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- Herausgeber: IVP Academic
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Serie: Christian Association for Psychological Studies Books
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
Christians are hungry for a return to their own tradition to cultivate meditation practices that are both psychologically and spiritually fruitful. In recent decades, mindfulness meditation, which originates from the Buddhist tradition, has been embraced in many settings as a method for addressing a plethora of symptoms. What would it look like to turn instead to the Christian faith for resources to more effectively identify and respond to psychological suffering? Over the last decade, Dr. Joshua Knabb has conducted a variety of empirical studies on Christian meditation, focusing on both building theory and testing specific, replicable practices. In this overview and workbook he presents the foundations of a Christian-sensitive approach to meditation in clinical practice. Filled with practical features for immediate use by Christian clients and their therapists, Christian Meditation in Clinical Practice provides - an introduction to the rich resources on meditation from eight major streams of the Christian tradition - practices from the early desert Christians, Ignatius of Loyola, Celtic Christians, the Puritans, contemporary writers, and many others - guidance for targeting transdiagnostic processes—patterns of cognition, affect, behavior, the self, and relationships that may lead to psychological suffering - research-based evidence for the benefits of Christian meditation - client-friendly tools for practicing meditation, including step-by-step instructions, worksheets, journaling prompts, and links to tailored audio resourcesUsing the approach of Christian psychology, Knabb's model dually builds on a biblical worldview and integrates the latest research in clinical psychology. As clients engage the variety of meditative exercises in this book, they will move toward healthier responses to difficult experiences and a deeper awareness of, and contentment in, God. Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mental health and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.
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Christian Meditation
in CLINICAL PRACTICE
A Four-Step Model and Workbook for Therapists and Clients
This workbook is dedicated to my wife,
ADRIENNE,
who gently reminds me, with just the right touch of grace,
to slow down and stay in the present moment
in order to savor all of God’s blessings.
Contents
Acknowledgments
TO BEGIN, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK my wife, Adrienne, and children, Emory and Rowan, who inspire me to improve and grow as a husband, father, and fellow sojourner in this short and messy life. Also, I would like to recognize my editor, Jon Boyd, who has believed in this project ever since we had a brief, casual conversation upon meeting at a conference several years back. Moreover, I would like to express appreciation to the two anonymous reviewers, who took the time to provide helpful feedback so as to strengthen the project. Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge the many Christian authors who have traveled before me over the last two millennia, offering much-needed psychological and spiritual insights into the human condition from a distinctly biblical worldview. Finally, I would like to give thanks to God as my faithful, trustworthy tour guide, who gently and lovingly welcomes me back whenever I have wandered off the paths of life in a futile attempt to travel alone.
Introduction
A man cannot look up to heaven and down to earth both at the same time. There is an opposition between these two, between the earthly-mindedness that has been opened to you, and minding of heavenly things.
Instead of seeing God man sees himself.
REVERBERATIONS OF THE FALL
For a moment, try to imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve in those early days of human history. After God made Adam from dust and Eve from Adam’s rib, both were naked and exposed yet seemingly experienced no sense of loneliness, inadequacy, or shame. Although we do not know the exact details, for a period of time they likely felt a sense of contentment in their daily communion with God, with no apparent awareness of the suffering that would emanate from a future estrangement. Yet, as this famous story unfolds, we quickly learn that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, then immediately realized they were naked, something they had previously failed to notice. Mindful of their exposed state, they automatically covered themselves with leaves, then lurked in the shadows, hoping God would not see them in their vulnerable condition. Along with the more obvious spiritual impact of this fateful decision, we can also envision a range of possible psychological consequences in those first few years of existence: rumination, worry, emotional distress and confusion, behavioral avoidance, guilt and shame, self-doubt and self-confusion, and a newfound, enduring uncertainty about living in an ambiguous, dangerous world.
Fast forward to the twenty-first century, and we continue to live in the midst of suffering. In fact, psychological pain seems to be a rather ubiquitous experience in contemporary Western society. In your own daily life, for example, you may be struggling with a range of difficult inner and outer experiences, losing hope that things will somehow get better in the near or distant future. Among other forms of psychological suffering, you may get stuck in unhelpful thinking processes, have a hard time identifying emotions or tolerating distress, use avoidance as an ineffective coping strategy, strive for unrealistic standards of perfection, and struggle to understand yourself and deepen your relationships with others.
Difficult thoughts, feelings, behaviors, self-judgments, and relationships may even prevent you from living the life God has called you to live as a Christian. If so, this workbook is for you, a Christian client in professional counseling or psychotherapy who is working with a mental health professional to experience positive psychological and spiritual change. In the pages that follow, I will be offering both a Christian and a psychological view of suffering in contemporary society, along with a wide variety of meditative exercises to help you (1) respond differently to difficult inner and outer experiences, and (2) improve your relationship with God and find a deeper contentment in him as you walk with him along the roads of life. Although the fall of humankind continues to impact us to this very day, as Christians we do have options for living a life of hope and endurance as we patiently wait for God’s eventual restoration of a broken existence.
From this larger Christian perspective, the Bible has given us a “grand narrative” for making sense of human suffering.1 Although God created us to be in communion with him and experience enduring contentment and psychological health, we turned away, leading to estrangement, discontentment, and psychological suffering. In other words, rather than walking with God, we frequently veer off the path he has called us to walk with him on. Still, God has offered us a redemptive plan, based on the incarnation and atoning work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, through our union with Christ, we have access to a restored communion with God, a deeper contentment in him, and psychological health, even in the midst of a fallen world. As we patiently wait for God to restore our fragmented existence, we can learn to steadily walk with him from moment to moment, cultivating a more lasting inner satisfaction, untethered to the adversities of life, which will never fully go away on this side of heaven.
