This exercise of meditation, exercising this muscle of attention is something that works, even though you may not feel at the time that it is working. But the fruit of the Spirit begins to, to grow and express itself afterwards. In theological language, this could be described as kenosis, the emptying out. This idea of emptiness, of course, is very important for Buddhism, but it is very central to Christian theology as well. God emptied himself in order to realise the Incarnation. He emptied himself, of his own divinity. We cannot understand what that means but somehow, we can never forget it once we have heard it. So there is this unimaginable self-emptying, taking the attention off yourself to that absolute degree, which then produces this fruit of, of the incarnation. So the self-emptying of God produces the full embodiment of God, in the human. That is our basic Christian faith.
( Attention and Love 1 by Laurence Freeman OSB )
