This is a dialogue between Paola (WCCM Marketing) and Prof Peter Tyler, a long-time friend and companion of the World Community for Christian Meditation with an extensive academic career. Peter is presently Professor of Pastoral Theology and Spirituality at St Mary’s University, London.
The “mystical tradition” is often seen as something exclusive or even mysterious, yet you speak of it as a “return to the centre of the heart.” Looking at the vast spectrum of wisdom—from the Desert Elders to Sufi and Buddhist sages—what is the common thread they all share that helps a person move from their head to their heart?
Peter: I’ve been teaching this material in class for 30 years now. And whenever I teach Christian spirituality, I always say there are two essential elements, two wings of the tradition. One is the desert monastic tradition of which of course the World Community of Christian Meditation comes from and its background in Fr John Main and Fr Laurence comes from that monastic tradition, that’s one of the essential elements. The other essential element is the one that forms the basis of the retreat, what’s called the mystical tradition, a form of contemplation that’s been around since the beginning of Christianity, but it reached a high point in the Middle Ages. You could say basically it started to really get going around 500 and it really sort of ended around 1600. Professor Bernard McGinn, who’s done some work for the WCCM, talks about the crisis of mysticism that happened in the 18th century. And that means that for today, for people growing up in the church or the churches, it’s not really talked about. I I certainly didn’t know about it when I was growing up in the church and it was only really in my 20s that I came across it in fact, partly from WCCM and the teachings of Fr Laurence. But since then I’ve made quite a long study of it and what I’ve found is that it’s sort of really the best kept secret of Christianity.
It’s not something that people know a lot about it. They may know a little bit about it. So to answer your question, that’s really what inspires me to give this retreat. It won’t be an academic retreat, but it’s a retreat to help the individual seeker.
at St Mary’s University, London
We often approach meditation as a purely mental exercise, yet your work emphasizes a “multi-level” approach involving the body, heart, mind, and soul. Why is it so important to integrate physical practices—like walking meditation or stillness exercises—with the intellectual study of sacred texts?
Peter: Thank you for that question. It’s a really good question.
I talked about studies in the mystical tradition and looking at the texts and so forth. About 20 years ago now, I had the great privilege to be invited to India and there I met what are called the Thomas Christians. So when after the resurrection, Peter and Paul went west to Rome, but Thomas went east to India and he founded the church in India which continues to this day. It’s not been easy unlike in the West where Peter and Paul became state sponsored after the fourth century. In India it’s never been the majority religion but the Thomas Christians have taught me a great deal and I’ve had a great privilege these last two decades now of retreats in ashrams in South India and in the Himalaya. And it’s really from them I’ve got a lot of this notion of integration because for them the spiritual search is – as you say – it’s not a ‘head thing’. It’s something that encompasses the whole body, heart, mind and soul. I think on the retreat it is important that it’s not just about developing head practices, but engaging the whole body on all levels.
at St Mary’s University, London
There’s a retreat coming up at our retreat centre, in France ‘Approaches to Meditation‘ led by you. For those who feel a resonance with these themes and wish to explore these further in a communal setting, could you tell us more about the upcoming retreat and how people can join you in this exploration?
Peter: Well, again, thank you for this and thank you also to the community for inviting me. I’ve taken a motto for the retreat, which is from a Dominican priest called Brian Pearce. A few years ago, I edited a collection on Buddhist-Christian dialogue, and Brian Pearce is one of the leading exponents of this. And he wrote:
And that I think is the theme of the retreat. First of all, that we are all pilgrims together. I am not the guru.
One of the important things in Indian Thomas Christian tradition is that the ashram is not centered around a guru. The guru is Christ. Christ is what’s called the Satguru, the original guru. So the guru of the retreat is not Peter Tyler, it’s Christ. And so we’re all there together and we’re all learning together. I will learn as much as each of the pilgrims will learn.
We are on a journey of love. This is a pilgrimage of the heart. It’s not about, as I said, the ego. It’s not the university class. There’s not going to be a grade at the end or an examination. It’s about our individual relationship with divine, which as Father Pierce says there, is our home. We are coming home. Now, I’ve never actually been to Bonnevaux, but I’m looking forward and I’ve got this sense that it will be ‘a coming home’ for me. And as I say, I’ve been so involved with the WCCM over the years. It’s like a return to the source for me.