In this introduction chapter, I discuss the importance of better understanding a Christian worldview, especially in the context of suffering, given Christianity will serve as the foundation for this workbook. Moreover, I explore some of the more recent trends in the psychology literature to help you understand the role that psychological science plays in ameliorating suffering. Then, I introduce you to some of the Christian concepts, writings, and interventions I draw from throughout the workbook, before concluding with a discussion on the workbook’s intended audience, general outline, and format for each of the subsequent intervention chapters.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF THE PROVERBIAL PYRAMID: STARTING WITH A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW
A worldview is a powerful framework, laying a solid foundation for helping us to make sense of a fallen, confusing world.2 Like the bottom layer of a pyramid, a Christian viewpoint can offer stability for an otherwise unstable, unpredictable existence. To be sure, as we move through life, we need a lens through which to view our unfolding reality, made up of an amalgam of beliefs and assumptions that we cannot necessarily test or prove.3 For Christians, a comprehensive worldview comes from the Bible, which is considered God’s revelation to humankind. Common assumptions that flow from a Christian view of the world include an understanding of God (theology), the universe (cosmology), reality (ontology), knowledge (epistemology), goals/purpose (teleology), human nature (biblical anthropology), and values (axiology).4 To be more succinct, a distinctly Christian lens allows us to make sense of who we are (as human beings), where we are (in terms of our position in this world and the universe), what the problem is (within the world, individually and collectively), and what the remedy is (for daily suffering).5
Because a Christian framework extends to every aspect of life,6 including psychological and spiritual functioning, beginning with a Christian worldview to make sense of health, dysfunction, and healing is key; still, because of recent advancements in the psychology literature, twenty-first-century science offers Christians a wide variety of insights into some of the causes of, and solutions to, psychological suffering. In other words, God offers his “common grace” in the form of secular advancements in psychological theory and research, in addition to his “special grace” to those who follow Jesus Christ.7
ADDING LAYERS TO THE PROVERBIAL PYRAMID: DRAWING FROM THE PSYCHOLOGY LITERATURE
Although followers of Jesus Christ commonly turn to the Bible as a starting point for making sense of a fallen world, one way to expand our understanding of suffering is to examine the global prevalence of mental disorders, as revealed in the scientific literature. After reviewing 174 surveys in 63 countries from 1980 to 2013, researchers found that about one in five adults experienced a mental disorder (e.g., mood disorder, anxiety disorder) over a twelve-month period of time.8 In the United States, more specifically, a survey from 2001 to 2003 revealed that about one in five adults experienced an anxiety disorder and one in three adults suffered from a mood disorder at some point in their lifetime.9
To better identify psychological pain around the globe, researchers have debated about whether or not to keep adding new diagnoses to the various psychiatric classification systems. A “splitting” strategy involves attempting to reduce broader diagnostic categories into narrower, more precise groupings, whereas “lumping” consists of the exact opposite approach.10 With the former, specific diagnoses have more than doubled from the release of the first psychiatric diagnostic manual in the United States, the DSM-I, to the most recent version, the DSM-5.11 Because of this, the latter involves attempting to identify common processes that link the various psychiatric disorders.12
One such movement of late in the psychology literature, the “transdiagnostic” approach to identifying psychological processes, involves researching key struggles (e.g., thoughts, feelings, behaviors) that contribute to multiple psychiatric diagnoses,13 in line with a lumping strategy. Advantages to lumping rather than splitting include the recognition that many people struggle with more than one disorder at any given time, as well as improving our ability to understand common underlying processes across diagnoses.14
Also housed within this movement, treatment approaches have emerged that attempt to ameliorate a variety of symptoms across diagnostic categories.15 In the cognitive behavioral tradition, mindfulness meditation has been converted into a “transdiagnostic” strategy for addressing a plethora of mental processes, such as repetitive negative thinking (e.g., rumination, worry) and experiential avoidance (e.g., attempting to avoid unpleasant inner experiences).16 Emanating from the Buddhist tradition, mindfulness meditation has quickly grown into a billion-dollar industry in the United States17 and is commonly practiced in educational,18 occupational,19 and healthcare settings.20 In publication format, references to mindfulness have steadily increased in the last several decades,21 with both news and scientific publications growing from almost zero in the early 1970s to over 30,000 by 2015.22 In addition, loving-kindness meditation, also derived from the Buddhist tradition, has received a considerable amount of attention in the psychology literature in recent years.23
Returning to a Christian perspective, a Christian worldview functions sort of like a lumping strategy, given there is a common thread that links psychiatric diagnoses. Psychological suffering, to be sure, can be traced back to the fall, and the Bible offers Christians a meta-understanding of God’s story for humankind. Although we certainly live in a fallen world and can benefit from a scientific understanding of psychological suffering, prioritizing worldviews is paramount, as the secular psychology literature may have an accurate conceptualization of some of the individual ingredients that make up the remedy, but not the full recipe. In other words, the psychology literature can improve our understanding of contemporary suffering, functioning like added layers to the foundation (i.e., a Christian worldview) of a pyramid, but should not be automatically accepted in its entirety, given many of its untested secular assumptions (e.g., individualism, hedonism, determinism, materialism).24
See figure 0.1 for a visual depiction of the interaction between Christianity and secular psychological science, typically referred to as a “Christian psychology” perspective.25 Notice how the Bible and historic Christian writings make up the base and bulk of the pyramid, offering a foundational understanding of life’s most pressing questions, which leads to the ability to develop distinctly Christian theories and conduct uniquely Christian research, all filtered through a Christian worldview. The Bible, to be certain, is God’s special revelation, helping us to better understand a meta-perspective on the human condition. As followers of Jesus Christ, God offers us his special grace, which allows us to commune with him based on our union with Christ.26
Figure 0.1. A Christian psychology perspective on the relationship between a Christian worldview, Christian psychological science, a secular worldview, and secular psychological science. Adapted from Johnson (2007, 2010); Knabb and Bates (2020b); and Knabb, Johnson, Bates, and Sisemore (2019).
Yet, we can also learn from secular psychological science, since God offers us common grace in the form of medical advancements, psychological insights, and so forth, just as long as a Christian worldview, emanating from Scripture, holds up the added layers of the proverbial pyramid.27 In this interaction with the world, we need to ensure we are accurately translating secular theory and research in the psychology literature,28 disentangling objective empirical data from arbitrarily constructed secular theories and conclusions that arise from the personal preferences and lived experiences of theorists and clearly conflict with a Christian worldview.29 Although the secular psychology literature offers many helpful insights into psychological functioning in a fallen world, the lens through which secular and Christian researchers view health, dysfunction, and healing often differs. Because of this, in this workbook I attempt to offer a Christian approach to meditation in clinical and counseling practice, building upon a Christian worldview as a starting point, but also translating secular research in the psychology literature in a way that is helpful for you as you learn to respond differently to psychological suffering. In this way, I hope to appeal to both those who advocate for an “integrationist” and “Christian psychology” perspective when considering the interaction between the Western secular psychology literature and Christian faith.30
PRIORITIZING DIFFERING WORLDVIEWS: CHRISTIANITY AND THE SECULAR PSYCHOLOGY LITERATURE
Although Christianity was the foundational worldview for many Western societies for almost two thousand years, offering answers to life’s most fundamental questions—What is the world made of? Why is the world the way it is? What is the place of humans in the world?—the Enlightenment led to an alternative, secular understanding of the world, which psychologists adopted as the formal discipline of psychology emerged over a century ago.31 As a result, although the psychological sciences, divorced from a Christian worldview, can certainly offer us different “streams” for better understanding human functioning, they do not point us to the proverbial “ocean.”
