Archive for the 'Meditation' Category

Moving book about a man’s love for God

Moved by this slim volume by Thomas Merton, I found “Thoughts in Solitude” to be worth a second read three years after the initial purchase and first reading. Call this an accidental second reading, and a good accident for I had not planned on revisiting the title. To my pleasure, the book is good if not better the second time around. For I was moved by the love this man holds for God, or held, since he is now many years dead. In this book, he lives, and he is as well as a man of God who sought God, but a writer who has the writer’s gift of telling us some of the journey of getting closer to God. Or as he might say, God allowing someone to get closer to Him. That is good news.

Readable, and certainly quick going but the kind of book one goes through “easily,” it is a book that allows for reflection. I wondered about humility, and I wondered how in the world could something like humility be available to a layman, especially one who has neither the desire for nor the means of holding and having solitude as did Thomas Merton.

I think Thomas Merton held solitude, as one embraces something, as one would embrace God. As a man or woman comes to Christ. Intangible as that may sound, the writer brings the reader to come with him on the inner journey and the journey of desire to be with God in quiet and solitude. Not alone, but in a solitude that is like a solidarity with the Almighty. This is the having solitude that I mention. Or so I understand it by the book.

But I did not come to the book, after reading a while, to admire Thomas Merton. Of course, I do. I did not come to the book to get secrets about God, but Thomas Merton says there are secrets available to those who read the scriptures. There is both the telling and the untelling of a relationship with God that explains to the reader, through inference and through his reflections, that solitude brings people to mystery. I want to believe that there is mystery in the relationship with Christ, that in God we find and feel things (called religious experience) that are not available to us other ways. Thomas Merton writes of religious experience in this book, and he does it very well.

I’m sure you have heard that this is the second of his books that critics cite as one of his two best. The other is, “The Seven Story Mountain.” I read that book as the first of his books I read. I am glad I did. Here I stop a moment to tell you I am not doing justice to his writing, for in both books he is a spiritual master. Here he writes of the spiritual life, and for me it is the beginnings of thought on considering spiritual life:

“Spiritual life is not mental life. It is not thought alone. Nor is it, of course, a life of sensation, a life of feeling–’feeling” and experiencing the things of the spirit, and the things of God.

Nor does the spiritual life exclude thought and feeling. It needs both.”

I like how he explains this explanation, saying, “Everything must be elevated and transformed by the action of God, in love and faith.”

The end of the book is like a prayer, and the entire book has a prayer quality to it. The chapters are short. They are like arrows of writing. There is a warmth to the writing, and an inviting quality is evident because Thomas Merton wants his reader to know what it is to love God, and to recognize this is what a man or woman may have in his or her lifetime.

As I come to the end of this review, it is important to remark that a reader can take his affection, even his passionate humility tempered in a life of solitude, and find ways of understanding and coming closer to God. I grant his is a holy life, an easy thing to say, and I want to close with this quote:

“The solitary life is a life in which we cast our care upon the Lord and delight only in the help that comes from Him. Whatever He does is our joy. We reproduce His goodness in us by our gratitude. (Or–our gratitude is the reflection of His mercy. It is what makes us like Him.)

Peter Menkin, Epiphany

Dear kindred soul, as you know we humans have a rich history, and dreams play an important role in our journey, it has always been the case, earliest recorded dream dates back to 1760 B.C. to ancient babylonian times contained in “epic of Gilgamesh, and mentions Ishtar and Izdubar, in this recorded dream, the king summons his seers and commands them to interpret a concerning dream. Similarly famous story in the Old Testament the Book of Daniel (2: 2-3) which mentions the King Nebuchadnezzar: “commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.” In the end it was Daniel, who, enlightened by the a vision sent to him by God, interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, first explaining ” the secret which the hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” Daniel (2:27-28). As you can see many cultures have always taken dreams very seriously.

But what are dreams? why do we dream? the answer to that question is up to the individual, as we are in a dream state we fall in to utmost relaxation of our being, similar state can be achieved in meditation, this also might raise the question; can we dream without sleeping? well I don’t really know the answer to that, all I know is we sometimes daydream,

We can all learn to analyze our dream, buy spending quite a long time to understanding the meanings and decoding it, we can have a dream diary to write them down, while it’s still fresh in our mind. There is a lot of people who take dreams very seriously, and I am one of those people, and in the search engines if you just search “dreams” you will get millions of search results. Dreams are personal to us, we usually share them with family and friends. Also there are many dream analyzers online and all are eager to re dream your dream with you. I personally believe, when we try to analyze a dream we must try to accomplish this by taking the whole dream and everything seen, heard and felt as one. example if we saw ocean in a dream, the meaning for it, is interwoven with every other detail of that particular dream, this is very important to truly get the one real meaning.

