Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee - Prayer of the Heart in Christian and Sufi Mysticism

I use the term God not in reference to an anthropomorphic father-figure, or other personified image, but to an all-pervading, ever-present Reality that is both immanent (closer to him than his neck vein, Quran 50:16) and transcendent (beyond even our idea of the beyond). Sufis call this Reality the Beloved.

Interior Castle , trans. Mirabai Starr, Introduction, p. 11.

Ibid., p. 12.

For Lovers of God Everywhere: Poems of the Christian Mystics , by Roger Housden, p. 90.

Quoted by Kallistos Ware, Merton and Hesychasm , p. 6.

For a detailed description of the chambers of the heart in the Sufitradition, see Vaughan-Lee, Fragments of a Love Story: Reflections on the Life of a Mystic , chap. 1, Chambers of the Heart.

Theophan the Recluse calls the prayer of feeling the third degree of prayer, after prayer of the body and prayer of the mind. The Art of Prayer , p. 52.

Interior Castle , trans. E. Allison Peers, Seventh Mansion, chap. 3, p. 222.

In the Sufi tradition, if one is to pray for another it is best if there is a personal connection or link. Then one just needs to say within the heart the first name of this person, offering it to God, and then let the thought go. One can also place the person within ones heart.

Life of St. Teresa , chap. XV.

Newsweek , January 6, 1992, Talking to God, p. 44.

Trans. Andrew Harvey, Light Upon Light , p. 99.

Molinos, Miguel, Spiritual Guide, quoted by Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism , p. 324. Molinos (d. 1697) was the chief apostle of Quietism, which had an indirect effect on St. Teresa of Avila. St. Teresa also says that as we begin to sense that God hears our prayers, we should remain inwardly silent: When from the secret signs He gives us we seem to realize that He is hearing us, it is well for us to keep silence. Interior Castle , Fourth Mansion, chap. 3, p. 88. Quietism was finally condemned by the church in 1687, Molinos was imprisoned for life in the same year.

Interior Castle , trans. E. Allison Peers, Sixth Mansion , chap. 3, p. 138.

Ibid., p. 139.

Ibid., pp. 142-3.

Ibid., pp. 145-6.

Hearing voices is a well-known expression of schizophrenia, and the mystic quickly learns when and when not to tell others about their inner voice.

St. Teresa expresses the importance of humility in prayer, the whole foundation of prayer must be laid in humility. The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila , chap. 12, p. 192.

The mystical journey is sometimes referred to as the journey from the alone to the Alone.

Interior Castle , trans. E. Allison Peers, Seventh Mansion, chap. 1, p. 210.

Interior Castle , trans. E. Allison Peers, First Mansion, chap. 1.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, I wake and feel the fell of dark not day., lines 6-8, The Poems and Prose of Gerard Manley Hopkins .

Irina Tweedie, Daughter of Fire , p. 404.

The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila , chap. 11, p. 82.

The Conference of the Birds , trans. C. S. Nott , p. 33.

I Corinthians 13:7.

The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila , chap. 11, p. 83.

Irina Tweedie, Daughter of Fire , p. 79. St. Teresa describes the Prayer of Quiet as a little spark of True Love that the Lord begins to ignite in the soul. Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life , trans. Mirabai Starr, p. 103.

Hopkins, No worst there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief., lines 3-4, The Poems and Prose of Gerard Manley Hopkins .

San i, quoted by Javad Nurbakhsh, Sufi Symbolism : Volume II , p. 121.

Quoted by Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam , p. 72.

The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila , chap. 14, pp. 107-9.

Ibid., p. 107.

Interior Castle , trans. E. Allison Peers, Fifth Mansion, chap. 1, p. 103.

Song of Solomon 5:5-6.

Interior Castle , trans. E. Allison Peers, Fifth Mansion, chap. 2, p. 109.

Jeanne Guyon, The Song of the Bride , p. 110.

The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila , chap. 17, p. 135.

Interior Castle , trans. E. Allison Peers, Fifth Mansion, chap. 2, p. 109.

S ra 24:37.

This practice of inner seclusion belongs especially to the Naqshbandi Sufi order and their principle of Solitude in the Crowd. In the words of Sa d al-Kharr z, Perfection is not in exhibitions of miraculous powers, but perfection is to sit amongpeople, sell and buy, marry and have children; and yet never leave the presence of All h even for one moment.

Quoted by James Arraj, St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. G. Jung , p. 60.

Sermon, Blessed are the Poor.

The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila , chap. 18, p. 147.

Ibid., chap. 18, p. 146. Att r describes a similar mystical state: I know nothing, I understand nothing. I am unaware of myself. I am in love, but with whom I am in love I do not know. My heart is at the same time both full and empty of love. The Conference of the Birds , p. 119.

Att r, The Conference of the Birds , trans. C. S. Nott , p. 122.

Quoted by Schimmel, I Am Wind, You Are Fire , p. 172.

The Cloud of Unknowing , chap. 8, quoted by Happold, Mysticism: A Study and an Anthology , p. 312.