For example, in the twenty-first century, secular psychologists have utilized the scientific method to develop a broad range of empirically supported treatments for a wide variety of mental disorders.32 Still, when considering some of their unexamined worldview assumptions, a sharp contrast may begin to emerge when they are scrutinized alongside the Christian faith. As an example, naturalism pervades scientific research, which is the assumption that only the natural world, made up of natural laws, exists, in contrast with theism, consisting of the notion that God exists and influences the world.33 In the psychology literature, “liberal individualism” tends to capture the contemporary zeitgeist, which suggests that (1) we are each isolated and independent, often developing and functioning outside the influence of relational systems; (2) as independent, we should be able to decide our own trajectory in the psychotherapy or counseling room; (3) our own self-fulfillment is central to life satisfaction and successful outcomes in psychotherapy and counseling; and (4) as independent, we can simply use others in an instrumental manner to achieve our own wishes and desires.34
With these secular assumptions in mind, my hope is that, as a Christian, you will consider turning to your own faith tradition to learn strategies to address your psychological suffering. Although psychological science, with recently popular interventions like mindfulness and loving-kindness meditations in the psychology literature, can certainly offer some relief from the mental processes that exacerbate psychiatric disorders, it lacks the viewpoint necessary to “see the forest for the trees,” as the saying goes. Thus, “Christian-derived” meditative practices can help us to begin and end from a biblical worldview, whereas “Christian-accommodative” meditative practices, which attempt to modify secular interventions by adding on Christianity, post hoc, may come up short,35 commonly leading to a “square peg in a round hole” dynamic.
To offer a quick example, in his book Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God, the Christian psychologist and meditation teacher James Finley36 reflected on his time spent with the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton, a widely popular twentieth-century spiritual writer on the contemplative life. As Finley revealed (and is commonly known), Thomas Merton devoted a significant amount of time furthering Buddhist-Christian relations in his later years, even traveling to Asia to better understand Buddhist culture and practices. Yet, on one such cross-cultural excursion, Merton apparently wrote a letter to his American monastery, concluding that “everything he was searching for was present in the monastery, was present in his own hermitage, was present in his own Christian tradition.”37 In other words, Christianity was, all along, offering Merton everything he needed for psychological and spiritual fulfillment.
In a similar vein, my hope with this workbook is that you can look to your own tradition, the Christian faith, to better understand a variety of ways to more effectively identify and respond to your suffering in contemporary society. Like Thomas Merton, you have the opportunity to draw from the rich Christian heritage that has been passed on to you, learning from the wisdom of writers from the last two millennia who have documented their psychological and spiritual insights as they faithfully walked with Jesus as a traveling companion on the roads of life. Instead of spending your time sifting through the vast secular psychology literature for help, my hope is that you will be able to pursue change in your own proverbial monastery, with Christianity serving as the familiar place you confidently return home to.
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION: A FOUR-STEP STRATEGY
Focusing on Christian meditative practices as the starting point, while also interacting with the psychology literature, I offer strategies to help you relate differently to an assortment of transdiagnostic processes that may be keeping you stuck in life. Based on a range of Christian writings over the last two thousand years,38 I define Christian meditation as follows:
A broad collection of concentrative- and insight-oriented psychological and spiritual practices throughout historic Christianity, ranging from apophatic (emphasizing few to no words and no images) to kataphatic (emphasizing words and/or images), for shifting from earthly- to heavenly-mindedness and developing a deeper communion with God and enduring contentment in him in the midst of suffering.39
Or, simply put, the central aim of Christian spiritual practices is Christlikeness, given we are attempting to become more like Jesus Christ on a daily basis.40 In our efforts to become more like Jesus, we are following a Suffering Servant (Is 53), who “empathize[s] with our weaknesses” (Heb 4:15). Therefore, because Jesus as our great high priest (Heb 4:14-16) fully understands our vulnerabilities, he offers his followers his mercy and grace from moment to moment, even in the midst of psychological suffering.
