In an amazing survey of mysticism in the world religions, entitled The Inner Eye of Love, there is a brief reference to agapé. The author, Fr. William Johnston (an Irish Jesuit who served in Japan directing the Institute of Oriental Religions), discussed how the early Christians used the word, agapé, to refer to something so completely different from what then was ordinarily thought of as love.
Johnston explained that today, also, there needed to be a new word other than ‘love’ to express the journey of mysticism. It’s needed because every step of such a journey is “enlighten and guided by a living flame, a blind stirring, a love which has no reservations or restrictions.” Such a kind of love is not what is ordinarily meant by that word. This kind of love “burns at a very deep level of consciousness.” And so today, too, we need to use that ancient Greek word, ‘agapé.’ But all the time, Johnston acknowledges that whatever word we try to use, with the limited vocabularies we humans have at our disposal, what we are trying to express is deeper and more powerful and more wondrous and more mysterious than any of our attempts to express it.
Also he speaks of every stage of the journey requiring a new way of seeing. We might call that the agape way of seeing. When we relate to another person with agape, we discover that agape helps us see to the very core of the other, in order to be able to relate to the inner Essence of the other. Also agape helps us see the basis of our own true essence, and so helps us see the difference between the ego and the Essence within us.
In The Way to Love by Fr. Anthony De Mello (a Jesuit from India) he talked about “the art of looking.” This is how you do it: Every time you find yourself irritated or angry with someone, the one to look at is not that person but yourself. The question to ask is not, “What’s wrong with this person?” but “What does this irritation tell me about myself ?” By looking with agape in this way, the other person will help you see not only a self-revelation but more importantly also a Self-revelation. You will see more clearly the eternal Essence that is your true identity. And that way of looking will help you understand more deeply that you are not an ego-identity.
We don’t like to face this aspect of agape seeing, but De Mello pointed out in harsh detail that agape can help us to ruthlessly flash the light of awareness on our own motives, and to see the emotions and needs of our egos. And so agape can help us face our dishonesty, our self-seeking, and our tendency to control and manipulate. This way of seeing ourselves is necessary to help us see how to free ourselves from identifying with our ego.
He concluded that we cannot truly love other people in the way agape helps us love until we can see them in the full reality of the moment, no longer relying on ideas, conceptions and conditioning, perceptions, prejudices and projections that have been constructed by our egos. But if you are to love the agape way you must learn to truly see. When you look at people this way, you see them in their inner beauty and goodness; then you transform and create.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
Agape and ways to pray
The Rev. Samuel Wells of London wrote about praying in the April 30, 2014 Christian Century. That article came from a conversation after worship in the church he serves. After some ‘coffee hour chit-chat,’ the parishioner took hold of his forearm, and her tone changed. “Say a prayer for my dad, will you? He's not himself, the dementia's really kicking in.”
He gave his standard answer: “Of course I'll pray for your dad. And I'll pray for you, too.” Later he wondered deeply: How exactly do you pray for a person in such a situation? When he later reflected on that question, he came up with this summary of 3 ways to pray.
The 1st he calls resurrection — a call for a miracle. That would be a prayer for healing of mind and body. Wells admits that this kind of prayer is tempting, but he wondered about the times when he honestly feels that healing just isn't going to happen.
The 2nd he labels incarnation — asking that the Holy Spirit to be with the person and family ... give them patience to endure what lies ahead ... and companions to show them agape. He saw a dramatic difference between these two kinds of prayer: "while the resurrection prayer expects God to do all the work, this (2nd) prayer stirs us into action ourselves." Who is better placed to show God's agape than the person praying? Also he felt that her request for prayer was partly a plea that she not feel alone in what she was facing.
A 3rd option (beyond miracles or a comforting presence) is a prayer of transfiguration — looking for something spiritually new. "Show my friend and her father your glory, that they may find a deeper truth to their lives than they ever knew, make firmer friends than they ever had, discover reasons for living beyond what they'd ever imagined." And this kind of prayer can bring the person praying to awareness of fresh insights of meaning and purpose.
After reading that article, I began reflecting on those insights in relation to agape.
The 1st and 3rd ways are opening to the spiritual power of agape as it already flows — to bring “transfiguration” in the life of the person praying as well as holding in prayer another’s life and its possibility of deeper spiritual reality; and “resurrection” thru the power of agape. Because there is always a healing aspect involved in the power of agape, and we have no control over how that healing works, we can actually never do any more than pray for agape to work in another’s life in whatever way agape can work. The outcomes in life are never in our control anyway, so in agape meditation we must always relinquish control whenever we enter agape meditation. The initial part of the 3rd way to pray (“Show my friend and her father your glory, that they may find a deeper truth to their lives than they ever knew”), is the main reason that agape continues to be poured into our hearts thru the Holy Spirit.
The 2nd way is how we let agape work thru the actions of our lives, so that we share God’s agape with the relationships of our lives. So not only do we pray for the person to find more ways to open to agape power, but when we actually are physically with that person, we take the action of sharing agape with her or him. In that way we participate in the flow of spiritual power of agape between persons.
He gave his standard answer: “Of course I'll pray for your dad. And I'll pray for you, too.” Later he wondered deeply: How exactly do you pray for a person in such a situation? When he later reflected on that question, he came up with this summary of 3 ways to pray.
The 1st he calls resurrection — a call for a miracle. That would be a prayer for healing of mind and body. Wells admits that this kind of prayer is tempting, but he wondered about the times when he honestly feels that healing just isn't going to happen.
The 2nd he labels incarnation — asking that the Holy Spirit to be with the person and family ... give them patience to endure what lies ahead ... and companions to show them agape. He saw a dramatic difference between these two kinds of prayer: "while the resurrection prayer expects God to do all the work, this (2nd) prayer stirs us into action ourselves." Who is better placed to show God's agape than the person praying? Also he felt that her request for prayer was partly a plea that she not feel alone in what she was facing.
A 3rd option (beyond miracles or a comforting presence) is a prayer of transfiguration — looking for something spiritually new. "Show my friend and her father your glory, that they may find a deeper truth to their lives than they ever knew, make firmer friends than they ever had, discover reasons for living beyond what they'd ever imagined." And this kind of prayer can bring the person praying to awareness of fresh insights of meaning and purpose.
After reading that article, I began reflecting on those insights in relation to agape.
The 1st and 3rd ways are opening to the spiritual power of agape as it already flows — to bring “transfiguration” in the life of the person praying as well as holding in prayer another’s life and its possibility of deeper spiritual reality; and “resurrection” thru the power of agape. Because there is always a healing aspect involved in the power of agape, and we have no control over how that healing works, we can actually never do any more than pray for agape to work in another’s life in whatever way agape can work. The outcomes in life are never in our control anyway, so in agape meditation we must always relinquish control whenever we enter agape meditation. The initial part of the 3rd way to pray (“Show my friend and her father your glory, that they may find a deeper truth to their lives than they ever knew”), is the main reason that agape continues to be poured into our hearts thru the Holy Spirit.
The 2nd way is how we let agape work thru the actions of our lives, so that we share God’s agape with the relationships of our lives. So not only do we pray for the person to find more ways to open to agape power, but when we actually are physically with that person, we take the action of sharing agape with her or him. In that way we participate in the flow of spiritual power of agape between persons.
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