Spiritual transmission in Integral Prayer
Read MorePart One: Awakening Spiritual Energy and Ecstasy
As we have explored spiritual energy, it’s now time to consider the common outflow and experience of the presence of this energy: ecstasy. This powerful word often causes strong reactions in a variety of ways. Especially for us as respectable, well-mannered Westerners it might sound a little . . . extreme. It may arise apprehension, or maybe even discouragement as an unrealistic experience to hope for. Perhaps you feel perfectly satisfied with a quieter, more contemplative spirituality and ecstatic spiritual energy sounds a little too “out there.”
That may be your path and that’s ok. But it may also be only half of the story.
Spiritual practices of contemplative stillness are ultimately meant to bring us into a place of intimacy with the deep divine, into union with God, into a state of new life and being. The felt experience of this will often not be one of stillness, but be filled with energy, ecstasy, and bliss. We will find ourselves not just in the quiet, but in the experience, presence, and union with God beyond, beside, and being us.
Are experience, presence, and union with God the primary intentions of Christian spirituality? If so, is our spiritual practice leading us toward that realization? Could it be possible that our attachment to stillness is repressing the flow of spiritual energy which can be our awakening into the wholeness of integrated, embodied Christian mysticism?
Read MoreSpiritual Energy Part 4
“Driven by the forces of love, the fragments of the world seek each other, so that the world may come to being. This is no metaphor; and it is much more than poetry.”
–Teilhard de Chardin
As we awaken to the spiritual energy within us, we find ourselves drawn more and more to the radial energetic dynamic, the drawing forward and further. This is no solo affair or hero’s journey. This radial energy “bundles.” It draws us together. It is the antithesis to the fragmentation, separation, and loneliness so pervasive today.
This attraction is not only for companionship but for the discovery and mutual expression of the evolving realities that are emerging in our midst. They more easily arise and can be discovered in a collective context. Even more, the community itself, the combining of energies, is instrumental to this movement forward.
Read MoreSpiritual Energy Part 3
Mysticism is often seen in duality as an opposite to social action. There is the life of prayer and contemplation, alone in the closet, removed from the world. And then there are those who go out and get things done, help people, and change things.
Even if you don’t believe that harsh framing, perhaps you sometimes find yourself asking, “How can I navel gaze when the world is on fire? Shouldn’t I be doing something about it?”
So let’s consider it this way: How do you put out a fire?
Do you throw nearby cups of water onto the flames? No, you need more force than that, more resources. You need to connect down into the deeper source of continual water flow.
Read MoreSpiritual Energy Part 2
In part one, we explored living in the energy of Christ. Christ is the Christian symbol of the divine reality present in incarnation, in the whole of the material world. For us, this is an invitation to welcome a new reality of experiencing spiritual energy at the contact point between spirit and matter within ourselves. This is living in awakened consciousness in tune with the embodied presence of our physical being. This was the promise to the first followers of Jesus:
“You will receive energy when spirit (consciousness) comes upon you” (Acts 1:8).
And this is still something we can experience today, even more so! So how can we welcome this reality into our lives today?
Notice first the passive nature of this process at the start. It is primarily something we receive. It comes upon us by experiencing Christ in an inner experience or a personal transmission from another. After we welcome and receive it, then we begin to cultivate and share in it!
Read MoreSpiritual Energy Part 1
“The energy of universal evolution, which, in the form of an innate pull toward being . . . an energy, the feeding and development of which is to some degree our responsibility.”
–Teilhard de Chardin
In our WeSpace groups, much of the focus of the practice is on the energetic dynamic of the experience. We talk about energy fields, the radiant heart center, strong feelings of love and bliss, the frequency and coherence of the group energy, and more. An unsuspecting participant might wonder how they got themselves into such a new age, woo woo experience. I thought these were Christian groups, after all!
In fact, dynamic energy is written all over the pages of the New Testament and seen in the life of Jesus and the early church. Actually, it’s not just seen, but in many ways is the central defining characteristic of what marked the early church gatherings and the ministry of Jesus: being in spirit (awakened consciousness).
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