Be Still and Know
Psalm 46, 97 • Psalm 96, 100
Isa. 52:7-10 • Rev. 21:22-27 • Matt. 12:14-21
These words from Psalm 46 have formed the bedrock of my Centering Prayer practice since attending my first retreat at St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, over thirty years ago. This experience was an epiphany for me in that I was ready to begin a spiritual practice, and I was ready to hear Thomas Keating present the psychological concepts behind the prayer. In short, this material explains why we need a spiritual practice such as Centering Prayer.
When we are in the womb all our needs are met immediately—life is good. Then there is the experience of birth when our world is turned upside down. Our needs are mostly met as infants, but sometimes there is a delay before we get what we want—often the need is to be fed. When our needs are not met we start to develop an entity that some have deemed the false self. This part of us screams and carries on until we get the breast or the bottle.
As we grow older this false self, in trying to get its needs met, operates through emotional energy centers which include: power/control, esteem/affection, and security/survival. These centers seem to work in the short term but always result in problems in getting along with other people. We develop programs for happiness that offer the illusion that we will be happy when.... fill in the blank. This perceived "happiness" is not real because there is always a need for more, or better, or different. The 12 step program states it as: You can't ever get enough of what you don't really need.
Another way the false self (some call it the ego or the small self) tries to meet its needs is by over-identification with a group. This has been termed mythic membership and can be seen in the deep political divisions in our country. We are caught in an us and them mentality that makes our group right and the other group wrong. These groups are always exclusive rather than inclusive; We are going to heaven and you all are going to hell.
So what is way out of this dilemma? The cure is to experience enough love and affirmation to finally get that we are okay just the way we are in this very moment. This state may have been achieved by a rare person such as Jesus, the Buddha, etc. but for most of us it is a life-long work in process. As we engage in a practice like centering prayer we spend quiet time with God on a daily basis and experience God's unconditional love for us. Keating referenced this time of resting in God as the divine therapy. Loving and affirming human relationships are also important in this evolutionary process from the false self to the true self—the self God created us to be.
As we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany we remember the Magi, the three Wise Men, who recognized and affirmed Jesus the Christ for the Gentiles. In beginning this new year of 2021, may we recognize the Christ Consciousness in each other—the God in me greets the God in you—Namaste.
Written by Nicholas Cole
A saint he ain’t!