Back in 2021 a group of us began a journey developing a Christian contemplative practice together challenged by our desire for authenticity "I see all this potential, and I see it squandered". The reality of modern life deforming what life has to offer pressed many of us into a reaction to the presented reality that "We are consumers. We’re the by-products of a lifestyle obsession." and "We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like." A choice was made to learn how to pray, to really pray, to actually practice Christian Contemplation as move of choice toward authenticity and finding the deeper reality of the true self, or as best we could, this is 'practice'.

So, join us for a session and stay for as many sessions as you like. . .

The sessions will be at 07.00PM GMT Thursday evenings every 2 weeks; 1st and 3rd weeks of the month. These sessions will be 30 minutes of held silent prayer, arrivals from 18.55pm and starting at 07.00pm finishing 07.30pm GMT. The format is as before with FC1 groups; opening prayer, brief text, held deep silence 20-25mins, 5 minutes to share at the end if you want to share

A journey of prayer, seeking God together in silence using Christian historic text to prompt, teach and stimulate thoughts toward growth through reflection and contemplation. Drawing on influences like The Desert Fathers and others like St Ignatius of Loyola, St John of the Cross, Theresa of Avila. I intend to go deeper… 'intent' is a choice and becomes an action.

So, now FC1 PM is here, an GMT evening version and again the cry of "Listen up maggots! You are not special! You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake! You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else!" grounding us to sit, become silent, reflect on some specific Christian text relating to the deeper reality of life and to hopefully find something truly authentic from the process. This takes focus, effort and engagement though, "Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken", nor does simply entering into a fuzzy meditative state of quiet move the soul toward contemplation. However, this is for everyone who is at that point of 'I desire the real' you don't have to be an expert just willing to make the effort, it's your journey no one will judge you if you lose concentration 10 seconds in, we all do from time to time, none of us is perfect, we are practicing.

"Fight Club a Christian contemplative process? What? Well almost twenty years ago, David Fincher's "Fight Club" went into wide release, drawing moviegoers into a tale of antagonistic American men who chased authenticity… daring to examine the passivity of everyday life as people accept it.

So, most people hold on to the “The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.” But what about some of the other gems like “It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.” or “Maybe self-improvement isn't the answer; maybe self-destruction is the answer.” Both carrying heavily ‘kenotic’ and monastic overtones. So why contemplation, isn’t it supposed be about self-improvement? Well at this conjecture of my understanding I seriously don’t think it is, I believe it may be part of the process of unlearning, actualising and transcending. This process in itself eventually presents the need to let go of everything even our understanding and image of God so that we can realise that which is truly ‘real’.

So, Tyler Durdan says (in the film) “you are not your job, you are not how much money you have in the bank, you are not your khaki’s!” In fact, “You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.”

This has led me to this, I’m setting up a Christian group to gather in a held space online to pray contemplatively and silently together for about 30 minutes fortnightly. The premise is to become through unbecoming, not self-improvement. Further details to follow and if you want to talk about it remember the first rule… seriously though drop me a message if you’re interested and don’t forget to use soap."

So, let's journey as "space monkey's" together, challenging why, learning how, bringing real change.

Suggested donation, well it's up to you... what is 30 minutes of held silent space worth to you? But if you cannot offer a donation due to your context, just get in touch anyway, it is not about finance, finance should never get in the way of spiritual growth. Come along you are welcome...

Quotes: Tyler Durden, Fight Club

FC1 PM Christian Contemplative Practice Club - Furthering Authenticity