This interview with Laurence Freeman, Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM), concludes the series recorded at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Melbourne in December 2009. It is sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Centre for Inter-Religious Dialogue at the Australian Catholic University.
Freeman talks about the importance of inter-religious dialogue and openness to other faiths, the practice of meditation in the Christian tradition, and the dangers of religion without the contemplative dimension.
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I made a documentary about Freeman for ABC TV's Compass in 2002, and so had the privilege of spending a week with him on one of his regular trips to Australia. I was able to observe this quietly forceful man as he lectured on contemplation, and led meditation with groups large and small, in a range of settings, including book stores, churches, community halls, and even in Yatala Prison in Adelaide.
All these places, and the groups of appreciative people who come to hear him, form what he calls his 'monastery without walls'. Though he is a Benedictine monk, he doesn't lead a conventional monastic life. He's based in London, but is continually on the move, travelling around the globe visiting the thousands of groups that form his worldwide meditation network. In Australia there's around 460 groups in regional and metropolitan centres.
Freeman is the second director of the WCCM. Its founding director, John Main, also a Benedictine monk, was a close friend and mentor. Freeman first met Main when the older man taught him at a Benedictine high school in London. Subsequently, when Freeman was a university student, Main taught him how to meditate. This formed a close spiritual bond between them.
Main had learnt meditation himself earlier in his life before he became a monk. He was a diplomat in Malaysia, and became friendly with Hindu Swami Satyananda, who taught him about contemplative practice. At the age of 33 Main joined the Benedictines at Ealing in London.
He began to explore contemplation and meditation in the Christian tradition, particularly in the writings of the early desert fathers. So, he recovered a contemplative dimension that had been somewhat lost in Christianity, and began to popularise it, teaching it to ordinary believers. People who join the WCCM are encouraged to attend a weekly meditation group, and to practice daily at home for 20–30 minutes morning and evening.
When Main died in 1982,