This is a general overview and cannot replace more detailed articles on the CANA site on Yoga, Meditation, and Energy Healing. For articles on Yoga, Meditation, and Contemplative topics, please […]
Video interview as guest of McFiles discussing meditation
The author is a former practitioner of Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, and Zen meditation for 14 years Mindfulness is Ubiquitous There is no way to avoid the incessant promotions of […]
[Note: The writer formerly practiced Tibetan Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, and Hindu meditation, as well as visualization and psychic techniques taught to her by those deeply involved in those traditions. She […]
The following is an account of a talk and meditation session led by Rev. Thomas Keating in 2005 (Keating died in 2018). This is based on my notes and observations […]
Does “be still” mean to meditate or practice contemplative prayer? Many people quote the first part of Ps. 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God,” to endorse […]
Most of the book, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, by Tyler Staton, is not about Contemplative practices. Staton uses what is often called the Lord’s Prayer as a template […]
What this adds up to is mysticism, and a mystical view is a natural result of contemplative practices that apparently have captivated Mackie. Mysticism is not a matter of transcending logic or thought; it is actually contra logic and thought. This is why all contemplative teachings downgrade the mind . It is always found in esoteric teachings that there is something profound beyond words and reason that one can experience – a hidden or secret experience and/or wisdom. This is exactly how I thought for over 20 years.
Mackie is planting not only the idea that gaining perception of “another reality” or a “super reality” is positive, but he is offering the means for it through the contemplative practices, which will alter perceptions over time.
Why so much about the body in the spiritual disciplines (Spiritual Formation)? One reasonable conclusion is that since prayer (and many of the disciplines) are elaborate practices involving the body in Contemplative teachings, a theology around the body is constructed to hold up the Contemplative edifice (since this edifice is not held up by Scripture). The attempt at scanctification via methods from men includes the attempt at sanctifying the body. But the fallen body is not sanctified nor can it be in this life for the Christian. That is why it will be made into a new glorified body, as was the body of Jesus upon his resurrection, in a future time.
Do certain scriptures in the Bible indicate that God may pass by if we are not trained to hear him? Is God’s “native language” a whisper? This message from Tyler Staton is examined, along with the Bible passages he cites, in this article.