*Brian K. Wilcox. An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. “Practice, Practice, Practice.” “The View” is the state-process of clear Awareness, or contemplation, in mystical prayer.

We are living in a technological society, we hear often. Technology has always been about the art of living and reminds us of the perennial emphasis on wisdom in all cultures. Therefore, civilizations developed a body of teachings of wisdom literature and sages have been important spiritual leaders.

I encourage us to keep the idea of technique linked to our spiritual practice. The technique of spiritual practice is the wisdom of why and how we do things. We do not need to set our technological society in an antithetical position to spirituality.

I read that contemplative prayer is not a technique. Well, "yes" and "no." All prayer, indeed all spiritual practice, is a technique in that it follows a natural, logical process. Mystical prayer is not technique in the sense that at that level of communion the control of how to do prayer drops. Still, contemplation follows an innate wisdom of its own and that makes it mystical, rather than something else.

The English "technique" derives from the Greek technikos, "to build, join." This verb derives from a noun meaning "an art, artifice," coming from a base "to weave, build." So, in Greek a tektōn is a "carpenter."

In Buddhism prajna is the wisdom of insight. This insight allows one to practice rightly with body, mind, and speech. Therefore, the practitioner engages in the precept of right effort.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, a marvelous array of wisdom writings arose in the few centuries prior to Jesus; Wisdom was personified as Lady Wisdom - hohkma (Hebrew) or sophia (Greek). Jesus was clearly a wisdom teacher, and James is the New Testament book of wisdom.

Wisdom is innately connected to spiritual community and practice. While contemplative awareness, or mystical consciousness, transcends dualistic thought, this is possible due to building toward the transcendence with body, mind, and speech. If we do not work with body, mind, and speech by technique, we will not move toward unification of awareness. Technique, then, means using wisely the building materials, or weaving threads, available - body, mind, speech - to lead us to more refined, loving, sensitive awareness. The materials are present; we must apply the wisdom of practice. So, we can see the sense of the monastic tradition speaking of spiritual practices as Tools of the Trade.

To be a carpenter, or weaver, of Spirit is as practical as cooking a meal, raking leaves, cleaning windows, or driving a vehicle. So, we need to respect the teachers of our traditions and learn from them. We can enjoy technique in our practice. We can see that the way we shape our attitudes to others, close a door, wash dishes, hold a baby, observe a community rite, write a letter, greet a friend, or do our meditation are wonderful expressions of universal common sense, reflections of the way life works and leads us to enjoy innate, natural bliss.

We arrive at the marvelous, simple insight that the way we close a door resembles the wisdom of mystical union, and vice versa. If we can close a door well and mindfully, then that indicates we can meditate likewise. We learn that the wisdom of how to practice meditation follows the principles in all other areas of life, for life reflects the same principles in all domains of experience.

*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis. While within the Christian path, he is an ecumenical-interspiritual teacher, author, and chaplain. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Jail, Punta Gorda, FL.

*Brian welcomes responses to his writings at briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.

*You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.