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Silence and Honey Cakes: Part One
Introduction, Preface and Chapter 1 ‘Life , Death and Neighbours’ pp8-40
Introduction by Laurence Freeman of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) pp8-14
- Before we begin, you might like to think about what you hope to find in this book.
As this book is based on talks given at the 2001 John Main Seminar, an annual event from WCCM, it is fitting for Laurence Freeman, its Director, to provide the introduction.
“These monastic oddballs [the desert fathers and mothers] of an unimaginable different and ancient world may indeed hold a secret for our modern world that no economist, sociologist, politician or religious leader can match. The desert wisdom teaches rather than preaches. Its authority is experiential not theoretical.” p8
1 What do you think this ‘secret’ might be, and what is the significance of experience vs theory?
Preface pp16-20
This is mainly an explanation of how the book came to be, and the sources used, however I’ll pick up on two points for your comment.
“To speak in Australia about the desert tradition … has a special resonance: this is a country with the desert at its heart, a desert that it has only begun to explore spiritually.” p17
2 Whether we are in Australia or not, in what way does our physical context influence how we interpret the desert tradition, or, what is the desert at the heart of our country yet to be explored spiritually?
“This little book is meant as a modest contribution to the discovery of a church renewed in contemplation across the cultural frontiers of our world.” p17
3 How do you imagine this church ‘renewed in contemplation’ might look?
Life, Death and Neighbours pp22-40
The premise of this chapter is the quote from Antony the Great “Our life and our death is with our neighbour. If we win our brother, we win God. If we cause our brother to stumble, we have sinned against Christ.” p22&23
“Everything begins with this vision and hope of putting the neighbour in touch with God in Christ. On this the rest of our Christian life depends, and it entails facing the death of a particular kind of picture of myself. If I fail to put someone in touch with God, I face another sort of death, the death of my relation with Christ, because failing to win the neighbour is to stand in the way of Christ, to block Christ’s urgent will to communicate with all. The desert monastics are keenly interested in diagnosing what sort of things get in the way here, what things counts as blocking someone else’s relation with Christ.” p25
4 What sorts of things do you think count as ‘blocking someone else’s relation with Christ’? What experience have you had where your relation with Christ has been blocked by another?
“The fundamental need as far as the counsellor is concerned is first of all to put themselves on the level of the one who has sinned, to heal by solidarity not condemnation.” pp28-9
“But the plain acknowledgement of your solidarity in need and failure opens a door: it shows that it is possible to live in the truth and to go forward in hope. It is in such a moment that God gives himself through you, and you become by God’s gift a means of connecting another with God. You have done the job you were created to do.” p31
“We love with God when and only when we are the conduit for God’s reconciling presence with the person next to us. It is as we connect the other with the source of life, that we come to stand in the place of life, the place cleared and occupied for us by Christ.” p40
5 Thinking of experience you may have had of being healed by ‘solidarity not condemnation’, how has that influenced, or might it influence, your ability to ‘do the job you were created to do’ by being ‘a conduit for God’s reconciling presence’ for another? What is your experience of standing in the ‘place of life’?
Please feel free to comment on any, or all, of these questions, or anything else from pp8-40. You may also respond to any of the comments made by others.
Life, Death and Neighbours
Some comments of my own, with the part of the chapter that sparked them typed first:
The facts of human life together are normally so messy, so unpromising and unedifying. pg 22
My response:
Oh yes!
Other people in their actual material reality do make things a lot more difficult, when what we think we want is spirituality – pg 22 – cont
My response:
So we join churches, church groups, the Associates, in order to find it?? And want them to remain nice, clean, tidy, attractive and comfortable?
– cont – when what we think we want is spirituality – the cultivation of a sensitive and rewarding relationship with eternal truth and love. And this is where the desert monastics have an uncompromising message for us: a relationship with eternal truth and love simply doesn’t happen unless we mend our relations with Tom, Dick and Harriet.
My response:
Ow. Wow.. Uncompromising.
And what does that take? It takes looking deep within ourselves and honestly facing what one sees.
The actual substance of our relationship with eternal truth and love is bound up with how we manage the proximity of these human neighbours. pg 23
My response:
That sounds like work. Or surrender. Or more acurately – acceptance of oneself. And then of others. Which takes both work and surrender. It takes letting go.
