From: Kevin Perez (juan825diego@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Aug 07 2005 - 12:46:01 BST
Hello Platt,
At the risk of rushing in where angels fear to tread,
I would conclude, from
very limited experience, that the key difference is
one of depth. The Asian
mystic traditions seem to go much farther down the
rabbit hole than the
Christian, born again traditions. I would also make
this distinction
between other Christian traditions (e.g., Roman
Catholicism, Anglicanism,
etc.) and the Christian born again traditions.
Sometime in the late 80s I had the pleasure of
attending a conference at the
Yale Divinity School in which Fr. Thomas Keating (RC)
and Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar (Hindu) shared there thoughts and feelings on
prayer and mysticism.
I remember feeling that I had witnessed (no pun
intended) something
remarkable. Here were these two giants from radically
different mystical
traditions agreeing on so much. Except for the
language, there appeard to
be no difference in what they were saying.
Taking another risk, I quote Fr. Keating on Centering
Prayer. "The first
thing is to heal the most destructive aspects of our
present relationships
and addictive behaviors. As a result, we enjoy a
certain freedom in
practicing virtue and doing good to others. A
personal relationship with
Christ forms. We may experience enthusiasm for
Scripture. Our devotional
life, the sacraments, the liturgy, spiritual reading,
ministry, all begin to
flourish. This period is often called "the springtime
of the spiritual
journey" I suppose born-again Christians have a
similar experieince. The
mistake would be to think that the journey is over.
It has not even begun.
This is just the first stage. But this stage is so
delightful that people
are reluctanct to let go of it."
<http://www.centeringprayer.com/intimacy/intimacy08c.htm>
It's been my experience that born again Chrisitans and
Roman Catholics alike
often stop at this stage. But there's a higher hurdle
for born again
Christians. Their tradition, it seems to me, has not
developed a way of
incorporating dynamic quality. The born again
Christian is, for all
practical purposes, locked into a static quality
system. The born again
Christian may see Centering Praying as mass hypnosis.
Check out "The Danger
of Centering Prayer"
<http://www.bibleguidance.co.za/Weekly/6%20Centering.htm>.
I truly hope this helps.
Kevin Perez, in the springtime of his spiritual
journey and looking to go
deeper
----- Original Message -----
From: "Platt Holden" <pholden@sc.rr.com>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>;
<owner-moq_discuss@venus.co.uk>
Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2005 6:58 PM
Subject: MD Enlightenment or Revelation
> Hi All,
>
> Can anyone tell me what's the difference between
Eastern mystic
> enlightenment and Western born again revelation?
>
> Seems to me both open up heretofore unknown vistas
of experience beyond
> everyday dualism. That some privilege one experience
over the other seems
> arrogant.
>
> What am I missing (besides my being unenlightened
and unborn again)?
>
> Best,
> Platt
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