Meg's Notes
April 9, 2010 9:39am
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Meg's notes
I drafted this to put into the new book, Lectio Matters before the burning bush. I had to delete this text to keep my manuscript in compliance with original contract. But here on the megfunk
website I'll post these notes in the next few days.
Thoughts Matter: Meg’s notes
Sources:Twelve Institutes and twenty-four Conferences of John Cassian
Rule of St. Benedict (520 AD) is about 7000 words, 823 verses, 300 Scripture quotes (of which 136 are quotes from John Cassian), over 20 other sources of older Rules and Early Christian Documents.
There are 537 teachings in the Rule of Benedict.
John Cassian (366–430) took two seven-year journeys with his older friend, Germanus. They traveled from Rome to Egypt, Palestine, Syria. John Cassian founded two monasteries in today’s southern France. The pilgrimage was a sacred journey to meet the desert Fathers and Mothers. They lived in those monastic settings and listened to their teachings.
John Cassian was a student of Evagrius so he was prepared to gather the wisdom of the desert. The writings of Cassian is considered the richest and most comprehensive source of the theory of religious life for Western Christianity.
Overview:
Ancient Writings from the Desert Tradition: 250–450 AD. About 200 Abbas and Ammas became known for having realized a contemplative life of holiness.
Sayings, stories, history of this period gathered over 2000 Sayings.
80% are about the eight afflictive thoughts.
The Alphabetical Collection has 1,000 sayings from 130 monks. It uses the Greek Alphabet. In that collection Abba Anthony has 38 sayings.
Later there was the Anonymous Collection that was attached to the alphabetical collection. There were first 200 additional sayings, then another 640 set of sayings were also added. These 1,840 sayings got translated into Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Slavonic translations.
The second collection is called the Systematic Sayings, using 21 topics such as discernment, unceasing prayer, hospitality and humility. There are 1,200 sayings in the collection known as the Systematic Sayings.
It came to be known in Latin as the Verba Seniorum, which would have been known by St. Benedict.
While the theme of Journey is in classical literature including Abraham, Moses, and Dante it was Origen who took the journey theme to be the hidden of the Spiritual Journey of a mystical life with God.
Origen was himself an authentic mystic-scholar (b. 185) who wrote extensively from his own experience about the spiritual sense of Scripture. It’s his distinctions that became the stages about the Interior Life: Purgative, Illuminative and Unitive stages along the interior journey.
John Cassian picked up the theme of the Spiritual Journey, saying that there are four Renunciations:
1) Former Way of Life
2) Thoughts of our Former Way of Life
3) Self-made thoughts of God
4) Self-made thoughts of our self.
The end or aim of the spiritual life is union with God. Even now we can obtain purity of heart. The proximate goal is to obtain purity of heart during the earthly life. This makes possible the experience of contemplating God because a heart pure is free of obstacles that veil the immediacy of God’s Presence. Our ultimate goal is God.
The first renunciation corresponds with one’s Baptismal promises to renounce Satan, all his works and pomps (which means ‘attractions’ that don’t bring us closer to God). This is a renunciation to pick up the Christian way of life that is externally virtuous, committed to an ecclesial membership through the Church.
The second renunciation starts the interior work, or the Spiritual (meaning hidden from external senses). This purgative work is the life of asceticism to check thoughts of the former way of life because thoughts are the intentions of the heart.
The third renunciation is to renounce one’s thought of God because any concept is not God—because God is beyond one’s thoughts, images and descriptions.
The fourth renunciation is one that I barely understand. This encounter with the ineffable is about renouncing one’s thought of oneself so that we experience like Jesus how the human that knows the divine.
Again, to repeat this tradition came down to us through the Rule of St. Benedict:
Rule of St. Benedict (520 AD) as about 7000 words, 823 verses, 300 Scripture Quotes, of which 136 quotes from John Cassian over 20 other sources of older Rules and Early Christian Documents. There are 537 teachings in the Rule of Benedict.
John Cassian (366-430) took two seven-year journeys from Rome to Egypt, Palestine, Syria and founded a monastery in today’s southern France. Visited the now famous desert Fathers and Mothers. He and his older friend Germanus lived in those monasteries and listened to their teachings. The 12 Institutes and the 24 Conferences were recommended as daily reading in common stated in Benedict's Rule.
Put these teachings and his own formation from Evagrius into these writings. It is considered the richest source of theory of religious life for Western Christianity.
About Thoughts:
*Afflictions in the Spiritual Life
Greek Platonic idea of Body, Mind and Soul
Holy Spirit is the Soul of the Soul
*Thoughts come and thoughts go
*We are not our thoughts
*Thoughts thought about become desires
*Desires become passions
*Beneficial thoughts become virtues
*Destructive thoughts become vices
There are 8 classic thoughts: Food, sex, things, anger, dejection, aced, vainglory and pride.
Second thoughts become intentions or motivations
Logismois…..train of thoughts
When one removes, stills, orders the thoughts apostolic love (charity) flourishes
Sources of the thoughts: self, God, devil, others
Kinds of thoughts: good, bad, and indifferent
Intentions govern indifferent thoughts toward good or evil
Demons influence thoughts from the outside
Demons cannot touch one's soul unless there's consent
Thoughts cycle over and over again
All people have all the thoughts
Afflictions are linked but one can have the same affliction many times in ones life.
The sequence is logical but may not be one's particular story.
An affliction is adversity in service of the spiritual life.
Discernment is sorting of thoughts (diakrisis)
Extremes meet. It's equally adverse to be too little as too much of a thing.
Thoughts become ones consciousness: food consciousness, sex consciousness, thing consciousness, etc.
The goal is Christ Consciousness: an abiding consciousness of God’s presence.
