It seems to me, from my rather scatter-shot readings of historical Christianity, that early Christian prayer mainly had to do with Watchfulness, Holiness and getting all the crazy thoughts in our heads under control. It's tough enough for monks to do, let alone all the rest of us, but one can become suspicious that it is one of those necessary things, that we've generally left off of it and picked various easier (and novel, even though for most of us many of these practices have become century long traditions in themselves) practices.
There are many practices in the West, practices which seem to ignite imagination, engage emotion, and generate ever more thought. These are thought about the Lord, and about holy things, to be sure, but those very thoughts can be the most dangerous when they are wrong.
As a child of the West, I notice, in my own mind, the veil that can be cast by even the most innocuous of thoughts; it's as if the thoughts demand acceptance or rejection, which in turn could put me into conflict with the Lord's will. The whole sequence is a big lie; I am not my thoughts- the obviously wrong ones I can reject, the ones that are neutral or even seem good I can de-focus from. Nothing need keep me from the Lord. Unfortunately, this appears to take a lot of work.
So, what I worry about is that we've moved from a tradition of doing the hard work, to escapism. We dream the big dreams and have the great visions, but have nary a tool with which to build anything.
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