Letting God Be God

A calling to contemplative prayer is a calling to become a new person, a more authentic person, someone who is more profoundly true to their calling to the Christian life and to the Word. When this happens there is an accompanying dissatisfaction with their former life. Trust is the next step. A mentor in this new way is almost certainly needed who will open them to a deeper and expanded awareness, which is holistic, encompassing their entire life. This can be an author, a person, or the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit; they are not free agents. This mentoring is not based on information, but formation in the practises of what is handed down from the first centuries of Christian eremitic and cenobitic life. This has a very real validity of its own and takes advantage of all relevant means through which people have been forced into responding to the presence of God given the circumstances and outworking of a such devoted life. Historically these have been couched in strongly cultural understandings of monastic life: the Bible, chant, and readings of the monastic writers. But similar depth of experiencing God may also be found beyond culturally prescribed practise. There is no need to leave one kind of culture in order to learn the roles of another simply for its own sake. Genuine discipleship can, and does, and with increasing frequency occur beyond enculturated roles. This is not something that is outside of the historical witness of the the outworking of the contemplative, direct experience of God, but is a part and parcel of the early eremitical witness itself. It is one thing to teach someone that a profound bow expresses our love and adoration of God, which it can and for many people does, but it is another thing to simply accept that for the person there may be another way to express this love in a yet more personal manner, which rubrics may actually erode, as long as that person is seeking to die to themselves and to simply allow God to be born in their hearts and actions.