Hesychasm

This comes from the Greek hesychia, meaning “stillness” or “quiet.” This is the theological backbone of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It focuses on the pursuit of theosis – divine union with God. At its core, Hesychasm is a tradition of prayer that seeks to find God through inner silence & the cessation of all thoughts.

The “engine” of Hesychasm is the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” (We think that even if you aren’t religious/spiritual, we’ve all prayed this prayer before!) Unlike Western meditation, which often involves visualizing scenes from the Bible, Hesychasm is apophatic (negative).

The goal is to strip away images, concepts, & intellectual chatter to reach a state of “pure prayer.” Practitioners (known as Hesychasts) aim to move the prayer from the lips to the mind, & finally, into the heart.

In the 14th century, certain techniques were popularized to help the mind. These include:

• Breath Control:
  • Syncing the prayer with the rhythm of breathing.
• Posture:
  • Sitting for long periods with the chin resting on the chest, eyes fixed on the “place of the heart.”
• The Goal:
  • To achieve a state where the prayer becomes “unceasing,” continuing even while the monk sleeps or works.

The history of Hesychasm is defined by a massive 14th century intellectual “cage match.” On one side, Gregory Palamas, a monk from Mount Athos. On the other side, Barlaam of Calabria, a Western-influenced scholar who thought the monks were essentially deluding themselves with “belly-button gazing.”

Barlaam argued that God is absolutely transcendent & unknowable. Therefore, any claim to “see” God was impossible or heretical. Palamas countered with a distinction that saved Eastern mysticism: The Essence vs The Energies.

The Divine Essence:

God’s inner nature, which remains forever hidden & inaccessible to any created being.

The Divine Energies:

God’s “activities” or “operations” (like Love, Grace, & Light) that permeate the world & can be directly experienced by humans.

Palamas argued that when the Apostles saw Jesus glowing on Mount Tabor (the Transfiguration), they weren’t seeing a metaphor. They were seeing the Uncreated Light of God’s Energies. Hesychasts claim through intense prayer, they too can see this Taboric Light.

Palamas wasn’t just a “cloud-dweller.” He was a brilliant aristocrat who gave a promising career at the Byzantine imperial county to become a monk. When Barlaam attacked the monks’ practices as “superstitious,” Palamas wrote the Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts. He bridged the gap between the experiential “feeling” of the monks & the rigorous theology of the Church.

Palamas was even imprisoned for a time during a civil war. But he was eventually vindicated.

In 1351, his theology was officially adopted by the Orthodox Church. To this day, the Second Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to him. He’s the reason Eastern Orthodoxy views God not as a distant object of study. But as a personal presence to be participated in.

For centuries, Hesychasm was mainly confined to monasteries like Mount Athos. In 1782, a massive anthology called the Philokalia (“Love of the Beautiful”) was published. It collected the writings of the desert fathers & Hesychast masters from the 4th to the 15th centuries.

This book sparked a massive revival. In Russia, it was translated into Slavic (The Dobrotolyubie), fueling the “Elder” (Starets) tradition seen in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. In the 19th century, a tiny book called The Way of a Pilgrim (about a wandering Russian peasant practicing the “Jesus Prayer”) became an international sensation introducing the “Jesus Prayer” to millions of non-Orthodox Christians.

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A window on what is

I find the study of phenomenology in my amateur way endlessly fascinating; it is all too easy to follow it down philosophical rabbit-holes, as I have done in several posts recently. But the contemplative life, related though it is to the practice of philosophy (as seen so clearly in some Buddhist schools like Yogācāra) deals in itself not with discursive thought but with direct experience; which is one of the reasons I have for so long been drawn to the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition of hesychasm, or to the Pure Land Buddhist practice of the Nembutsu – not primarily because of the nature of these practices themselves (repetitive prayer) but because of their extreme simplicity.