Worth mentioning, the Christian tradition tends to use words like meditation, prayer, and contemplation differently when describing ways to fellowship with the triune God. In fact, lectio divina brings these practices together in a four-step process (described in a subsequent chapter), moving from reading the Bible to meditating on a key passage to praying to God to resting in silence with God.41 However, in this workbook I use the term meditation more generally to describe the vast array of psychological and spiritual practices in the Christian tradition for focusing the mind on God, cultivating a deeper awareness of his loving presence, and accepting his providential care in the midst of suffering, reconciling Christian exercises with the contemporary meditation literature and psychological science.42
As a result, throughout the workbook you will be practicing a four-step model of Christian meditation—housed within eight different bodies of Christian meditative writings throughout the ages and enhanced by contemporary research on the psychological benefits of meditation—to target a variety of transdiagnostic processes. Although I review each step in more detail in a subsequent chapter, below is a brief summary:
Step 1. In the first step, you will be learning to recognize a variety of “mind-brain-body-behavior” processes43 that may be leading to psychological suffering and impaired functioning, focusing on changing unhelpful patterns with cognition, affect, behavior, the self, and relationships. The following list offers a brief overview of the different types of transdiagnostic processes you will be working on within this workbook, all of which have been linked to mental disorders in the psychology literature:
Cognition
• Repetitive negative thinking: A perseverative type of thinking process that includes ruminating about the past and worrying about the future.44
Affect
• Impaired emotional clarity: The struggle to identify and understand emotional experiences.45
• Distress intolerance: The inability to endure unpleasant experiences, including uncertainty, frustration, emotions, and physical sensations.46
Behavior
• Behavioral avoidance: A type of experiential avoidance that involves avoiding behaviors that may lead to unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and sensations.47
The self
• Perfectionism: Frequently striving to meet a high set of personal standards and engaging in negative self-judgments when falling short of such standards.48
Relationships
• Impaired mentalization: The struggle to recognize and understand the thoughts and feelings of oneself and other people, especially in salient relational dynamics,49 or having a hard time “seeing [one]self from the outside and others from the inside.”50
Step 2. With the second step, you will be practicing turning from earthly-mindedness to heavenly-mindedness, consistent with the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians (Col 3:1-2). The Puritans in the seventeenth century often distinguished between these two modes of awareness. Based on a review of several Puritan sources,51 I define earthly-mindedness as follows:
A past- to present-oriented, distracted mental state, preoccupied with the worries, uncertainties, and sufferings of the temporary physical world and struggling to maintain an awareness of a transcendent, spiritual reality, including heaven as an actual place and a real relationship with the triune God.52
On the other hand, in drawing from the same Puritan authors,53 I define heavenly-mindedness as follows:
A present- to future-oriented mental state of hope, prioritizing a moment-by-moment awareness of both a transcendent spiritual reality and heaven as an eternal, permanent place, wherein Christians will find their true home, free from suffering, and experience a perfect, face-to-face communion with the infinitely good, wise, and powerful triune God.54
Interestingly, the Puritans frequently advocated for meditating on heaven, given Jesus is there (although he is certainly omnipresent) and heaven is our future, permanent home.55 In the midst of suffering, then, shifting from earthly- to heavenly-mindedness can help us maintain an awareness of this meta-view, or Christian worldview, enduring suffering with a deeper contentment as we patiently wait for Jesus Christ’s return.
Step 3. As the third step, you will be practicing the following three mental skills,56 which can help you accept God’s active, loving presence from moment to moment, even in adverse life events and psychological suffering:
•Attention: Focusing on God with sustained attention.
•Present-moment awareness: Maintaining an awareness of God in the present moment.
•Acceptance: Accepting painful inner experiences because God is present.
Step 4. Finally, after moving through the first three steps, the fourth step involves deepening your communion with God and finding contentment in him, leading to the ability to make life decisions with an awareness of God’s active, loving presence from moment to moment. Based on a review of a variety of Christian sources,57 I define communion with God as follows:
A mutual, intimate friendship with the Trinity, initiated by God and reciprocated by Christians through union with Christ, resulting in the psychological and spiritual benefits of being at peace with God, enjoying God’s presence, feeling loved, accepted, and comforted by God, and communicating with God through prayer, meditation, and Bible study.58
In my own research with a Christian sample of community adults, I found that communion with God was positively linked to daily spiritual experiences and psychological well-being.59 What is more, drawing from a range of Christian writings on contentment,60 I define a distinctly Christian version of contentment in the following manner:
An inner psychological state of enduring satisfaction, independent of outer circumstances, that is attributable to God’s grace and involves freely and fully surrendering to God, finding pleasure in God, and thanking God in actively authoring every life event with perfect goodness and wisdom.61
In a recent study I conducted among a Christian sample of community adults, I found that Christian contentment was positively linked to a general state of contentment, life contentment, mindful qualities (attention, present focus, acceptance, awareness), equanimity, and daily spiritual experiences.62
See figure 0.2 for a visual depiction of this four-step Christian meditative strategy. As you can see, you will be starting off by learning to notice a variety of unhelpful transdiagnostic processes, then practicing shifting from earthly- to heavenly-mindedness, before accepting God’s active, loving presence by cultivating focused, sustained attention on him, present-moment awareness of him, and acceptance of his providential care. As you get into the habit of taking these three steps with a range of Christian meditative practices, my hope is that you will be in a position to more deeply commune with God and rest in an enduring contentment found exclusively in him. By developing a more intimate relationship with God by abiding in him (Jn 15:5),63 you will be working toward making life decisions that are rooted in becoming more like Jesus Christ,64 rather than reacting to unhelpful transdiagnostic processes that point you away from living a life of meaning and purpose.
Figure 0.2. Theoretical four-step model of Christian meditation. Adapted from Ball (2016); Bangley (2006); Bishop et al. (2004); Feldman et al. (2007); Greeson et al. (2014); Hayes et al. (2012); Holzel et al. (2011); Knabb and Bates (2020b); Knabb, Vazquez, and Pate (2019); Kristeller and Johnson (2005); Saint-Jure and Colombiere (1980); Walsh and Shapiro (2006); and Ware (2000).
CHRISTIAN SOURCES AND USE OF CITATIONS
Consistent with Streams of Living Water,65 I have organized historic Christian spiritual writings into eight overarching categories, or streams, taking into consideration factors such as their time period, denominational affiliation, characteristics, and themes. From my perspective, each body of writing (which, of course, has some overlap with the others) can help you in your struggle with unhelpful transdiagnostic processes, embedding the four-step meditative model along the way. To be sure, there is growing empirical evidence for the use of some of these historic Christian practices for psychological problems.66 In subsequent pages, you will have the opportunity to practice these meditative exercises, with each body of writings offering strategies for cultivating sustained attention on God, present-moment awareness of God, and acceptance of unpleasant inner experiences because God is present.67 Although many of these approaches will be explicated individually in subsequent chapters, I offer a brief introduction here:
Desert meditative practices. Beginning around the third and fourth centuries, Christians started moving to the deserts in Egypt and Syria to flee from society, attempting to be like Jesus in facing his temptations in the desert (Mt 4:1-11).68 In this harsh terrain, they recited the Psalms to focus the mind, used Scripture to talk back to tempting, compulsive thoughts, and developed the skill of staying put in their “cell,” a small room they lived in, mostly in solitude, to face their suffering.69 In doing so, they worked toward developing patience in the midst of psychological pain (e.g., sadness, anxiety, boredom), a deeper awareness of God’s presence, and sustained focus on him.
