Into the Silent Land

Here is one of the loveliest, most poetic, and most useful books on the practice of mature Christian prayer that I have ever read.First of all, what this book is not. It is not a comprehensive guide to Christian spirituality, or even to Christian prayer. The author does not bother discussing the sacramental or liturgical life of the church, or lectio divina, or the quest for personal or collective holiness. Nor is this a manual on meditation in its classical Christian sense -- e.g., meditation as reflection on the spiritual life, such as found in the writings of Ignatius of Loyola. And while there are some superficial similarities (particularly in the emphasis on the "prayer word"), this is not about centering prayer or John Main's approach to Christian meditation. Laird anchors his approach to contemplation in the desert and eastern traditions, quoting authors such as Evagrius, John Climacus, Theophan the Recluse, Hesychios, and Gregory of Sinai. But he doesn't ignore the west: John of the Cross, Augustine, Meister Eckhart and John Ruysbroeck are frequently cited as well. If you're the kind of reader who pays attention to footnotes, you'll probably come away, as I did, with the sense that this is a book thoroughly grounded in the tradition of Christian spirituality.Laird discusses the Jesus Prayer and the scripture-based prayer of John Cassian, but he clearly prefers -- and thus, writes about -- monologistic prayer: the prayer of gentle, unforced awareness, anchored in a synchronized attention to one's breath while repeating a single prayer word. This, of course, is the approach to contemplation advocated by one of the towering giants of mystical literature, "The Cloud of Unknowing." By praying this way, we enter into our own deeper place of always-existing silence -- what Laird calls "the silent land" -- where we do not find God so much as we allow God to find us, or, perhaps even better said, where the idea of creator and creature finding each other simply falls away as just another thought gently laid aside within the all-encompassing presence of the Divine Mystery.This approach to prayer -- and spirituality -- is thoroughly mystical, which is to say it is predicated on the theology of God's presence within us, even "while we were yet sinners." As Laird puts it, "When Paul looks within and sees Christ, I do not suggest he sees Christ as an object of awareness. Paul speaks of something more direct and immediate, which pertains to the ground of awareness and not to the objects of awareness. The awareness itself is somehow about the presence of Christ in Paul." In other words, moving into the silent land means moving beyond some sort of subject-object duality where "I" find, see, or in some other way apprehend "God" or "Christ." When Paul said "I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me," Martin Laird takes the apostle at his word -- and invites us to do the same, affirming that it is only in the silent land that we can experience this reality for ourselves.The entire book is a delight, but what I found particularly useful is Laird's gentle, hopeful, and practical discussion of how to deal with distractions during silent prayer. He notes that distractions are normal, indeed are simply the mind doing its work: the mind is about thinking just as the heart is about beating. The point is to gently, and over a several stage process that Laird describes as "thresholds," disengage ourselves from the normal pattern of becoming caught up in our thoughts -- and weaving elaborate stories (more thoughts) out of them. As we move deeper and deeper into the silent land, we learn to watch thoughts arise and fall, without needing to comment on them or otherwise get engaged by them. We learn to "look over the shoulders" of our thoughts at the pure, vast, depthless depth within, beneath, and beyond the chatter of the mind. Laird uses the analogy of weather patterns on Mount Zion: our thoughts are the weather, and the silence is the mountain: the mountain where true prayer may occur. "As our silence deepens we are able to meet our thoughts and feelings directly, without commentary, without telling a story to ourselves about them... Gradually we see the simplest of facts, so simple and yet we have missed it all these years: our thoughts and feelings appear in something deeper, in a great vastness. This vastness is not yet another object of awareness but the ground of awareness itself." Here we are closing in on what George Fox called "the inner light" and Thomas Merton described as "le point vierge": that place where, in the words of Meister Eckhart, "The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye is one eye, and one sight, and one knowledge, and one love."Laird recognizes that this way of thinking might frighten those who are afraid of anything that smacks of pantheism. "Some who are tediously metaphysical might worry that all this talk of union with God blurs the distinction between creator and creation. Far from blurring this distinction it sets it in sharper focus. John's Gospel says that we are the branches and Christ is the vine." But he avoids getting mired in theological debate, rather simply describing the experience of contemplation and how to best respond to the kind of mental and emotional resistance that inevitably accompanies the quest to be silent before God. The book ends with down-to-earth considerations of how contemplative practice can be beneficial for those who suffer (as in serious illness), or those who are engaged in the process of letting go of debilitating fear or temptation. Acknowledging that such deep inner work often may require the assistance of a professional therapist, Laird nevertheless makes a convincing case that contemplation is not just something we do to feel good with God -- it has holistic repercussions for anyone seeking to live a life of what the Cistercian tradition calls "joyful penitence," in other words, ongoing transformation in Christ.This is a wonderful book. Any aspiring contemplative will, I believe, find it helpful and inspiring. And even those who have been exploring the silent land for many years now will find it useful.

