THE ORIGINS OF THE PRACTICE OF “CHRISTIAN MEDITATION” BY JOHN MAIN

Abstract

The article is devoted to Christian meditation, founded by Benedictine monk John Main in the twentieth century. The paper examines the Christian roots of this practice. John Main and his follower Benedictine monk Laurence Freeman refer to the works of St. John Cassian the Roman, Catholic Saints John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, as well as the work of an unknown author “The Cloud of Unknowing“, which determined the choice of these works for the publication. On the other hand, the author of Christian meditation points to the experience of communicating with a Hindu teacher. All this is reflected in the description of this practice, which contains both elements of Christian teaching and terms and ideas from other non-Christian teachings. The article deals with similar elements, for example cutting off thoughts that arise both during prayer and meditation. The place of meditation in the spiritual life of a person is considered. Special attention is paid to the concept of “mind of Christ”, as it is used by Laurence Freeman for a theological explanation of the essence of Christian meditation. In addition, the idea of representing the Holy Spirit as love between Father and Son is used to explain the essence of the practice. A separate place is given in the work to such concepts as “Ego” and “true Self ”, which are also used in psychoanalysis. The article shows that a number of theological ideas are indeed reflected in Christian literature, but at the same time, non-Christian thoughts can often be seen in the description of Christian meditation by John Main and his followers. It all leads to the idea of syncretism of theological views in the description of this practice.

Keywords

• meditation
• christian mediation
• concentration
• prayer
• silence
• st. john cassian the roman
• “the cloud of unknowing”
• teresa of avila
• john of the cross
• apologetics