Most of us will have experienced the dramatic effect that mental noise can have on our life.
This was well known to the early Christian contemplatives of Egypt, Palestine and Syria, known today as the Desert Fathers and Mothers. They understood how our relationship with our thoughts and feelings, with our passions and all the various gifts of our being, determines our relationship with life and with each other. The desert was a place for stripping away illusion, for looking beyond all that routinely distracts us – a pathway to peace, to freedom and compassion, to encountering God in our heart.
Following Jesus’ example, the Desert fathers and Mothers developed a simple practice to discover the deepest truth of who we are, to encounter God in our heart, in the person next to us, in all creation. This is meditation from the Christian wisdom tradition, also known as ‘silent prayer’ or ‘prayer of the heart’.
It is not just Christians who are seeking peace and a greater sense of the Sacred.
While the number of people with a religious affiliation continues to decline in the West, the 2022 UK census found that only half of those who identify as non-religious do not believe in God.
The wisdom at the heart of Christian contemplation is not confined by tradition, time, or culture. It calls everyone who longs for truth and stillness – whatever their background – into a living encounter with the Divine. Through stillness, universal language, stories and metaphors, we help people turn to that which comes before all words, ideas and doctrines: We are held. We are known. We are called to become vessels of peace and compassion in a world that hungers for both.
Every day our screens confront us with violent conflict, political polarisation, and ecological crisis. It’s no wonder that so many of us feel more stressed, distracted, and fearful than ever.
At the same time, fewer people feel connected to a faith community or a shared spiritual tradition.
These global crises are not simply external events—but symptoms of a deeper alienation: a disconnection from our true nature, the silent land of peace within each of us.
The Christian contemplative understanding is that suffering and injustice arise because we are alienated from our true nature.