Video of the Week

To Pray Without Ceasing

–RM French

A burning desire and thirst for knowledge awoke in me. Day and night the matter was never out of my mind. [I asked an old man], "Please explain to me the meaning of the Apostle’s words, ‘Pray without ceasing.’ How is it possible to pray without ceasing? I want to know so much, but I cannot understand it at all."

“Thank God, my dear brother, for having revealed to you this unappeasable desire for unceasing interior prayer. Recognize in it the call of God, and calm yourself. Rest assured that what has hitherto been accomplished in you is the testing of the harmony of your own will with the voice of God. It has been granted to you to understand that the heavenly light of unceasing interior prayer is attained neither by the wisdom of this world, nor by the mere outward desire for knowledge, but that on the contrary it is found in poverty of spirit and in active experience in simplicity of heart. That is why it is not surprising that you have been unable to hear anything about the essential work of prayer, and to acquire the knowledge by which ceaseless activity in it is attained. Doubtless a great deal has been preached about prayer, and there is much about it in the teaching of various writers. But since for the most part all their reasonings are based upon speculation and the working of natural wisdom, and not upon active experience, they sermonize about the qualities of prayer rather than about the nature of the thing itself. One argues beautifully about the necessity of prayer, another about its power and the blessings which attend it, a third again about the things which lead to perfection in prayer, that is, about the absolute necessity of zeal, an attentive mind, warmth of heart, purity of thought, reconciliation with one’s enemies, humility, contrition, and so on.

But what is prayer? And how does one learn to pray?

Upon these questions, primary and essential as they are, one very rarely gets any precise enlightenment from present-day preachers. For these questions are more difficult to understand than all their arguments that I have just spoken of, and they require mystical knowledge, not simply the learning of the schools. And the most deplorable thing of all is that the vain wisdom of the world compels them to apply the human standard to the divine. Many people reason quite the wrong way round about prayer, thinking that good actions and all sorts of preliminary measures render us capable of prayer. But quite the reverse is the case; it is prayer which bears fruit in good works and all the virtues. Those who reason so take, incorrectly, the fruits and the results of prayer for the means of attaining it, and this is to depreciate the power of prayer.

And it is quite contrary to Holy Scripture, for the Apostle Paul says, ‘I exhort therefore that first of all supplications be made’ (1 Tim. 2:1). The first thing laid down in the Apostle’s words about prayer is that the work of prayer comes before everything else: ‘I exhort therefore that first of all. ‘The Christian is bound to perform many good works, but before all else what he ought to do is to pray, for without prayer no other good work whatever can be accomplished. Without prayer he can not find the way to the Lord, he cannot understand the truth, he cannot crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts, his heart cannot be enlightened with the light of Christ, he cannot be savingly united to God.

None of those things can be effected unless they are preceded by constant prayer. I say ‘constant,’ for the perfection of prayer does not lie within our power; as the Apostle Paul says, ‘For we know not what we should pray for as we ought’ (Rom. 8:26). Consequently it is just to pray often, to pray always, which falls within our power as the means of attaining purity of prayer, which is the mother of all spiritual blessings. ‘Capture the mother, and she will bring you the children,’ said St. Isaac the Syrian.

Learn first to acquire the power of prayer and you will easily practice all the other virtues. But those who know little of this from practical experience and the profoundest teaching of the holy Fathers have no clear knowledge of it and speak of it but little.

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Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

– William James –

Video of the Week

There is seldom a difficulty with religion where there is friendship.

– Sebastian Barry –

Don’t Leave Me Raw

–Omid Safi

Startled out of her daydream, she looked to the right, to the left. She didn’t see anyone, so she drifted back into the daydream. Again, she heard: “I am burning!”

This time she looked a bit more closely, and saw that the sound was coming from….inside the pot of boiling water. A chickpea within the boiling water, to be more precise. The little chickpea, twirling around the boiling water, began talking to the woman: “I am burning….
Get me out of here!”

The woman glanced at the chickpea with compassion. Up it went, down it went in the boiling water. The fire was so hot it made water hot. What kind of fire is this, that makes water boil?

The chickpea pleaded with the woman again: “Get me out of here!”

She reached over, and grabbed a ladle. She reached into the water. And pushed the chickpea back into boiling water.
The chickpea swam around the ladle, and rose to the surface again.“Did you not hear me? It’s boiling in here. Get. Me. Out!”

The woman looked lovingly at the chickpea. She said: “My darling chickpea, I push you back in, because you’re not done cooking yet. You’re still hard. You need to be cooked before you’re worthy of being taken inside.”

As Rumi puts it: If you should leave this place for one perfected
You’ll be a morsel and then resurrected.

All of us are like this, hardened hearts, in the process of becoming soft, getting cooked. The whole of life is like this: cooking in the fire of love, going from a state of hardness to softness, from rawness to being spiritually “cooked.” There is a transformation that each of us must undergo before we are “done.”

Rumi himself summarized his own life as this: The whole of my life
is summed up in these three phrases: I used to be raw. Then I was cooked. Now, I am on fire.

Most of us would be content to simply go from being raw to cooked. For a select few, those who want not just salvation but sanctification, the goal is to actually be on fire. That way, anyone who comes into their orbit can move from being raw to being cooked.

There is such a fire, the fire of Divine love (eshq). This love is not a mere emotion or sentiment. It is no less than the very being of God unleashed upon this world.

In another poem, he pleads with his love, his Shams, whose love is cooking him, too: Don’t leave me raw.

How often we end up being like this. We find the fire of love that cooks us, the fire that transforms us. We begin to cook, to ripen, to soften, and mature as human beings, only to turn away from the love. Being cooked is hard, letting go of our “raw”ness is painful. The ego cannot stand love, and it begs and pleads to be taken out of the fire of love. We stay half-baked, half-cooked, which is to say: half-raw.

To be taken inside another human being at this state causes everyone: indigestion.

We ourselves are the raw chickpea, we ourselves are the fire of love, and we ourselves are the mystic chef/lover who pushes us back into the flame.

May we have the heart, the courage (the word courage comes from root word for having heart) to go through the cooking. May we have the courage to commit ourselves to the flame. May we have the heart to finish our cooking, to make each of us worthy of being inside the heart of another fellow human being.

What a difference between being cooked, and being half-cooked. What a difference between sustaining another human being, and causing them indigestion.

And how sweet to find she who will plunge us back into the boiling fire of love, to get us to finish cooking. Oh mystic chef, she who has the gift of fire of love, all I beg of you is: Don’t leave me raw.

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Many moons ago, a couple friends got together to sit in silence for an hour, and share personal aha-moments. The ripples of that simple practice have now spread to millions over 20+ years, through local circles, weekly podcasts and more.

Video of the Week

To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.

– Rudolf Steiner –

Unexpected Strength

–Author Unknown

The boy began lessons with an old judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn’t understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

The boy finally said, “Teacher, should I be learning more moves?”

“This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know,” the teacher replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the teacher took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the teacher intervened and said, “No, let him continue.” The match resumed, the boy’s opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.

On the way home, the boy and his teacher reviewed every move in each and every match. Finally, the boy summoned the courage to ask what was truly on his mind, “Teacher, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”

“You won for two reasons,” the teacher answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.” The boy’s biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

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Many moons ago, a couple friends got together to sit in silence for an hour, and share personal aha-moments. The ripples of that simple practice have now spread to millions over 20+ years, through local circles, weekly podcasts and more.