This very thing is highlighted beautiful in the new film Sacred Alaska, as a way of life of the native people in general, but more especially in regard to Matushka Olga and how it was this very attentiveness to the small details of every day life that sanctified her and made her a "Real People."
I have actually been practicing this sort of thing for years now. But it seems that for the most part I see this as very simple things and when I see other people not doing it I get irritable even downright angry and Incredibly judgmental of them. I get how this is self-righteous and judgmental but it has an element of torturing my anxiety issues. I've confessed this but I don't seem to be getting much better about it. I suppose like everything else it takes a lot of time and patience.
Yes, it's like any other spiritual discipline: fasting, prayer, doing venerations "correctly", using a prayer rope in public.... they all can become a "Phariseeism" and twisted to look at other people's plates and judge them instead of you benefiting from them. It's probably why the church puts The Prayer of St. Ephraim in every service during the most ascetical season of the year. Mercy and peace, brother! Keep at it!
I have been thinking so much about this topic of mindfulness and how my actions and words affect myself and others. When I was a Montessori teacher we spent a lot of time on Grace and Courtesy which included walking, picking up and putting down things, and opening and closing doors. It was a very spiritual practice.
That would be terrific. Can you link to a source on how to do it, what is appropriate for each age, etc? I could use it myself and i'd start at the beginning
Thank you for this beautiful disclosure, Steve. I'm edified by these words personally in my Orthodox journey, and in my present efforts of crafting a faith-integrated DBT program in my work as a professional counselor. Blessed Lent!
"The greatest ascetical Desert Saints found greater saints than they in the cities, in kitchens, in marriages/domestic life, in menial labor jobs. Those people were neptic, paying attention to the world and to the people in their community with which they existed and responded to them as Christ would."
Praise God for his mercy.
In the words of (the late) Thich Nhat Hanh, "the kingdom of God is available to you in the here and the now... the question is whether you are available to the kingdom."
One might ask, "Does it matter how I close the door?"
Making ourselves available to God is represented by vertical post in the cross. People live life in horizontal plane and there only two hands of the Jesus are available. Growing inner wisdom by experimenting such awareness in any one act is enough in the beginning. Then we need to learn from our own experiences of the experiment on self. It is subjective scientific research!
This way finally we come to the conclusion of discovering ours own truth!
Only such self discovered truth is going to liberate us because discovering that truth and entering the kingdom of god happens simultaneously and instantly - from my own experience.
This made me think of the part in Way of the Ascetics, where he talks about cutting off your curiosity. Like if you have an urge to Google something… just don’t!
In my opinion the ascetic is not trying to cut off curiosity but the way we kill the curiosity by googling it. He is trying to help us to let the sense of wonder prevail in us for few more time. Let it become our own discovery that we cannot know everything.
This time I suggest do not re-examine and pick one and just try it. Keep trying remaining mindful in that one act till you get no thought moment. It works! It works like wonder!
Needful words for me. I'm seeing the lack of my watchfulness express itself increasingly in my children. "Why does little Timmy always lose it when something happens that he doesn't like?!" Oh, right...because that's what I do...Lord have mercy!
I am currently reading Words of the Heart by Gerondissa Makrina, the spiritual daughter of Saint Joseph the Hesychast and the spiritual sister of Elder Ephraim of Arizona. She also emphasizes the need to be watchful with everything we do and think on practically every page of the 500+ page volume. In the section I read this morning, for example, she says, "Carelessness is a sin. In every task, everything must be done carefully... All works should be done with care. It is beautiful when you say, 'Now I am going to serve Angels.'"
In my opinion it is better to try remaining mindful in any one act on daily basis for many years!
I tried remaining careful of watchful during brushing my teeth in the morning. In just six months I got the experience of no-thought moment. Earlier thoughts about past or future used to run like devil during brushing.
Then they got slowed down and one day I got that first no-thought moment. Then I applied same technique during other acts too. Within 20+ years awareness was flowing like undercurrent during my acts!
The Philokalia, that wonderful collection of writings by the fathers on prayer of the heart, has as its full title, The Philokalia of the Neptic Saints gathered from our Holy Theophoric Fathers, through which, by means of the philosophy of ascetic practice and contemplation, the intellect is purified, illumined, and made perfect.
Wonderful. Another, and important, evidence that we need not go to Far Eastern religions, or pop dilutions of them, or little study groups of some guru - what they may have is fully present in the Church, if not fully unfolded. Sound like the thought of Sophrony [I forget his current title], who rejected those matters, not for being wrong, but for being embedded in a false metaphysic.
Everyone is having this wisdom by default. We have just forgotten it and all these methods are just to remove hurdles in between us and our default settings. The days of Gurus of the east has gone and it seems there exists no such as of now. Actually we need to grow ourselves at such a higher level or deeper level and the right person will sure come in our life to guide us. When we take one step towards God then he takes ten stapes towards us! Here is a post on default settings Hope you may like to read it. https://open.substack.com/pub/joshuto/p/you-need-to-factory-reset-yourself-4fa2c5d0a9db
Thank you for this one, "the Small Things" of Life and our Humanity. Thank you too for 'translating' terms from Orthodox Faith teaching into English so we may gain a better understanding and seek to apply the teaching/concept.