And every dream must be translated as good and pure,

Meditation

You heard about it, you might have practiced it, you may have made it part of your daily life, it has been scientifically proven that meditation works for your well being, we are all out there trying our best to be healthy by eating well, counting calories, exercising and so on which is highly beneficiary for you, how about the the health of our soul. Our inner self our mental state. How many people do you know who looks after that department very well, we tend to say there is no time or I will look into it some other time. Please remember dear friend tomorrow is not promised to me or you, so what we do today that counts. meditation is one of the best things you can do now, to improve your well being and it doesn’t cost you

Book of readings, useful for meditation and reflection at Advent and Christmas

The writings and excerpts from the Bible seep into the reader after a time, inviting meditation and offering an education for Advent and Christmas. Certainly, an Advent and Holiday time reading, the works are not authored as a standard series of Advent readings, but they are traditional:

“It is our hope that this book will encourage profound exploration and contemplation, but it is not, perhaps, a conventional Advent book of readings and prayers, for that the reader will have to look elsewhere.”

Good. This is just the kind of book I wanted this past Advent and Christmas, one published by Morehouse Publishing. I must say that I have been looking at books published by the Episcopal publishing house, and for a few years have been intrigued by this one whose cover is a mother with her baby. It’s an intimate cover, and so I was and am intrigued by the intimacy of the book. If you, like me, look for books for the season like Advent and Christmas, you will find this a good one with its readings and reflections for each day of the season, into the first day of Epiphany.

This “Come, Lord Jesus,” had me thinking of the end of times, when we all go to heaven and are judged. Previous years I hadn’t thought so much of it. Now I don’t want to burden you with my own needs and interests so much, but this does more pointedly demonstrate how the readings go. First there is the Gospel, as this one of Day 4 in Advent. From Matthew:

“When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him…” This of the second coming, the end of the world, and the question asked by Christ is this, “…for I was hungy and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me…” Good thoughts for reflection about a man who taught important things and as the incarnate God would ask us to be with our fellow man in ways that are good and helpful.

The reflection, which is the second part of the reading, asks, “Such grace transforms situations, delivers from sin, heals our brokenness, floods our hearts with light and encircles us in the communion of love.” Of course, for the sake of brevity, I must truncate the text. But you see that there is a grace offered to us, which we look forward to in the birth of Jesus, during the Advent season, that is “…that which goes byond that moral demand–God’s accepting love, his forgiveness and mercy, his overwhelming free gift, his loving-kindness.”

This seems like a kind of sermon, and it is a kind of sermon. “Passages for reflection were drawn for the most part from sermons, addresses and meditations on passion themes that I have given throughout my ministry both as chaplain for many years…and as a bishop.” This from the Preface. Too, there are the reflections of musician Julien Chilcott-Monk. He, I think, wrote the Mary reflections and the shorter reflections for each day, a kind of note to the reading. The longer and introductory readings and remarks by Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe (of the Anglican Church), and the almost point making writings of Julien Chilcott-Monk make this a team written book where the writing and the team impact is helpful to the meaning and for the writing of the book.

Like a prayer, “The Sequence” of each day focuses the reader. So these are really meditations and prayers, subtle sometimes. “With thy favoured sheep, O place me; nor among the goats secure me…” Perhaps you are not so steeped in the Bible, for the book relies on the Bible, and therefore here is the end of that quotation: “…but to thy side please upraise me.” Asking to go to heaven, something most people who live their lives in a religious manner desire.

Continuing with the format, the book has an imaginative (fictional) statement by Mary on the Biblical text. Afterall, this is about Jesus and Christmas, and Mary is a key player. Here the writer gives mature thoughts to the young mother, and she is religiously profound. As I understand it, Mary was a Jewish woman who was well educated in her faith. That adds credence to her thoughts, as fictionalized here: “Is Jesus to establish the New Eden so that mankind can realize God’s original intention for his creation? If so, mankind will have to turn, to respond.” I found these very satisfying and they kindled in me the desire to imagine myself what Mary would think, and what kind of woman she was, as a mother to be.

The readings, which are not so long nor do they take a great deal of time, end with a statement for “…consideration…” In this reading, “The King is concerned with the reality of response to human need, not our tally for engagements.”

As a means of inspiration, information, and intelligent readings for reflection and mediation, albeit guided worthily by the text, the book “Come, Lord Jesus!” makes a worthy addition for the season. The daily readings guide the pilgrim through Biblical and reflective texts, engaging the individual with the season, and educating him in the sense that these ideas can grow. I want to add a personl note about my own reading during this season of Advent in 2005. The book grew on me as I went through it, as I found it a gentle and easily taken series of introductions as guidance to the seasons of Advent, Christmas and entry to Epiphany.

–Peter Menkin, Epiphany