Wisdom Roads

Author(s): Lorrence G Muller
Publisher: Continumm New York

Page 18

CHRISTIAN MEDITATION WITH LAURENCE FREEMAN
L.M.: What is Christian meditation or the way of the mantra—as initially rediscovered and taught by Father John Main? And now, by you through the World Community of Christian Meditation? As a corollary to that, why should one practice Christian meditation?
L.F.: That's a lot for one question. It's like one of those Chinese boxes, one inside the other. Well, Christian meditation is a tradition of Christian prayer—a practice of Christian prayer which John Main found, and recognized, and rediscovered—particularly in the teachings of the early Christian monks, of the desert fathers. I think that the first thing one should say is that meditation itself is a universal tradition. You find it in all the great religions. But I also think that, for the Western mind, and for the church today, we have lost touch with our own Christian tradition of meditation. And, we often assume that meditation is only an oriental tradition or practice.