Orthodox meditative practices. The practice of reciting the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”) slowly evolved over time, possibly influenced by several passages in Scripture (e.g., 1 Thess 5:17; Lk 18:38). Eventually, writings on the Jesus Prayer (and other topics) from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries were compiled into what is now known as the Philokalia,70 a collection of spiritual teachings in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Among other benefits, reciting the Jesus Prayer can help us to remember Jesus, focus the mind, and rely on his mercy from moment to moment.71
Jesuit meditative practices. In the sixteenth-century work Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius of Loyola offered a variety of meditative practices, including the “Prayer of the Senses,” which involves using each of the five senses to feel our way into a biblical story in the Gospels and interact more intimately with Jesus. He also described the examen, which consists of cultivating a deeper awareness of God’s presence throughout the day.72 With each of these practices, Christians are learning to “find God in all things,” a popular saying among the Jesuits, even in experiences of suffering.
Medieval meditative practices. In the Christian tradition, there is a long list of medieval authors, such as the anonymous author of the Cloud of Unknowing,73 Brother Lawrence,74 Thomas à Kempis,75 John of the Cross, Teresa of Àvila, and Julian of Norwich,76 who all offered spiritual teachings on developing a deeper awareness of God’s active, loving presence. In addition, lectio divina, or “divine reading,” was a popular practice during this time.77 Themes among these works, written in a time period of tremendous suffering and hardship, include staying connected to a spiritual reality, contemplating an awareness of God’s active, loving presence and union with God, and trusting in God in the midst of psychological and spiritual struggles.78
Celtic meditative practices. Celtic spiritual writings emphasized the importance of recognizing God’s omnipresence in all of creation, with love as a central theme, as well as the notion that we are embodied, with a physical form created by God.79 “Breastplate prayers,” for example, inspired by Paul’s instruction to “put on the full armor of God” (Eph 6:11), are a powerful reminder of God’s omnipresence and the need for God’s protection.80 Overall, themes among Celtic Christian works throughout the ages include an emphasis on the presence of the Trinity and Jesus’ companionship as we walk through life, even during seemingly mundane tasks or activities.81
French meditative practices. Several French writers offered meditative practices in the 1600s and 1700s, such as Francis de Sales,82 Jeanne Guyon,83 and François Fénelon.84 Themes among these authors include specific directions on meditation and prayer to develop a deeper awareness of God’s presence and surrender the self to God.
Protestant meditative practices. A variety of Protestant authors have outlined Christian meditative practices, such as the Puritans’ focus on God’s attributes and actions,85 the Quakers’ use of silence to experience God,86 missionary Frank Laubach’s “game of minutes,”87 and A. W. Tozer’s88The Christian Book of Mystical Verse. Among these writings, themes include an emphasis on thinking deeply throughout the day about God’s qualities, both formally and informally, as well as the use of Scripture to guide meditative practices.
Contemporary meditative practices. Contemporary practices within the Christian tradition include the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton’s instructions on meditation,89 Thomas Keating’s centering prayer (and, as a supplementary practice, the welcoming prayer),90 John Main’s mantra meditation,91 and breath prayers,92 often advocated for within writings on the spiritual disciplines. Among these writings and practices, a salient theme includes offering contemporary, updated instructions for Christians to practice historic Christian exercises, with a central aim of developing a deeper relationship with God.
To date, there is a considerable amount of research on the psychological benefits of secularized meditative practices,93 with emerging research on the psychological benefits of Christian meditative practices.94 Although some of the mental skills cultivated across these meditative traditions may be similar, such as developing focused, sustained attention,95 the end goals (or telos) are highly different, given they are worldview-dependent. Therefore, this workbook is written for Christian clients receiving professional mental health services, taking into consideration that Christians need worldview-dependent strategies that overlap with what the contemporary psychology literature has shown to work in ameliorating psychological struggles. Within the pages that follow, psychotherapists and professional counselors can work directly with Christian clients to target transdiagnostic processes, using meditative practices that are firmly planted in historic Christianity and a biblical worldview. Quite often, the psychology literature possesses some of the building blocks to make sense of suffering and healing, but not the actual blueprint to fit the pieces together in a manner consistent with the Christian faith.96
Regarding the use of citations, I have chosen to employ footnotes at the bottom of each page, rather than in-text citations (which are common in academic writing), as a sort of compromise, so that clients can more easily follow along in a user-friendly manner, and academics and mental health professionals can more quickly track down references at the bottom of each page (if they choose to do so).
OUTLINE OF THE WORKBOOK
In the remainder of the workbook, I present the following chapters in an easy-to-follow format:
• Review of the transdiagnostic movement, including well-researched transdiagnostic processes that are linked to mental disorders (chap. 1)
• Review of meditative strategies throughout the ages, comparing and contrasting Buddhist, Christian, and secular psychological perspectives to better understand their similarities (e.g., mental skills developed) and differences (e.g., goal) (chap. 2)97
• Review of a theoretical four-step Christian meditative model for targeting transdiagnostic processes (see fig. 0.2) (chap. 3)
• Five intervention chapters, focusing on targeting transdiagnostic problems with thinking, feeling, behaving, the self, and relationships (chaps. 4 to 8)
FORMAT FOR THE INTERVENTION CHAPTERS
After laying the foundation for the workbook in the first three chapters, the five intervention chapters include the following format:
• Background on a specific transdiagnostic process and its link to mental disorders
• Background on specific meditative exercises used to target the transdiagnostic process
•Detailed, easy-to-follow instructions on the application of specific meditative exercises to the transdiagnostic process
• Journaling exercises to reflect on the meditative experiences
• Weekly logs to keep track of symptoms
• Transcripts and an audio recording to follow along with the meditative exercises
THE INTERCHANGEABILITY OF INTERVENTIONS
I link the long list of specific interventions throughout this workbook to a more general four-step process of Christian meditation because most of them are swappable across the five transdiagnostic process chapters. In other words, if you gravitate toward a certain intervention in one chapter (e.g., the Jesus Prayer), you can work with your psychotherapist or professional counselor to adapt it for use in another chapter. Ultimately, because the Christian practices threaded across this workbook are intended to help you notice the designated transdiagnostic process, then shift toward an awareness of God’s active, loving presence, before accepting God’s providential care and taking action in life by communing with God and finding a deeper contentment in him, the array of exercises offered from chapter to chapter are interchangeable, with only slight modifications necessary.