Commenting on Rosie’s questions:
4 What sorts of things do you think count as ‘blocking someone else’s relation with Christ’? What experience have you had where your relation with Christ has been blocked by another?
My response:
‘Forcing’ ones own way of relation with Christ on others blocks their relation with Christ. For example, an experience I have had of being told that I have to bow or pray a certain prayer. Actually, that was my relation with Mary! Funny! The same experience may perhaps be a block for someone’s relation with Christ.
5 Thinking of experience you may have had of being healed by ‘solidarity not condemnation’, how has that influenced, or might it influence, your ability to ‘do the job you were created to do’ by being ‘a conduit for God’s reconciling presence’ for another? What is your experience of standing in the ‘place of life’?
My response:
When I have had an experience of being healed by ‘solidarity not condemnation’ it strengthened me and gave me courage when the time came to be ‘a conduit for God’s reconciling presence’ for another.
My experience of standing in the ‘place of life’ is that this is the real stuff. It is having the awareness that this is what is it’s all about.
With further reflection I would like to add to the comments above.
To this part:
cont – when what we think we want is spirituality – the cultivation of a sensitive and rewarding relationship with eternal truth and love. And this is where the desert monastics have an uncompromising message for us: a relationship with eternal truth and love simply doesn’t happen unless we mend our relations with Tom, Dick and Harriet.
My response:
Ow. Wow.. Uncompromising.
And what does that take? It takes looking deep within ourselves and honestly facing what one sees.
I would now add:
To honestly face what one sees, one has to sit with it and stay with it in order to accept the reality of it.
It is when that reality is lovingly accepted that we begin to accept and love ourselves.
The actual substance of our relationship with eternal truth and love is bound up with how we manage the proximity of these human neighbours. pg 23
My response:
That sounds like work. Or surrender. Or more acurately – acceptance of oneself. And then of others. Which takes both work and surrender. It takes letting go.
I would now say:
It takes acceptance of oneself and the neighbour, simultaneously.
It takes the work of surrender.
It takes letting go of control.
To question 5 of Rosie’s:
5 Thinking of experience you may have had of being healed by ‘solidarity not condemnation’, how has that influenced, or might it influence, your ability to ‘do the job you were created to do’ by being ‘a conduit for God’s reconciling presence’ for another? What is your experience of standing in the ‘place of life’?
My response:
When I have had an experience of being healed by ‘solidarity not condemnation’ it strengthened me and gave me courage when the time came to be ‘a conduit for God’s reconciling presence’ for another.
My experience of standing in the ‘place of life’ is that this is the real stuff. It is having the awareness that this is what is it’s all about.
My response would now be:
Thinking of experience I have had of being healed by ‘solidatity not condemnation’, my ability to ‘do the job I was created to do’ by being ‘a conduit for God’s reconciling presence’ for another was bolstered and strengthened. The experience gave me confidence to do it for another.
My experience of standing in the ‘place of life’ is that it was life giving.
Preface
This is mainly an explanation of how the book came to be, and the sources used, however I’ll pick up on two points for your comment.
“To speak in Australia about the desert tradition … has a special resonance: this is a country with the desert at its heart, a desert that it has only begun to explore spiritually.” p17
2 Whether we are in Australia or not, in what way does our physical context influence how we interpret the desert tradition, or, what is the desert at the heart of our country yet to be explored spiritually?
My response:
In New Zealand we have the Desert Road, a place of little growth, of ‘barreness’, cold or heat, emptiness. If one was to go off the road – silence, solitude.
“This little book is meant as a modest contribution to the discovery of a church renewed in contemplation across the cultural frontiers of our world.” p17
3 How do you imagine this church ‘renewed in contemplation’ might look?
My response:
Peaceful. Connected to one another.
That is, connected to each other.
Before we begin, you might like to think about what you hope to find in this book.
My response:
I hoped to find a deeper understanding of the desert fathers’ and mothers’ wisdom and to be able to apply some of this wisdom to my life in the present.
As this book is based on talks given at the 2001 John Main Seminar, an annual event from WCCM, it is fitting for Laurence Freeman, its Director, to provide the introduction.
