A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer

Aloha friends!

It’s my pleasure to share the teachings that Madame Jeanne Guyon, a 17th century Christian woman in France, wrote down in one of her books that I recently read.

They have been helpful and inspiring to me on many levels, and I hope they will be for you as well. 🙂

The title of the book has been translated in various ways including “A Simple and Direct Method of Prayer” and also this long translation: “A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer; Which All Can Practice With the Greatest Facility, and Arrive in a Short time, by its means, at a High Degree of Perfection.”

I have read that Madame Guyon’s philosophy is described as “quietism“, which promotes silent contemplation of God, and Divine union with God through a surrendering of the will, of the mind, and of all worldly activities to God. That is, giving oneself up completely to the guidance and direction of God or the Holy Spirit.

Read my selected excerpts from the book here.

Consideration of our respective religious backgrounds

I understand that depending on your religious background (or lack there of – meaning you perhaps grew up in a secular, atheist, or agnostic family) you may have a certain aversion or hesitation when encountering teachings that use words such as “God”, “Him” to refer to God, “sin”, “Holy Spirit,” etc.

So, please note that this book is written by a Christian and directed to a Christian audience. (She’s also a woman, also living in France during the late 17th century.)

However, I don’t think one needs to identify as Christian in order to gain something of benefit from her words. I simply translate the words into the energetic essence and FEEL the meaning in my heart (leaving out anything that doesn’t resonate and uplift me) – that helps me bypass any attachment to word-associations that may block me from accessing Truth.

As a sensitive soul in this world, as well as a coach and teacher working in the therepeutic healing field for almost a decade, I have observed that there are very deep wounds that people are carrying related to the Christian church (other religious traditions as well, of course).

Many people have observed hypocrisy within the Christian community, as well as experienced abuse (sexual, emotional, verbal), directly or indirectly by those who claim to be Godly people.

Religious/Christian teachings carry a lot of power, and a lot of humans have used these powerful teachings to hide their human flaws and abuse.

Terminology of “God”

And yet, I feel we are all children of God. I consider “God” to be one of the names that signify a One Unified Field of Consciousness that all phenomena, all sentient beings, and ALL that exists are created and birthed from.

Other words for God that I and others use are: Goddess, Source, Love, Spirit, All that is, etc.

I really like the word God and would love to see the day that the word is not so charged with negativity, hurt, and misunderstanding.

Highlights of Jeanne Guyon’s book “A Simple and Direct Method of Prayer”

Moving on from my focus on terminology, to the subject at hand: Jeanne Guyon’s book “A Simple and Direct Method of Prayer.”

These are some of the highlights that I feel make reading this book worthwhile for people, like me, who are interested in experiencing a life where we embody the Love and Oneness that God represents:

•  Madame Guyon directly criticizes the Church of her time for creating a barrier to direct connection with God. This book I am writing to you about was burned, and she was eventually arrested and put in prison for 7 years, the final two in solitary confinement. She was later released. (Scroll down for an image containing a little biography from another source.)
•  She aims to teach people two simple methods to quiet their thoughts and reside in the heart, where she claims God can direct and guide them.
•  Her teachings are very similar to many Buddhist (and yogic and Hindu) teachings on meditation and how to enter a state of “samadhi”, which is the Sanskrit word describing a state of meditative consciousness or “total self-collectedness” where the individual mind’s activities cease and one is completely concentrated on a single object of focus (in the Buddhist tradition) or completely absorbed with God or the Self with a captial “S” (in the yogic and Hindu tradition).
• Madame Guyon writes a lot about “abandonment” which very similar to the New Age and self-help concept of “surrender” – surrending to our Higher Self, surrending to Life, etc. Surely most of our modern Western teachings on surrender are relatable to so many BECAUSE this concept absolutely has a Christian lineage (it is also found Eastern traditions).
•  Madame Guyon encourages people to let go of all “self-effort”. So much of what she writes on this subject remind me of the teachings of a Japanese Buddhism monk named Shinran (1173-1263). The school of Buddhism he founded is still one of the most popular in Japan today – it is called Jōdo Shinshū. A Western scholar of Shinran explains: “The hallmark of Shinran’s teaching is essentially ‘salvation by faith alone.’ This teaching has attracted Western scholars because of its similarity to the Apostle Paul and Martin Luther’s understanding of religious faith. Taking seriously his inability to gain enlightenment on his own, Shinran interpreted faith as a gift of Amida Buddha’s compassion that secures salvation and spiritual liberation for even the most evil person.”
•  Madame Guyon emphasizes simplicity and specifically encourages those who are illiterate and unlearned to not be discouraged, for it is even easier for them to pray and commune with God because they are not distracted by so many worldly concepts that come with the written word and scholarly and theological study. She quotes passages such as: “The Lord loves those who walk simply.” (Proverbs 12:22)

Conclusion

In conclusion, I was really touched by this woman’s writings in this little book.

Check out excerpts from the book here

It feels like a spiritual gem, and I hope I have shared some of its value with you.

UPDATE! Here’s another very good article on Jeanne Guyon that was published about six months after I wrote this post: https://mereorthodoxy.com/jeanne-guyon-learning-to-pray-in-the-digital-age-from-an-imprisoned-mystic/