I got this book from my local library, and shortly after I started reading it, I knew I had to have my own copy!! This book is so appropriate for someone who is looking to enhance their Christian experience, and grow closer to God. Deep meditation, or contemplation is what I am trying to accomplish. The followers of Christ yearn for the deep prayer that Christ had with His Father, and this book will get you to that point. I haven't finished the entire book yet, as I just reached the part that is instructional as to HOW to accomplish this, but just reading the first half was so enlightening, that I can't wait to incorporate this method in my daily prayers. I have been so blessed by it already!

The book begins: “We are built for contemplation. This book is about cultivating the skills necessary for this subtlest, simplest, and most searching of the spiritual arts. Communion with God in the silence of the heart is a God-given capacity, like the rhododendron’s capacity to flower, the fledgling’s for flight, and the child’s for self-forgetful abandon and joy.”Let me share six key points I found very helpful.Contemplative Practices“There are two contemplative practices of fundamental importance in the Christian tradition: the practice of stillness (also called meditation, still prayer, contemplative prayer, etc.) and the practice of watchfulness or awareness.”Of course there are various stillness practices. Let me name a few: Centering Prayer, Christian Meditation, the Jesus Prayer, Lectio Divina, chanting, walking, Visio Divina. It is important to find your practice. Dig deep in this well. See where it takes you.As you progress in your practice, you seem to develop the ability of watchfulness or awareness. You begin to create a space between your thoughts and you. You are not your thoughts. They are not always who you are. You can choose which ones to keep and which ones to let go of.God: Ground of Our Being“Because God is the ground of our being, the relationship between creature and Creator is such that, by sheer grace, separation is not possible.”“The fact that most of us experience throughout most of our lives a sense of absence or distance from God is the great illusion that we are caught up in; it is the human condition.”“For when the mind is brought to stillness, and all our strategies of acquisition have dropped, a deeper truth presents itself: we are and have always been one with God and we are all one in God (Jn 17: 21).”Each time we sit in silence we sit with God. The paradox is the God we sit with in silence continues to be with us even during our non silent times. It is us who forget this. Silence teaches us that we have always been one with God. Silence teaches us that the God we sit with is a constant presence as we move throughout the day.We are the Mountain“When the mind is brought to stillness we see that we are the mountain and not the changing patterns of weather appearing on the mountain.”“For a lifetime we have taken this weather—our thoughts and feelings—to be ourselves, taken ourselves to be this video to which the attention is riveted. Stillness reveals that we are the silent, vast awareness in which the video is playing.”“This move from victim to witness is an early psychological fruit of the contemplative journey. It is deeply liberating and gives us a sense of possibility for real change in our lives.”We are not our thoughts. We are much deeper than our thoughts. We are the vast awareness on which our thoughts seem to rest. Stillness helps us become more aware. We learn to just be with life. We learn to enjoy life. We look forward to life. We begin to see things we previously never noticed. Stillness is a portal to a vast and new world!Receptivity“God is always Self-giving; it is a question of removing the obstacles that make it difficult to receive this Self-gift. This receptivity is what contemplative practice cultivates.”“Contemplative prayer is the prayer of just being.”“Union with God is not something that needs to be acquired but realized.”A contemplative practice facilitates the inner ability to receive all that God wishes to give us. As Thomas Keating said, “God wants to share with us even in this life the maximum amount of divine life that we can possibly contain.” We discover that this is possible as we let go and open to God in the silence of our practice.Nourishment“The practice of silence nourishes vigilance, self-knowledge, letting go, and the compassionate embrace of all whom we would otherwise be quick to condemn.”We do not enter silence for its fruits. We enter the silence because we love God. We want a deeper and more intimate relationship with our Creator. God seems to have other plans. God blesses us with wisdom for daily tasks. God fills us with patience and confidence. God blasts us with an excitement for life. God enables us to have empathy and compassion for others.Conclusion“When you turn your attention from the object of your awareness to the awareness itself, there is just silent, vast, openness that has never been wounded, harmed, angry, frightened, incomplete. This is who you are.”This is the exciting part. We get to spend a life time exploring the vast, luminous and endless depths of silence.I encourage you to read this wonderful primer on Into the Silent Land which is also the title of this powerful book.Rich LewisSilenceTeaches.com

Over nearly 50 years of pastoral ministry I have been in search, quest of simple , sound, solid work on prayer. There were many very helpful and insightful works, but none had the tender simplicity and practical prose as Laird's work. In this slender volume Laird, who has a creative and imaginative writing style, puts steps toward the practice of prayer in clear, concise terms. What a blessing! If I were to ask what book I would recommend on the practice of prayer it would be Laird's . It is a must read, study, for any serious student of prayer who wants to grow more mature I their prayer life. What a wonderful treasure .

