Take the red pill

Sister Wendy Beckett, a Carmelite nun, thinks that the woman posing as St. Mary Magdalen for Pietro Perugino is not ready for real meditation. She says, "It is the easy silence, of which the most accessible form is the daydream. Real silence is both supremely simple and yet not easy."

For a time I seemed to be able to reach a kind of meditative awareness that was both outward and inward, the beginnings of a true shedding of self. But I find in the last little while I've lost this. I suppose I should be both patient and diligent. Going into a quiet chapel or sanctuary is a reliable shortcut to this place, but ideally I think I should like to be able to reach it anywhere, especially at home.

A priest of my acquaintance uses breathing and visualization techniques to help people meditate. These things do work, and St. Ignatius himself practised a kind of visualization meditation. However I think these can be parlour tricks. God is everywhere at once. I do not need to visualize myself at the feet of Mount Sinai, or by a burning bush. God is right here, right now. I need to do a better job of quieting my mind, and letting Him in to fill the emptiness. Does that sound like something Yoda would say to Luke? :-)

It would help I suppose to rid myself of empty distractions. There are many ways in which we fill our days with mindless diversions. I have one in the room right now - behind me, the boob tube is playing "Brother Bear."

Above all - let go, and let God. I learned that from someone I admired.

Maranatha!