Why some Americans mix Christianity, Eastern religions

[Ahimsa]

Because she attends Catholic mass every Sunday and observes all the religious holidays of her faith, Angela Bowman may well exemplify the Latin root of the word “religion,” which is “to bind.”

But the Chicagoan also meditates several times each day and practices yoga every other week. She knows Catholicism, Hinduism, and Buddhism have contradictory elements but is unfazed by her multiple observances because, to her, “it’s all pretty much the same thing.”

“The biggest part of praying is opening yourself up to a connection with God, and I perceive clearing your mind in meditation as another form of receptivity,” says the 30-something textbook editor. Although she is a devoted Roman Catholic, she says she doesn’t “believe it’s the one true path and anything else is flirting with the devil.”

Ms. Bowman’s attitude tracks with those in a study released last month, which found that large numbers of America’s faithful do not neatly conform to the expectations or beliefs of their prescribed religions, but instead freely borrow principles of Eastern religions or endorse common supernatural beliefs.

The intermingling of faiths is not new, but some Christian leaders worry that its apparent increase in America distracts worshipers from the true path and dilutes Christian doctrine. But others say mixing and matching elements of different faiths is inevitable, given exposure to other parts of the world made possible by today’s technology, and actually creates more opportunities to address people’s yearning for spiritual growth. If the global marketplace divvies up the production, distribution, and marketing of goods among different continents, they say, why shouldn’t religions be shared the same way?

Practicing meditation and yoga is not the same thing as practicing “Hinduism” and “Buddhism”.

 

[Garyjohn2]

That’s true. Christians meditate, even athiests meditate. And everyone does Yoga. It’s a very healthy, low-impact excersize!

 

[SugarMagnolia]

Practicing meditation and yoga is not the same thing as practicing “Hinduism” and “Buddhism”.

This is true. However, these practices do derive from Eastern religions. Yoga is all about the Hindu belief in chakras. Meditation is about achieving nirvana. They can be “divorced” from their Hindu or Buddhist roots and practiced as secular exercise or relaxation systems. But I think Catholics should understand where these practices come from so that they can reap the physical benefits without inadvertantly adopting the belief systems that traditionally accompany them.

 

[Garyjohn2]

This is true. However, these practices do derive from Eastern religions. Yoga is all about the Hindu belief in chakras. Meditation is about achieving nirvana. They can be “divorced” from their Hindu or Buddhist roots and practiced as secular exercise or relaxation systems. But I think Catholics should understand where these practices come from so that they can reap the physical benefits without inadvertantly adopting the belief systems that traditionally accompany them.

That makes sense, but at the same time I am pretty sure meditation is also an ancient christian practice, a form of prayer, although they do it a bit differently than buddhists.

 

[FCEGM]

Practicing meditation and yoga is not the same thing as practicing “Hinduism” and “Buddhism”.

The woman quoted in the article is gravely mistaken about Christian meditation; it is not about “clearing your mind”, but about reflecting on the things of God, and most particularly on the humanity of Christ. It’s sometimes asserted that because of the Church’s ecumenical efforts in turning to dialogue with the world, and so with the major religions of the world, we can now utilize the methods of some of those religions in approaching Christian prayer. The danger is – and there is a danger – that a syncretistic result of too quick an acceptance of Eastern methods will bring a consciousness that will actually dilute or obstruct progress in the spiritual life and that this error will be quite subtle, though no less harmful for its subtlety.

One is reminded of the sort of dialogue Our Lord Himself engaged in with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He approached them and asked questions, which gave them the opportunity to express what they understood and felt, and then He instructed them about the meaning of Scripture. He really did not learn anything new from them at all. The dialogue allowed Him to preach to them the Truth. Since the Church is the Body of Christ which continues His mission to teach all nations about ultimate reality and how to reach it, really the goal, the Church has the loving duty to relay to them the Good News and knowledge of the End or goal to be reaches and the essential means.

Hinduism and Buddhism teach nothing about the Trinitarian Revelation. The objection to this may be that these religions have something to teach regarding the means to that truth. But there is something missing here: There is an intrinsic connection between means and ends, e.g., in Buddhism there is an attempt at a solution to the experience of suffering; it sees the origin of suffering in all desires. The practical goal is therefore to eliminate all desires, and that can only be done by an active emptying of consciousness, of anything definite which could be desired; thus meditation as a method, because when in this state of consciousness of emptiness is attained then enlightenment as an awareness of ultimate reality indistinguishable from the practitioner’s awareness brings wisdom as the experience of the illusion of all that appears and the fullness of the cosmic energy behind the appearances.

