Christian Meditation as an 1 1 th Step Practice A Spiritual Solution
Summer 201 6
Inside
others in recovery like myself, now sober for decades, facing depression and anxiety. Many were being over A Spiritual Solution 1 medicated and found themselves on Linda Kaye the merrygoround of addiction Tuning In 2 y name is Linda Kaye and I that led many of them back out to am a recovering alcoholic the “gates of insanity” and death. The Present Moment 2 addict. My home is in Atlantic Beach, Florida and I am the Director I would like to clarify that I do not Testimonies 3 of The Neptune Beach Center, which represent any 12step program, nor The Neptune Beach opened in the fall of 2009. It is part am I a drug and alcohol counselor. I Center 4 am simply an alcoholicaddict who of The World Community for Christian Meditation. The Neptune has found a way to not only stay Beach Center is nonprofit and sober, but to be restored to life as a operated exclusively by volunteers. useful member of society — the society that rejected me and that I We offer Christian meditation seven rejected. (Alcoholics Anonymous) days a week, several times a day, We have, as a result of living the along with monthly programs, spiritual principles of the 12 steps, retreats and workshops. People of all what are called “The Promises”: faiths, no faith, agnostic or atheist — We will know a new freedom and all are welcome to join us in silence, a new happiness. We won’t regret stillness and simplicity. the past nor wish to shut the door Christian Meditation as an 11th Step on it, we will comprehend the Practice came about after Fr. word “serenity” and we will Laurence Freeman asked me if I know peace. would help organize a website for We are all in need of the power of people in recovery. I had been love that will restore us to meditating in the Christian wholeness and bring us to meditation tradition for about five fullness of life. The addictions to years and had been giving drugs and alcohol are meditation workshops and retreats heartbreaking, but it is the with my spiritual director, Sister socially acceptable and less Elizabeth Hellmann. It wasn’t obvious ones that lure the addict through any virtue of mine that this into painful compulsions in outreach program came about. It ‘sobriety’ addictions to money, was because I had a need, a thirst, power, prestige and the need for and found that there were many approval amongst many. John Main speaks to this life of Mission Statement: superficiality so profoundly: The We are a group of men and women from 12step programs, following the teachings of John real tragedy of our time is that we Main and The World Community for Christian Meditation. We are not a replacement for, are so filled with desire, for nor are we affiliated with, any 12step program of recovery. We are here to share this th happiness, for success, for wealth, ancient path of contemplative prayer as a way to practice the 11 Step: “Sought through for power whatever it may be prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying that we are always imagining only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out.” ourselves as we might be. ◊
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Silence means letting go of thoughts.
Stillness means letting go of desire.
Simplicity means letting go of selfanalysis.
Tuning In
"As the day goes on, we can pause where situations must be met and decisions made, and renew the simple request: 'Thy By Liz Watson will, not mine, be done.' If at these points our emotional disturbance happens to be great, we will more surely keep our hen we sit to meditate, we have this simple balance, provided we remember, and repeat to ourselves, a tuning device for getting on to the divine particular prayer or phrase that has appealed to us in our wavelength. We have the mantra, the mantra which reading or meditation. Just saying it over and over will often helps us to resonate with the spirit of Jesus dwelling in enable us to clear a channel choked up with anger, fear, our heart. We give our word, our tuning device, our frustration, or misunderstanding, and permit us to return to mantra, our attention. We try to resonate with it and the surest help of all — our search for God’s will, not our when we go out of tune with it, when we wander off, own, in the moment of stress." when our attention becomes vague or unfocused, we come back. We retune, we refine our tuning, we refine Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step 11 ◊ the closeness of attention that we are giving to it.
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"...we stop thinking of the past and future and learn to live fully in the present moment." Laurence Freeman, O.S.B. The Present Moment By Fr. Laurence Freeman, Director, The World Community for Christian Meditation
of the future. Thinking of the past breeds feelings of regret, nostalgia, melancholy or guilt. Living in the future quickly generates anxiety, fear and worry.
shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace." —Alcoholics Anonymous
"To those of us who have hitherto known only excitement, depression, or Living in the present moment is an anxiety — in other words, to all of us n meditation we stop thinking of art that is practiced in daily life. — this newfound peace is a priceless the past and future and learn to Ordinary life is the best school of gift." —Twelve Steps & Twelve live fully in the present moment. meditation for this reason. It teaches Traditions, p. 74 Unfortunately, God often seems the error of identifying God with temple, synagogue, "What we really have is a daily reprieve absent to us because we are not in religion, mosque or church, with pious contingent on the maintenance of our the here and now. spiritual condition." —Alcoholics language or with ritual. Anonymous Into Action, p. 85 ◊ We spend much of our life locked into thought of the past and dreams "We will not regret the past nor wish to
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Christian Meditation as an 1 1 th Step Practice - Page 2
Testimonies
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hen I first started working a 12step programme, I was happy that the steps were so practical — perhaps here was the ‘how’ I was looking for, how to live better, how not to make a difficult situation worse and spread further misery. Only the 11th step seemed airyfairy and remote. ‘Sought through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as we understood him...' I had no problem with God as an idea, but knew nothing about having conscious contact. Some people had it — I could see that — and it obviously made a difference, but where was the socket I could plug into, so I could have it too? Twenty five years after I started working the AlAnon programme, I learned to practise the silent prayer with a mantra that we call Christian Meditation. At first I didn’t see the connection between the two lifelines I’d been thrown, but gradually the God of my understanding moved from somewhere out there to somewhere in here. There were no special experiences, just a growing awareness that this Spirit was always there, always with me, always for both me and all those I loved. This, I realised, must be the ‘conscious contact' of the 11th step. All the other steps mysteriously began to be a little easier. Jane H ◊
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hen I was reintroduced to Christian Meditation seven years ago at the WCCM Neptune Beach Center, I thought I had a good spiritual foundation for my life, thanks to 25 years of very active participation in the AA program. I prayed regularly, and I had found
new meaning in the practice of my mainstream religion. At one of my regular AA meetings, I was referred to as "the Preacher" and often spoke of how God had made me a new and better man. After about a year of regular Christian Meditation, people noticed a big change in my demeanor. Even my medical "vital signs" had moved to much healthier numbers. And I began to notice that, as a longtime AA friend would have put it, I was "wearing life as a looser garment."