I quote “The current pop spirituality draws from these sources and calls it “mindfulness”, the practice of being aware, which is a beginning.”
Mindfulness or awareness was first discovered by the Buddha but the Orthodox Hindutva forces have destroyed Buddhism in India so it was later practiced as Zazen in China and as Zen in Japan.
Excellent. Jesus himself tried to teach this meditation before being caught. As per St John’s gospel he used the word ‘Sit’ for meditation and then went on to try energy transfer but when he returns he found them sleeping. Zen people still use this word ‘Sit’ for meditation or mindfulness in their quote “Sit silently do nothing, season comes and the grass grows itself green”.
I quote “I’ve read that Zen practice has identified 90,000 gestures and movements that we could be mindful of. I’ve yet to master the 22 or so above. But then neither have many of the monks I know so I’m in good company.”
I suggest from my experience that even if a person try to remain mindful in any one act in the beginning then it is enough. Just remain watchful that there should be no thought in our mind while practising it. While we practice there is a watcher and there are thoughts and both cannot remain together. So if thoughts keeps running while practising then watcher will notice it afterwards. Then one day it will happen that the watcher was present for a moment and there are no thoughts!
Viola, this is real meditative state and once we experience it in an act then we just need to apply mindfulness in same manner to other acts one by one and experience no-thought moment in them too.
This way one day it becomes a flow like undercurrent for 24x7 and then for a moment it’s intensity becomes so high that our ego too drops and this coinciding of no-thought with no-ego is called ascension or awakening or in Zen it is called as Satori.
We are reborn in that moment and we get transformed in a moment because we have seen the truth or reality as it is.
So in my opinion this counting of 90,000 gestures has made Zen an obsolete thing at present.
This very thing is highlighted beautiful in the new film Sacred Alaska, as a way of life of the native people in general, but more especially in regard to Matushka Olga and how it was this very attentiveness to the small details of every day life that sanctified her and made her a "Real People."
We're going to see that in a couple weeks! One of our local parishes is hosting it! Thank you!
Just saw it a couple of days ago. So very, very good.
This is great! Have you actually tried it any one act of routine for six months? It works!
I have actually been practicing this sort of thing for years now. But it seems that for the most part I see this as very simple things and when I see other people not doing it I get irritable even downright angry and Incredibly judgmental of them. I get how this is self-righteous and judgmental but it has an element of torturing my anxiety issues. I've confessed this but I don't seem to be getting much better about it. I suppose like everything else it takes a lot of time and patience.
Yes, it's like any other spiritual discipline: fasting, prayer, doing venerations "correctly", using a prayer rope in public.... they all can become a "Phariseeism" and twisted to look at other people's plates and judge them instead of you benefiting from them. It's probably why the church puts The Prayer of St. Ephraim in every service during the most ascetical season of the year. Mercy and peace, brother! Keep at it!
I have been thinking so much about this topic of mindfulness and how my actions and words affect myself and others. When I was a Montessori teacher we spent a lot of time on Grace and Courtesy which included walking, picking up and putting down things, and opening and closing doors. It was a very spiritual practice.
That would be terrific. Can you link to a source on how to do it, what is appropriate for each age, etc? I could use it myself and i'd start at the beginning
Here is a link to some Montessori resources on the topic.
https://www.trilliummontessori.org/grace-and-courtesy/
Beautiful and True. Thank you. In my Lenten struggle I hope to keep this very much in mind.
Thank you for this beautiful disclosure, Steve. I'm edified by these words personally in my Orthodox journey, and in my present efforts of crafting a faith-integrated DBT program in my work as a professional counselor. Blessed Lent!
Thank you! When I was in my psych programs I found a lot in Orthodox theology and praxis that were helpful with cognitive therapeutic practices.
You're welcome. And theology and cognitive therapy/DBT are naturally consilient with Othodoxy, as you say. :-)
"The greatest ascetical Desert Saints found greater saints than they in the cities, in kitchens, in marriages/domestic life, in menial labor jobs. Those people were neptic, paying attention to the world and to the people in their community with which they existed and responded to them as Christ would."
Praise God for his mercy.
In the words of (the late) Thich Nhat Hanh, "the kingdom of God is available to you in the here and the now... the question is whether you are available to the kingdom."
One might ask, "Does it matter how I close the door?"
Does anything?
If yes, then yes.
Making ourselves available to God is represented by vertical post in the cross. People live life in horizontal plane and there only two hands of the Jesus are available. Growing inner wisdom by experimenting such awareness in any one act is enough in the beginning. Then we need to learn from our own experiences of the experiment on self. It is subjective scientific research!
This way finally we come to the conclusion of discovering ours own truth!
Only such self discovered truth is going to liberate us because discovering that truth and entering the kingdom of god happens simultaneously and instantly - from my own experience.
Beautiful.
This made me think of the part in Way of the Ascetics, where he talks about cutting off your curiosity. Like if you have an urge to Google something… just don’t!
Such a little thing, yet makes such a difference.