More pop psychology/Eastern mysticism than Biblically Christian. Mentions of Jesus often appear grafted on as if added by an editor. Ignores Jesus's teaching on how to pray. Ignores or barely mentions the more commonly recognized means of grace such as scripture, fasting, compassionate service, giving, sacraments, etc. There are better books on universalist/secular meditation. There are better, more accurate accounts of ascetics and mystics in church history.

I have been more at the type of Christian Worship for many years which is very full in terms of singing, extempore prayer, preaching, etc. and I have been richly blessed through it. However, for sometime I have realised that there is a dimension missing - that of quietness and stillnes and simply allowing God to fill me. Sometime ago I attended a series of talks by a Benedictine Monk and whether his very practical approach to the religious life was a stimulus I am not sure. However, I started reading a range of books the general theme of which was in the realms of contemplation and meditation. Some books were very helpful but many missed the point for me in either being too theoretical or, more often, assuming a particular religious background or knowledge which was very different to my own.My search was, therefore, for something that would pick me up from where I am - give me something of the background and history of contemplation but, at the same time, be very practical. This books fits that brief for me. When I first started reading it, I had doubts as it seemed to be more theoretical than I had hoped but, having flicked through the coming chapters of the book to see what was coming,I was hopeful and so it proved to be. A whole raft of practical, proven techniques are provided which have certainly helped me. What is also to the credit of the author is that where he is slightly at odds with others who have published in the same field he not only says so and explains why, but also describes other options so these can still be tried to see of they are of benefit as he makes the point very clearly that this is a persoanl journey.Overall I have found it a very worthwhile read. It has taken me sometime to get through it as I wanted to practise a little of what I was learning before I moved on. I shall now leave a gap and then read it again and go one step futher in what I do practically.If you fit my sort of situation then I am sure you will not be disappointed.

It took time to read through this excellent book = it requires a lot of thought while you are on any page. Again, I will have to go back to it to reap a fuller benefit. One sentence has stuck, and its message is; "We must practise self-forgetfulness." This does not mean the self-denial which gets 'upped' a bit during Lent. It does mean that once you have acknowledged your sinfulness, brokenness, inadequacy, you quickly put those thoughts of yourself away and concentrate on the one who has redeemed you. His love is vastly, infinitely, greater than any abyss of human failings, failings of little or dreadful wickedness.

A good clear introduction to the practice of contemplation, especially for those near the beginning of their journeys. It's good to know why certain practices are recommended and are found to be helpful, but also good to know the context and see how deeply rooted they are in our Christian past.

I have read other books on contemplative prayer and indeed, been trying to prayer contemplatively before reading this book, but Martin's explanations and metaphors have help take me to new, much deeper places in my prayer life , which have then affected my daily life as well. I would heartily recommend this book, but advise reading it in small chunks whilst actually trying out contemplative prayer for yourself. Many of Martin's explanations didn't make sense until I experienced them for myself in prayer.

The book isn't very large but it doesn't have to be. It's content is powerful though - recommend it to anyone interested in the 'inner' life.I do have to say though that I hate the way this vendor packages their books. It's obviously an easy method from their point of view but the double layers of cardboard used as a posting packet result in something far to large to go through a standard letter box. Our postman hates them - I won't use this vendor again - sorry.

Within the vista of the deep core of peace presented in this classic book, the greed and pettiness of our noisy, chattering consumerist society are exposed for the irrelevancies that they are. The author shows us the way to the silence that is the ground of our being, introducing us to the most profound insights into the human condition gained during two millennia of Christian mysticism, in a superb prose style that ranges from the poetic to the paradoxical, but always remains accessible to the lay person. Though the author might hate to see it so described, this is the ultimate self-help book - the end of our frantic search for the way to fill the spiritual void in our lives today.

Avoids exaggeration and obscurantism; practical and realistic yet profound.

Although small in size this is a great book, get the hard back because you will read it again and again! Martin Laird draws from Christian wisdom down the centuries and puts it all into a modern context. He maps out the distractions which may hinder a meditation practice and ways of understanding how it deepens with daily practice and time. It is a clear, well set out book and a treasure for anyone starting off Into the Silent Land, even for those with an already established practice. In our noise filled and busy world there is a growing interest in silence and this is one book which will be of enormous help to anyone setting out on that path.

Martin laird has proved himself a truly great writer and spiritual teacher by producing this second superb Christian book . I enjoyed every line and was bitterly disappointed when the last line appeared .....Give us more of this sensible, practical spiritual rich food please Fr Martin . It s like reading pure Thomas Merton in the 21st century !

wonderful inspiration and contemplation

I am studying contemplation/meditation

Brilliant. My spiritual director gave me a copy of Laird's excellent book and I read it in a single sitting (although it rewards further readings!). I have found Laird's insights profoundly helpful in my own spiritual journey and have bought this book for others.

Another super book into the depths of silence and understanding more of the Contemplative life.

Excellent book

This is the best book I have read on contemplation. It is practical, clear and inspiring. I recommend it to anyone seeking guidance on prayer.