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WEB 4 - ARCHIVE
Commentary 6 - Page 4 |
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PRAXIS NOW
Darkness of
the psyche The Hermit's Message
Way of Theosis Psychological method Prayer of the heart
praxis studies
Introductory studies
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A different way of learning
Behind
the tradition of active inner experience is the tradition of practices
which make that experience more readily accessible to people: a
tradition of interior ascesis or practice. What do they do on
Mount Athos, the forgotten mystical heart of Christendom, and in what
way is it so different from what goes on in the rest of the world? In
what books can you even read about this different way of life?
This
question is not easily answered. There are many books about Athos. Some
of them at least touch on the underlying principles of this ancient form
of monastic life. There are books of theology that touch on it in other
ways. There are the writings of earlier monks in the same tradition,
particularly the Philokalia and the Gerontikon, the one
devoted to the teachings of the fathers, the other to stories about
these same ancient monks. After a long silence, there are new books now
beginning to emerge from Athonite tradition - and some of them are being
translated into English.
But
the problem is that the way followed by these monks is to a great extent
wordless. Because they do not learn by verbal instruction, but as one
might say 'through their fingertips', anything the average monk can put
into words is partial, incomplete. Those who could do better either have
no time to do it, or at least have no time to do so in a foreign
language.
Therefore
the sincere student in Athos must learn to be taught as the monks are
taught; through prayer and practice.
This
method of study - this 'learning by heart' is in a sense very different
from rote learning. It is much slower. It demands more of the student.
But it is also more sure. What you learn in words is easily lost or
forgotten. What you learn fully in this more direct way is yours 'for
good'. But it is also difficult to write about, impossible immediately
to quote source and authority for what one says; one has to search for
confirmations or ask the monks themselves to check the veracity of one's
statements. Eventually, one has to search inside oneself. It is then, when one asks for such things of these monks that give so much, that one makes a remarkable discovery. They have very little time for such things. Their lives are far from the 'escape into idleness' which is Western man's most common view of monasticism. Invisible to all but the most attentive pilgrim is the most fundamental fact of their way of life. Not only their lives, but almost every moment of their time, all is given to God. |
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