Now, phenomenal experience is sometimes characterised as a tunnel (Metzinger), a “benign user illusion” (Dennett, glossed so brilliantly by Susan Blackmore) or a mindstream (Yogācāra). The idea generally seems to be that what we experience from moment to moment is a transparent, essentially functional but ultimately illusory interface that the mind provides between reality and our (equally illusory) experience of a permanent self. Reality itself is far richer and stranger, and the self is “but one of the countless manifestations of the Tao” (Ho (PDF)). To say these things can of course provoke in the reader a myriad of misunderstandings, and to realise them oneself can cause a temporary existential disruption that is horribly like a classical bad trip. Misleading though many of its Perennialist assumptions may be, one of the best accounts of what is at stake must be Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception. Donald Hoffman finds the same position in Erwin Schrödinger:

[Schrödinger’s] position boils down to this: what we call the physical world is the result of a process that Schrödinger called “objectivation”, i.e. the transformation of the one self-world (Atman=Brahman) into something that can be readily conceptualized and studied objectively, hence something that is fully void of subjective qualities. In the theory of conscious agents this amounts to the creation of “interfaces”. Such interfaces simplify what is going on in order to allow you to act efficiently. Good interfaces hide complexity. They do not let you see reality as it is but only as it is useful to you. What you call the “physical world” is merely a highly-simplified representation of non-dual consciousness.

Donald Hoffman, Schrödinger and the Conscious Universe (IAI News)

Last year I attempted, as I periodically do, to explain to myself how this paradoxical relationship between overthinking and contemplative practice could possibly work. I concluded:

I have written elsewhere of the profound stillness I experienced recovering from childhood meningitis; in many ways, my contemplative practice over the last 40-odd years has been an attempt, scattered as it has at times been, to recover that stillness.

These things are nothing new. The Taoist tradition beginning between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, and the Chan Buddhist writings in the early centuries of the present era, are full of wanderings “cloud hidden, whereabouts unknown” (Chia Tao). And the central tradition of (at least Zen) Buddhist meditation consists of “just sitting” (shikantaza).

The falling away of purposeful action, in itself the very simplest thing, seems one of the hardest to achieve – perhaps because it isn’t an achievement at all. An achievement would be the result of purposeful action. This appears to me to be the snag with so many programmes of practice involving concentration, visualisation, ritual and so on.

The paradox inherent in practice, any practice, only begins to thin out in sheer pointlessness, either the pointlessness of a repeated phrase such as the Jesus Prayer, or the Nembutsu, or of merely sitting still. The power of shikantaza is simply powerlessness, giving up, complete acceptance of what is without looking for anything. When you cease to try to open the doors, they open by themselves, quite quietly. Not looking, the path opens.

#AldousHuxley #contemplative #DanielDennett #DonaldHoffman #ErwinSchrödinger #hesychasm #nembutsu #practice #SusanBlackmore #Tao #ThomasMetzinger #unknowing #Wikipedia

No one to blame

I’m always a bit skeptical when people talk about the increasing interest in Buddhism and the numbers of people appreciating the dharma and turning to meditation. It’s like the first week of a romance. When you first fall in love with someone—even if that person has purple hair and all kinds of what we call “extraordinary embellishments”—there’s just the feeling of love. You don’t see the blemishes; you see only the good things.

Yes, meditation and being calm and peaceful and loving, and generating compassion and doing good for others, and being more aware—these are all very good! But in the initial romantic stage, you may be looking through rose-tinted glasses. After that, you will see the hard work involved, hard work that will be done by nobody but you. This is why interest in Buddhism increases at first and then dips—and this dip is steep, because hard work will never make Buddhism very popular.

Moreover, Buddhism is the only philosophy that doesn’t have anyone to ascribe blame to but oneself for what’s wrong. Nor is there anyone but oneself responsible for producing what is good. To be put on the spot like this is not always seen as favorable by the human mind. Our cultures, social upbringing, and the design of our world condition us to hold some person or people or circumstance responsible for our situation. We have politicians to blame; we have God and the prophets, religious masters, and original sin to blame. We have many things to blame, including karma. It is very difficult to come to the point at which you see that blame is not actually logical—that everything depends on you, yourself.

Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche, writing in Tricycle Magazine

Every so often I find myself longing to be able to hand over the responsibility for walking this path to someone else – divine or human – who could absolve me of the weight of all this moral, intentional, intellectual hard work. A religion would be such a comfort. And yet…

The longer I seem to be able to try to follow this way, the less it does seem to be someone’s responsibility, either mine or God’s. Yes, as Khandro Rinpoche says here, there is no one else; but responsibility, in the sense of being the one to make it work? It’s inevitable that the ego, the left-brained, thinking self, will want to take responsibility, absent someone else to lean on – but the “executive self” can’t do it, can’t even see that there is a path. Only by keeping still, by watching to see what happens – of itself – can the busy little mind be persuaded to give up. Giving the whole process names, and hence regulations, is the root of the religious impulse itself, it seems to me.

I do wonder sometimes if we aren’t going through some kind of unseen spiritual revolution at the moment. Yes, the great religions appear to be flourishing – except when they’re not –  and the purveyors of slick solutions appear to thrive, but under the radar a good deal of quiet, hidden, patient practice seems to be going on. It’s invidious to draw direct parallels, but I am often reminded of the Desert Fathers and Mothers; not in their asceticism, but in their rejection of compromise and expedience in favour of interior silence and continual practice. Who knows where this is going? But that doesn’t matter – where it is going is just the flow of the stream in its bed; this is not the time for dreams and plans, but for emptiness and quiet.

Outside the window as I write this it is dark, but pinpoints of light from the road, and across the yard by the old reservoir, prick the blackness. At this distance they can’t be seen to illuminate anything, but the little lights are there in their own brightness. It seems very still. There is nothing to do but watch.

Not knowing, intimacy, mystery—all are words that convey a simple, yet profound, openness to the moment without any attempt to master, control, or understand it.

Barry Magid, Ending The Pursuit Of Happiness, with thanks to What’s Here Now

#atheism #BarryMagid #eremitism #hesychasm #illumination #KhandroRinpoche #stillness #unknowing #WhatSHereNow

Due to the influx of new folks, here is another introductory thread of my interests:
#NewMexico #Ogapoge #SantaFe #SantaFeRiver #Water #Birds #Plants #Medicine #Hiking #Walking #NaturePhotography #Biophilia #Wilderness #Rewild #Rewilding #Regenerative #RegenerativeDesign #UniversalDesign #RegenerativeAg #RegenAg #AppropriateTechnology
#Dharma #Dhamma #Buddhism #Metta #Meditation #Contemplation #Hesychasm

I'll continue to post interest hashtags in this thread. #introduction #introductions

The First Step on the Spiritual Path is Doing Simran - Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast @
https://SpiritualAwakeningRadio.libsyn.com/the-first-step-on-the-spiritual-path-is-doing-simran

http://tinyurl.com/SimranMP3

@ Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-first-step-on-the-spiritual-path-is-doing-simran/id1477577384?i=1000647195732

@ Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4PfUsUBleVPz8290wdqWhq

#hesychasm #mantras #practicingthepresenceofGod #practicingthepresence #jesusprayer #bhakti #spiritualawakening #spiritualawakeningradio #spirituality #religion #gnosticism #gnostic #centeringprayer #contemplative #sant_mat #satsang #meditation #applepodcasts #spotifypodcasts

A #CradleCatholic. As a wee lad, I did all the stuff - Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation. I was born here all my life. When I was around four years old, the church kicked out my mom and, by extension, my family. An #ExcludedCatholic? I explored other practices and faiths, #meditation, #yoga, #Buddhism, and all the things. I wanted to not convert to a religion or practice that I had not been born to or wasn't otherwise ancestrally connected. A deep dive into Protestant fellowships lead to immersion into the #EarlyChurch Fathers and early #ChurchHistory. Entering the #OrthodoxChurch, I lived in several monasteries and wandered around the US like the guy in Way of a Pilgrim. I was ultimately drawn to #Theosis and the #PrayerOfTheHeart, sometimes called the #JesusPrayer. Long story short, decades later, a pandemic, and a few ends of the world, here I am. The #2024Election US has me wondering about US Christianities that support social actions and movements that contradict the teachings of Jesus. Shouldn't Christ's Gospel teachings be central?

