Uh-Oh. Even Contemplatives Must Beware the Mighty EGO or, Try As We Might to Become Self-Aware, We Can Still Shoot Ourselves in the Foot

Maggie Ross, an "experienced" contemplative (you'll laugh as you read on at my use of the word), warns, among other things, of the pervasiveness of "consumerism", an insidious ego-driven phenomenon of human nature that seeks to grasp and change every original and natural thought and experience of God into something own-able, archive-able--and yes, even profitable.

Also problematic is our use of the word "experience", in that we forget that all experience is mere interpretation, and not reality in itself. True contemplation submits experience to a far deeper Mind and Wisdom, both affirmed by holy writ and tested by a more ancient path.

Enjoy this (as yet) unfinished series as it unfolds. Parts I and II can be found at
http://ravenwilderness.blogspot.com/2014/10/reflections-on-experience.html
and http://ravenwilderness.blogspot.com/2014/10/we-had-experience-but-missed-meaning-ii.html

Maggie Ross (Martha Reeves) is an Anglican solitary. A graduate of the Madeira School, Class of 1959, she is also a Stanford educated professor of theology and a mystic under vows to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

CH +

Monday, October 13, 2014

We Had the Experience But Missed the Meaning III

This simple (but not easy) reorientation goes against what most celebrity gurus are saying. Such people are masters and mistresses of staging artificial environments where people can have "experiences," for which these gurus charge an impressive amount of money. And when their customers come down off the high engendered by such events, they feel more hollow and depressed than they did before. So of course they immediately seek another expensive artificial event that will give them yet another "experience." This so-called spirituality is just another form of addictive consumerism.

Such consumerism is often based on a mis-use of the word "contemplative." The phrase "contemplative experience" is nonsensical, for contemplation properly speaking is about relinquishing all claims to experience, that is, all preconceptions.

read the rest here: We Had the Experience But We Missed the Meaning