Answering the Contemplative Call: First Steps on the Mystical Path - Softcover

McColman, Carl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1571746773 ISBN 13: 9781571746771

Verlag: HAMPTON ROADS PUB CO INC, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

The mystical path is not some sort of static experience for the select few, says Carl McColman, rather, it is a living tradition, a rich and many-layered dimension of spirituality that is in large measure a quest to find the mysteries at the heart of the universe, paradoxically nestled within the heart of your own soul.

McColman first introduced readers to Christianity's lost mystical roots in his popular book, The Big Book of Christian Mysticism. Now McColman is back with Answering the Contemplative Call, to show readers how to apply the riches of the mystical tradition to daily living.

This book is organized in three sections:

• "Recognizing the Call," Explores how each one of us is called to the mystical life, and what that might look like.
• "Preparing for the Journey," shows what we need to do in response to the contemplative call.
• "Embarking on the Adventure" considers what those first steps on the path might look like.

Along the way McColman quotes from the great mystics of the Christian tradition who have also traveled this path, including Teresa of Avila, Thomas Merton, Evelyn Underhill and more.

In Answering the Contemplative Call, McColman offers a practice that will help readers come to a place meaning and purpose in their lives.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Carl McColman is a blogger, author, and spiritual director based in Stone Mountain, Georgia. He is the author of ten previous books exploring spirituality from a variety of perspectives.

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Answering the Contemplative Call

First Steps on the Mystical Path

By Carl McColman

Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.

Copyright © 2013 Carl McColman
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-57174-677-1

Contents

Acknowledgments, 
Introduction, 
Part One Recognizing the Call, 
The Call of the Mysteries, 
Discerning the Caller, 
Wake Up, 
Three Tales of Awakening, 
So Many Different Ways to Do It, 
The Space Between, 
Part Two Preparing for the Journey, 
The Pathless Path, 
Do Your Research, 
Provisions for the Journey, 
Protect Yourself, 
Find Your Companions, 
Learn the Language, 
Part Three Embarking on the Adventure, 
The Mystical Path Begins with Christ, 
The Mystical Path Ends in Mystery, 
Befriend Silence, 
Behold!, 
Worship, 
The Other Side of Worship, 
Of Word and Image—Christian Meditation, 
Praying the Silence, 
Into the Emptiness, 
Kenosis Makes a Difference, 
Where Does the Path Lead?, 
Bibliography, 
Notes, 

CHAPTER 1

The Call of the Mysteries

Life is filled with mystery.

Probably the biggest mystery of all is the simple fact that we exist. Why shouldthere be something instead of nothing? Why are there mountains and waterfallsand forests and beaches? Why do the heavens exist, filled with planets and starsand galaxies? The sheer reality of nature, of the cosmos, is basically a mindblower.

If you haven't already had the privilege, someday may you be present at a birth.Even the birth of animals is wondrous. But the birth of a human being? Wow!Sure, we have plenty of science that can help us understand the processes ofreproduction, of cell division and growth, of the development of an embryo to afetus to the world shattering moment when the baby emerges from its mother. Butthe science just helps us to understand the processes; it cannot explain themystery— the joy, the wonder, the beauty—of a new life, emerging with eyesdancing full of light and a smile (or a cry) to greet the world. Like natureitself, birth is a profound mystery.

Fast forward to the other end of life. For death, too, is a mystery. There's theobvious enigma that none of us has a very clear sense of what to expect when ourtime comes. Sages and saints from around the world have offered up various ideasabout what happens— from reincarnation to resurrection to never-ending rest. Andsome researchers have collated stories of unusual occurrences duringlifethreatening trauma or illness, leading to popular books about neardeathexperiences—traveling through a tunnel to a Being of Pure Light, and so forth.But all these teachings and speculations cannot erase the profound silence ofsomeone who simply stops breathing. Like birth, death is something that, whenencountered, can usher us into a powerful sense of wonder.

