Paraphrased: In silence the world which our words have attempted to classify, to control and even to despise (because they could not contain it) comes close to us, for silence teaches us to know reality by respecting it where words have defiled it. (pp. 92-93)

Words stand between silence and silence: between the silence of things and the silence of our own being. Between the silence of the world and the silence of God. When we have really met and known the world in silence, words do not separate us from the world nor form other men, nor from God, nor from ourselves because we no longer trust entirely in language to contain reality. (pp. 93)

God rises up out of the sea like a treasure in the waves, and when language recedes His brightness remains on the shores of our own being. (pp. 94)

Contradictions have always existed in the soul of man. But it is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a constant and insoluble problem. We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them... (p. 91)

The above excerpt is from: THOUGHTS IN SOLITUDE by Thomas Merton. This was written by an American Catholic monk. Within his trappist order, he was known as Father Louis, but he's better known today as Thomas Merton. He lived from 1915 to 1968. Firewatch, a group dedicated to religious contemplation in general and to the works of Thomas Merton in particular, maintains a very nice bibliography of Merton's writings and other people's writing about him. ISBN 0-87773-920-X).

... in such spiritual activity as this, the person who does most is he who thinks least and desires to do least: what we have to do is to beg like poor and needy persons coming before a great and rich Emperor and then cast down our eyes in humble expectation. When from the secret signs He gives us we seem to realize that He is hearing us, it is well for us to keep silence, since He has permitted us to be near Him and there will be no harm in our striving not to labour with the understanding... But if we are not quite sure that the King has heard us, or sees us, we must not stay where we are like ninnies, for there still remains a great deal for the soul to do when it has stilled the understanding; if it did nothing more it would experience much greater aridity and the imagination would grow more restless because of the effort caused it by cessation from thought. The Lord wishes us rather to make requests of Him and to remember that we are in His presence, for He knows what is fitting for us. (p. 88, Fourth Mansions, Chapter 3, Paragraph 5)

Let {the soul} try, without forcing itself or causing any turmoil, to put a stop to all discursive reasoning, yet not to suspend the understanding, nor to cease from all thought, though it is well for it to remember that is is in God's presence and Who this God is. If feeling this should lead it into a state of absorption, well and good; but it should not try to understand what this state is, because that is a gift bestowed upon the will. The will, then, should be left to enjoy it, and should not labour except for uttering a few loving words, for although in such a case one may not be striving to cease from thought, such cessation often comes, though for a very short time. (pp. 89-90, Fourth Mansions, Chapter 3, Paragraph 7)

The above excerpt is from: INTERIOR CASTLE by St. Teresa of Avila. St. Teresa of Avila lived in Spain from 1515 to 1582. She is the only woman other than Saint Catherine of Siena to be granted the title of Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church. The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has published a brief biographical sketch of St. Teresa at http://ccel.wheaton.edu/t/teresa/teresa.html. This sketch also includes links to sites which provide more detailed biographical information.

In Interior Castle, St. Teresa likens the soul to an interior castle with many rooms. Through prayer the soul enters into itself, gradually penetrating the more inward reaches of this castle. The inner most room of the castle is where God dwells within the soul. The soul cannot enter this sanctuary of its own accord, but when God invites the soul to enter His dwelling place, the soul is said to join with God in spiritual marriage.

Author: St. Teresa of Ávila. Translator/Editor: E. Allison Peers. ISBN: 0-385-03643-4. The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has also published the E. Allison Peers' translation of Interior Castle on-line. It is available in HTML or RTF formats at http://ccel.wheaton.edu - All of St. Teresa's book may be found on-line in her original Spanish at http://www.compostela.com/carmel/steresa/index.htm.