In my opinion the ascetic is not trying to cut off curiosity but the way we kill the curiosity by googling it. He is trying to help us to let the sense of wonder prevail in us for few more time. Let it become our own discovery that we cannot know everything.
I have written a series of three posts on how we have lost sense of wonder in our life and how we can regain it. The title of the posts ends with 1,2 and 3 but all are complete in itself too. Hope it may be of some help. https://open.substack.com/pub/joshuto/p/knowledge-is-barrier-for-wonder-ways
I am usually moved by your writing to reexamine what I do and how I do it. I was again. Thank you for sharing this. Peace to you, brother in Christ.
Thank you... may it be blessed!
This time I suggest do not re-examine and pick one and just try it. Keep trying remaining mindful in that one act till you get no thought moment. It works! It works like wonder!
Needful words for me. I'm seeing the lack of my watchfulness express itself increasingly in my children. "Why does little Timmy always lose it when something happens that he doesn't like?!" Oh, right...because that's what I do...Lord have mercy!
I am currently reading Words of the Heart by Gerondissa Makrina, the spiritual daughter of Saint Joseph the Hesychast and the spiritual sister of Elder Ephraim of Arizona. She also emphasizes the need to be watchful with everything we do and think on practically every page of the 500+ page volume. In the section I read this morning, for example, she says, "Carelessness is a sin. In every task, everything must be done carefully... All works should be done with care. It is beautiful when you say, 'Now I am going to serve Angels.'"
In my opinion it is better to try remaining mindful in any one act on daily basis for many years!
I tried remaining careful of watchful during brushing my teeth in the morning. In just six months I got the experience of no-thought moment. Earlier thoughts about past or future used to run like devil during brushing.
Then they got slowed down and one day I got that first no-thought moment. Then I applied same technique during other acts too. Within 20+ years awareness was flowing like undercurrent during my acts!
This is sublimely good, Steve. Thanks. I needed this today. And every day.
From Father Stephen:
The Philokalia, that wonderful collection of writings by the fathers on prayer of the heart, has as its full title, The Philokalia of the Neptic Saints gathered from our Holy Theophoric Fathers, through which, by means of the philosophy of ascetic practice and contemplation, the intellect is purified, illumined, and made perfect.
https://glory2godforallthings.com/2024/04/08/passionately-drunk-3/
amen-
Wonderful. Another, and important, evidence that we need not go to Far Eastern religions, or pop dilutions of them, or little study groups of some guru - what they may have is fully present in the Church, if not fully unfolded. Sound like the thought of Sophrony [I forget his current title], who rejected those matters, not for being wrong, but for being embedded in a false metaphysic.
Everyone is having this wisdom by default. We have just forgotten it and all these methods are just to remove hurdles in between us and our default settings. The days of Gurus of the east has gone and it seems there exists no such as of now. Actually we need to grow ourselves at such a higher level or deeper level and the right person will sure come in our life to guide us. When we take one step towards God then he takes ten stapes towards us! Here is a post on default settings Hope you may like to read it. https://open.substack.com/pub/joshuto/p/you-need-to-factory-reset-yourself-4fa2c5d0a9db
Thank you for this one, "the Small Things" of Life and our Humanity. Thank you too for 'translating' terms from Orthodox Faith teaching into English so we may gain a better understanding and seek to apply the teaching/concept.
Great. The inner wisdom grows by application of what we learned and then learning from own experiences
I quote “The current pop spirituality draws from these sources and calls it “mindfulness”, the practice of being aware, which is a beginning.”
Mindfulness or awareness was first discovered by the Buddha but the Orthodox Hindutva forces have destroyed Buddhism in India so it was later practiced as Zazen in China and as Zen in Japan.
Excellent. Jesus himself tried to teach this meditation before being caught. As per St John’s gospel he used the word ‘Sit’ for meditation and then went on to try energy transfer but when he returns he found them sleeping. Zen people still use this word ‘Sit’ for meditation or mindfulness in their quote “Sit silently do nothing, season comes and the grass grows itself green”.
I quote “I’ve read that Zen practice has identified 90,000 gestures and movements that we could be mindful of. I’ve yet to master the 22 or so above. But then neither have many of the monks I know so I’m in good company.”
I suggest from my experience that even if a person try to remain mindful in any one act in the beginning then it is enough. Just remain watchful that there should be no thought in our mind while practising it. While we practice there is a watcher and there are thoughts and both cannot remain together. So if thoughts keeps running while practising then watcher will notice it afterwards. Then one day it will happen that the watcher was present for a moment and there are no thoughts!
Viola, this is real meditative state and once we experience it in an act then we just need to apply mindfulness in same manner to other acts one by one and experience no-thought moment in them too.
This way one day it becomes a flow like undercurrent for 24x7 and then for a moment it’s intensity becomes so high that our ego too drops and this coinciding of no-thought with no-ego is called ascension or awakening or in Zen it is called as Satori.
We are reborn in that moment and we get transformed in a moment because we have seen the truth or reality as it is.
So in my opinion this counting of 90,000 gestures has made Zen an obsolete thing at present.