THE INTENDED AUDIENCE, THEOLOGICAL LENS, AND IMPORTANCE OF INFORMED CONSENT
This workbook is for graduate students in clinical and counseling (and related) programs and mental health professionals working with Christian clients to better understand Christian meditative practices in a clinical and counseling context. In fact, the workbook is written directly to motivated clients who identify with the Christian faith and wish to draw from their own meditative tradition to target transdiagnostic processes. More specifically, the “you” that I address throughout the workbook is a motivated client currently in psychotherapy or professional counseling, working with a psychotherapist or professional counselor who is guiding each step of the way. By writing directly to the Christian client, my hope is that mental health professionals—whether those currently pursuing a graduate degree, being supervised at a practicum or internship site, or independently practicing with a state license in the mental health field—will be able to use this workbook as an adjunct to the salient services they provide, attentively looking over their Christian clients’ shoulders as they collaboratively dig deeper into the rich psychological wisdom of the Christian tradition.
During our time together, my goal is to serve as a miner, translator, and tour guide, given “there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccles 1:9). In other words, I will help you to mine the Christian tradition, translating the vast body of historic Christian writings over the last two millennia into accessible language and clear steps in order to point you in the direction of psychological and spiritual change. I will also function as a tour guide, walking with you as you dually attempt to better understand the problem and work toward a solution.
I do all of this from a Reformed, evangelical Protestant perspective, “embracing [the material] Evangelically.”98 Among other characteristics, evangelical Christians, who make up about 25 percent of adults in the United States,99 identify as orthodox Protestants and believe in the authority of Bible as the Word of God, the need for a personal, sanctifying relationship with Jesus Christ, the importance of following the teachings of Jesus Christ to become more like him (i.e., “Christlikeness”), and the reality and impact of sin in a fallen world.100 In the pages that follow, I write from this perspective, recognizing that “Scripture is the final authority over, but not the sole source of, Christian belief and practice”101 and taking a “high view” of God’s sovereignty, which means his providential care extends to all of creation.
In fact, Christians throughout history have advocated for the psychological and spiritual benefits of maintaining an awareness of God’s providence in daily life, which includes God’s redemptive work in suffering.102 For instance, the Belgic Confession, a Reformed Protestant doctrine written in the 1500s, fittingly offers the following on God’s providence:
We believe that this good God, after creating all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will, in such a way that nothing happens in this world without God’s orderly arrangement. . . . We do not wish to inquire with undue curiosity into what God does that surpasses human understanding and is beyond our ability to comprehend. But in all humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us, being content to be Christ’s disciplines, so as to learn only what God shows us in the Word, without going beyond those limits. This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort since it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by arrangement of our gracious heavenly father, who watches over us with fatherly care, sustaining all creatures under his lordship, so that not one of the hairs on our heads (for they are all numbered) nor even a little bird can fall to the ground without the will of our Father. In this thought we rest.103
Undoubtedly, this psychological and spiritual understanding of God’s providential care functions as the theological “glue” for this workbook, accepting life’s challenges because God is the author of every event, which can bring Christians much-needed contentment on the dangerous roads of life, filled with potholes, cracks, ruts, and detours. Certainly, as a parallel process, the mindfulness literature also advocates for psychological acceptance, with the definition of acceptance over the years simply meaning “to consent to take what is offered”104 or “receive willingly.”105
Yet, for Christians, we relate differently to our most difficult inner and outer experiences because God’s providential care extends to all of our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, self-preoccupations, and relationships, which can bring us “unspeakable comfort” and “rest” in our time of need. In other words, with the practices in this workbook, we are learning to “consent to take what is offered” or “receive willingly” from God, not accepting suffering from an impersonal universe solely because it is inevitable in this world, as may be the case with some secular mindfulness- and acceptance-based therapies in the twenty-first-century psychology literature. My hope, thus, is that you will benefit from these exercises as you work with your psychotherapist or counselor, deepening your relationship with God (which foundationally includes trusting in his providential care) along the way, given the Christian spiritual writings I utilize in this workbook offer “reflections on the lived experience of sanctification” among Christians throughout the ages.106
Finally, before choosing to use this workbook in clinical and counseling practice, it is important for you to talk to your psychotherapist or counselor about your options. In other words, “informed consent” is necessary, given the wide variety of interventions available in contemporary Western society to address psychological suffering.107 In discussing this workbook with your psychotherapist or counselor, my hope is that you, as a Christian, will continue to identify ways to more intimately experience the love of God and find contentment in him throughout your day.
TRANSDIAGNOSTIC PROCESSES
A New Approach to Understanding Mental Disorders
God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.
IN THIS FIRST CHAPTER, I explore the burgeoning transdiagnostic literature,1 including the difference between lumping and splitting strategies for psychiatric diagnosing,2 and provide justification for a lumping approach (i.e., identifying and treating common psychological processes across diagnoses). I also present in more detail the different types of transdiagnostic processes in the psychology literature, which are organized around problems with cognition (repetitive negative thinking), affect (impaired emotional clarity and distress intolerance), behavior (behavioral avoidance), the self (perfectionism), and relationships (impaired mentalization).3 Throughout the chapter, I offer explanations and an exercise for you to gain more insight into the nature of transdiagnostic processes.
THE PREVALENCE AND COMORBIDITY OF MENTAL DISORDERS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
In the United States, the lifetime prevalence among adults is about 20 percent for mood disorders and 35 percent for anxiety disorders,4 which are two of the more common types of psychiatric disorders in contemporary Western society. In other words, about one in five adults will struggle with depression in their lifetime, to the point of meeting criteria for a formal psychiatric diagnosis, whereas about one in three will meet full criteria for an anxiety disorder. Beyond the United States, a recent worldwide survey revealed that about 30 percent of people will suffer from a common mental disorder (e.g., mood, anxiety) at some point in their adult years.5 Even more troubling, the majority of people who suffer from a depressive disorder may also struggle with an anxiety disorder at the same time, referred to as “comorbidity.”6 These data suggest that depression and anxiety, which are often experienced together, may be quite common in both contemporary Western society and the non-Western world.
For depressive disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder), symptoms may include a low mood, a struggle to enjoy previously pleasurable activities, trouble sleeping, energy loss, impaired concentration, thoughts of worthlessness, and excessive guilt, among others.7 With anxiety disorders (e.g., panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder), symptoms may include trouble breathing, shaking, dizziness, fear of judgment by others in social situations, and chronic worry, to name a few.8 Combined, depressive and anxiety disorders are often referred to as emotional disorders in the psychology literature, since they frequently occur together among adult populations. Said differently, in recent years, psychologists have started to include these types of diagnoses in the same category in order to better understand their common ingredients and develop intervention strategies to treat an amalgam of psychiatric symptoms at the same time.