It is obvious that there is a necessary relationship between the means and the end in such meditative emptying of consciousness of all definite beings. Along the way to such an experience of “wisdom” (which we might call an experience of being) there is possible the upsurge of the subconscious which must be faced by correct guides so that the practitioner does not “flip out”, as the vernacular has it.

Now the danger is not limited to such a weakness of psyche, but to the hostility of evil spirits, for WE know (or should know!) that the cosmos and the human arena is not neutral but practically and actually a battleground of good and evil; and that the most malevolent evil is damned spirits or fallen angels who have a certain control of cosmic laws, and that passivity of soul is precisely the condition which makes it easy for demonic molestation or worse! The demon having been driven out comes back with seven more to occupy the empty house, and the latter is worse than the former, as the Gospel warns us. And we know that this is not idle speculation regarding Hinduism and Buddhism where strong demonic elements persist alongside genuine human values. We know that generally speaking there has been an upsurge in our times of the demonic with the secularization and apostasy of our civilization as a whole; so it is almost playing with fire by naifs to pursue such methods.

St. John of the Cross provides little concrete methodology for practicing and maintaining this “clearing of the mind” of which the woman quotes speaks. Indeed! And there is a very good reason for that, as expressed in St. Teresa of Jesus’ statement that if you would desire supernatural contemplation you’d best cultivate the virtues! It is not in prayer that the self-emptying is to be pursued, but in the life of the will, i.e., in the virtues to be accomplished: denial of self is to be of the senses and passions and pride of mind, and this follows essentially from the goal, which is not union of consciousness with the energy of the cosmos behind all the definite manifestations seen as an illusion, but, rather union of love with the Trinity of Divine Persons dwelling within by grace, a union of wills. Self-emptying of the will of desires contrary to or besides the love of God is the task.

Prayer, active prayer, fosters this by placing before us the One Whom the heart desires, so that for His sake everything one does in one’s state of life is done first for the love of God. And this does not eliminate all other desires a la Buddhism; far from it. It orders the desires, especially for those whose vocation is to bring the love of Christ into the arena of family life and work. The acquired “contemplation” possible is thus the prayer of simplicity, in which all the particular desires of the affective faculty are gradually unified in a loving regard when one prays. And it is this state of acquired affective unity that is dried up by the passive purification of the senses and the approach of the supernaturally infused prayer of quiet. Thus there is an essential correlation of means to end in acquiring the prayer of simplicity, i.e, loving gaze of united affections available to our wills to love the One Lord.

continued. . .

 

[FCEGM]

Maritain says it well:

“The Soul in order to arrive at her last end must act, whether she make use of her own activity aided by Grace, or whether God reserve to Himself the initiative of moving her, of placing her in the state we call passive because the activity of the soul when placed in it, although in reality raised above itself is characterized by its complete dependence on the Divine Action, and the suspension of its human method of production. Until God shall introduce us into his repose we should ourselves make use of all our faculties with a view of our sanctification and that of our neighbour. ‘O Love, O God,’ cried St. Gertrude, ‘he who is courageous and alert in the labour of they love, will keep himself continually before the Royal Face.’
“We must therefore consecrate the whole effort of our intelligence, as of our will, to know and love God, to make him known and loved.
“But the intelligence itself can only develop its highest powers in so far as it is protected and fortified by the peace given in prayer. The closer a soul approaches God by love, the simpler grows the gaze of her intelligence and the clearer her vision.
“’None,’ says Tauler, ‘understand better the nature of real distinction than those who have entered into Unity.’ But no one enters into Unity save by Love,” Prayer and Intelligence, pp. 3-5.

This is most important. There is no shortcut to union. At first there is the arduous carrying of each bucket of water from the well to the watering space. Only with infused supernatural prayer, first of recollection and later of quiet, do we get “indoor plumbing”, as it were.

The wisdom also is different since it is the wisdom of Trinitarian Love: “Wisdom opened the mouth that was dumb, and made the tongues of babies speak, Alleluia! (Wisdom 10:21) - entrance antiphon of Easter Thursday.

It is not in prayer, then, that one should look for help or similarity from the East unaware of God of Israel and His Christ. It is rather in the practices that curb the passions and ego and anger and lust and self-indulgence, i.e., in the asceticism of detachment that one can find the bridge. Our Saints and mystics already have this and have it better, since they do it out of Love, and not from the impersonal work of attaining emptiness.