Some of my interests:
#NewMexico #Ogapoge #SantaFe #SantaFeRiver #Water #Birds #Plants #Medicine #Hiking #Walking #NaturePhotography #Biophilia #Wilderness #Rewild #Rewilding #Regenerative #RegenerativeDesign #UniversalDesign #RegenerativeAg #RegenAg #AppropriateTechnology #Contemplation #Hesychasm #Prayer #Ancestors #Death #Dying #Grief #DeathDoula #DeathAdvocacy #Apophatic #RadicalCompassion #Compassion #SocialJustice #PublicHealth #SocialWork #EnvironmentalJustice #DisabilityRights #HealthEquity #Recovery #RecoveryPosse #Drawing #Writing #VisualThinking #WriteToThink #Journal #BulletJournal #SystemsChange #Humanrights #Inclusion #Accessability #InvisibleDisabilityRights #DisabilityVoice #RacialEquality #PublicHealth #Grief #Hospice #Humanrights #Food #Health #Fasting #Movement

I'll continue to post interest hashtags in this thread to be.

#introduction #introductions

G’day. 👋 A Mastodon #introduction : I’m Jarrod, living on Wadjuk Noongar land 🖤💛❤️ (on most maps as Perth, Australia). A decade ago, in the context of interviewing #BillMcKibben about our #climateemergency, he something to me that haunts me still. Bill said we have a responsibility to enjoy what future generations won’t experience in the same way.

*let that sink in*

So I’ll start with practices for me shaped by this conversation and Dostoyevsky’s words, “Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand.” I love talking to the #birds 🦜 and teaching my boys their Noongar names (like Uncle [ ] Garlett taught me). I love #surfing 🏄🏼‍♂️ #hiking ⛰ #snorking 🪸 #spearfishing 🐠🐬🐟#surfskating (I ride a Holy Toledo #Smoothstar 🛹🏄🏼‍♂️). Kathleen is my beloved. 🥰 The outdoors is literally a religious experience for me. Oh, talking God-bothering, that’s kinda my neurodiverse hyper-fixation: the transfiguring-nonviolent-liberating-love revealed in Jesus.

That’s lead to some award winning nonviolent trouble-making, a popular podcast with Dr Drew Hart (https://www.patreon.com/InVerse), and other stuff you can checkout here: https://jarrodmckenna.com

#theology: A very Jesus-y #ecojustice cocktail of #Hesychasm #Anabaptism #CatholicWorker #IndigenousTheology non-Marxist #ChristianSocialism #Quakerism #BlackChurch and charismania expressed in #Contemplative prayer, creative
#nonviolence and #solidarity.

So let’s collaborate in what John Lewis called, “good trouble”. 😊

Podcast: Esoteric Mystic Paths Like Sant Mat (The Path of the Masters) vs. Outer Exoteric World Religions @ Youtube: https://TinyURL.com/EsotericMat

#contemplative #meditation #mysticism #prayer #stillness #silence #religions #Santmat #Sant_Mat #Gnostic #Kabbalah #JewishMysticism #Hesychasm #Sufism #Radhasoami #Radhaswami #Gnosticism #SuratShabdYoga #ActsofPeter #TheOtherBible #HolySpirit #spirituality #SpiritualAwakeningRadio #SantMatSatsangPodcasts #spiritualawakening #thirdeye #SaintPaul