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A BRIEF HISTORY OF MEDITATION IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH From Christian Mystic: The yoga (to yoke) of the Hindu yogi is the same experience as the unity (to be one) of the Christian mystic. The state of unity of the Christian mystic is the enlightenment of yoga, the nirvana of the Buddhist and the bliss of the Sufi. The Holy Spirit of the Christian mystic is the shakti of yoga, the chi of the Buddhist and the creative force of the occultist. The fire of the Holy Spirit spoken of by John the Baptist is the Kundalini of yoga. The baptism by the Holy Spirit of the Christian mystic is the shakti-pat of yoga. Their is only one experience that is the golden thread that ties all mystics together, no matter their religion. It is the experience of the soul's true nature in God. It is of this experience that the founders of all the world's great religions spoke. The awareness of these great souls, trying to teach the truths of existence to the rest of mankind is like a college professor trying to teach philosophy to a kindergarten class. There is a tremendous gap in reality and experience to transcend. And so they spoke in parables and basic truths for the masses and pulled their disciples aside to explain the deeper truths of the nature of existence. In all of the great religions you will find the exoteric teachings that the majority practice and a relative few who understand and practice the esoteric teachings. Yoga is that part of Hinduism practiced by those who understand and practice the deeper teachings but there are vast numbers of Hindus who have very little understanding of the nature of reality. The same is true of the Buddhist faith. The Sufis are that part of the Muslim religion who understand and practice the deeper teachings of Mohammed but there are vast numbers of Muslims who have very little understanding of the nature of reality. The mystical traditions of the founders have pretty much been kept in tact in these religions, more so in yoga and Buddhism but the Sufis also have an unbroken mystical tradition. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in Christianity. The Gnostics were the closest mystical group that Christianity had in likeness to the Sufi sect of the Muslim religion. They disagreed with the Church as to the significance of Jesus' death and were cast out of the Church by the time of famous early Christian scholar Origen, that is before four hundred A.D. He writes: "But for those who are wise he has always the higher teachings, which are given only to those who have proved themselves worthy of it. This teaching is not lost; the church cast it out when she expelled the great Gnostic Doctors, but it has nevertheless been preserved, and it is precisely that Wisdom which we are studying..." The higher teachings have always been in Christianity. It is only that the very sensitive parts of it have been taught quietly and only verbally from teacher to disciple in Catholic and Orthodox monasteries. Meditation and pranayama have always been very strong in the Orthodox traditions. When the Protestants broke away from the Catholic Church they for the most part did not take the monastic tradition with them and therefore completely lost the mystical teachings of the Church Fathers, leaving them with the exoteric teachings only. (Believe in Christ and lead a good life and you will be saved) And either because of the Protestants leaving or by coincidence the Catholic monasteries stopped teaching meditation as a standard practice and supplemented it with verbal prayer and liturgy. (about 1600 A.D.) So for us in the West, it was as if we had lost the core of our faith and didn't even know it. And in the Orthodox traditions the wisdom of the Gnostic Doctors has been lost.
Also the following was taken from a newsgroup: Where does the word "gnosis" come from and what does it mean? Gnosis involves direct "knowledge" and experience of the sacred beyond the limitations of the physical and psychic states. It does not rely exclusively on faith, belief or study od sacred texts. Soul, in its essence, is a divine spark and the Call to gnosis (sometimes referred to as the Call of Soul) is the awakening to that spiritual potential. In many systems this is facilitated by a great revealer whose origin is in the highest heavens. Gnosis comes from a Greek word meaning 'to know' in the sense of 'to be acquainted'. Gnosis in a more specific religious sense refers to the knowledge of God and the fullness of the true spiritual realms through direct personal experience. Similar terms are jnana (Sanskrit) and ma'rifat (Arabic). A gnostic is someone who has had such an experience or who has been initiated into a tradition which provides access to such personal revelations. A gnostic religious-philosophical movement flourished during the first centuries of the current era. Although much of the academic interest in gnosis has focused on the early Chrisian versions, gnosis itself is an experience found at the heart of every religious tradition and cannot be singled out as applying to only one such tradition. An active debate among scholars about the origins of gnosisticism and gnosis is a major focus of academic research and discussion.
