独处与静默的操练

《灵修神学》
课程内容‎
灵程日志的持续‎
什么是灵修？‎
为何现代人热衷灵修？‎
四种属灵的型态‎
灵修的类型‎‎
属灵之旅‎‎
以祷告来回应神‎‎
独处与静默的操练‎‎‎
等候的灵修:等候神‎‎‎
属灵操练—默想式的读经‎‎‎
回顾祷告‎‎‎
真正的属灵人‎‎‎
放慢脚步的操练‎‎‎

一. 序言

二. 灵程中与神连结的障碍

A. 个人与文化中的过度忙碌

B. 过度的噪音 “Most modern life is a studied attempt to avoid ever being alone.” (Morton Kelsey, Silence, p. 96.) “It is so hard to be silent, silent with my mouth, but even more, silent with my heart.” (Henri Nouwen) “It is impossible to gain proficiency in meditation and prayer while a multitude of distraction is dragging the soul about and introducing into it anxieties about the affairs of this life.” (St. Basil, quoted by Magill and McGreal, Christian Spirituality, p. 26)

三. 独处与静默的需要

A. 以了解自己与神

B. 禁戒嗜欲的操练

C. 静默与独处

四. 独处

A. 独处是促使人敞开内心接受神的一种内在安静的状态. “Solitude is like a body of water at ease--not a stream or a wave-whipped lake but a reflecting pone. When allowed to settle the sediment in the water falls to the bottom making clear sight possible.” (Charles Olson, Christian Century, 12/9/81, p. 1286)

诗131:2, 赛3015, 哈2:20, 亚2:13 “Even when we are not called to the monastic life . . . We are still responsible for our own solitude . . . We have to fashion our own desert when we are withdraw every day, shake off our compulsions, and dwell in the gentle, healing presence of our Lord . . . With such a spiritual abode, we will become increasingly conformed to him in whose name we minister.” (Nouwen, Way of the Heart, pp. 30-31.)

B. 独处的目标 “Whoever is resolved to live an inward and spiritual life must, with Jesus, withdraw from the crowd.” (Thomas A Kempis, Imitation of Christ, p. 42) “The discipline of solitude . . . Is one of the most powerful discipline in developing a prayerful life. It is a simple, thought not easy, way to free us from the slavery of our occupations and preoccupation and to begin to hear the voice that makes all things new.” (Nouwen, Making All things New, p. 75)

“Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain a victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusion of the false self . . . It is the place where Christ remodels us in His image and free us from the victimizing compulsion of the world.” (Nouwen, Way of the Heart, pp, 25, 32)

C. 独处常是从群众退到一安静之地

五. 静默

A. 定义：控制个人的言语以专心聆听神 “Jesus will stay with you as long as you are humble and quiet in your spirit.” (Thomas a’ Kempis)

1. 静默很难 2. 在静默中我们往内看 3. 在静默中我们开始聆听

The 12 Grades of Silence Speak little with creatures and much with God Silence at work and in exterior movements Silence of the imagination Silence of the memory Silence of creature Silence of the heart The silence of human nature Silence of the mind Silence of judgments Silence of the will Silence with oneself Silence with God

4. 静默是神的启示之一 “He waits on the Word of God in silence, and when he is ‘answered,’ it is not much by a word that bursts into his silence. It is by his silence itself suddenly, inexplicably revealing itself to him as a word of great power, full of the voice of God.” (Merton, Contemplative Prayer, p. 90)

B. 静默操练的四个目标

1. 减少自私的自我 “The function of silence is to slow the ego down, to let self-centeredness fade out so that the larger self can take over and be moved by God’s grace.” (Kelsey, Other Side of Silence, p. 100).

2. 勒住舌头 “I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having remained silent.” (Cited by Nouwen, Way of the Heart, p. 43)

3. 聆听神 “We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature--tree, flower, grass--grow in silence. See the stars, the moon and sun, how they move in silence. . The more we [hear and] received in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to touch souls.” (Mother Teresa quoted in Demarest, Satisfy Your Soul, p. 128.)

4. 说话有智慧和力量 “No man safely speaks but he who willingly holds his peace.” (Thomas a’ Kempis, Imitation of Christ, p. 42) “If a person wishes to speak well he must learn to be silent.” (Johann Arndt, True Christianity, p. 121)

六. 总结

   獨處創造一個供靜默的環境, 而靜默創造聆聽神的環境.

   獨處→→→靜默→→→聆聽→→→順服

“Silence is a way to make solitude a reality . . . It completes and intensifies solitude . . . Silence is solitude practiced in action.” (Nouwen, Way of the Heart, p. 44)

七. 练习安静下来

A. 这是件难事

B. 也会是件痛苦的事

C. 藉天然本能的练习可以获致心灵的安静

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