(…) in Cassian, John Main found this very simple teaching, which is the teaching of the hesychast tradition in the Eastern Church. It’s our big link with the Eastern Church. He found this very simple teaching in the Tenth Conference. Again, when they speak about prayer, they all speak about the prayer of the heart, so, when you pray, lay aside your thoughts, including your good thoughts, or good insights, or bright ideas, or pleasing ideas that you have, you lay aside your thoughts. This will give you an immediate taste of what poverty of spirit means. And laying aside your thoughts means we’re not thinking about God at the time of meditation, we’re not speaking to God, we’re not asking God for things. But we are being with the Divine in that inner room.
( Sources of Wisdom by Laurence Freeman OSB )
