Emptiness

12 December 2015 I want to write about emptiness, loneliness, meaningless, and the apprehension of death. This is what I feel at the moment. But what to say? How to write about these feelings? I might say that there are days when I struggle with these feelings. There are days when I wonder what my … Continue reading Emptiness

Repetition

In prayer, when I attend to this body, there are two things I do. I remember and invoke sensations of God's presence that I experienced in the past. (See Where to start?). Ignatius calls this repetition.I feel into this body and attend to the body's sensations. The body tells me what I need to know … Continue reading Repetition

Practising kindness

I had a salutary experience yesterday evening. I was leading Open Soul Space, a facilitated gathering for meditation, contemplative prayer, sharing and teaching that is offered monthly at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction. We had all just settled down for 20 minutes’ silence when a man started talking on his phone in the street … Continue reading Practising kindness

Meaning and purpose

I am feeling better this morning. (I always feel better after a good shit! [It was suggested by an early reader that I shouldn't say this. This is probably good advice which I have chosen to ignore. Spirituality, if understood as the life though which we become more and more transparent to God, more than … Continue reading Meaning and purpose

Cultivation

A thought, a feeling, and a physical sensation are different manifestations of the one phenomenon in the matrix that is the human person. Unconscious and barely conscious thoughts can be traced in this body. Sometimes, listening in to the chatter in the barely conscious, I hear the whisper of unhelpful thoughts and attitudes through noticing … Continue reading Cultivation

Desire and this body

In meditative or contemplative practices, the advice on dealing with so-called 'distractions' is to come back either to your breath, or to a word, phrase or mantra. I want to write about attention to this body in contrast to, or in concert with, the breath or a word. I have just prayed. When I noticed … Continue reading Desire and this body

Evanescence (IV)

4. Prayer on retreat, July 2014 [Read parts I, II & III] Here I am again, looking for something exciting on the iPhone, doing everything I can to avoid prayer. It is addiction: anything to stop me coming home to myself, and the work of coming home to You. What am I doing? I am … Continue reading Evanescence (IV)