Some Things about Looking Within

Is this true?

"Deep within us all [all human beings] there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center"
-Thomas Kelly (Streams of Living Water, Richard Foster)

Or so the contemplative teachers say. Look deep within, and you will find yourself, and union with God, they assure you. But really, it’s kind of the same thing as what the Buddhists have been saying for a long time….

If we are to understand the teaching of the Buddha, we must look within. The Buddha was concerned exclusively with thing within, and his teaching is an account of what is to be seen when we look within... Unless we attempt to look within as the Buddha did, we have little hope of understanding the Dhamma and the teaching of the Buddha.

(...)Looking at the inner life is what Dhamma is all about. We must look within if we are to make Dhamma one with our life.

-LOOKING WITHIN, Lecture with the Buddhist Studies Group at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 15 December 1961
http://www.buddhadasa.com/naturaltruth/lookwithin1.html

Funny thing is, do you notice that this is the same kind of thing as what today's contemplative teachers are saying. Take Peter Scazzero, for example, who devotes quite a lot of space to looking withing. He says…

For the first fifteen years of my life as a Christian…I rarely took time to look deeply into…my interior, my heart, my depths, or my soul. Yes, I spent an average of two to three hours a day with God in prayer, Scripture reading, listening to God’s voice, confessing my sins, and journaling. Regularly, I spent a day in prayer and fasting at a Jesuit retreat center near my house – and I still do.

Even so, I can confidently say that I was not taking a depp, hard look inside. How could that be? Wasn’t I giving God an opportunity to examine my heart?

My great concern with the call to a “deep, hard look inside" is that most people believe they are already doing so.

-Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church (EHC), Chapter 5, Look Beneath the Surface, page 71

In this chapter, Mr. Scazzero mentions the phrase to “go beneath the surface“ or take a “long, hard look inside” at least 18 times! (See: Look Beneath the Surface.) It gets worse, as Scazzero then goes on to quote the late Dag Hammarskjold (of all people), the former secretary of the United Nations (and founder of the creepy UN meditation room he dedicated to the God whom man worships under many names and in many forms), who suggested that "we have become adept at exploring outer space, but we have not developed similar skills in exploring our own personal inner spaces. He wrote, “The longest journey of any person is the journey inward.”" (Scazzero, pg. 73, EHC)

The contemplative teachers of every faith seem to be all telling you the same thing - that you need to look within and find your true self - but guess what? Only God knows the heart. And if we look inside His Word, we find that...

~for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart~ 1 Samuel 16:7b

…and He says we are all desperately wicked inside…

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

…which is why we are to keep our eyes on Him…

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

…and learn of Him, not look within ourselves to find sanctuary…

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11:29

On the other hand, there are times that you need to look deep inside yourself, but that is for self examination, and we are to do this in the light of God's Word under the conviction of the Holy Spirit...

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? 2 Cor. 13:5

And it's true the the Holy Spirit dwells inside of the born again believer...

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 1 Cor. 6:19

...but what the contemplatives are saying is that EVERYONE has a divine center (all human beings). This is why contemplative proponents say that ANYONE can practice contemplative prayer and find God's voice in the silence within. Christian or not. But this is the same thing that the Buddhists and Hindus and New Agers find in the silence.

If you have been experimenting with contemplative prayer, centering prayer, the silence, and finding your true self...and you feel something is just not right, it's not to late to stop and ask the Lord to show you the truth about these things.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

Oh, and one more thing. Anyone who is truly seeking the Lord can pray (talk to God) and call on His name...

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13

...but it's only through the blood of Jesus Christ that any of us can enter into His presence...

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13