Not too long ago I was accused of not being fair to other traditions of prayer found in other religions. In my defense I would state that it’s not the other prayer traditions that I’m against. Rather, it’s the attitudes that we find in our churches that have their foundation in religious relativism. All prayer traditions are not the same and there is no compatibility with the tradition of Hesychasm and other prayer traditions that stem from eastern religions.
It truly is madness if you think about the great effort of the people who try to take an Eastern Christian tradition and make into a universal practice found in many world religions. For instance, just put “Jesus Prayer” and “mantra” in your search engine and you will find all kinds of stuff. The amount of material out there demonstrates great acts of ignorance for some but for others the work of the devil. The devil knows if he can eliminate the personal revelation of God in the Jesus Prayer it will have no power. This is what we see in the work of those who make the tradition of Hesychasm just one of the many ways to find personal peace, harmony, bliss, or whatever else they call it.
In the tradition of Hesychasm we find the human condition in need of healing. The need for healing has resulted from a broken relationship with God. The Hesychast through healing seeks to return to a state where humanity was before the sickness, where in turn the Hesychast can develop in their personal union with God, which makes them a partaker of the divine nature (2peter 1:4).
The primary means of healing for the Hesychast is the Jesus prayer. Its through the invocation of the person of Christ (Rom. 10:13) that the Hesychast reestablishes and renews their relationship with God. In the deepest sense the prayer is an action of imploring God’s mercy through Jesus Christ by personal repentance. Consequently, you can’t take the person of Jesus Christ out of the prayer. If you do it becomes no more than a mantra.
To be fare to other prayer traditions that use mantras we can say that the Eastern Christian tradition finishes up where they leave off. Learning to focus with the aid of a mantra has many beneficial effects for the body and mind. The benefits allow for a certain sense of peace which in turn can cause a person to contribute effectively to their environment. This experience could be said to be a kin to what we call watchfulness (nepsis) in our tradition. Also, it is here we can say that our tradition completes theirs because in this state of watchfulness we turn our attention on the person of Jesus Christ-we pray to a person.
Hence, watchfulness and prayer are what makes for the true spiritual tradition of the Hesychast. For those that use a mantra the words you use don’t matter since it’s the psychological state they seek. On the other hand, for the Hesychast the words are everything since they link you to the person of Jesus Christ. In addition, there is no guarantee that it will achieve the same results as a mantra since your attention is based upon returning to focus upon a person in the repetition of the Jesus prayer. However, you will experience God for who he is.
The experiences generated by the use of a mantra have often been assumed by some as a force of divinity. There might be peaceful feelings involved but God can’t be manipulated. This is where we find a unique mark in the tradition of Hesychasm. In calling upon the person of Jesus Christ a Hesychast must also live a life pleasing to Jesus Christ. Following the teachings of Jesus Christ is what this Eastern Christian tradition is based upon. To remove these unique aspects that involve the Jesus Prayer is to make it into something it’s not.
It truly is madness if you think about the great effort of the people who try to take an Eastern Christian tradition and make into a universal practice found in many world religions. For instance, just put “Jesus Prayer” and “mantra” in your search engine and you will find all kinds of stuff. The amount of material out there demonstrates great acts of ignorance for some but for others the work of the devil. The devil knows if he can eliminate the personal revelation of God in the Jesus Prayer it will have no power. This is what we see in the work of those who make the tradition of Hesychasm just one of the many ways to find personal peace, harmony, bliss, or whatever else they call it.
In the tradition of Hesychasm we find the human condition in need of healing. The need for healing has resulted from a broken relationship with God. The Hesychast through healing seeks to return to a state where humanity was before the sickness, where in turn the Hesychast can develop in their personal union with God, which makes them a partaker of the divine nature (2peter 1:4).
The primary means of healing for the Hesychast is the Jesus prayer. Its through the invocation of the person of Christ (Rom. 10:13) that the Hesychast reestablishes and renews their relationship with God. In the deepest sense the prayer is an action of imploring God’s mercy through Jesus Christ by personal repentance. Consequently, you can’t take the person of Jesus Christ out of the prayer. If you do it becomes no more than a mantra.
To be fare to other prayer traditions that use mantras we can say that the Eastern Christian tradition finishes up where they leave off. Learning to focus with the aid of a mantra has many beneficial effects for the body and mind. The benefits allow for a certain sense of peace which in turn can cause a person to contribute effectively to their environment. This experience could be said to be a kin to what we call watchfulness (nepsis) in our tradition. Also, it is here we can say that our tradition completes theirs because in this state of watchfulness we turn our attention on the person of Jesus Christ-we pray to a person.
Hence, watchfulness and prayer are what makes for the true spiritual tradition of the Hesychast. For those that use a mantra the words you use don’t matter since it’s the psychological state they seek. On the other hand, for the Hesychast the words are everything since they link you to the person of Jesus Christ. In addition, there is no guarantee that it will achieve the same results as a mantra since your attention is based upon returning to focus upon a person in the repetition of the Jesus prayer. However, you will experience God for who he is.
The experiences generated by the use of a mantra have often been assumed by some as a force of divinity. There might be peaceful feelings involved but God can’t be manipulated. This is where we find a unique mark in the tradition of Hesychasm. In calling upon the person of Jesus Christ a Hesychast must also live a life pleasing to Jesus Christ. Following the teachings of Jesus Christ is what this Eastern Christian tradition is based upon. To remove these unique aspects that involve the Jesus Prayer is to make it into something it’s not.