There is a great imprudence in using the laity as guinea pigs in novel ways of prayer, ways that have not produced a canonized saint. In fact, there is little need to put aside lectio divina or St. Teresa’s teaching on prayer. More than that, the Holy Spirit seems to be telling us specifically that St. Teresa’s spiritual daughter, the Little Flower (St. Therese of Lisieux), is to be followed, in having the Church declare her to be a Doctor of the Church. She, of course, found only the Scriptures and the sacraments as digestible food in her mature state. Western religious can become restless and wandering (like Merton) when after many years they have not reached the infused state of simple union. More penance and humble abdication of self-will is likely to bring better results, so the Catholic Doctors teach, rather than using methods designed for very different and inferior goals. Such foreign methods do not lead to union; it goes directly against what Maritain stated, wisely following the tradition that one ought not stop being active in prayer until GOD ordains, and the activity should be always placing the One Who is Love before us, or rather we before Him (therefore the importance of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

 

[Ahimsa]

The woman quoted in the article is gravely mistaken about Christian meditation; it is not about “clearing your mind”, but about reflecting on the things of God, and most particularly on the humanity of Christ.

It depends upon what you mean by “clearing your mind”.

 

[Contarini]

The woman quoted in the article is gravely mistaken about Christian meditation; it is not about “clearing your mind”, but about reflecting on the things of God, and most particularly on the humanity of Christ.

It’s not an either/or. Both are legitimate. God is not a “thing,” and meditation on the “things of God” is less valuable than meditation on God Himself, who is beyond our understanding. The humanity of Christ is, as you note, the exception, since in Christ God became incarnate. Luther believed that only meditation on the humanity of Christ was legitimate and that Catholic mystics who meditated on the infinite being of God were up to their neck in excrement (he used a ruder word). But I don’t think either of us thinks Luther was right in everything

One is reminded of the sort of dialogue Our Lord Himself engaged in with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

No, one isn’t. At least I’m not. The Church is not simply identical with the risen and glorified Christ, and unlike Christ the mortal and fallen members of the Church do have a lot to learn, both from one another and from those outside the Church.

Now the danger is not limited to such a weakness of psyche, but to the hostility of evil spirits, for WE know (or should know!) that the cosmos and the human arena is not neutral but practically and actually a battleground of good and evil; and that the most malevolent evil is damned spirits or fallen angels who have a certain control of cosmic laws, and that passivity of soul is precisely the condition which makes it easy for demonic molestation or worse!

No, I don’t know anything of the sort. I reject this claim with the utmost vehemence. The state of mind that opens one to demonic activity is not a humble emptying of oneself before the mystery of God but an arrogant fixation on one’s own ego.

It is not in prayer that the self-emptying is to be pursued, but in the life of the will, i.e., in the virtues to be accomplished:

Another false dichotomy.

denial of self is to be of the senses and passions and pride of mind, and this follows essentially from the goal, which is not union of consciousness with the energy of the cosmos behind all the definite manifestations

Yes, it is.

seen as an illusion,

Indeed our view of the manifestations of the cosmos is different than that of the Eastern religions, but “maya” is not simply illusion and Christians do not believe that creation is real in the same way God is real. (At least I do not–some Christians, particularly certain Protestants, no doubt do. I don’t think the Fathers did.)

but, rather union of love with the Trinity of Divine Persons dwelling within by grace, a union of wills.

False dichotomy again. The energy beyond all the manifestations of the universe is the energy of the Divine Persons.

Self-emptying of the will of desires contrary to or besides the love of God is the task.

Indeed.

Prayer, active prayer, fosters this by placing before us the One Whom the heart desires, so that for His sake everything one does in one’s state of life is done first for the love of God.

That is one form of prayer. It is not the only legitimate form.

And this does not eliminate all other desires a la Buddhism; far from it.

The word “tanha” does not simply mean desire. Obviously, as my students in World Religions regularly point out, Buddhism presupposes that the desire for enlightenment is itself good (though, as I point out to them in return, one can see in Zen a suggestion that in fact the desire for enlightenment may be a form of “tanha”). Compassion, the greatest Buddhist virtue, is in some sense a desire–a desire that the sufferings of all beings should cease.

I’m not claiming that Christianity and Buddhism teach the same thing, only that the differences are more nuanced than the simple statement “Buddhists want to eliminate desire” would imply.

Edwin