Micro-transformation: unitive practice from Russian Orthodoxy ☦︎

Fun fact: Ceaselessly, inwardly repeating the Jesus prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” from your heart has consistently led to stabilized unitive state-stages (Theosis) for more than a millennium. 

This practice is called the Hesychasm. It’s been officially recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church since the fourth century. I’ve been playing with it as much as possible for the past few weeks, and I am loving it. It is very powerful. 

Then! In the early 1900s, hesychast monks on Mt. Athos took it a step further. Their results were so radical that in 1913, the Russian government sent troops to stop them! 

What was the shift? Their actions were the same—they aimed to engage the Jesus Prayer every moment of every day. But my (very limited) understanding is that their attitude reframed prayer from a practice that petitions for union with God one day that isn’t now — to an expression of divine essence (nonduality) right now. Prayer is not a behavior you do; prayer is God happening. Faithfully seeking IS participation as found-ness.

What’s so beautiful is that seeing it this way resolves the seeming duality between “no where to get, no one to get enlightened” and “but I’m not yet aware that I’m enlightened.” That thought itself expresses the divine. As does practicing.* We can see this parallel in every mystical tradition I’ve studied.

Variations on Imiaslavie 

Here’s a way I’ve been playing with this practice.

I shift the “me” that I’m asking mercy for (from my heart), when I say “have mercy on me” to be wildly more inclusive than my particular body-mind-character-Jordanness. Eg:

• “me” including whoever I’m judging or mad at
• “me” including whoever I’m speaking with or looking at
• “me” including all of humanity, or a people, or a country, or a world leader (especially one I judge)
• “me” including all plants, animals, and living creatures—a bug in my house for example

I think the “including” part is really important. I’m not praying for these beings as separate from me, but rather as extensions of me, or expansions of who I identify with. If this doesn’t make sense, a place you might want to start is with your family, especially if you’re a parent of young children.

I want to honor the lineage and centuries of practice by noting that I may be totally butchering the practice and theology. Although I believe it reflects the view of Gregory Palamas, a 13th century saint famous for defending hesychast spirituality, I haven’t run this by any practitioners or been advised by anyone else doing this practice. Nevertheless I share it because I believe it’ll be asymmetrically positive, and, especially with this caveat, I believe in the value of our civilization experimenting and adapting practices from a variety of ancient and time-prove lineages that are good for all.

(h/t Sean Esbjörn-Hargens for turning me onto this practice),  #TTT