Finding God for myself

I have noticed that those whose spiritual life is guided by others, those who spend hours listening to what we should believe, how we should act, what is right and what is wrong with society; as I said, those who take their faith from another's faith tend to be hard people, judgmental people, shallow people. They tend to think of life in black and white, right and wrong, good and evil.

Perhaps this happens because truth is not truth for me when I simple accept it from another. It is like food that I fail to digest. It stays hard.

To understand, to be a true believer, I need to digest the truth for myself. And I cannot do this without serious reflection and silent time for meditation and Lectio Divina. I must grapple with the words, I must apply them to my heart, I must understand from my own reflection, not from another's.

I suppose there is a fear to do this. I have noticed that silence is a scary thing for many. And I can understand why. Silence leaves me with myself. Yes, that is a scary thing. And yet, this is the door that I must face if I will open it. Facing the truth about myself helps me to be less judgmental, because I am keenly aware of weakness in good will, failure in good intentions, imperfection in even the most beautiful.

I am not saying that we should throw all knowledge and guidance aside. I am advocating that I spend time with scripture and with truth and with God, so that I can learn about these things on a personal level. For if God is not personal for me, then I will be shallow in my faith; it will remain something someone gives to me, not something I have learned about in the depths of my soul.

The real power of meditation

I love this quote from Georges Bataille: Mere words have something of quicksand about them. Only experience is the rope that is thrown to us.

How many times do I find that a set of words that inspire me are forgotten down the road. Words gain power with experience, and "experience" starts with meditation.

Meditation has become popular in our time. Yet, for me, the real power of meditation comes through an atmosphere of silence.

A visit to a monastery recently brought this truth home to me. As I sat in my room reading, I physically relished the silence that enveloped me. The silence permeated the atmosphere, pregnant with self-discover, Presence, and mystery.  As I sat there, I thought, "Why do I not have this in my life?"

The truth is, though I love silence, I have allowed the noise of music or TV to invade my life, with cell phone conversations and social networking distracting me. I have let myself be duped.

Silence is to meditation what yeast is to flour. It breaks through languid thought and brings mere words to profound understanding.  It does this because it puts the breaks on the incessant flow of thoughts that come careening through our brains. It allows us to be still and quiet before the Divine Being.

In the day and age of multitasking, meditation will not work until we capture the atmosphere of silence, and find a way to integrate it into our lives.

And so, I start again. I bring silence back with me, and make it a solid part of my life.

For lack of sacred space

Monasteries are places of Sacred Space

I have a word that I love. It is Sacred Space. I think of it as the desert where I meet with God with all distractions removed. But one component absolutely essential for Sacred Space is silence, and I find that almost impossible to find these days.

Noise is so prevalent that it is hard to find quiet even in a church, a park, or a natural setting. Everywhere, people bring their noise with them and think nothing of imposing that noise upon all. It would seem that noise is as virulent as the latest disease promoted in Contagion!

Why silence? Think of Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord, and psalm 145:18-19 The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. I know these verses well. But how often do they come to mind when I need them? Not often enough. And that is because all things I believe in remain theoretical and esoteric until I make them a part of myself. To do that, I need my Sacred Space to meditate, reflect, be still and ponder.

If you would find your Sacred Space, run from the contagion of NOISE. Find yourself some silence and quiet where you can dialogue with God. Let that space be your protection and safeguard.

We cannot cure the world of NOISE. But we can keep ourselves from becoming infected with it.



 

Learning to live life to the full

Do you ever wonder why Jesus never wrote anything to hand down to us? He spoke volumes to his disciples. But he never wrote something for them to treasure, something for them to keep in their pocket and refer back to time and time again. Why?


I think it is because of our tendency to become attached to such things. Even today, Christians profess to follow the teachings of Jesus. But get them talking about the Bible, and often differences become vast and moods are anything but Christ-like.

Part of this comes from our human tendency to take life so very seriously. We forget the spirit behind the words and often take the words literally. We do this with faith, with church, with our politics. And yet, Jesus says "I came that you may have life, and have it to the full." What is full of life in literal translations and interpretation?

The bible tells us Jesus roamed about without a place to lay his head. I love to think of our Christian life as one where we never allow ourselves the luxury of settling, but continue to dig into the Word and find continued life in it.

When you are climbing a mountain, you often come upon the same vistas. yet, the higher you climb, the more vast your view.

The same goes for the Word of God and things of God. Every day we should be looking at life, at faith, at the Divine Word in a different light. Different, because we are at a different place then we were a day ago.

This is what it means to have life, and have it to the full. To never stop seeking.

