, a musician and poet, an engaging conversationalist and was utterly captivating. Theresa wrote a number of books, reformed a religious order of men with her great friend St John of the Cross, and some 400 years after her death was made a Doctor of the church; significant achievements indeed even by today’s standards never mind those of a 16th century nun.
But she also knew much pain and suffering throughout her life. She made many mistakes and confesses to have failed at many things, yet she never shies away from telling of these struggles and this is what makes her so relatable.
One of her greatest gifts to the church was her writing on prayer. This work can be found in her books ‘The way of Perfection’ and ‘The interior Castle’. Teresa never actually prescribes a method of prayer but rather explores the stages of prayer from the outset of the contemplative path through to the prayer of union. What is so engaging about her writing is how honest she is about her own struggles with prayer, describing how she abandoned her prayer life completely at one point for some 18 years, giving hope to anyone who has ever encountered difficulty with prayer.
This coming Saturday we will be diving into a practical exploration of Theresa’s hints and tips for stepping into a deep, enriching and contemplative approach to prayer.
This session will take place at Prinknash Abbey conference room, Saturday 11th November at 10.30am – all are welcome.
I have always been a lover of nature and when I first came across the notion that God in fact wrote 2 books, the first being the book of nature and the second the book of scripture, it made perfect sense to me. So much of my childhood was spent in our remote cottage in the beautiful Forest of Dean which gave me an acute sense of the divine running in and through all of creation; there I discovered, in the silence and the solitude, a relationship with the immanent Presence that no words could even come close to describing. I have to confess that were I allowed to skip chapel on Sundays to stay in my beloved hidey holes in the forest I would have much preferred to do so as sometimes I found the words of the preachers (at lest those with a literal perspective) quite contrary to the God of nature whom I had grown very close to.
All these decades on I am thankful for my mothers insistence on weekly attendance at church because I realise now that this gifted me a really good grounding in the book of scripture, despite my issues with those preachers who read it in ways that I continue to disagree with.
John Keats, one of the great romantic poets, was not a religious man at all but his poetry so often reaches in to me in ways that affirm my own relationship with what I think of as the divine presence of the immanent God. Here is a favourite
O solitude! if I must with thee dwell, Let it not be among the jumbled heap Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep,— Nature’s observatory—whence the dell, Its flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell, May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep ’Mongst boughs pavillion’d, where the deer’s swift leap Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell. But though I’ll gladly trace these scenes with thee, Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind, Whose words are images of thoughts refin’d, Is my soul’s pleasure; and it sure must be Almost the highest bliss of human-kind, When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee. ~ John Keats
As many of you are aware I will be running a series of monthly sessions on Divine Wisdom and Practical Mysticism at Prinknash Abbey.
There will be three sessions this year as follows:
21st October, 11th November and 9th December. All sessions will be in the meeting room at Prinknash Abbey which is next to the Abbey Cafe, if you are struggling to find it just ask a member of staff in the Cafe. The sessions will begin at 10.30 and will finish as 12.00 noon latest.
These first three will be introductory where we will be getting to know the territory” such as how the sessions will be structured, the range of topics that will be covering, the tools we will be developing and suggested reading. From January 2024 all sessions will be on the 1st Saturday of the month.
We will follow the stream of Divine Wisdom through a variety of faiths and in particular explore our own encounter with the Wisdom Tradition from the perspective of Christian Mysticism. These are practical sessions where we will focus on the contemplative ‘tools’ that will help us to engage with this tradition.
This is an ecumenical venture, all are welcome.
Reverend Jayne E. Webb Obl. OSB, Methodist Minister – Gloucestershire Circuit, Spiritual Mentor
Learning to be silent is an important part of experiencing the subtle movement of God in the soul, or of listening for the ‘still small voice’ we might say (metaphorically speaking). Inner silence helps us to develop an interior ability to perceive, intuit or experience God in the depths of our being. This ability does not derive from the faculties we normally use to navigate the external world. Such faculties are more to do with the earthly aspect of ourselves rather than the deepest part of the soul which, according to Meister Eckhart, is where our ground and God’s ground is one.
Our union with God then is already a present reality within us all – there is no separation, but we are generally not awake to this in our ‘fallen’ state. Our faculties of will, intellect and senses are so geared towards the noise of the external world, grasping after that which would make us whole, we have failed to see that there is nothing missing in the first place.
Theresa of Avia would have us understand that we cannot think our way to enlightenment (union). Reason has its place of course but to enter into the bliss which is God’s ground within the soul we must learn to recollect our faculties, bringing them to stillness. From here we can begin to discover a silence that draws us into the pure presence of God where even a moment of merging with such bliss will bring us to a wholeness we never could have deemed possible. Truly a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.
