School of Meditation Weekly Teachings

Weekly Teachings 25/3/2012

Images as Blocks on the Spiritual Path

Often when people meditate and feel themselves slipping into silence they stop in fear and panic. Why is that so often the case? It has to do with our image of God and our self- image. They may be such that entering into the silent presence of the spirit of Christ within is too challenging. Thoughts such as “Is God really unconditionally loving and forgiving?” “ Will he not find me wanting?” stop us in our tracks.

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Weekly Teachings 18/3/2012

Psychology and Spirituality

We have been exploring in the last few letters the importance of self-knowledge on two levels. Firstly we need to become aware of the wiles of the ego, “cleansing our doors of perception”, as William Blake called it. We noted the various images of self and God, which can hinder us on the path to the Divine. Secondly we need to remember that we are more; we also have another deeper spiritual level to our being, often called our true self. Learning to understand the ‘wounded ego’ is often seen as “merely psychological”, not spiritual.

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Weekly Teachings 11/3/2012

The Gospel of Thomas

The teaching of Jesus in the ‘Gospel of Thomas’ expresses beautifully what we have been talking about. It encourages us to open ourselves to the Divine Reality, to Divine Wisdom. The way is true self-knowledge, arrived at by truly listening in silent interiority to the deeper spiritual significance of his teaching. Our effort is supported by his all-embracing grace. Read more »

Weekly Teachings 4/3/2012

Effort versus Grace

Thomas sees Jesus guiding us by encouraging us to understand the teaching of his sayings, but also clearly laying the responsibility for our salvation on our own shoulders. Interestingly enough, finding the true interpretation of these sayings is similar to the deeply attentive reading of Scripture that Origen stressed, which according to him led to and was aided by contemplative prayer.

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Weekly Teachings 26/2/2012

From Ignorance to Knowledge

By reading Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel of Thomas contemplatively, as a Lectio Divina, combined with meditation, contemplative prayer, we are led to see Reality as it truly is and to experience that in our essence we are already one with the Divine through the consciousness of Christ that dwells in our hearts. But Jesus is very aware of our difficulty to do so: “The Father’s Kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.” 

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Weekly Teachings 19/2/2012

Self-Consciousness Versus Self-Knowledge

The importance awarded to insight, resulting in true self-knowledge, is brought out by the essential advice given by spiritual teachers and philosophers throughout history: Man know thyself. We are encouraged not only to get to know the ‘ego’ and the way it is motivated, which will lead to the possibility of change, but also true ‘self’-knowledge, i.e. knowledge of the ‘Self’, awareness of our total being and of the Divine within.

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Weekly Teachings 12/2/2012

Escape Strategies

If we misunderstand meditation and don’t see it as prayer, as a spiritual discipline, but instead see it as a form of relaxation, a way of dealing with the stress of life, of escaping into our imagination and fantasies, we can practice for years without any increase in awareness or resulting transformation.

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Weekly Teachings 5/2/2012

The Perennial Philosophy

The possibility of integration of the ‘Self’ with Ultimate Reality is clearly expressed in the ‘Perennial Philosophy’,* which describes the common ground of all the World’s great religions and philosophies. It is important to remember that the commonality this Philosophy stresses is founded in actual practical spiritual experience that takes place outside the time and space of our usual material reality and not in theological or religious dogma.

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Weekly Teachings 29/1/2012

The Gift of Divine Grace

Spiritual transformation is outside our control. This total change of consciousness cannot be ‘achieved’ in any way but is a gift of divine grace.

Although the spiritual journey is often presented in a linear fashion, quietening first the body, then the mind, so the spirit can be touched, we are not dealing with progressive stages but simultaneous, overlapping, deepening levels: we spiral through them, being afforded glimpses, as we practise.

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Weekly Teachings 22/1/2012

The Christian Meditation Group Leader

The qualities of a group leader:

- A personal commitment to meditation as taught in the Christian Meditation Community

- The wish to share this gift with others.

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