Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation

A mature contemplative practice places us squarely before the wound of the human condition, and we learn to meet our wounds in a new way. At first this is difficult, and there is great resistance. But gradually we learn something very precious under the tutelage of these wounds. We learn a compassion for others that replaces judging, self-loathing,

This actually is an obstacle to the humility required to see straight through our wounds into God. For true humility is the wide open space of self-knowledge that opens onto God.

But even with the most halting of footsteps in the silent land, we see that judging others really is not about our perceptions and assessments of others, but the way in which the jaws of our convictions lock so tightly around people that we actually think we know what life is like for them, what they really ought to do or think, as though we know t

Sorrow must be allowed to blossom into self-forgetful love of God.

The temptation to sin is itself disclosing an invitation to prayer, and we are being deepened more than derailed by this very trial.

that is the ground of even our wounds, is that we easily get caught in judging our own faults and failings. By this I do not mean we should not be able to admit fault, confess failings, make amends. Indeed we should. I’m saying that we get caught in this.

He says there are two types of humility, perfect and imperfect, and the awareness of all our faults and failings is what he calls “imperfect humility.”

Let the presence of a judgmental thought become a reminder to return to our practice.

Far from being a sort of passive resignation, this requires a deeply engaged and vigilant receptivity. Simply allow temptation to be in your awareness, without commenting on it, without dramatizing it, without generating a video about it. Simply meet it with stillness.