Erroneously we have been taught that such encounter with God is not possible on this side of the curtain which divides life from death. The mystics would tell us otherwise and advise that to taste this for ourselves we should let go of our rational, cerebral search for knowledge of God and give the intellect a rest; none of this will take us to the direct encounter. Develop a practice of inner silence and stillness and in this you will find the portal to awakening to an encounter with the God who was there all along.
Such an encounter will change you, in some ways beyond recognition and will almost certainly, in time call you to service, activism and work in the world that previously you may not even have imagined would be yours to do (contemplation and activism are two sides of the same coin) – and yes, this can be the scary part of such encounter. Yet that direct touch, no matter how brief, emboldens and carries us through whatever the path ahead might hold.
To discover more about developing the practice of inner silence please get in touch through our contact page.
That wisdom is inherent in all of nature, was undisputed for the pre-Christian, indigenous cultures right across the globe. Ancient stories, folklore and myth, point to such wisdom through trees and rivers who often were given the quality of personhood, plants offering up their wisdom (to those who have the inner senses to perceive) for healing. Then there were the cloud formations, birds, the elements, weather patterns etc., all of which were searched for the signs and guidance that could be perceived by those who had ears to hear and eyes to see.
But such immanent spirituality and the ability to perceive its inherent wisdom were deemed naive, uncultured and also way too dangerous for the incoming power seeking religion. Far better to have a remote god who required an intermediary in the form of a priest so that humans would be divorced from direct experience of the divine and thus easier to control.
And so nature oriented religions and indigenous tribal wisdom were crushed, eliminated and in various ways deemed evil. Those engaging in related activities could expect to be subjected to a variety of punishments on behalf of an angry god, created in the image of the dysfunctional human ego.
Such a violent reaction to nature honouring culture was due in part to the fact that immanent wisdom was most often associated with the feminine aspect of the divine. And this above all was most feared by patriarchal rule.
This tragic, egotistical oppression was profoundly dangerous, the baby was thrown out with the bath water and humankind’s supremacy over nature was sealed along with the dominance of the patriarchy. The rest is history we might say, as we sit here on the brink of global catastrophe, despairing as nature battles with the consequences of all that she has been subjected to.
If ever we are to even begin to turn around this dire position then balance must be restored and divinity must be understood as both immanent and transcendent. An all male godhead is not a whole godhead – the feminine aspect must be returned to her rightful place.
Let’s hear the voice of wisdom now in her own words from the book of Proverbs chapter 8
1 Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?
4 “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind.
6 Listen …Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold …for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
30 Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.
32 Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.
35 For those who find me find life
36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.”
May we fully awaken to our transgressions that have forsaken wisdom, and may there still be time for us to mitigate and even reverse the foolishness of our ways.
For me, days off are definitely days to immerse oneself in nature. Indeed my earliest ‘mystic’ experiences came to me in the stunning surroundings of remotest Forest of Dean where I have spent a good deal of my life from around the age of 4 years. All these years on I remain very connected with ‘the forest’ in my work and I am very fortunate that it is a mere stones throw from my home.
So, having learnt to be still in nature and to find myself refreshed and renewed just about anywhere that forests and streams co exist, well, such places are oases for me in my work as a busy minister.
Most devastating to me is our attitude towards nature. We misinterpret scripture which tells us that we were given dominion over creation to mean that we must subdue, control and use it for our own benefit. We have long since put paid to pre-Christian and indigenous wisdom that respected creation, understood it to be enspirited and understood that human survival depended on our good guardianship of this great gift. Sadly the developing institutional church saw such animism as a great threat and ensured that the god made in the image of the human ego was remote from nature rather than immanent and in so doing opened the portal to the abuse of creation.
As we grow in our contemplative practice so does our awareness of the immanence of God flowing through all things, this is why mystics are passionate nature lovers and activists. Consider this quote from Thomas Merton
“Every plant that stands in the light of the sun is a saint and an outlaw. Every tree that brings forth blossoms without the command of man is powerful in the sight of God. Every star that man has not counted is a world of sanity and perfection. Every blade of grass is an angel singing in a shower of glory.” ~ Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable
So yes I am a lover of the divine which I sense in all nature, I am a fierce guardian and make no apologies for the relationship I share with animals and plants of all varieties.
Anyway, to return to my day off which was today; I spent most of it in this well hidden, secret oasis which I discovered when curiosity got the better of me and I simply had to explore what lay behind this secluded and seemingly forgotten gate.
For all those who are interested in joining the Lavish Wisdom sessions (click here for information) I can now confirm that the dates will be as follows (all beginning at 10.30 am)
Saturday 21st October Introductory Meeting
Saturday 11th November
Saturday 9th December
From January onwards all meetings will be held on the first Saturday every month.
Sessions will take place in the meeting room next to the cafe. Following the sessions do take time to enjoy a light lunch or cake and a coffee in the Monastery Cafe…highly recommended.
