Praxis
I'm more than content to discuss theology and/or philosophy until the cows come home or to stick my nose into a commentary or a scholarly treatise on a theological or philosophical subject, and I'm happy to stay there.
Just don't ask me to engage in prayer or meditation any too often, because it's the experiential stuff that I've got problems doing; my personal 'prayer life,' if you will, moves like molasses (and that is to say it moves slowly if at all until you bang the bottle on the counter or introduce it to another form of external stimuli like hot water).
I found solace in hesychasm and in the Jesus Prayer for a while; I'd sit down with my copy of The Way of a Pilgrim or "Selections from the Philokalia on the Prayer of the Heart," I'd read and meditate for a while (generally on selections from the latter volume) and then I'd sit with my chotki and begin "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner..." but any more I have to wonder at the appropriateness of the prayer.
Am I in need of mercy because of sin or illumination because of ignorance?
I had my moment of gnosis, my peek behind the curtain. I've awoken... the trouble is resisting the urge to fall back to sleep by sliding back into familiar comforts and familiar paradigms.
Just don't ask me to engage in prayer or meditation any too often, because it's the experiential stuff that I've got problems doing; my personal 'prayer life,' if you will, moves like molasses (and that is to say it moves slowly if at all until you bang the bottle on the counter or introduce it to another form of external stimuli like hot water).
I found solace in hesychasm and in the Jesus Prayer for a while; I'd sit down with my copy of The Way of a Pilgrim or "Selections from the Philokalia on the Prayer of the Heart," I'd read and meditate for a while (generally on selections from the latter volume) and then I'd sit with my chotki and begin "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner..." but any more I have to wonder at the appropriateness of the prayer.
Am I in need of mercy because of sin or illumination because of ignorance?
I had my moment of gnosis, my peek behind the curtain. I've awoken... the trouble is resisting the urge to fall back to sleep by sliding back into familiar comforts and familiar paradigms.
posted by +Sar Shimun | 22:02
5 Comments:
You should really post a full picture of yourself :)
I probably ought to.
Father Justin! You gotta represent, bro. Show the world there's more to you than a hairy jawbone and a clerical collar.
Plus, you have a typo in your header; it's "Praxis".
Now, as to your Praxis problem - have you looked at Singer's "A Gnostic Book of Hours"?
Pax,
Jordan+
Just saying I miss June Singer... she was among the people I would have encountered if I visited Rosamunde Miller's ministry in Palo Alto on my trip to California. June did a tremendous job both with the "Gnostic Book of Hours" and her spiritually oriented Jungian culture/trend analysis.. I quite liked her "Seeing through the Visible world" and it made some sense out of "modernity" for me.. before that I had fallen into the Perennialist trap and had a great distrust to "popular culture".
With regards to Praxis, my actual advice, without reservations, is that of Remembrance.. not Imagination or Visualization of Past Events, but locating the spot in you which will always be "there"; Another important point is Kenosis before Metanoia - always, after the first quickening, the first glimpse - always Empty yourself before Looking Again, or else it will only be a slight variation of what you are "looking past". The same with prayer, we are all finding God _again_, after we all, somehow, have lost God..this is not a periodical condition in the personal biography of religious folks, but a constant flux so long as we are incarnate and/or in a condition _between_ realities.
Welcome to the Gnostic "Blogosphere", Father Justin. Pax Sophiae et Pleromae.
I feel somehow same as you do when it comes to finding my way as well as your quesitons onto Jesus' Prayer [why am I a sinner, or am I indeed]. So I stopped at 'have merci on me' only and I simplified it to 'Jesus Christ, have merci on me'. In my mind the purpose of the prayer is threeofold- one, to ask for help in dealing with the unknown, two, to quiet my mind when praying by replacing the background mind noise with these words [as in a mantra], and three to remind me of my insignificance in the world [helps to get humble]. So I guess I am in need of illumination rather than forgivness for sins, because of ignorance. But I might be wrong and then 'have merci on me' covers any needs that in my ignorance I am oblivious of or confused about...
I would be happy to have a peek behind the curtain if this would make me happy otherwise I don't mind ignorance if, again, the end result is the same= a bliss. Knowledge is seldom associated with happiness ['the more I know the less I understand']; on the other hand they say that the cause of suffering is ignorance... So, God have merci on me and put me on the right path that I can't find by myself.
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