For the two years that I lived in Paris, France I visited the Musee d’Orsay seven times. Although I appreciated all of the art, I was particularly drawn to the 2nd floor where the Van Gogh Collection was exhibited. I came to realize that my primary reason for visiting this museum so frequently was because of my focus on this one artist. When I look back and think about what drew me to him I realize it could have been because his art represented the angst and the awe of the human condition, or perhaps it was God-inspired, perhaps it pointed to a greater truth or perhaps it was because I was aware of his original desire to be a preacher. Regardless of my reason, I believe that art explores the many sides of human nature and also represents the space in which the artist inhabits. It can also transport the beholder to another realm. The poetry of St. John of the Cross has this effect on me- it brings me to my knees where I can only respond with reverent silence-the place from which it was created. His poetry represents his greater truth- his devotion and deep affection for God and his fellow human beings. St. John was known as an “extremely good artist, endowed with a full measure of natural skills and the most famous poet in Spain.” He attempted to help everyone to become aware of the divine union of our hearts with God through the power of transformation. All of his writings pointed to this greater truth.

There are many definitions for the word “devotion.” It can mean to dedicate, to commit, to focus, to be faithful and loyal, to show deep affection or my favorite, to set apart for or give up to some purpose. All of these definitions are reflected in the works of St. John. His teachings encourage a “spirit of devotion” where all of the soul’s activities are directed toward God. The ability to direct all of the soul’s activities toward God can be thought of as an art. “God, John says, is ultimately respectful of each soul, approaching it with deep regard according to its own unique needs and capacities.” Therefore, our own unique expression and experiences are fuel for cultivating devotion. Although to master this art form is God’s work in us, we are called as devoted followers to participate through our worship, prayer, service to others, living a life of compassion and justice and our spiritual practices. Spiritual practices do not refer to our works, but to our ability to pay attention to God. This is best accomplished through the practice of prayer including meditation and the gift of contemplation. Meditation and contemplation were central in the history of the Christian tradition, but have been neglected in Modern Western Christianity. Marcus Borg states, “If the Christian life is about relationship and transformation, practice will be central.” Many Christians have turned to Buddhist meditation practices to enhance their Christian prayer life. The focus of Buddhist meditation is to seek not to explain, but to pay attention, to become aware and to be mindful. The more aware we become, the more our hearts open and the more we are able to fulfill the great commandment, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” True devotion to God is the highest form of love. Both Buddhists and Christians believe that the ego’s demands must be set aside for enlightenment and divine union with God to be realized.

Setting aside the ego’s demands on the spiritual path is no small accomplishment. Most of us would prefer our spiritual life to show immediate results. But as with any art, it takes years of practice, dedication and discipline for mastery to occur. In the art of devotion, the more you practice, the more open you become to God’s work in you. The focus is not on our own special powers and skills but on the miracle and gift of grace in awakening to the truth. This may take place over a long period of time of wholehearted attention. In addition to our dedication and devotion to our practice, the importance of a devoted spiritual guide cannot be overemphasized. According to Buddhist practitioner and author, Jack Kornfield, a “good guide holds up the mirror of compassion so that our hearts remember how to open.” A good spiritual guide helps us realize that our spiritual life is more about God’s mercy and love than about the struggles and battles with our ego. St. John states that “the master and disciple come together, to resist evil, and to know the truth and practice it.” In western religions, we tend to intellectualize everything, therefore, moving from the path of mind to the path of heart is quite challenging for most of us. Spiritual guides help us stay the course and remind us to “stop thinking and start looking” and as St. Theresa says, “not to think much, but to love much.” Additionally, we are not skilled in the inner life where the real roots of our problems reside. In the Ascent of Mt. Carmel/Dark Night, St. John provides instructions in letting go of everything that is not God in order for everything to become concentrated intensely upon God. As we let go of everything that is not God, our minds rest in our hearts and true compassion arises. This is a journey that requires the witness of another, who stands with God on their behalf who invites them into a deeper level of awareness and devotion.

The doctrines and teachings from the Ascent of Mt. Carmel are quite austere but when you are asked to deprive yourself of gratifications of all your appetites, it can only be austere. However, the saint was described as “having no peers when it comes to explaining and guiding others to a complete and total union with God through prayer in the mystical and contemplative life.” Although his teachings are austere, St. John reminds us through his poetry that God, like an artist, works in us gently, lovingly and tenderly. Listening to the saint’s advice is a way of honoring him, his wisdom and his love of God. The appetites are described by St. John as attachments, affections, the love of creatures, the will for something, inclination and desire. St. John knew that in our desire for spiritual nourishment we cannot be satisfied with God alone until all appetites cease. This is because our true nature, which is clouded by our appetites, is loving God and loving what God loves. The same source of energy that supplies our appetites, when liberated, is directed toward God. The saint teaches that God allows nothing else to dwell together with Him. Therefore, when our energies that fuel our habitual patterns and attachments are released and liberated, we offer this to God. Jesus referred to this when he said to his apostles, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:24-25) St. John concurs with this in his interpretation of Psalm 45:11, “Learn to be empty of all things- interiorly and exteriorly- and you will behold that I am God.” From the Buddhist perspective, letting go of attachments creates a mind which is emptied of all ideas so we can respond to life with our whole being and not just our head. The road to enlightenment or developing our “Buddha nature” is “unimaginable and inconceivable where our conscious mind must be brought to a standstill and remain in total darkness.”