“These monastic oddballs [the desert fathers and mothers] of an unimaginable different and ancient world may indeed hold a secret for our modern world that no economist, sociologist, politician or religious leader can match. The desert wisdom teaches rather than preaches. Its authority is experiential not theoretical.” p8
What do you think this ‘secret’ might be, and what is the significance of experience vs theory?
My response:
I think the ‘secret’ might be how to live in a way that keeps oneself close to God.
I see the significance of experience vs theory being that humans have to experience to learn. To learn how to remain present to ourselves and to God, I think we have to stay in the ‘harsh environment’, the tough place. We need to sit with tough feelings, tough emotions. Face them and experience them. From that, learning comes.
My response:
I think the ‘secret’ might be how to live in a way that keeps oneself close to God.
I would change that now to:
how to live in a way that keeps us close to God.
I see the significance of experience vs theory being that humans have to experience to learn. To learn how to remain present to ourselves and to God, I think we have to stay in the ‘harsh environment’, the tough place. We need to sit with tough feelings, tough emotions. Face them and experience them. From that, learning comes.
Now I would add:
Experience them until we accept reality and truth.
For me the experience of being moved by music and being able to be immersed by the playing of it ; heart, soul and mind are altered undefinably. The ‘secret’ is perhaps that it is inexplicable. So with the experience of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
I think that experience and theory are linked but are not the same. Theory is an intellectual pursuit but necessary of course. A practice can change us
When spirituality is personal its expression becomes transformational for me. Maybe Christ meant this when he has been reported as saying to go and pray in secret.
I become a barrier to another (neighbour) when I impose my experience upon another person, and humility is required to allow the individual to his/her own understanding. We’re all individuals and our own experience is and should remain unique.
addit – (contd) from 12.18pm comment
Albert Einstein had a fabulous quote. “In theory, theory and practice are the same in practice they are not.”
“Experience might keep me safe when the imperfections of the real world bite me” ref American Museum of Natural History.
Therefore I would like to offer three key words – attitudes like Service, Listening and knowledge which in Biblical terminology means relationship. All this might be the ‘secret’ that needs to be conveyed. Lastly – Discredited Trump says “Dump theory which cannot be practiced.” – col smith (colleen)
Mindful of The 7 deadly sins Lust, Gluttony, Greed,Sloth,Wrath, Envy and Pride. These sins have been noted in Evagrius Ponticus teachings and in his pupil John Cassians writings and of course the Desert Fathers. reference www. This seems to me to take a very discerning person to be able to advance through or from these sins by way of the knowledge that God exists. Therefore “I am because we are” writes J S Mbitis – Christian African Philosophy of Ubuntu. ie being human through other people. Ah, Yes “…standing back before the mystery of the other… and the sin of inattention… not being tuned in ” ref book study- Silence and Honey Cakes. St Antony the Great had a Spiritual antedote. “Is there anyone as Holy as I am” Therefore “Let us light up the nation with a smile” says (reference ) James Nesbit at King Charles III Coronation Party. And from me this writer Let us always remember to be truly real -let us allow ourselves to have our hair loved off. ref. The Velveteen Rabbit. – Col smith
The ‘secret’ the desert parents point towards, it seems to me from the text, is accepting the other despite our differences (especially in our religious understandings), which enables honesty and openness, that can then include respectful disagreement. It is what ‘love’ means and is the heart of Christianity, but is a ‘secret’ in a contemporary secular competitive capitalist world.
What is really secret today is silence and prayer as the way to become loving persons together. It is also to some extent secret in modern institutional religion which focuses on right belief, religious actions and specific ethical standards.
Individually we need to be accepting of the person of the other, even if we cannot accept some of their actions. This is based, in Williams view, on recognition that we, despite our faith orientation, are naturally self oriented, just like the other we reject, for example the contemporary secular capitalist person.
In small groups of a shared spiritual orientation it is feasible to accept difference which we are unfamiliar with or even have difficulty accepting (eg around gender or sexuality). Because the desert parents were small informal voluntary groups with minimal institutional structures, who focused on the ‘secret’, they offer a good model for us today. Groups like the Associates can follow this model.
In my own view formal church institutions can only effectively contribute to our human lives today if they ‘die to’ their traditional self understanding as owning salvation for all. They need to modestly affirm the secret within the Christian life, while being open to the truth in other traditions. This to me is what ‘Our life and death is with our neighbour’ mean today at a collective level.