Faith Venture

Are you nervous? Always anxious? Worried about many things? Or do you have a temper that is often out of control?

I was thinking about how meditation can change your life–or rather your personality and how you approach life. Years ago, I’d have had to answer yes to those questions. I’ve been seriously practicing meditation for more than 30 years, so I don’t remember when it was that I noticed a personality change. It’s not 100 percent, but none of us are perfect. Throughout all the economic turmoil of the 80s when I worked for a series of companies that went out of business, I was able to maintain some equilibrium because of the peace and focus that meditation brought.

Tonight our small group will be looking at the Spiritual Disciplines of Submission and Service. During preparation to lead these discussions the thought came to me–these are really conscious choices we should make about how to live our lives as we live with God.

Submission means laying aside my ego so that I’m free from having to prove myself–to myself and others. I just live each day with God and others recognizing their worth and that I don’t need to have my own way with them.

Service is a lifestyle choice, that is a way of living where my response to God is to do something for others. Often little things. I’ve discovered joy from doing the little, unexpected courtesies for others. Or when someone does something for me. It becomes just a natural part of your walk with God to serve others. Maybe someone reading this is or will be doing something great that will generate an article in The New York Times. Or it may be taking soup to an elderly neighbor.

It’s how you live your life. And as you practice those disciplines, then you will look back one day and exclaim at how much your life has changed for the better. You discover that you have the fruits of the Spirit within you without even seeking them directly–love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

A few days ago I visited a small group of committed Christian men devoted to the discipline of study. During the discussion, the discipline of meditation came up and many seemed uncomfortable with the concept. They evidently thought it was some sort of hippie, new-age thing.

Yes, The Beatles went to India and visited the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and popularized what is called Transcendental Meditation. You know, “Oooohhhmmmmm.” I taught a Yoga practice to a group of disadvantaged young people at a community center for a few weeks and when I told them to sit and listen to their breaths, several started chanting Om. Weird. They had no clue.

Then one (back to the study group) said, well, Gary knows about that. OK, I have studied both TM and Zen in my life. But Christian meditation owes only a little to those traditions. I imagine that the early practitioners were aware of Eastern meditation.

But, not to worry. Christian meditation centers on Christian things. The beginnings are the same everywhere. Stand, sit (preferably), lie, even walking, focus on your breathing. A good meditation is to simply say the Jesus Prayer softly or to yourself on the exhales–“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

Another great meditation accompanies study. I love to meditate on the story where the resurrected Jesus appears to the men walking to Emmaus. What did he say? What did they ask? I put myself in the story as I slow my body down through regular breathing and gain new insights into the story.

Meditation isn’t exotic. It’s as old as Christianity within our tradition. It’s just another way to gain insight and let God talk. Oh, it also has great health and personality benefits. Regular practice for years will change your personality. It can help you go from Type A to Type B, become more mellow, and lower blood pressure.

And “Om”? It isn’t necessarily mystical in and of itself. It is a “primordial sound” that many believe helps focus your attention on God. Sounds are OK. Sometimes you can’t concentrate. Slow your mind with Om until you relax and can focus on God.

Don’t get uptight. Just slow down and let God in.

I didn’t really take the week off. It was one of those travel weeks where the day began early, breakfast meetings, individual meetings, lunch meetings, more meetings, dinner with clients until midnight, then do it over. The schedule is at once energizing and tiring. And there is little time for contemplation unless I cut my 5 hours of sleep to 4 hours.

A weak excuse, I know. I’m in charge of most of my schedule. With discipline, I could carve out a half hour or so. As I reflect on a very busy week, I am forced to re-evaluate how I budget my time during my travels.

We all have busyness challenges. One woman told me she already gets up at 5 just to get ready for work when I suggested that we just get up a little earlier to read and contemplate and pray. Then I can’t follow my own advice.

Paul described us when he said that he doesn’t do what he wants to do and does what he doesn’t want to do. Guess it happens to us all.

I also took a weekend class last week (sacrificing half the Super Bowl) to improve my Yoga teaching skills and knowledge. Some Christian fundamentalists are worried that Yoga is a religion. It’s not. It’s a discipline–a way of disciplining your body so that it is fit for the rigors of contemplation and prayer. It all fits together–your body, your mind and your spirit. When it all comes together–what a wonderful thing.

I’m a work in progress. How about you.

I’m teaching on the discipline of study this weekend. A couple of days ago I broached the topic of study->learn->do. You meditate to bring the Word more deeply into your soul. You study to analyze the word in order to understand the meaning. You read a devotional with Scripture in the morning in order to start the day off with the correct frame of mind. It all works together.

In order to do each, you need to start in silence with a clear mind and focus on the Word. Then you read something and figure out what the writer meant. This is work. I’ll talk about that work in a later post. I’m not from the generation that began with the later Boomers and extended on where evidently people were pampered and got the idea that work is bad. Actually, work is your highest calling. Whatever your talent, you need to work at it.

Going through the hard work of study must have some beneficial result else why do it. Study leads to understanding. Understanding leads to perspective. And this leads to wisdom. Wisdom is knowing how and when to act when faced with a situation. How to interact with people who need or are seeking guidance.

Some people think study is memorizing. They learned this in school. Memorizing is not all bad, but it is not understanding. You can quote a Bible verse to someone in need, but if you have no understanding, you cannot truly guide that person to understanding the truth in the situation. Quoting a verse does not take the place of a deep, focused compassion for another where the wisdom you have gained beginning with study becomes a spiritual fruit.

Study is good. Set aside some times for concentrated study of a book of the Bible this year. Or a spiritual classic like Augustine’s Confessions. It’ll pay huge dividends both for you and for the people you interact with.

‘All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’ ~Blaise Pascal

Can you sit alone in a room? Just with yourself? Without checking Facebook to see what others are doing? Without flipping on the TV to get some noise?

The psychologist Carl Jung wrote about a patient who was becoming unbearable with tension and busyness. He suggested that the patient try sitting alone in his study every afternoon doing nothing. Just experiencing stillness. After a week, the patient returned and Jung asked how it went. He said that he tried it. He sat for a while. Then he got up and rearranged books on the shelf, shuffled papers, and other busy work. Jung told him the idea was that he was to sit still and just be with himself. “I can’t think of any worse company,” the man protested.

To me there is nothing better to do to start the day than to get a cup of coffee and just sit quietly for a time. My thoughts may wander for a while, then settle down. Sometimes if I have a problem, I’ll just release it mentally, then a solution will present  itself out of nowhere–so to speak. Sometimes I just start the day calmer when I know that I’ll be facing people who are not calm and who only serve to agitate my soul. It’s easier to deal with them when you begin the day calm.

Try it. Perhaps read from the Bible first. But don’t think about the passage. Just be still and enjoy the quiet.

We live in an era where continuous learning is essential to keep up with your job. You also need continuous learning in order to grow spiritually. I have thought a lot about study and learning, but Jon Swanson wrote something yesterday that woke me up. “You learn in order to do.”

When Jesus was tempted after fasting and praying for 40 days in the wilderness, he met each of the three temptations with a quotation from Scripture. He was hungry (probably almost starved), and the Temptor suggested that he turn the rocks into bread. Now, he could have done that. After all, he turned 5 loaves of bread into dinner for 5,000. But he just replied God says you cannot live by bread alone. He didn’t just know Scripture, he practiced it.

We all know people who are “book smart.” Engineers were famous for that in manufacturing when I started working there. They could work all manner of formulae, tell you about strength of materials with math, but didn’t always know just which alloy of aluminum would be best for an application. Or they could design a part only to discover that it was impossible to machine that part.

I guess I fear being book smart about the Bible and then getting caught not practicing it.

I’m diving deeper into learning the Spiritual disciplines as I lead a group of people into deeper spiritual formation. I notice that the disciplines address body, mind and spirit–sometimes more than one at a time.

We took a look at how meditating on the Word of God and deeper intercessory prayer nourish and develop your soul. Next we look at fasting. Abstaining from food and drink for a period of time in order to focus your attention more deeply on God brings discipline to your body, but it also strengthens the soul. Disciplined study strengthens your mind.

You can do all of these simultaneously, of course.

As we studied intercessory prayer, someone asked about prayer as a conversation with Jesus. Doing each of the Spiritual disciplines will lead you to a life of constant communion with Jesus. That is actually the goal of practicing discipline. It’s not that you can study, or pray, or fast. It is that each practice leads you to a deeper awareness of the reality of God.

We have all noticed at some point in our life those people who live undisciplined lives. They seem lost. No direction. First they try one thing, then another. Sometimes relationships are destroyed. Or their bodies through drug or alcohol or food abuse. Or their minds through drug or alcohol abuse or simply through lack of mental exercise.

But disciplined people are those who seem in touch with God, serve others quietly with joy, are always there to listen and help.