A Mindful Messiah

Mindfulness is all over the news lately. On New Year’s night, the NBC Evening News  reported that several violence-ridden high schools are teaching mindfulness meditation to their students and seeing amazing results. Books about Mindfulness by people like Thich Nhat Hanh and Jon Kabit-Zinn are flying off the shelves. Even American business executives are experimenting with this Eastern spiritual discipline to bookend their workday.

Mindfulness has been defined as “maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.” (http://greatergood.berkeley.edu) I also like John Kabit-Zinn’s abbreviated definition of mindfulness as “presence of heart.”

While some Christians may consider Mindfulness a foreign concept, a discipline that seems more Buddhist or Hindu, and thus lying somehow outside the Christian framework, I would like to challenge that notion. I see Jesus as a Mindful Messiah.

Mindfulness, at its core, is about being fully present in the here and now. It is about tuning into one’s breathing and becoming completely aware of one’s body in space and noticing everything that is immediately before us. A mindful person is keenly aware of this moment and doesn’t want to miss any of its giftedness or possibilities. That strikes me as being exactly like Jesus.

I made this connection a number of years ago, while making a systematic study of the four gospels. I noticed that almost everything Jesus did was done on the way to doing something else. It was when Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Gerasa that the famed Gerasene Demoniac came from the tombs to accost Jesus, and Jesus healed him. It was while Jesus had crossed to the other side of the lake and began to address a large crowd, that Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, fell at Jesus feet and pled for the life of his dying daughter, and  “Jesus went with him.” It was while Jesus was pulling the disciples away from the crowds to a quiet place that Jesus noted their hunger and said, “We must give them something to eat,” and the 5000 were fed. It was while Jesus and his followers were just entering Jericho that the blind beggar Bartimaeus cried out, and Jesus stopped to heal him.

In all these and dozens of other instances, Jesus was on his way some place to fulfill some purpose. But being fully present, aware and mindful of where he was, each and every step of the way, Jesus consistently responded to the moment, to the holy now. And to reinforce his way of mindfulness, he even focused on it in his parables.

In his famous Good Samaritan tale, Jesus includes two priests who were on their way to somewhere or something important. And when those priests encountered a beaten and bloodied man – right in front of their eyes – they, in their busy-ness and preoccupation, crossed to other side of the road and walked right passed him. It is as though those holy men were focused on the future - the meeting they were to attend, the sermon they were to preach. And in that preoccupied, future-focused, non-mindful state, they failed to assist their brother in need, the one who was right in front of them. But the Good Samaritan – the one who stopped, dressed his wounds, lifted him onto his own donkey, and carried him to the nearest inn – that man was on his way someplace too. He had people to see and things to do. But he was mindful, in the moment, open to the possibilities of the here and now. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that it was the mindfulness of that Samaritan that made him “good.”

In his famed Sermon on the Mount, one can see further evidence of Jesus’s teaching on mindfulness. “Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or what you will wear…Look at the birds of the air; they don’t sow or reap or store away in barns…Can any of you add a single hour to your life by worrying?...Therefore I tell you, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Centered, grounded, and mindful of every moment, Jesus walked through each and every day responding to what was immediately before him, possibilities that, like breath itself, come only in the holy and gifted now. Jesus was of such incredible use to God precisely because he was so uniquely present in each moment, so mindful.

Mindfulness is a much a Christian practice and virtue as it is a Buddhist and a Hindu one. If we want to be more like Jesus, we must learn to be mindful, to be fully engaged in what is immediately before us. May it be so.

P.S. - For a great 4 minute summary of Mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh, check out this address : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD7i6VUOriI

Learning to see God in every Creature and Acting Accordingly

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently thinking and reading about Hinduism with my World Religions students at the college where I teach. For Hindus, the essence of life, our ultimate purpose, is to unite with the Infinite. Our life is a journey to reconnect with God, with what they call Brahman.

There are all kinds of things I like about Hinduism and Hindu thought, but perhaps my favorite is their contention that what we humans most want and need is God – union with God. But an even more compelling tenet of Hinduism is that we already have it. Huston Smith calls this “the most starting claim of Hindu anthropology.” “That which we most truly want, we can have. As if that were not enough, though, the anthropology adds: you already have it.” (The World’s Religions, Harper One, 1991)

           

Hindus believe that there is a slice of God - the Atman - that resides in the human soul – in every human soul. But over the course of our lives, that Atman, that presence of God in us, gets buried, it gets covered up by all sorts of things. The Atman gets buried by our domestication, our upbringing, our attachment to material things, and the countless distractions that an overly technological world throws our way.