The practice of desire

Anyone serious about living a deeper spiritual life must be familiar with the Cloud of Unknowing, a work on Christian mysticism written in the late 14th century. The following quote is just a sample of the writing:

The access to heaven is in desire. The one who longs to be there is already there in spirit. The path to heaven is measured by desire and not by miles...and the spirit abides where its love abides as surely as it abides in the body which it fills with life.


Desire. It has the power to propel, to drive, to fuel our journey. It does not come on its own; we must ignite that fire.

That is why meditation and Lectio Divina are so essential in the spiritual life. It allows me to take a simple text and make it my own. It is the medium by which my soul absorbs the context and imbibes the spirit. My desires will remain sterile and theoretical without these habits. And I will know things, but not really know them in my inmost being.

If I would desire more, if I want to desire better, if I need fuel for my spiritual life, I need to stay with the practice of meditation and Lectio. Only then can my spiritual life become an ever more flaming fire of desire. It will put heaven within my reach.

The difference between prayer and meditation

By Sr. Mary Grace Thul, OP

We all know how to pray. Some do it spontaneously, blurting out, "Thank you Lord!" when something good happens, or "But why Lord?" when it is not so good. Any church goer knows of the formulated prayers one says during a service, and there are many books that guide you in prayers. But is this enough? Not for the seriously minded spiritual person. One needs to go farther, to develop a mentality that learns to think differently, so that one's life follows what you say you believe.

No one can to this without meditation. Meditation can be likened to getting to know a friend in person. What we say or write is not the same as the lived experience.

If you want to sit down with the Divine Being, learn to meditate. Scripture offers a wealth of great meditation material, but you must do the work. You  must probe the written word, find it's meaning, and learn its secrets. You must open the door into the interior life if you wish to find your treasure.

Step into a different way of life by making meditation a daily habit. It will lead you beyond the veil and into  spiritual realms. And, you will find God in a new and wondrous way.

Making a Quiet Corner

Reading through the gospel for Ash Wednesday, I was struck by a recurring theme. It was not repentance, though that is what we usually think of at the start of Lent. It was the repeated sentence: "And your Father who sees in secret will repay you." (Mt 6:4)

The sentence reminds us of what is important, the inside. This is an interesting twist, as Ash Wednesday usually draws large numbers who are eager and intent on receiving those coveted ashes. I sometimes wonder, what do people expect from those ashes? Salvation? Or perhaps they are trying to remember that life has another side, a spiritual side. But remembering is not enough.

Externals can give only so much comfort and grace.  Ashes, like all sacramental, are merely outward signs. The intention of outward signs is to remind us of eternal truths. To profit from those truths, we must make them real for ourselves.

I suggest that this lent, let us take the externals like fasting, sacrifices, and extra prayers, and turn them inside by concentrating on our being, on our intentions. Let us not be content with ashes. Let us step into more silence and meditation. Let us make for ourselves a quiet corner this Lent, one where we can sit in secret and think about God. One where we transform eternal truths into our very being. Then, we can discover just what the God who sees in secret will give us as reward. I suspect it is probably the Divine Being himself.

Reflecting on the Context of the Meaning

Reflecting on the context of the meaning. I read that line recently. The phrase caught my attention because it said to me, hey! you, stop and think.

Modern day communications don't give us much time to stop and think. We are bombarded with color, sound and sight, objects that flash, words that pack. The hoped-for effect is to excit. But that kind of excitement is short lived, and leaves much to be desired.

Reflecting on the context of our lives can seem difficult and challenging, but it offers rich rewards! Like true freedom and authentic relaxation. Think of how many sunsets we miss because we are buried in work or engrossed in our preparations for the next meeting, the next proposal, the next event. Think of the real cost we pay because we are unwillingness to reflect. Often that includes the loss of experiencing that which is awesome, mystical, and inspiring in life.

I learned to appreciate reflecting not in a monastery cloister walk, but on my early morning walks in the park. I started going to exercise, but ended up using the walk for reflection. That was because the time spent proved powerful. I went very early, before anyone else ventured out. At first I had to fight the temptation to  listen to my favorite podcast as I walked. I feared being "bored". But as time went on, I wasn't even tempted, because I experienced awesome moments of nature. As I walked in silence, taking in nature around me, thoughts would flood my mind, and I would reflect. There were wonderful sights and sounds I could never have imagined, such as the morning I saw deer feeding on a meadow dense with fog. The sight was worthy of a painting. But I saw it for real. Another morning I witnessed a fire that caught the clouds as the sun rose and spread it across the entire sky, filling it with every shade of red imaginable. Recently, I experienced a deeply mystical walk along the Delaware River. The fog hung heavy in the air, cloaking trees, grasses, river and the geese flying low over it. The scene took on eerie and mythical proportions. As I walked, the sights fed my soul, and I came away so enriched I am still on a high from it all.