My intention with this site is not to especially write essays on mystic theology nor to wax lyrical on metaphysics. There are many excellent books, blogs and you tube video’s out there that will do this extremely well.
What isn’t so accessible is the the ‘how to’ of contemplative practice. This is really my great passion, enabling people to find their way, along this strange and somewhat hidden path. I find this is particularly tricky for those brought up in the protestant church as contemplative practice was not really recognised as a path to spiritual growth in this tradition. Indeed this was the very reason I left the church as a young adult. What I didn’t know then was that my various mystical experiences and the sense of a longing, unfulfilled by church going, was a calling to the interior path but back then I neither had the language, the understanding nor the direction to find my way at that time.
So back to my point, though I will spend a little time exploring contemplative theology the real point of my mission is to get down the the practicalities of the way of the mystic. Teresa of Avila reminds us that while discursive reason has its place, you cannot think your self to enlightenment.
The way that I like to think of it is that we all naturally have ‘spiritual senses’ which are designed to enable us to make our way on the inner path, just as we have our 5 senses that help us make our way through the external world. For many though the external facing senses are so dominant the the inner ones lie dormant. Even so there are some whose interior senses are naturally awake…particularly if your upbringing allowed for this to be so (more of this in another post), such people are often drawn to a metaphysical view of life and if they are also lead a religious life will quite likely find there way to the inner contemplative path.
I believe that the awakening of these inner senses is part of the practical ‘work’ of the budding contemplative. Again, as Theresa of Avila would say, we have to learn to recollect our faculties, ie; our will, our intellect, our senses, and as we bring these to a place of stillness we begin to discover the subtle movement of God in the soul.
Anyway, what I am really getting to is that first and foremost my teaching is practical because at some point we have to stop reading about our the contemplative life and start living it.
If you are interested in finding out more about this approach, please read my post ‘something new’ and do consider joining us.
Earth is crammed with heaven. Every bush is aflame with the fire of God, but only those who see take off their shoes. The rest just pick the berries.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning
One of the issues we come across in mysticism is to do with where we find God. Classical Theism would say God is separate from creation, transcendent and beyond all things. This God, often depicted as the sky god and usually male is yet, in his remoteness, all seeing and all knowing, a view of God that leads often to guilt and shame and does not necessarily fill us with a great longing to seek to be close.
An opposite view from Classical Theism is that of Pantheism this holds that God is everything and that everything is God. This is a view that has been held in philosophy and many religions throughout the world, particularly the eastern traditions and often indigenous traditions. For the Pantheist, the divine is closer to us than our own breathing, is in and through everything and often this view denies that there is a separate God, especially one who is given an identity as a personal, anthropomorphic being.
So this is seemingly problematic for the Christian mystic then who discovers that God is indeed closer to us that our own being, who is the great lover of the soul and yet who is also transcendent and beyond knowing. To solve this conundrum we would use the term Pan-en-theism. This term refers to God who is both in (as opposed to is ) all creation and beyond; that God is both immanent and transcendent. We see both the immanence and the transcendence of God in and through scripture. In essence though the dualism is illusory and in those moments when the sweet spot of union is discovered the boundary between the transcendent and the immanent becomes decidedly fuzzy.
As we journey along the mystic way we will find our selves coming across these questions concerning who we are in relation to God and the more our contemplative prayer deepens so does our knowing; paradoxically though such knowing has no words or fancy theological terms, it is simply known in the silence of being.
I wanted to share with you something of a new venture that will be starting this autumn. Before I do, perhaps I should first introduce myself for those who do not know me. I am Reverend Jayne Webb, Methodist Minister and I am also an Oblate of Prinknash Abbey, a path I chose to follow when I knew I needed to find a place where my contemplative nature could find spiritual nourishment.
I have had a natural inclination towards contemplative spirituality for as long as I can remember though understanding it’s unfolding has been a somewhat convoluted journey until I discovered the mystics and the desert mothers and fathers whilst undertaking an MA in Theology and Spirituality. This discovery, around 25 years, gave me a great sense of homecoming and relief that this way of experiencing God was actually ‘a thing’. Since then I have dedicated both my academic studies and my practical ministry to enabling those who have a similar inclination to discover the path of contemplation.
It is in this light that I would like to share news of a new venture at Prinknash Abbey starting on October 21st at 10.30 in the conference room . This will be a monthly gathering which will focus on practical mysticism. Each session will be in three parts. Part one will explore the writings of the mystics, part two will explore contemplative practice and part three will comprise a time of silence. If you are interested in coming along, do get in touch and if there is a particular reading from the mystics that you would like us to explore then let me know.
This is intended to be an interactive session; and so if this is your thing then your input is most welcome.
The venture is an ecumenical project so a good opportunity for us to discus contemplative practice from a variety of different angles.
Lavish Wisdom 