Cycles can be broken by simply stopping; sitting, reflecting and enduring what must be faced. Prayer for me can be many things. Yet to sit in silence before Ultimate Reality, simply waiting, not running will eventually bring a feeling of coming home, though it is a process that must be gone through many times, with failures to do so also part of the process. The soul leans towards healing and at the same time the ‘Thanatos’ principle’ moves towards destruction and alienation. It takes dissipation for the Thanatos principle to take control, which seems very easy to do, even if the fruit of this path is bitter and filled with poison. On the other hand, discipline and a dropping of self- concern must grow, no matter how slowly, for the soul to heal…..a true death in fact to a way of being that is larger and more expansive.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
