Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

Cynthia Bourgeault: Centering Prayer

The best book I’ve read on centering prayer Anglican Priest Cynthia Bourgeault’s 2004 Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. The best DVD introduction is Thomas Keating’s Centering Prayer: A Training Course for Opening to the Presence of God.

I had the privilege of hearing Cynthia Bourgeault live in Auckland several years ago (can’t remember exactly when) and what a treat it was. Most recently I listened to her again, this time in a conversation released as part of the UK’s Nomad Podcast series (episode released 20^th June 2019), which I’ve been listening to since its inception.

In a promo for the podcast conversation the Nomad team write:

“…Cynthia Bourgeault is a mystic, priest, and author, who is committed to teaching and spreading the recovery of Christian contemplative practices. So she’s the perfect guide for nomad’s ongoing exploration of contemplative practices.

She’s been a long-time advocate of the meditative practice of Centering Prayer, and so that’s what we quizzed her on. The conversation is soaked in deep wisdom and insight. You won’t be disappointed…”

You’ll find the podcast here.

Feelings and Discernment

One of the gifts I’ve received in my life has been the gift of a growing awareness of Ignatian spirituality. I’m grateful to Rev. Pamela Warnes who started me on that journey. My first Ignatian retreat was given by visiting US-Jesuit Fr. George Drury SJ (2003).

I’m grateful for the British Jesuit journal, The Way (and its archives), and for the many authors whose books I’ve read, and/or have added to my library: Gerard W. Hughes SJ; Philip Endean; Karl Rahner SJ, Timothy Gallagher, David Lonsdale SJ, George E. Ganss SJ, David L. Fleming SJ, Paul Coutinho SJ, John English SJ, William A. Barry SJ, Michael Ivens SJ, Mark E. Thibodeaux SJ, Monty Williams SJ etc.

Consequently I therefore enjoyed this blog post by Fr. John O’Connor. Here’s an excerpt:

“…ATTRACTION & RESISTANCE

In every moment, any human is motivated by attraction, or by resistance. Those who are beginners in life’s journey simply go with attraction and act against whatever they consider to be distasteful.

The prisoner of this behaviour lives compulsively by the motto: if it feels good, do it, if it feels bad, avoid it.

FEELINGS

We ignore our feelings at our peril. However the feelings we have are simply a starting point for discernment. Feelings are the raw material with which we discern movement towards or away from God.

At this conscious level it may be that God is calling me to do what feels difficult, even painful, at least on the surface of my heart. It may be instead that the evil spirit is shrewdly enticing me to evil by attracting me to something that feels good…”

You can read his full post here. For more, by way of an accessible book for a general readership, I’d recommend Margaret (“Mags”) Blackie’s Rooted in love: Integrating Ignatian spirituality into daily life (My edition, 2013).

David Tacey: The Postsecular Sacred

David Tacey, Emeritus Professor of Humanities, La Trobe University, Australia, most of whose books can be found in my personal library, along with many audio-recordings and conversations, is a voice I’ve long-valued in my own journey. I don’t agree with everything, but I’ve found him a really helpful interlocutor. Undoubtedly, therefore, this book (The Postsecular Sacred: Jung, Soul and Meaning in an Age of Change) will be purchased at some point following its publication, sometime around the 12th July 2019.

Routledge, his publisher, describes his latest book in this way:

“In The Postsecular Sacred: Jung, Soul and Meaning in an Age of Change, David Tacey presents a unique psychological study of the postsecular, adding a Jungian perspective to a debate shaped by sociology, philosophy and religious studies. In this interdisciplinary exploration, Tacey looks at the unexpected return of the sacred in Western societies, and how the sacred is changing our understanding of humanity and culture. 

Beginning with Jung’s belief that the psyche has never been secular, Tacey examines the new desire for spiritual experience and presents a logic of the unconscious to explain it. Tacey argues that what has fuelled the postsecular momentum is the awareness that something is missing, and the idea that this could be buried in the unconscious is dawning on sociologists and philosophers. While the instinct to connect to something greater is returning, Tacey shows that this need not imply that we are regressing to superstitions that science has rejected. The book explores indigenous spirituality in the context of the need to reanimate the world, not by going back to the past but by being inspired by it. There are chapters on ecopsychology and quantum physics, and, using Australia as a case study; the book also examines the resistance of secular societies to becoming postsecular.

