Today’s Bible reading and an excerpt

Read Psalm 42

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

More thoughts for meditation

“Crossing the threshold of the Third Doorway requires vigilant waiting in the silence of just being. When we are well practiced in this way of prayer, we will find that we have acquired a certain skill at recognizing thoughts. They appear and disappear in awareness. Now shift your attention from the thought to what is aware of the thought, the awareness itself. This is a very simple shift, but a shift that immediately reveals (however briefly) the still mind. The discursive, reasoning mind will immediately try to turn this too into an object of awareness by generating a mental image of the stillness or a thought such as “the mind is now still” and then embroider some commentary on that. But by now we are well aware of the subtlety of our thoughts. … So now shift your attention from these objects of aware to the aware-ing itself. The prayer word is essentially silent at this point, even if at more surface levels of consciousness it might be quietly recited. Here one waits, and when the moment is ripe the present moment opens up.” — Into the Silent Land, pp. 65-6.

The Third Doorway is appropriately difficult — the most telling sign that you have arrived here is your oneness with God. Laird further writes, “This is not the loss of identity, but its flowering, and we inhale the performance of a fundamental Christian truth that baptism proclaims: my ‘I am’ is one with Christs’s ‘I am.’”

Suggestions for action

Continue to practice this contemplation today. It will take a commitment, certainly one that is longer than the time you take reading this entry. Set aside time this week to venture as far as you can. Our world is filled with so many distractions, our attention can span as long as a YouTube video or a Tweet — give yourself grace as you venture into mystery and oneness with God.

Today’s Bible reading and an excerpt

Read Psalm 125

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.

More thoughts for meditation

“Previously the prayer word was like a brick wall, and the quiet repetition of it involved a good deal of mental activity. This begins to change as we approach the Second Doorway. The repetition of it is far less a mental saying and more a part of our simply awareness.

We may also become aware of some of the physical and emotional benefits that often accompany a well-established contemplative practice. Many people find that blood pressure decreases or stabilized, the pulse slows down, and there is a greater emotional tone. Life will continue to bring its stresses strains, but we are more aware of how we are the cause of much of our own suffering, and in any event, can somehow let go with greater facility. We get over things more quickly.” — Into the Silent Land, p. 60-61.

We can’t push our way through the Second Door merely through effort — it takes letting go, letting be, and living in the present moment. Praying regularly and often is the best way to facilitate this process.

As you continue to practice this way of prayer, continue to get distracted, and use the prayer word to bring you back, you’ll find yourself getting over your “failure” more quickly and sooner, and subsequently being more adept at the technique itself. As the distractions, in and of themselves, frustrate you as you venture through the first door — so does the content of them, and so we are forced to comment and think them away. When through the second door, we are at peace with whatever distractions come, and we merely let them go, without diving into our process right then and there.

Suggestions for action

This is a challenging door, and not all of us will get through the second door during this 7-day introduction. Try to contemplate further today, and see what happens. Try to let go of the distractions as opposed to combating them.