Great art always originates from a place or point of stillness or emptiness-think of a blank canvas, piece of paper, or film. Both Buddhists and Christians would agree that in order to move from self-absorption to God-absorption we must find time for solitude. St. John encouraged his directees to spend time in solitary prayer, preserving themselves for God in solitude and listening to Our Lord with their hearts. Cultivating mental stability and alertness require solitude. Becoming aware of our habitual patterns requires solitude. If we want to be free we have to know where we are not free- where we are attached the most. What aspects of ourselves are preventing our freedom? What is interfering with our awareness of God’s presence in our lives? How can we know where we are attached if we don’t stop long enough to discover inside what is blocking our awareness of God’s loving, compassionate, forgiving presence? These questions can only be answered by developing a practice of interior silence. As Christians the words of Mark’s gospel indicate that we will find Jesus, our true answer, in a very dark and deserted place: “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he (Jesus) got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And his disciples found him there.” (Mark 1:35-36)

Once embarked on the spiritual journey and committed to a practice of interior silence and mindfulness, we discover that healing is one of the first steps in the art of devotion. Jesus’ life and death offers healing and reconciliation of mind, body and spirit and The Buddha devoted himself to alleviating the suffering of others. We have powerful, unconscious forces in our life that will come to consciousness as we become more aware through our spiritual practices. As we come face to face with these “demons” or our own darkness, we can demystify them by naming them as opposed to judging them. Oh, that is guilt or rejection or abandonment or shame or anxiety or fear. This teaches us to not engage in self judgment and allow the “demons” to just be, because these unconscious forces are the source of our suffering. Once they are brought to consciousness and received in the light of Christ or the awakened heart, they no longer have unconscious power or control over us. “Suffering, as seen by both Christians and Buddhists, is part of our ego identity and existence and the only thing to do about it is to plunge right into the middle of contradiction and confusion in order to be transformed by what Zen calls “Great Death” and Christians call “dying and rising with Christ.” The merging of darkness and light to create new life is the mystery of our Christian faith. Jack Kornfield states, “the unfolding of the human heart is artful and mysterious.” We do not know where the journey will take us and having someone to share the path is helpful. Many of us have limited preparation in receiving the seeds of devotion. As we begin a practice of listening and paying attention to God, we begin to listen to our own deeper stories and hear invitations for healing of our old wounds. When these stories can be shared in a mutually, loving and accepting environment, the process of cleansing, forgiveness and acceptance can be experienced. We are not called to carry our burdens alone. The Tao teaches that listening with the heart is necessary so that we can find the way and transform the world. We learn this first in our own practice by bringing compassion to our imperfections and then to those who share with us. As spiritual directors, we know that compassionate listening is a key in transforming the listener. Thomas M. King, S.J. in Teilhard’s Mass states the following:

People reach out to us to give us their burden, and often they experience relief as their burden becomes ours. And thus the restless universe enters into us, but it is not simply reaching to us, it is attempting to reach through us for a Soul that comprehends more than we ever can. Only God can act as the final Soul of the World, only God can unify aspirations of the world.

We discover that with healing we develop a deeper capacity to love God, ourselves and others. As a result we are drawn to the things of God more and more. The art of devotion deepens our ability to surrender to God’s will with blindness and nakedness. St. John of the Cross’s main intention in writing the Ascent of Mt. Carmel/Dark Night was to provide instruction to those friars and nuns whom had already detached somewhat from the world. However, he professes that with God’s help, anyone who studies these instructions will discover “the one he ought to follow if he wants to reach the summit of this mount.” His two general themes are: the way leading to union with God and the life itself of divine union. The intention of this paper has been to focus on the first theme. For instructional purposes, St. John divides the soul into two parts- the sensory and the spiritual. The sensory part contains our outer bodily senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch and inner bodily sense of fantasy and imagination. The spiritual part contains three parts- the intellect, memory and will. He treats the intellect and the memory as cognitive functions that we can grasp and hold. The will is treated separately as our desire and craving of our appetites and our emotions. Furthermore, the saint connects the virtues of faith, hope and love to the spiritual faculties of intellect, memory and will. Developing the virtues of faith, hope and love help us let go of habitual patterns that disconnect us from God. As we let go of these patterns, our faith, hope and love grow and unite us with God. As the virtues of faith, hope and love increase, so does our ability to let go of the corresponding attachments in the spiritual faculties. Buddhist philosophy also addresses gathering virtue or gewa, the Tibetan word for virtue. Examples of common virtues are faith, nonaggression, love and compassion. Virtues are considered to be qualities that “connect us with others rather than push us apart” and qualities that “resonate with, rather than block, enlightened mind.” Buddhism teaches that in renouncing our possessiveness and grasping of thoughts and emotions we are able to gather virtues that remove the blocks along the road to enlightenment. From the Christian perspective, the gathering of faith, hope and love connect us more closely with God and with what God loves. With increasing consciousness we will discover that to love and to let go are the same things.