LUMPING VERSUS SPLITTING IN THE PSYCHOLOGY LITERATURE
In the psychology literature, psychologists often differentiate between lumping and splitting approaches to understanding and treating a variety of mental processes that impair functioning.9 With lumping, researchers attempt to elucidate common psychological experiences that transcend any one particular diagnosis. In other words, an effort is made to make sense of patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are observed across diagnostic categories. As an example, in the last decade, authors have identified “impaired emotional clarity” as a potential mental process that can help to explain the development and maintenance of a variety of psychiatric diagnoses.10 More specifically, some people may struggle to identify and make sense of their emotional experiences, with this struggle linked to depression and anxiety.11 As another example, openness to the future has been explored of late, with researchers identifying this positive emotional state as the ability to maintain a sense of confidence in, and acceptance of, future life experiences.12 In a recent study, openness to the future was negatively linked to depression and anxiety, meaning people who have a more positive view of the future also report fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety.13
With splitting, researchers strive to cultivate an understanding of the unique psychological experiences for each mental disorder, then target the corresponding symptoms with disorder-specific interventions. For instance, psychologists may attempt to make better sense of the most salient symptoms of panic disorder, including panic-related thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and a preoccupation with subsequent panic attacks, then develop a manualized approach that teaches coping skills to ameliorate the disorder. As each new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)14 seems to add more diagnoses to its running list, a splitting approach requires additional manualized interventions to be researched in order to treat an ever-growing number of mental disorders.15
REASONS FOR A TRANSDIAGNOSTIC APPROACH IN THE PSYCHOLOGY LITERATURE
Yet, this splitting strategy may not be the most helpful approach for responding to psychological suffering in the twenty-first century, given some of the growing concerns about the DSM, now in its fifth edition.16 First, although the DSM can be extremely helpful in identifying a cluster of symptoms and, thus, offering a common language for describing psychological struggles among both mental health professionals and consumers of mental health services, the vast number of diagnoses (currently over 300 in the latest DSM) leaves us vulnerable to pathologizing normal (albeit unfortunate) experiences of psychological suffering,17 especially in a fallen, imperfect world. In other words, there is seldom a clear-cut dividing line between health and dysfunction when striving to understand the human continuum of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.18 What is more, many individuals struggle with more than one diagnosis, which raises the question of whether dichotomous boundaries also exist from disorder to disorder in the real world.
Second, as we organize psychological suffering into more and more categories, we must, in turn, develop corresponding treatment approaches. However, someone with multiple diagnoses may not have the time, money, or energy to participate in multiple interventions to treat a list of psychiatric diagnoses.19 This dilemma, too, goes for mental health professionals, who may not have the resources to deliver separate treatments, anchored to different diagnoses, to the same person seeking services. Rather, understanding and treating common mental processes that are experienced across diagnostic categories may be the most efficient option.
COMMON TRANSDIAGNOSTIC PROCESSES IN THE PSYCHOLOGY LITERATURE
As was briefly mentioned in the introduction chapter, we will be focusing on transdiagnostic processes within five domains: thinking, feeling, behaving, the self, and relationships. Although each of these areas is explored individually and in much more detail in subsequent chapters, below are some of their basic ingredients, including examples of how each mental process may impair daily functioning in the Christian life.
Cognition. With repetitive negative thinking, we may ruminate and worry, perseverating as a rigid thinking style on a daily basis.20 This type of thinking, more specifically, involves ruminating about the past and worrying about the future. With ruminating, we may dwell on a past conversation or event, whereas worrying may consist of anticipating a dangerous situation in the near or distant future. In either case, we may end up getting lost in our thoughts, so much so that we have a hard time focusing on the life that is unfolding before us in the present moment. When this is the case, we may struggle to fulfill our daily obligations, since we are lost in a sea of cognitive distractions. Even more, we may struggle to recognize God’s presence in the here-and-now. We may also get lost in the details of events, conversations, and so forth, and have a hard time seeing the bigger picture. In the psychology literature, perseverative thinking is linked to both depressive and anxiety-related symptoms.21
Affect. When it comes to impaired emotional clarity, we may struggle to identify and understand our emotional world,22 especially when it comes to recognizing the role that our emotions play in daily life. In fact, we may end up having a hard time understanding even our most basic emotions (e.g., sadness, fear, anxiety, guilt), including their positive influence in helping us to make decisions, navigate relationships, and so on. With distress intolerance, we may struggle to accept the inevitable uncertainties, frustrations, emotions, and physical sensations of daily life.23 When this happens, we may have a hard time fulfilling daily responsibilities and obligations, as well as recognizing what God is communicating to us in our emotional experiences. For example, if we struggle to accept the uncertainties of life, we may have a hard time making decisions about the future and recognizing God’s will for the days, weeks, months, and years ahead, choosing instead to procrastinate in an attempt to delay committing to a course of action for fear of making a mistake. In the psychology literature, impaired emotional clarity is associated with both depressive and anxiety-related symptoms,24 as is distress intolerance.25
Behavior. In the behavior domain, we may struggle to live the life God has called us to live, engaging in avoidance behaviors in an attempt to somehow rid ourselves of daily pain.26 More specifically, we may withdraw or hide in an effort to eliminate unpleasant thoughts and feelings, which likely only makes matters worse given our psychological pain continues to persist, with the added struggle of falling behind on our daily obligations. Even more troubling, we may end up declining to follow Jesus because of the cost of letting go of the things we are dually distracted by and attached to (Mk 10:17-27). In the psychology literature, behavioral avoidance is linked to both depressive and anxiety-related symptoms.27
The self. Regarding the self, we may have perfectionistic tendencies, including standards that are unattainable.28 In struggling to live up to our own expectations for ourselves, we may end up judging and criticizing ourselves, so much so that we withdraw in shame and waver in our ability to consent to God’s will for our life. In other words, we may have a hard time extending the mercy and grace that God offers us to ourselves,29 leading to impaired daily functioning. In the psychology literature, perfectionism is related to both depressive and anxiety-related symptoms.30
Relationships. In our relationships, we may struggle to understand ourselves and others, referred to as impaired mentalization, especially when it comes to making sense of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that drive key interpersonal exchanges.31 When we have a hard time understanding these ingredients of relationships, many areas of our life can be impaired, such as family, work, church, and community. Even more, we may struggle to maintain an awareness of God’s active, loving, compassionate presence in our daily encounters with others, leading to a disconnect between our relational world and experience of God. In the psychology literature, deficits in mentalizing are associated with anxiety in close relationships (i.e., attachment anxiety) and neuroticism (e.g., worry, anxiety),32 as well as depressive symptoms.33
With each of these transdiagnostic domains, we may be unable to recognize when our mental processes get in the way of living the life God has called us to live. Therefore, simply recognizing when we are distracted by our imperfect mental processes in a fallen world can serve as a fitting first step. What follows, then, is a metaphor to better understand the dilemma of mental processes, followed by examples of the importance of identifying our mental habits from the psychology literature, the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, and Scripture, before concluding with an exercise to finish the first chapter.