Approaching postsecularism through a Jungian perspective, Tacey argues that we should understand God in a manner that accords with the time, not go back to archaic, rejected images of divinity. The sacred is returning in an age of terrorism, and this is not without significance in terms of the ‘explosive’ impact of spirituality in our time. 

Innovative and relevant to the world we live in, this will be of great interest to academics and scholars of Jungian studies, anthropology, indigenous studies, philosophy, religious studies and sociology due to its transdisciplinary scope. It would also be a useful resource for analytical psychologists, Jungian analysts and psychotherapists.”

Contents

Introduction; The Postsecular Condition;  

Chapter 1: The Postsecular Landscape;

Chapter 2: The Mystical Turn; Secularism Under Pressure;  

Chapter 3: A Secular Country;

Chapter 4: The Aboriginal Gift We Will Not Accept; Reanimation of the World;  

Chapter 5: Ecopsychology and Indigenous Cosmology;

Chapter 6: Physics and Reanimation; Postsecular Religion and Atheism;  

Chapter 7: God After God;

Chapter 8: Derrida: Emissary of the Postsecular; Violence and the Sacred;  

Chapter 9: Return of the Sacred in an Age of Terror;

Chapter 10: Epilogue: Sacrifice and the Future.

Martin Laird OSA: Silence Upon an Ocean of Light

Sheila Pritchard offers a few thoughts on Martin Laird’s wonderful trilogy of books about the contemplative life: Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation (OUP, 2006); A Sunlit Absence: Silence, Awareness, and Contemplation (OUP, 2011), and most recently, An Ocean of Light: Contemplation, Transformation, and Liberation (OUP, 2019).

I’ve purchased each book as they’ve been published, but I must confess I’m still only halfway through Into the Silent Land, not because its not a wonderful book, but because of where I’m at, and what’s most alive or needful for me at particular times in my life. In other words, I have a strong tendency to read where I “itch”. I try and read my longing, desire and hope, which is why having a richly diverse reference library, has always been important to me.

That said, I want to strongly commend each of Laird’s books to you. They’re destined to be classics; books you’ll return to, and read again and again, in whole or in part.

Martin Laird is an Augustinian priest (hence the acronym OSA following his name) and Associate Professor of early Christian studies at Villanova University. 

You’ll find a great (online) 8 min, 29 sec section of a PBS programme (from Mt. Desert Island off the coast of Maine) featuring Laird here (circa, 2011). “…Love brings us into union with God, not knowledge…”

Most recently, you can listen to this 2-part conversation with Laird with the team from the podcast Encountering Silence, which I highly recommend – both these two episodes, but also the podcast more generally. Part 1 of the Laird conversation (aired 14^th March 2019), Part 2 of the Laird conversation (aired 19^th March 2019), and the final part here.

 

Three Conversations with Parker J. Palmer

Today, three outstanding conversations – featuring Parker J. Palmer – from the REBOOT podcast

#14 – Shadow and Leadership – with Parker J. Palmer (2015)

Episode Description

Who are you? What do you believe to be true?  What do you bring consciously to the world? And, even more interesting, what do you bring unconsciously to your work, your organization, your relationships? How does that which you have either denied about yourself, or feel uncomfortable about, shape your life, either positively or negatively?   What lies in this unseen shadow?  And why is it important for you to explore?

The work of today’s guest shows up in just about everything we do here at Reboot so we are thrilled to have one of our key teachers, Parker Palmer, join Jerry for a discussion on a very important and powerful topic: Shadow and Leadership

___________________

#42 – Building Relational Trust – with Parker Palmer (2016)

Episode Description

Parker Palmer is a man whose teachings mean so much to us and our work at Reboot, so it’s wonderful to welcome him back to the podcast for a new conversation with Jerry.  Jerry invited Parker back to explore some important questions: 

• What is the role of community in responding to a toxic environment?
• How do I respond when my leader hasn’t done their work and is leading from that place of shadow?
• What does it mean when a leader is using organization to resolve unconscious issues?