As our devotion deepens, we realize that our attachments to our intellect, memory and will interfere with our ability to focus on the “one thing” that matters, our devotion and attention to God. An additional meaning of the word repent is “to go beyond the mind that you have.” God is inviting us to experience our relationship with Christ beyond the beliefs that we have into a movement beyond what we can see, think, hear or feel. Just believing in a set of doctrines has very little transformational power. Buddhists and Christians are similar in their understanding that our everyday, ordinary experiences give us what we need for a radical transformation of our consciousness. The purpose of a meditation practice is to develop a steady mind that is not easily distracted by worldly things including our own senses, emotions and thoughts. Buddhism teaches that the practice of mindfulness heightens our awareness of our habitual tendencies by lessening our distractions. The analogy of “tethering the mind to a sturdy post” is frequently utilized to explain this practice. It helps keep the mind focused and calmed. As Christians, Jesus and his teachings are our sturdy post. In the gospel story of Martha and Mary, Jesus tells Martha that Mary’s choice to focus on the “one thing” that matters was the highest form of love and would not be taken away from her. (Luke 11:41) This is our invitation to practice mindfulness and mental stability. In this practice, we discover that no amount of thinking can bring us closer to God, but that our attentiveness is what matters. Our reasoning mind is a gift from God but does not bring us closer to God because our faith ultimately transcends our reasoning. St. John provides many instructions on how not to become enslaved to our thoughts, possessions and relationships. He states, these things “only bring harm insofar as our love for them is disordered” and our attachment to an object or creature makes us equal to that creature or object. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche puts it this way, “Trying to find lasting happiness in our relationships or possessions is like trying to quench your thirst by drinking salt water.” The teachings of St. John and Buddhism are not asking us to fight against the body or appetites, but to be present to what is true about ourselves. The practice of mindfulness helps us become more attentive and accepting of what is instead of seeing our attachments as the enemy to be beaten down. Each unique person experiences God’s work in them differently which is why a spiritual guide is necessary to help us see that all experiences are used for nourishing the seeds of devotion. A spiritual guide is helpful when we are making the shift from believing in ideas to experiencing our deeper wisdom. It is important to note that it is not that we become opposed to the things of the world, but that we cultivate spaciousness in our hearts to hold it all with compassion. The ability to hold everything in compassion is God’s gift of mercy and loving-kindness.

Christian and Buddhist spiritual writers caution against attachment to the spiritual practices or experiences. When we let go of powerful attachments we may experience powerful shifts of energy, visions, images, or locutions. We may be drawn to a particular piece of art, rosary, icon, image or experience of God that becomes very meaningful to us. St. John states: “the more you esteem your knowledge, imagination, and experiences of God, the more you subtract from the Supreme Good and delay your journey.” Even if the image or experience draws us closer to God, he advises to not pay more attention to them than is necessary. An attachment to our practice or the profound experiences of our practice can prevent us from feeling and healing. It is best to approach our practice with an openness to just showing up with no concept or ideas about the end result. The Buddha taught that liberation and awakening were the only goals of our practices, not the special powers, deeds, merit etc. that may be accumulated. Humility is the key to awakening. Both traditions emphasis the importance of a guide to support us and keep us balanced as we navigate these unchartered territories. St. John taught that our experiences need to be validated with another person and that with two together “each will receive certitude through the mouth of the other.” He also stressed that a humble person is one that does not deal with God independently and “could not be satisfied without human counsel and direction.”

For a year of my life, one of my spiritual practices was to quote “For you alone O Lord I wait for you are my hope and my salvation.” (Psalm 62:1) I spoke this scripture from Psalms whenever I became frustrated on the spiritual journey with my lack of progress, my limitations, my weaknesses, my inability to focus or practice mindfulness, etc. Through repeating this mantra, my focus switched from me to God. God met me where I was and used my own unique expression and experiences to teach me the “one thing” that mattered. When our devotion to the “one thing” that matters becomes a deeper part of our existence we long to alleviate suffering in others. My response to this desire is to help others see and deepen their awareness of Christ or the awakened heart not just in their lives but in the lives of others in their world. This is an art that can only be perfected by the brushstrokes of God.

Written by: Susan Flynn Boruff (February, 2008)

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