Such an Annihilated Soul possesses so great understanding within her by the virtue of faith ... that a created thing, which passes briefly, cannot dwell in her memory ... (p. 89)

... No one can see the divine things as long as he mixes himself or mingles with temporal things, that is anything less than God. (p. 150)

From: THE MIRROR OF SIMPLE SOULS by Marguerite Porete

This is a Christian mystical work condemned by the French Inquisition as being heretical. The author of the book, Marguerite Porete, was asked to recant. When she refused to respond to her inquisitors, she was condemned to death. On 1 June 1310 she was burned at the stake in Paris. The full title of her book was The mirror of simple annihilated souls and those who only remain in will and desire of love.

THE MIRROR OF SIMPLE SOULS  by Marguerite Porete. Translator and commentator: Ellen L. Babinsky. ISBN 0-8091-3427-6

Through this whole retreat my inclination, which I discerned only by my resistance to it, was to rest in silence and nakedness of thought. In the settling of my mind therein I feared I was disobeying the orders of my director. This made me think that I had fallen from grace. I kept myself in a state of nothingness, content with my poor low degree of prayer, without envying the higher degree of others, of which I judged myself unworthy. (Part 1, Chapter 23, page 63)

The only way to Heaven is prayer; a prayer of the heart, which every one is capable of, and not of reasonings which are the fruits of study, or exercise of the imagination, which, in filling the mind with wandering objects, rarely settle it; instead of warming the heart with love to God, they leave it cold and languishing. (Part 1, Chapter 5, page 16)

The above excerpt is from: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MADAME GUYON

Madame Guyon was a French, Catholic mystic who lived from 1648 to 1717. Her devout parents arranged her marriage while she was fifteen. She was deeply religious, and practiced a wordless form of prayer that she sometimes refers to as "mental prayer" or "prayer of the heart." Her husband and mother-in-law despised her prayer life, and did everything they could to prevent her from praying. They denied her solitude and even encouraged her eldest son to spy on her in case she should have recourse to prayer while they were not in the house to personally stop her. Nonetheless she continued her prayer life, often waking in the middle of the night to pray when no one else was awake.

She had a number of children, some of whom she lost to smallpox. Her husband died when she was twenty-eight, and she could easily have remarried. Instead she decided to devote the rest of her life to God. At the height of her popularity, people would line up to see her from dawn to dusk for spiritual guidance. She published several books on prayer and other topics. However even at the zenith of her popularity, she was simultaneously despised by many people.

According to an online biography published at http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/07092b.htm by the New Advent Catholic Supersite, her doctrine was repudiated by the pope and the bishops of France, and the Catholic church imprisoned her for a number of years. However posthumously her teachings have been embraced by Protestants in Germany, Switzerland, England, and among Methodists in America.

Author: Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon

This book was found online in RTF format at The Christian Classic Ethereal Library at http://ccel.wheaton.edu/ (other formats are also available).

THE SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers is a selection of quotations taken from the Apophthegmata Patrum (which means Sayings of the Fathers). The Sayings of the Desert Fathers recounts isolated encounters with holy men and women who lived in the deserts of Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Arabia during the fourth and fifth century. These individuals forged Christian monasticism.

The book very seldom says much about the interior experiences of these men and women; however we are often allowed to listen in as one of them gives spiritual direction to someone who has come seeking guidance. We learn of their ascetic struggles, and occassionally we witness miracles and wonders.

Benedicta Ward says:

The essence of the spirituality of the desert is that it was not taught but caught; it was a whole way of life... there was no way of talking about the way of prayer, or the spiritual teaching of the Desert Fathers. They did not have a systematic way; they had the hard work and experience of a lifetime of striving to re-direct every aspect of body, mind, and soul to God, and that is what they talked about. That, also, is what they mean by prayer: prayer was not an activity undertaken for a few hours each day, it was a life continually turned towards God.

THE PHILOKALIA - VOLUME ONE

The Philokalia, The Complete Text, Vol. 1 - According to the book's jacket:

The Philokalia is a collection of text written between the fourth and fifteenth centruies by spiritual masters of the Orhodox Christian tradition. First pulbished in Greek in 1782, translated into Slavonic and later into Russina, The Philokalia has exercised an influence far greater than that of any book other than the Bible in the recent history of the Orthodox Church.