IDENTIFYING TRANSDIAGNOSTIC PROCESSES: A STORY OF TWO FISH
There is an old story about two fish peacefully swimming along in the ocean. A third fish passes by and asks, “How’s the water?” In response, one of the two fish turns to the other and asks with quite a bit of confusion, “What’s water?” With this short story, we can easily draw a parallel with our mental processes. Because we are so close, so to speak, to these processes, swimming in a sea of thoughts and feelings throughout the day, we can struggle to attain the distance necessary to recognize them.
For example, someone may have the thought, I’m worthless, swimming in these seemingly powerful words for most of their adult years. Yet, just like fish in water, they may not have the necessary distance to simply observe the inner workings of the human mind. In fact, many of us struggle to develop the requisite psychological and spiritual practices to slow down and notice the mental processes that are unfolding from moment to moment. Without this inner awareness, we may end up making life decisions that are inconsistent with God’s will.
Interestingly, both contemporary psychologists and Christians throughout history have advocated for practices to notice the inner world in a more open, curious, detached, and vigilant manner, recognizing the importance of doing so for psychological and spiritual health. Among the former, a wide variety of exercises (e.g., mindfulness meditation) have been recently proposed for gaining a broader awareness of our inner experiences. With the latter, over the last two millennia, Christians have been slowing down to recognize the tempting, compulsive thoughts that can get in the way of a deeper, more restful experience of God’s presence, employing both formal and informal spiritual practices to do so.
IDENTIFYING TRANSDIAGNOSTIC PROCESSES: “META-COGNITIVE SELF-REGULATION” IN THE PSYCHOLOGY LITERATURE
In the twenty-first-century psychology literature, researchers have identified several potential ingredients for understanding how meditation leads to positive psychological change. In particular, meditation may help to cultivate the “meta-cognitive self-regulatory capacity of the mind.”34 With self-regulation, we are developing the ability to simply notice our psychological experiences, including our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.35 Along the way, we are learning to observe these psychological processes, then shift toward another point of focus with sustained attention, doing so with an attitude of acceptance and nonjudgment.36
Ultimately, as we learn to engage in regular meditative practice, we begin to notice the inner world with greater awareness and distance, coupled with the ability to shift our attention in a more purposeful, nonjudgmental manner. In the context of the aforementioned transdiagnostic processes, meta-cognitive self-regulation37 can help us to recognize when we are swimming in a sea of distractions, then gently shift toward an awareness of God’s active, loving presence. In fact, some in the Christian tradition have been advocating for deepening our ability to notice and shift for centuries, referred to in the Eastern Orthodox tradition as nepsis.
IDENTIFYING TRANSDIAGNOSTIC PROCESSES: NEPSIS IN THE EASTERN ORTHODOX TRADITION
Housed within the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the Philokalia is an amalgam of Christian spiritual writings from the fourth to fifteenth centuries, which (among other themes) advocated for the use of the Jesus Prayer (i.e., “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”) as a way to cultivate an awareness of God’s presence, attentiveness, and inner peace.38 By repeatedly calling on Jesus’ name and asking for his mercy, we are learning to notice the steady stream of tempting, compulsive thoughts (logismoi, Greek), then shift the mind toward Jesus.39 Even more, Christians are developing an inner watchfulness and alertness (nepsis, Greek),40 similar to the meta-cognitive self-regulation identified among contemporary mindfulness meditation researchers, which leads to a deeper awareness of a variety of transdiagnostic processes that may get in the way of following Jesus Christ.
As an example, in Hesychios’s On Watchfulness and Holiness in the Philokalia, he states, “Watchfulness is a continual fixing and halting of thought at the entrance to the heart. In this way predatory and murderous thoughts are marked down as they approach and what they say and do is noted.”41 Or, as another example from Hesychios,
When the mind, taking refuge in Christ and calling upon Him, stands firm and repels its unseen enemies, like a wild beast facing a pack of hounds from a good position of defence, then it inwardly anticipates their inner ambuscades well in advance. Through continually invoking Jesus the peacemaker against them, it remains invulnerable.42
Here we see that repeatedly calling on Jesus’ name can lead to a deeper awareness of the “inner ambuscades” of the human mind, given we are noticing our mental processes, then pivoting toward Jesus by reaching for him as our source of mercy, comfort, and peace. In other words, we are cultivating a sort of vigilance, reminiscent of a guard on patrol to ensure no one scales the walls of a king’s palace.
In a similar vein, in Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation, Martin Laird43 discussed the use of a “prayer word” (e.g., “Jesus,” “Abba”) in the Christian tradition to maintain an awareness of God’s loving presence from moment to moment. Given our attention will inevitably wander from God to other mental activities, a short word or phrase, anchored to Scripture, can help us to bring our focus back to God when it has drifted. Again, this simple process of noticing and shifting can help us to dually get to know the inner workings of the fallen human mind and maintain an awareness of God’s merciful, compassionate presence in the here-and-now. As we learn to invite God into our inner experiences, we may begin to notice we can relate to our most difficult thoughts, feelings, and sensations with more compassion and acceptance, decreasing the tendency to judge and shame ourselves for inner experiences that may never fully go away. To deepen our understanding of this dynamic—noticing and inviting—the book of Hebrews can offer us a fitting example from Scripture.