"...we become free to love ourselves and to love others." That continues to this day. I meditate twice daily and follow where God leads me. His sign posts are not difficult to spot. As the 11th step suggests, through prayer and, especially, meditation, I have developed a conscious contact with God, and my spiritual cup runneth over. John G◊
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hen I was asked to do this article I immediately said yes, but then wondered if I’d been too hasty in my reply. The first question that popped into my mind was “Am I really a Christian?” and then “How would I define what that means for me?” So this is where I must start. Forgiveness and Service, while bringing others who wish to the same experience.
immigrant father. The church was very important to them and it became important for me too. I was an altar boy (who helped himself to the wine), I went to Catholic school, and I had the requisite guilt about all things sexual — and learned what could cause blindness in a “good Catholic boy.” I remember the fire and brimstone sermons by Father Hogan, I was shaking in my boots... but alas teenage years and a public high school, booze, drugs, parties... the guilt was still there, but now I'd decided that if I couldn’t be good, I’d be good at being bad! Thus was my confused sense of faith as I discovered recovery in my early 20s. So I took the Big Book seriously and tried to rediscover the religion of my youth. There I found some amazing people who taught me about life — a life motivated by love and healing. I discovered how to have a real relationship in marriage, and the humility and “all in” approach of St. Francis, St. Benedict and monastic experience. In John Main I learned how to meditate, the true meaning of the Christian sacraments, and a real sense that I could never be far from a loving creator, only closed off to the reality of that presence in my life. So how would I describe my Christian experience in recovery? How well do I follow the principles of my faith? Well I guess I’d have to say I am able to be a good Christian “now and then” and although I practice that faith in a Roman Catholic Christian church, recovery has taught me not to confuse the flavour with the ice cream... the teachings of Jesus are the ice cream... the church the flavour. And I do like my ice cream!
My religious experience growing up was Roman Catholic with a French Canadian mother and an Italian George Z. ◊
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The Neptune Beach Center Linda Kaye
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he ‘states and stages’ of the journey that led to the opening of The Neptune Beach Center began 14 years ago in February 2002. Two agnostics and a handful of ‘fallen away Catholics’ met once a week for Christian Meditation in a Yoga Tai Chi Center. The small group dwindled to two or three, and after four years we decided it was time to give up — the Holy Spirit came, not in the whirlwind, but through the voice of Sister Elizabeth... no giving up! Three years later, through grace and perseverance, the group began to overflow with newcomers, and in September 2009 the vision of a center blossomed into reality.
laughter and tears as each person reflected upon what drew them to The Neptune Beach Center, to meditation. The feelings expressed were sufferings of isolation, loneliness, confusion as to the meaning of life. The gifts of the silence shared by everyone were a deep sense of coming home, peace and purpose in fullness of life to be of service to others — a freedom to simply ‘be’ without an agenda. Fr. John Main taught that meditation creates community, and he also taught that “meditation is not a theory.” The experience we have from meditating together and working together in community
reflects the growing harmony in all of our relationships — one meditation at a time, one day at a time, growing in faith and in love. We all agreed, simple but not easy! The Neptune Beach Center is open seven days a week through the grace of God, the selfless service of our volunteers and the love and support of the World Community. We invite you to visit The Neptune Beach Center, which is located three blocks from the ocean next to a beautiful park, at 1112 Third St., Suite 9, in Neptune Beach, Florida. For more information, please email maymbnicol@aol.com. Thank you all for your love and your prayers. ◊
During the evening of our sixth anniversary celebration there was
Meditation & Addiction is a guide for those who are interested in the role that meditation can have in helping people recover from all kinds of addictions. It provides information and encouragement for those – and their supporters – who want to reclaim their freedom through the daily exercise of this practical spiritual discipline. Visit meditatiostore.com/meditationaddiction to obtain a copy.
Christian Meditation as an 1 1 th Step Practice Meditatio St Marks Myddelton Square London EC1 R 1 XX United Kingdom email: meditatio@wccm.org web: meditatio.co.uk
Meditatio is a cluster of programs, publications and events that brings the fruits and benefits of meditation to the wider world. It is the outreach of The World Community for Christian Meditation and seeks to bring universal spiritual wisdom and values to bear upon the pressing issues of a secular world. Christian Meditation as an 11th Step Practice is a Meditatio publication. ©2016 The World Community for Christian Meditation.