Volume one covers the period from the fourth to the eighth century and is thus the common heritage of Orthodox and Catholics.

Anthologists: St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth. Translators/Editors: G.E.H. Palmer; Philip Sherrard; and Kallistos Ware

THE PHILOKALIA - VOL. 2

St. Thalassios, in On Love, Self-control and Life in accordance with the Intellect:

 

The intellect cannot dally with any sensible object unless it entertains at least some kind of passionate feeling for it.
(p. 316)

 

St. Maximos the Confessor, in Four Hundred Texts on Love:

 

It is said that the highest state of prayer is reached when the intellect goes beyond the flesh and the world, and while praying is utterly free from matter and form. He who maintains this state has truly attained unceasing prayer.
(p. 76)

 

When you find your intellect occupied pleasurably with material things and becoming fondly attached to its conceptual images of them, you may be sure that you love these things more than God. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21).
(p. 74)

 

St. Maximos the Confessor, in Various Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice:

 

... the human intellect, purified of all material images and occupied or, rather, adorned with the divine principles of the noetic world, is a heaven itself.
(p. 210)

 

For the perfect have already been initiated mystically into contemplative theology: having purified their intellects of every material fantasy and bearing always the stamp of the image of divine beauty in all its fullness, they manifest the divine love present in their hearts.
(p. 179)

The Philokalia, The Complete Text, Vol. 2 - According to the book's jacket:

The Philokalia is a collection of text written between the fourth and fifteenth centruies by spiritual masters of the Orhodox Christian tradition. First pulbished in Greek in 1782, translated into Slavonic and later into Russina, The Philokalia has exercised an influence far greater than that of any book other than the Bible in the recent history of the Orthodox Church.

Volume two concentrates on the writings of St. Maximos the Confessor (580-662); in fact the anthologists who created the Philokalia include more of St. Maximos' work than any other author. St. Maximos is most widely known for his opposition to a number of heresies that were being propagated regarding the nature of Christ. As a result of his opposition, he was tried, condemned, flogged, his tongue was cut out, his hand was cut off, and he was exiled. The church was responsible for his persecution, but later reversed itself.

The Philokalia, The Complete Text, Vol 2. Anthologists: St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth. Translators/Editors: G.E.H. Palmer; Philip Sherrard; and Kallistos Ware

SELECTED READINGS FROM ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

ON THE MYSTICAL LIFE (VOL. 2)

... let us flee the mind of the flesh, which cannot please God, nor indeed can snatch us from the enjoyment of what is temporary and guide our thought toward what abides and is eternal, which does not allow the one so ruled by it to seek the things of God, but drags the soul down instead toward the bestial impulsions of the flesh and makes man bestial altogether.
(p. 160)

Therefore if, as we said, you honor and accept Him, and give Him a place and provide Him with silence, know well that you will hear ineffable things from the treasuries of the Spirit. You will not be falling on the Master's breast, as did John the beloved of Christ before time, but you will carry the Word of God entire within your breast. You will declare theologies both old and new, and will know well all the theologies which have been written or spoken already; and you will become an instrument the Artist plays to make sounds pleasing beyond all music.
(pp. 137-138)

THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING

... receive this grace from your Lord, and listen to him when he says, "Whoever will come after me let him forsake himself." I ask you, how can a man better forsake himself and the world, and better despise them, than by refusing to think of any aspect of their being? (pp 182-183)

Hate to think of anything but God himself, so that nothing occupies our mind or will but only God. Try to forget all created things that he ever made, and the purpose behind them, so that your thought and longing do not turn or reach out to them either in general or in particular. Let them go, and pay no attention to them. It is the work of the soul that pleases God most. (p. 61)

The Cloud of Unknowing and other works - This is a Christian work written by an unknown English monk around 1370 AD. ISBN 0-14-044385-1

