Experiments In Silence

 Over the last few days, I have been reading a book about Orthodox Spirituality. It's not so much theology as biography. Whilst reading, I was taken back to my love of 'The Prayer of the Name' otherwise known as 'The Jesus Prayer' and its centrality in Orthodox contemplation. I don't recall when I first encountered the prayer or when it was introduced into my own personal piety, but if I were to guess, I would suggest that I have been calling on the Name in this form for over 30 years. Over the last few days, I have returned to intentionally praying the prayer with the pattern of my breathing, sat inside. I experimented praying it walking and found myself aware that in some small way I was joining in the prayer of all that is, longing for mercy, redemption, and wholeness. 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me (a sinner)' 1 Yesterday as I prayed I found myself becoming frustrated that my heart wasn't focussed on the words of the prayer as t

  This afternoon I started reading Maggie Ross's 'Silence: A User's Guide - Volume One.' As I prepared for this period of study leave, this was the first book I bought. I've been wanting to read it for some time. I have managed to read the introduction and chapter one. It's not an easy read and definitely a work of philosophical theology. I should have realised this when Rowan Williams writes the forward and Maggie Ross counts him as a personal friend and the custodian of her vows as an Anglican Solitary. All of that said, I persevered, but it took some time to settle into her use of language and wide-ranging references. At the heart of those opening pages were some striking ideas:  She doesn't refer to the practice of silence or the experience of it as that signifies something that one can dip into on the surface. She writes about 'the work of silence' implying that it takes some effort and perseverance to experience; but also that there is a purpos

 I have now entered an extended period of silence and solitude. During this set-aside time, I am reading, writing and undertaking praxis. Praxis, is a cycle of enacting, reflecting on, and refining practice. In these first few weeks of study leave my practice of silence has largely been centred around an extended period of time as part of the Morning Office; or seeking retreat in the study; and of reading and writing. This extended period of solitude and silence is about continuing some of that, but it will also involve taking stock; of refining practice; of seeking to widen my experience of and entry into silence. It seems that there is much discussion in what I have read thus far about the interplay between inner silence (stilling my inner world and techniques to aid that), outer silence (the noise of 21st cetury living), and solitude (aloneness as opposed to loneliness). I am not sure that I am clear on really what it is I am looking for myself of all of those three - I suspect that