As is always the case when Parker and Jerry get together, this is a conversation packed full of deep lessons on leadership, the shadow, the importance of relational trust, and the incredible power present in community. This episode will leave you with new, profound questions and answers about yourself, your role in your organization, and the power you hold, but may not yet accept. 

“The effort to help a leader look at themselves in the mirror and see their own shadow at work is likely to result in punitive action sooner or later.” – Parker Palmer

“The question is how to build (in an organization) the kind of community that creates more resilience in these personal encounters, especially of the tough kind.” – Parker Palmer

“Good leaders are aware of two things: 1) whether they know it or not, they do have a shadow. 2) They need to build a trustworthy network of relationships where people can tell them the truth.” – Parker Palmer

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#86 – How Have You Lived Your Life? – With Parker J. Palmer (2018)

Episode Description

Aging, the continuous passage of time, is a journey upon which we must all embark. As life unfolds before us, we may be naturally drawn towards a state of inquiry in attempt to discern the purpose and meaning in our soul. For many leaders, the draw can be to gaze upon external outcomes as a manifestation of our life’s meaning, allowing our worthiness to be derived from our relationship between mean and end. But what if we were to allow ourselves to abandon the question, “Does my life have meaning?” and instead consider, “How have I lived?”

In this episode, Jerry is joined by speaker, activist, and friend of the Reboot Podcast, Parker J. Palmer, author of the On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old. Over the course of their conversation, Jerry and Parker contemplate the insights they’ve gained in the process of aging, the power of living life with kindness and gratitude, and the importance of remaining open to being human together.

Finally, Sheila Pritchard offers some thoughts on Palmer's most recent book, which still sits on my bookshelf, unread. 

The True Self

"…The true self is a more spiritual level of awareness. We begin to be willing to accept ourselves just as we are. God is as God is and all reality as it is ...This is really what humility is, which is a basic disposition in the spiritual journey: the capacity to accept all reality -- God, ourselves, other people, all creation -- as they are and as they manifest in ... the present moment and it's content…"

~ Thomas Keating, from Invitation from God.

Simon Carey Holt – Discovering God in Everyday Life

Simon Carey Holt has a new book out. Published by Cascade it is titled Heaven All Around Us: Discovering God in Everyday Life.

“If living with a deep awareness of God in our lives is important, how do we do it without moving to a monastery? How do we discern and respond to God amidst the places, routines, and relationships of our everyday lives? In this book, we go in search of God’s presence in homes and neighborhoods, supermarkets and sporting arenas, workplaces and weekends. Along the way we look for practices that can lead us more deeply into the way of Jesus: activities like cooking and laundry, walking and sleeping, shopping and conversation with friends. Throughout, we want to better understand how to make God a central part of our lives, and to hear Jesus’ call to “follow me” more clearly in the world around us.”

If it’s as good as his two earlier books (and I’m assuming its not a US-edition of God Next Door: Spirituality and Mission in the Neighborhood), I’m going to thoroughly enjoy it.

You’ll find more information about it here. Simon is a gifted writer, but if you haven’t read anything by Simon, you might enjoy this 1999 article: Domestic Spirituality: Finding God in the Ordinary, the Mundane, and the Immediate, or this sample from his Eating Heaven: Spirituality at the Table.

Trusting

“When we trust God more, we can afford to relax our self-centered worried efforts to take care of ourselves. In the same movement, we trust our own preconscious feelings and intuitions more. It becomes easier to see the good side of things. They are more available to us, anyway, once we have learned (by meditation or in some other way) to empty the mind and senses of surface strivings and noisy trivia. We have “sold” what usually fragments our attention and divides our energy, so that we can “buy” the beckoning field where our real treasure is to be found.”

~ Carolyn Gratton in The Art of Spiritual Guidance (New York: Crossroad, 1992), p. 105

Christopher L. Heuertz on the Enneagram

A couple of days ago, I quoted Richard Rohr, but today I want to highlight a very well written book, a book that Rohr writes the foreword for. It’s titled: The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth. It’s a paperback and was published September 5, 2017 by Zondervan. It’s written by Christopher L. Heuertz and has a foreword by Richard Rohr OFM. The enneagram seems to be undergoing something of a renascence; especially within some evangelical Christian circles, but also more generally with the range of new or recent publications on the increase.

