The self-emptying is the first step of the spiritual journey. And it is one of course that we continue to take every day – we are always beginners. But an act of attention is needed to do this. However, small this act of attention may be, like the mantra, we need a little act of attention in order to initiate this process of emptying. It is a decisive act of faith. When we say the mantra, this is an act of faith. And as Fr John describes it, in many passages in his teaching, it is an act of generosity. Remember what Simone Weil said, and I am more and more struck by resonance between John Main and Simone Weil. She says, ‘the act of attention that we give to someone is the greatest act of generosity we can make’. And Fr John brings us into the work of understanding meditation, when he says that ‘we meditate in order to respond to the generosity of God in creating us’, the total generosity, the self-emptying of God. And our response to that must be generosity. Generosity inspires generosity. Attention is a generous gift that we give. And saying the mantra is this act of generosity, paying attention to the mantra without demanding or expecting anything in return, because all our attention is in the act itself, in saying the mantra. This is what makes it pure, because it is purified of egotistical desire or self-consciousness. Little by little, we grow into that. And as we grow into it, the fruits of the spirit inevitably appear.
( Attention and Love 1 by Laurence Freeman OSB )