Reflect on the context of the meaning. If we could but simplify our lives, we would see better, hear more, suffer less.

It's worth a try.

Manifesting Through Contemplative Gaze

If we decide to carve out a space for ourselves each day, one where there is silence and reflection, we are in truth preparing ourselves for contemplative gazing. And becoming mystical is all about the ability to practice the contemplative gaze. Richard Rohr defines a mystic simply as one who has moved from mere belief systems or belonging systems to actual inner experience (Naked Now, 29-30). Such definition makes clear why it is necessary to cultivate the contemplative gaze; so that I move beyond what I believe into how I live it.

Funny how much of our actions are first caught up in our soul. There is truth in Rene Descartes's philosophical supposition: I think, therefore I am. We who are spiritual can put a different spin on these words and paraphrase it thus: What I believe remains only a doctrine. I must contemplate it, meditate on it, ponder it thoughtfully until it becomes the blood in my veins and the breath in my soul. Then, it will manifest itself not by what I say, but by the intensity  with which I live.

Just another reason to make the resolution to spend time in silence and quiet, learning how to be still and open the soul to the spirit. If you do this faithfully, your spiritual vision will become accustomed to any kind of darkness life throws at you, and you will hold steady and continue the journey.

Awakening

As the new year approaches, many of us will search for a resolution to mark this step. For the spiritually minded, this resolution will not be about dropping a few pounds or beginning some new regime of exercise as much as it will be about finding ways to be more centered, more aware, more conscious.We can do this by becoming more awake in our meditation.

Meditation has taken on greater value in the past decade, and with good cause. Science has proven its value in emotional and physical health. But it is also the door through which we can descend into the depths of secrets, those reserved for serious seekers.

And what is revealed to those becoming more awake? Only each individual heart will know. For each heart is unique, and each soul has its own journey to make. Awakening through meditation means knowing my heart better, understanding my journey more clearly.

As we approach the beginning of another year, my hope is that I can take the time for deeper and more profound meditation. For as much as it benefits me, it also benefits the whole world around me. For each person who becomes more awake brings greater hope for our world.

And can't our world use that?

Into the Silence

I keep wanting to come back to the thought of silence. I think it is often misunderstood to be emptiness or a stagnant void. That is not silence; that is death.

Silence is an interior act, an active slowing down and unwinding. To acheive a fruitful silence of soul takes time and practice. Think of it as an awareness ever deepening, a slow decompression of stress, a period when the mind can come to rest and the heart is free to ponder and reflect.

In silence great thoughts are born, darkness is pierced, the soul revealed, the struggles sorted. Once you have experienced this saving power of silence, you will not want one day to pass without setting aside a quiet time to enjoy it.

Keeping in touch.

Keeping in touch. That's what good friends say to one another when their paths separate. Though we will no longer be able to spend much time together, let's keep in touch.

We need that same philosophy with the Almighty. Let's keep in touch. Let's find time to communicate, to appreciate, to celebrate.

It starts with the little times set aside to meditate. If one perseveres, it moves into a more continual dialogue. And then it becomes an underlying remembrance.

Let's keep in touch. Let's make it happen. Let's begin today.

Befriending God

What makes a friend? Not just someone to hang out with, but someone to confide in. No one confides in someone who cannot keep confidences. Nor do you like anyone who will always think they have answers. The best aspect of a real friend is the ability to emphasize, and listen.

If we want that spiritual relationship with the "Other" we need to develop the same traits. We need to spend time listening and learn to emphasize.

Strange, huh? We should do to God what we want friends to do for us. But it does work.

What happened to our dreams?

We all once had the desire to follow a dream. It's what propelled us forward. Think of yourself as a kid, and the daydreams you once had.

What happened?

Did you seek out that dream until you found it? Or did life get in your way?

Braulio of Saragossa writes for everything that is thought over and  meditated frequently becomes easier. (201).

Let us not forgo a dream because life has become difficult. Instead, let us think of that dream more often. In so doing, we gain the strength to step forward into making it happen. Meditating on such things will clarify our vision, strengthen our courage, energize our desires. And what is life if we are not pursuing a dream? It is old, bitter, and brittle.

Making Sense of This World

To keep above the fray, to make meaning out of life, we have to live in two worlds: the world of this day and age, and the world of the spirit. All of us are aware of the material world. But to become aware of the spiritual world, we need to take time to reflect.

The Ammas and Abbas of the desert knew the importance of this function of reflection. That is why they withdrew to the desert. But we need not be so dramatic in our pursuit. For us, it may be an hour in a space by ourselves, or a favored spot we find conducive to quiet and reflection. A time of day that is good for winding down and thinking.

We cannot keep spiritual concepts in the forefront unless we take time to consider. And unless we remember the spiritual world and its values, life will make little sense.