Over the years I’ve reflected on the significance (with reservations around both the limitations of self-knowledge and the strong tendency to use the enneagram (along with other tools) to put both ourselves and others in (overly simplistic) boxes that don’t take sufficient account of human complexity and the easy tendency to self-deceive) of the Enneagram as a tool for change and growth – my own especially. It’s a tool I keep coming back to.

Heuertz’s publication has as its audience Christians, but it can be read profitably by anyone with an interest in the enneagram, especially if their own journey is animated to some degree by questions of ones relatedness to the Divine, or to something bigger than themselves. In places it’s a little dense and the language a little unhelpful. It can feel overly complex, even though I’ve read the majority of the source literature that he draws from. That said its diagrams a really helpful, and his use of the classic film The Wizard of Oz. The bibliography too will be of great help to those who want to explore the wide-ranging literature on the enneagram. I enjoyed and valued the book, and while I’ve expressed a little critical of the language used in this book, I did appreciate the ways Heuertz’s terminology and word choices gave me another perspective and standpoint as I reflected on my own patterns etc. On the basis of reading this book, I’m also going to explore Claudio Naranjo’s The Enneagram of Society: Healing the Soul to Heal the World (original pub. 1995).

For those starting out, and those coming from a particularly Christian perspective Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile co-wrote IVP’s 2016 publication The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self Discovery. This would make serve as a good introduction. From there I’d move onto Heuertz’s The Sacred Enneagram and Richard Rohr’s (with Andreas Ebert) The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective (1991). New, on relationships, is IVP’s April 2018 release The Path Between Us: An Enneagram Journey to Healthy Relationships. For a good place to start if you’re interested the enneagram and spiritual direction is Sr. Suzanne Zuercher’s Enneagram Companions: Growing in Relationships and Spiritual Direction (2000), followed by, if you can find an affordable second-hand copy, James Empereur’s out-of-print The Enneagram and Spiritual Direction: Nine Paths to Spiritual Guidance (1990).

For New Zealand readers, an interestingly aside is that it was a kiwi that first introduced Heuertz to the Enneagram (see pg. 81).

The Sacred Enneagram is recommended.

Letting Go: Living from a Place of Surrender

Today I’d like to draw attention to a recent post by Sheila Pritchard. Aside from my introduction this is her post in its entirety. “Letting Go” has become somewhat of a mantra for me over the last 7-years (actually longer - here's a 2007 post), and I retain a deep interest in how others explore and engage with this notion of “letting go” (add a “d” and it becomes “letting God”). More positively it can be expressed as “letting in”, i.e. “what do I want to let in to my life?” Or I’ve heard it referred to as the practice “letting things be”.

Sheila highlights a podcast I’ve yet to listen to, but I should get to it this week. Thanks for your reflection Sheila:

“I recently listened to a podcast from Sounds True. Tami Simon interviews Michael Singer: Living from a Place of Surrender.  It is a one-hour interview. In my view it is worth the time spent but here are the main points I found helpful.

The sub-title, The Untethered Life, is a powerful image. Singer says we spend much of our

life 'tethered' to things that hold us down; hold us back from true freedom. Another way of saying this is that we are held back by our old self/false self/ego (whatever term is meaningful for you.) When we let go of the things that tie us down, our true self rises effortlessly. The hot air balloon is a wonderful visual picture of this.

The theme of letting go is prominent. Surrender is another way of talking about letting go. It is no surprise that Singer and many other spiritual writers say the same thing! Cynthia Bourgeault for example talks about Centering Prayer as a spiritual workout in kenosis - or letting go.

Singer emphasises that while all spiritual practices are important training, daily life will quickly reveal what 'tethers' us. Anything that triggers a strong emotional reaction is a clue. It might be clinging to something I want or resisting something I don't want. Either way the challenge is to let go, to surrender. When I am tethered, tied down, by my ego, my best self/true self can't rise. When you notice this, says Singer, relax and release. You have a choice.  

I was struck by Singer's question: "Can I let this take me to God"? Every time we choose to release one of the ties that bind us to a lesser life we experience greater freedom to live "life in all its fullness" as Jesus promised. There are probably dozens of opportunities every day!”

For more on this theme, see this short reflection by US Buddhist practitioner and teacher Jack Kornfield.