ASCENT OF MOUNT CARMEL

When thy mind dwells upon anything, thou art ceasing to cast thyself upon the All.
(Book 1, Chapter 13, Paragraph 12)

Ascent of Mount Carmel

The quotations utilized in this site were obtained from an electronic version of the Ascent of Mount Carmel (http://ccel.wheaton.edu/john_of_the_cross/ascent/ascent.html). It was written by St. John of the Cross and translated by E. Allison Peers. St. John of the cross was a Spanish Mystic, who lived from 1542 to 1591. The Catholic Church beatified him in 1675, and he was canonized in 1726. He belonged to the religious order known as the Discalced (or reformed) Carmelites, a group that broke away form the main branch of the order known as the Calced Carmelites. The main branch of the order kidnapped and jailed him twice. Much of his writing was done while in prison.

As a Discalced Carmelite, he seved as Rector of two colleges, Prior, Definator, and Vicar-Provincial. He also served as a confessor to the Carmelite nuns at Ávila, where St. Teresa was Superior. On several occassions his writings were brought before the Spanish Inquisition, but they were not condemned.

The following are quotations taken from the introductory material to the electronic version:

The treatise presents a remarkable outline of Christian perfection from the point at which the soul first seeks to rise from the earth and soar upward towards union with God. It is a work which shows every sign of careful planning and great attention to detail, as an ascetic treatise it is noteworthy for its detailed psychological analysis; as a contribution to mystical theology, for the skill with which it treats the most complicated and delicate questions concerning the Mystic Way.

This translation by E. Allison Peers was hailed by the London Times as "the most faithful that has appeared in any European language."

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

... what peace and inward quiet should he have who would cut away from himself all busyness of mind, and think only on heavenly things. (p. 56)

Shut fast the door of your soul -- that is to say your imagination -- and keep it cautiously, as much as you can, form beholding any earthly thing, and then lift up your mind to your Lord, Jesus; open your heart faithfully to Him... (p. 58)

PARAPHRASED FROM THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD

My faith consisted of a high notion and esteem of God, and I had no other care at first but to faithfully reject every other thought. (p. 15)

At the beginning, I often passed my appointed time for prayer in rejecting wandering thoughts and falling back into them. (pp. 13 - 14)

Useless thoughts spoil all ... we ought to reject them as soon as we perceive their irrelevance to the matter at hand, or to our salvation, and return to our communion with God. (p. 12)

I do not advise you to use multiplicity of words in prayer, many words and long discourses being often the occasions of wandering. Hold yourself in prayer before God like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man's gate. (p. 49)

It is a shameful thing to quit our conversation with God to think of trifles and fooleries. (p. 6)

The Practice of the Presence of God - This is a Christian work compiled in the late 1600's. Author: Brother Lawrence. This book is available online at http://ccel.wheaton.edu/bro_lawrence/practice/practice.html ISBN 0-880888-051-1

(NOTE: The original message of Jesus Christ is one of direct Self-realization within one's self of God as the sole reality within ALL existence. However most Christians have been lead by historically false conditioning to believe in their church's (the dry scholars of organized institutions which have formulated external dogmas & rituals) interpretation of Jesus' message instead of pursuing the interpretation of holy Christian saints who directly realized that force known as God as the life force within all things. The true Christians saints historically were often persecuted by the church for sharing the simple truth of Self-realization of the Infinite as the sole reality within all existence which is always a universal and inclusive path in contrast to organized religion which is generally very exclusive and divisive. If one wanted to know how to lose weight, it would make more sense to listen to someone that had actually lost weight. If one wanted to climb Mt. Everest, it would again be more sensible to listen to someone who had actually done it. Even so if one really wants to know about Jesus and God, makes far more sense go straight to listen to the testimony of the real saints of the Christian faith, cause they're the only ones who actually experienced Jesus and therefore God).