"Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself." Moral superiority, setting unrealistic and fixed goals, and judging others are antithetical to good practices, self-knowledge and reaching out to others in an open and tolerant fashion facilitate spiritual practice.
Foster stresses that many Eastern practices are compatible with Christian practices. Meditation is not an esoteric part of discipline, but within every believer's capability provided that he or she does the practice in a spirit of contemplation, by using the correct posture, breath, and in mindful isolation. "Christian meditation leads us to the inner wholeness necessary to give ourselves to God freely, and to the spiritual perception necessary to attack social evils. In this sense it is the most practical of all disciplines... Anyone who can tap the power of the imagination can learn to meditate." Journaling as well as contemplating and centering prayer can lead an individual to God as can more conventional forms of prayer and practice in the tradition of Thomas Merton, the Buddha and Christian mystics such as Eckhart.
Following the advice of Foster in many ways requires believers to think outside of the box of mainstream culture's individualism and emphasis on indulgence. True Christian simplicity requires that we accept that all we possess comes from God, that what we have is ultimately under the care of God, and that what seems like 'ours' is also spiritually available to others. Letting go of ego is essential, thus Foster distinguishes between true service, that gives the individual what they genuinely need and self-righteous service that only serves the giver. But perhaps the most fascinating and radical advice given in the book, from an orthodox Christian point-of-view,...
He says these ideas have been abused to encourage debasement or making adherents feel bad about themselves rather than really being used as a positive asset to practice. Someone who hates him or herself is not showing respect for God's creation and self-hatred ultimately inhibits the individual from helping others because it is really simply the mirror image of too much self-love, self-hatred just another form of obsessive fixation upon the self. Self-contempt and self-denial are different and submission must be freely undertaken, not compelled.
Ultimately, as part of a Christian community, in common celebration and worship, we are all sinners, we all can be redeemed. No believer is above the other believer in the eyes of God (here, Foster's Quaker roots are most evident, as the Quaker church lakes a hierarchy and conventional liturgy and leadership). Foster, although a Protestant, also approves the Catholic sacrament of confession as having great spiritual power. In formalized confession the heart is unburdened before another in the form of a spiritual director. What Foster hopes to inspire in his readers is a need to revitalize personal and communal spiritual practice, hand in hand, regardless of the reader's denomination. Ultimately, all Christians must strive to cultivate a sense of "holy expectancy" in worship.
Richard Foster, the Celebration of Discipline (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1998), p.48.
Foster p.24.
Foster pp. 113-120.
Foster p.11.
Foster, 15-16.
Foster p.108.
Foster p.88.
Foster pp.128-129.
Foster, p.114/
Foster p.162.