Death can be a harrowing, terrifying mystery, for we mourn those we've lost andwe fear the loss of others (and of ourselves). Another painful mystery is themystery of suffering. From the raw jagged edge of grief or a broken heart, tothe agony of unrelenting back pain or fibromyalgia, to the slow undoing ofdementia or the murky despair that characterizes a deep clinical depression—thereseems to be no end to the ways in which suffering can constrict a life orvanquish joy. Even when torment is relieved, it can leave physical orpsychological scars. Why do we suffer? Why must those we love feel such pain?What can we do, when it seems that there is nothing that can be done? Thesequestions defy easy answers, if they can be answered at all. And when we resortto the canned comforts of religion ("God has a purpose in this"; "Your faithwill see you through"), we run the risk of sounding glib and out of touch. Yeteven in its darkest forms, suffering can be a threshold to a most profound placeof wonder and awe.

Before the mysteries of death and suffering tempt us into cynicism or despair,consider also one of the most blithesome of mysteries—the mystery of love. Thatthe person who causes my heart to skip a beat can feel the same way about me—wordssimply cannot describe the joy, the excitement, the reverie, and the hopethat love brings into our souls. Love fills a drab world with color and brings asong to the most cacophonous of settings. It is a force for healing by which ourhearts are refreshed and renewed. Best of all, love takes many forms, eachfilled with its own grammar of delight. Beyond the love of sexual and romanticunion, there is the love of parents and children, the love of family andfriends, of pets, of homeland and nation. We love people, places, and things,and our loves form who we are.

And yet, who can explain love? Why do two people fall in love, while another twosimply cannot hit it off? What inspires passion? Or sustains it? Or repairs itwhen it is wounded? We cannot force ourselves to love any more than we cancompel ourselves to be happy, and yet to love is at the heart of being human.

Another mystery that takes many forms is the mystery of creation (creativity).This is related to the foundational mystery of existence, for all things seem tohave some sort of beginning. On a strictly human level, however, creationdefines who we are as beings engaged with our environment. Obviously, there isartistic creation, from making music to writing to painting to dancing (amongmany others). But the mystery of creation is not limited to the fine arts.Creation is all about impermanence and change, and each of us changes the worldwe live in, in small or large ways, pretty much every day we breathe. Abusinessman creates new opportunities through his deals and sales; a scientistcreates out of her research and theories. Even soldiers can have the opportunityto create peace out of the conflict into which they have been sent. While plentyof life's changes are for the worse (leading to suffering), creative changesappear to generate light, life, and joy where nothing of the sort existedbefore. How? Why? We marvel and we wonder at such a mystery.

Finally, let me touch on the mysteries of right and wrong, and of mercy. A childdoesn't have to be very old before he or she can figure out the differencebetween what is fair and what is unfair. Nobody likes to get the smallest pieceof the cake—and everyone, if we admit it, harbors a capacity for sneaking thebig piece of the cake when no one else is watching. We recognize basic qualitieslike fairness, decency, kindness, and honor, but we almost always fall far shortof our own standards of what is right or good. Why is this? How do we unravelboth the capacity for goodness and the capacity for cheating?

Closely related to the mystery of right and wrong is perhaps the even morepuzzling question of mercy. If we think someone gets mercy they do not deserve,we become indignant—but if the tables are turned and we are the ones injudgment, we beg for mercy, even knowing how unfair it would be. Mercy is abreach of fairness, and yet it is something we honor and respect, and (whennecessary for ourselves) something we desire.

Where, then, do right and wrong come from? Sure, many ethical principles areculturally relative, but others seem knit into the very DNA of humanity. Theorigin of justice is an enigma, and mercy seems just as inexplicable. Justiceand mercy, like each of the other great mysteries of life, bring us to a placewhere knowledge yields to wonder, in the recognition that these essentialcomponents of the human experience can never be fully explained or...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: HAMPTON ROADS PUB CO INC
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1571746773
• ISBN 13: 9781571746771
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 168
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar