The Lure of a Quick Fix

When we are suffering and there appears to be no help or support and God appears to be silent, temptation can come knocking...powerfully.  Desperation can cause us to seek that which gives some immediate relief, even if it is false.   Fr. Groeschel in his book Spiritual Passages, gives a rather concise description of what can be a very desperate situation.  He calls it "the first darkness":

"It occurs, (the first darkness) as is indicated in the Dialogue of St. Catherine, at the end of the purgative way.  If one is in a responsible position-clerical, religious, or lay-one is expected to smile.  "A sad saint is a sorry saint. Christians always smile! And celebrate!"  The Salve Regina with its vale of tears is said to be a baroque leftover.  The exiled person often feels alone.  Then, some external event usually occurs over which one has no control:  It is often  a failure, perhaps a betrayal, a collapse, a career failure, or even a death; and then life falls completely apart.  One has nothing: Nada.  One is fortunate at that time to be able to cry.  In a very real way one dies.  Many important things are laid aside as trivia.  One becomes detached, objective, "disinterested", to use Loyola's word.  There is a dead person lying on the stage of life; he or she looks familiar: "Oh yes, it's me.  Could someone please take me away so that they can rehearse for the next dance?"  These are the sentiments of the first darkness."


I think many people have gone through this but had no idea what it was. I didn't. It's most definitely the reason for the rise in prescriptions for anti-depressants (more than 164 million prescriptions written in 2008 for Americans) and the popularity of Oprah.  These things are never talked about at Church, which most people have one hour of contact with if that, a week.  It seems to be an unspoken rule that if this level of suffering is occurring you should seek medical or psychological help, the Church isn't equipped for that kind of help.  True spiritual guidance and understanding is very difficult to find in the Church. Fr. Groeschel is right...a sad saint is a sorry saint, we're supposed to be smiling and signing up for ministry to build up the Church or build a new church.  Does the Church believe these things don't happen anymore?  Has it completely lost touch with the actual Spiritual Life?  People don't go looking for this kind of experience, believe me.  God calls us.  God initiates it.  I liken it to being drafted in to the Army.  When you show up with your card in hand, there's no one there to greet you or give you directions.   You get on the bus and go to war, with no directions or advice, just a pep talk.  You're on your own.   I think this is why many people are seeking answers and help on their own and only adding to their misery.
The following statistics are interesting:

To cope with such economic insecurity, it seems that Americans have seized upon the self-help culture in record numbers.  Between 1972 and 2004 the number of self-help books published more than doubled.  Estimates of the total annual revenues for the self-help industry range from $2.8 billion to 8.6 billion, with one out of every three Americans reporting that they've purchased at least one self-help book.

In addition to a thriving, well-advertised, and widely televised cohort of self-help gurus, over the last decade an entirely new profession has emerged: personal and career coaches.  Themselves often hailing from the ranks of the downsized, these coaches aim to help Americans find their way through an increasingly competitive economic world that has been shorn of most safety nets.  Self-Help, Inc.


Although it states "economic insecurity" as the leading cause of the increase in self-help books, my guess is that a good percentage of it is "spiritual insecurity".  In this day and age, it could be considered the same thing.
I have no problem with self-help books if used properly.  We should educate ourselves about issues that affect us. There can be tremendous help offered in books!  It should be done in the context of truth however. Books such as The Secret are really just deceitful.  They offer false hope and when the techniques suggested don't bring about the promised results, the little faith that might have been there before is now gone.  These books should not replace the truth. Many of these books and gurus don't work within the truth of Christ, they intend to replace Him. If they do mention Christ, it is in a false and almost blasphemous way.  Many place entirely too much importance on self..."you will be like gods", the same lie Eve fell for in the garden.  This is why going through the phases of Purification can be dangerous without solid guidance.  Temptation abounds for a quick fix and to be blunt, the devil is prowling the world searching for just these souls who are looking for answers in all the wrong places.

From Fr. Groeschel, Spiritual Passages:
"..... because of the current vogue to learn methods of meditation aimed at producing religious experience apart from the imperatives of moral conversion.  The tendency to separate religious experience from rectitude of life represents an old and dangerous tradition of gnosticism at it's worst-a tradition which is contradicted by the lives and teachings of the saints."

This book was written in 1985!  Over the course of the last 24 years this trend towards New Age beliefs has exploded and is now practiced openly in some churches.  The following are some brief descriptions of what is being offered:
 
Reiki:
          Reiki is described by its advocates as an all-present cosmic “energy” or “life force,” and also as a supernatural knowledge and wisdom that comes from God. It is said to produce “spiritual healing” and “self-improvement.” Its practitioners say that they can direct this energy through the palms of their hands, which are applied to various parts of the body. It has no scientific foundation.

Centering Prayer:
          This technique originated in St. Joseph’s Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Spencer, MA. According to Father John D. Dreher, it is neither Christian nor prayer. It is essentially a form of self-hypnosis which makes use of a “mantra,” a word repeated over and over, concentrating on one thing and introducing a hypnotic-like state. God is seen as a part of the universe who can be “experienced” at the center of one’s being, and not as one who is transcendent, who is other than us, and is a loving Father. It takes these characteristics from Hinduism, through the medium of Transcendental Meditation (T.M.).

Most advertise this as a form of contemplative prayer.  I would disagree.  Themes that one finds  in Centering Prayer include the notions that true prayer is: silent, beyond words, beyond thought, does away with the "false self," triggers transformation of consciousness, and is an awakening. Suggested techniques often include breathing exercises, visualization, repetition of a word or phrase, and detachment from thinking with the promise of union with God, or the divine within. Wouldn't it be great if doing away with the "false self" was that easy?  The lives of the Saints are full of stories of the real Spiritual Life, the one that God directs, and I've yet to read about one that attained full union with God by Centering Prayer.


I quote Fr. Groeschel again in his book Spiritual Passages in regards to contemplative prayer:


"First Phase of Contemplation-Simple Union with God:  The transition from the illuminative way to union with God is accomplished by a change of emphasis, an increase of one phenomenon and a concurrent decrease of another, as so many developmental changes take place.  During the experience of contemplative meditation, or prayer of simplicity, those at the end of illumination experience more and more episodes of contemplation quite beyond their own powers." 

The bottom line is that union with God and contemplative prayer are not attained by using techniques.  They are gifts from God, and it is in purification and the natural progression in the spiritual life that these are attained, beyond our powers.  I firmly believe that to teach a technique such as this to people weak in the faith or looking only for an "experience"  is dangerous to say the least. 

The Enneagram:

The enneagram is a circular diagram with a nine point star which symbolically describes nine personality types. It focuses on the ego, compulsions, and self-improvement. It is founded on pagan beliefs. There is no scientific proof that there are nine personality types. The enneagram is not science. Father Mitch Pacwa, once one of the first teachers of the enneagram, explains that the deepest problem with the enneagram is its theology. “The goal of the enneagram is different from the goal of Christianity… Redemption wrought by the Cross is not and cannot be integrated into the enneagram theory of personality.” The nine-point star was originally used by Sufi mystics for fortune telling. Pacwa tells us that the modern version of the enneagram system was “a complete fabrication based on instructions an occultist named Oscar Ichazo received from a spirit he was channeling.” The spirit directed him to take the seven capital sins and place them on the nine point enneagram diagram. He needed two additional capital sins so he added “deceit” and “cowardice.” The claim is that we are born divine and when we are about three years old, we cover over that divinity with an ego type. One of the “nine capital sins” is at the core of each ego type. The purpose of the enneagram is to discover one’s own type of driving force for one’s actions or energy directions which one pursues. It is a “mirror of the soul.”  Father Pacwa points to the fundamental problem with the enneagram: “We humans cannot save ourselves and Salvation is a free gift of God’s grace which no human can earn.” In spite of this, no fad has engulfed Catholic retreat centers and seminaries in recent years more than the enneagram.

A Course in Miracles:
Excerpt from website promoting the program:
"Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not matter. You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. You are not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to use them. It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are true.
Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required".

Anything that tells you that you can not "judge" should be avoided.  We are to discern ALL things in the light of the Holy Spirit.  We are never to allow ourselves to be led unquestioningly.  This is dangerous.  Without the Holy Spirit, who is it that is leading you?  The serpent was only too eager to lead Adam and Eve away from God with false promises.  If it sounds to good to be true, it is.  

For an excellent article on this program and it's dangers, go to:  http://www.ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/BRAINWAS.TXT

 2 Timothy Chapter 3

But understand this: there will be terrifying times in the last days. People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious,callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God as they make a pretense of religion but deny its power. Reject them.
For some of these slip into homes and make captives of women weighed down by sins, led by various desires,always trying to learn but never able to reach a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so they also oppose the truth--people of depraved mind, unqualified in the faith.
 But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be plain to all, as it was with those two. You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me.In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived.
   But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it,
 and that from infancy you have known (the) sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

There are many good books that I read that were very helpful.  Here are a few you may want to check out:
Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing by Fr. Dwight Longenecker
Fr. correlates the mysteries of the rosary to the times and areas of our lives that need healing.  This book is a very personal approach to praying the Rosary as a means of healing graces!

Spirituality of Struggle-Pathways to Growth by Andrew D. Mayes
Drawing on the insights of some of the great spiritual writers, Andrew D. Mayes offers encouragement and hope as he seeks to build a 'spirituality of struggle.' He points out that the struggles that seem to make up such a large part of our Christian lives can be the very way we find God. They can help us to work out a mature and reflective faith.

Why Did I Do That?  by James and Dianne May 
"Emotions were created to be the power that gets us where we want to go.  Instead, at times, we find ourselves pulled in different directions, trapped in habits and feelings that trouble us.  This book offers a spiritual perspective on how to use our emotions to work with us, not against us."

Spiritual Passages-The Psychology of Spiritual Development by Fr. Benedict Groeschel
"Fr. Groeschel does an excellent job of integrating the areas of psychology and spirituality"
(Fr. Groeschel has written many excellent books that I have read in the past.  This is the book I refer to often because it is the only one I found that gave me solid direction)