A CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY

I’m doubtful about coincidences. My experience is that when several seemingly separate but similar things occur in close proximity to each other, then the likelihood is that they are connected. Some years ago I wrote a prayer exercise that was included in a book “The God you already know’ that my friend Roy Gregory and I edited. I’ve used it quite often over the years but not recently. But in the last few days it’s cropped up on four occasions, three times in separate conversations, and thats led me to revisit and re-write it slightly in order to include it in this blog.

In the past I’ve used it myself and with others as a way of reviewing how I am. I’ve also used it as a way of discerning how I might best respond to a pressing personal question. [You can read an account of that as blog 25 ‘Listening and Deciding’.]  Here’s the exercise.

We’re all used to being asked ‘How are you?’ and replying, ‘I’m fine,’ knowing that the questioner does not require a serious answer. But supposing that they did? How might you answer?

Sit yourself comfortably and then give a little time to each of the following four questions.

Ask your body: “How are you today?”

Is it tired? Does it ache? Is it tense? Is it full of energy? Does it want to go to sleep? Is it in pain?  How is your body today? 

And then ask your body “So what do you need?

Ask your mind, the thinking part of you: “How are you today?” 

Is it full of ideas and thoughts? Does it have plans for the future, or regrets for the past? Is it full of worries and anxieties? Is it excited about something? Is it tired and needing a rest? Has it gone to sleep?   How is your mind today?

And then ask your mind “So what do you need?”

Ask your heart, the feeling part of you: “How are you today?”

Is it soft and open full of love and warmth? Is it cold and hard, full of hate or anger? Is it feeling dried up and numb, unable to feel anything? Does it feel as if you’ve switched it off? Or does it feel full of life and energy? Full of hope and expectation? How is your heart today? 

And then ask your heart “So what do you need?”

Ask your soul, the part of you that longs for God and the divine, for meaning and purpose in your life? How are you today?

Does it feel alive or asleep? Am I even aware of it? Does it feel neglected, abandoned or hurt by God? Does it sing or does it weep?    How is your soul today? 

And then ask your soul “So what do you need?”

Think of yourself as the chair of a board that has these four members, and your job is to call periodic meetings of your board in order to listen to each of them, to make sure that each of them is heard and taken seriously by the others, and that their needs are corporately addressed. This is necessary for a healthy life.

If you dont act as chair in this way, then the likelihood is that one of the board members will take over, put themselves in charge and the needs and gifts of the others will be neglected or even totally ignored, to the detriment of the whole. Your life will be out of balance.

The fourth occasion was at a communion service that I attended and read some familiar words of Jesus:

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”

I assume that ‘with all your strength’ refers to out body, and thus with heart, mind and soul, we have the four Board members named. I had never notice that before & therefore had never made the connection.

Was Jesus Himself accustomed to call the occasional ‘board meeting’??  Maybe there was a much older tradition, going back to well before Jesus, of the awareness of human beings having these four aspects of ourselves that need regular attention? [cf Deuteronomy 6:5, Joshua 2:25]. If so then there is deeper wisdom here than I had assumed.