But what is so vital to understand – and this is the good news from Hinduism’s perspective – is that the Atman, the real presence of God, never goes away. It is always there in all of us, all the time. We can think of it as a coal, a burning ember that is buried under the cumulative ash in our souls. But it is still lit! Our job is to uncover it, to clear away the ash, and to fan that ever-burning flame, that living presence of God in us.

This powerful, compelling Hindu concept should not be foreign to Christians. Christianity contends that the Holy Spirit is God’s living presence within us, a strikingly similar notion. Shortly before his death, Jesus told his disciples that it was to their benefit that he leave, so that a “counselor” could come, one that would live within them forever. In fact, Jesus’s final words prior to his ascension, “And remember I am with you always,” are verified by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Picking up on this theme, the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, wrote that, “nothing can ever separate us from the love of God,” not “famine, hunger, nakedness, nor sword nor anything else in all creation!”

But if you are at all like me, that Atman, that indwelling Spirit of God, can get awfully hard to believe in at times. It can feel as though the divine presence has been snuffed out by the ash of life. And so the question becomes, what can we do to uncover it, to clean out the ash from the fireplace of our souls and fan that flickering flame?

For Hindus, the central practices of yoga, meditation, and contemplation of the Vedas are all designed to clear away whatever is covering up the Atman. Similarly, Christians turn to prayer, to the scriptures, to silent meditation, to contemplation, and even to service to the least of these to reconnect with the God within. The spiritual disciplines in all religions can be understood as the tools we use to get the light of God shining fully in our lives again.

But no matter what we do, no matter what spiritual discipline or practice we use to fan the flames of God’s spirit, what is most important is realizing that God’s Spirit, the Atman, is always there. God’s real presence, God’s spirit is eternally there, or, perhaps more accurately, here! No matter where we are, no matter what we have done or left undone, no matter how far we have fallen or how abandoned we may feel, that Atman is still here, deep within us. That counselor, that slice of the Spirit, that God presence is still right here, abiding within us, as close as our very next breath. We cannot extinguish that flame. We cannot snuff out that coal. Cover it up? Perhaps. Lose sight of it in the clutter of our soul’s closet? Maybe. But we cannot ever extinguish it. We cannot separate ourselves from the loving, in-dwelling presence of God.

The writer of the epistles of John put it this way: “See what great love the Father has for us, that we should be called Children of God. And that is what we are.” That is what we are. And there is nothing we can do to change or lose that.

Mahatma Gandhi once said that the essence of Hinduism is “to learn to see God in every creature and then to act accordingly.” I’m not sure the message of Jesus is all that different.

And so may we – each and every one of us – know that the Atman does, indeed, reside in us. May we always remember that a very real slice of the Living God abides within us. It always has and it always will. May we actively tend to that flame, that often dimly burning coal. May we clear away the ash to expose its warm and loving glow. May each of us learn to see God in ourselves and in every living creature…and then act accordingly. Amen.

Long time, no blog! But I'm back! After some much needed time off to spend my dad's last few months with him and see him through life's final transition, I have gained some perspective and am ready to reflect with you. So stay tuned...spread the word...fasten your spiritual seat belts...and let's see what God has in store in 2015. Thanks for your patience!

 

             Centering Prayer – Our Discipline for May, 2013

Welcome to the month of May! Spring has sprung and we are hear because we are ripe and open to growth during this season of growth and new life!

In May we dedicate ourselves to a new discipline, the practice of Centering Prayer. This particular discipline places a stong emphasis on interior silence. The participant's sole occupation is to establish and maintain the will or intention to "consent to God's presence and action during the time of prayer." (Father Thomas Keating)

In Centering Prayer, we seek to center our hearts, minds, and spirits on God, on the creator. We seek his presence. This practice is all about our relationship with God. Metaphorically, we crawl into the Divine lap and do our best to stay there, centered in Presence with a capital P.

One of our chief modern day guides for this practice is Father Thomas Keating. To learn more about this practice, check out Keating's Youtube instructional piece at
           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IKpFHfNdnE. 

Keating's first guideline makes reference to a "sacred word," a single word or brief phrase to anchor or center us in God. Possible sacred words might include Father, Mother, Creator, Spirit, Love, Jesus, Abba, Yahweh, Peace, or Breath of Life.

We hope you will join us and practice Centering Prayer with us on any of the Tuesdays in May. We meet at Yoga Roots at 444 E. Mitchell in Petoskey from 7:30-8:30 pm. Have a great May!

Toby Jones, founder of Living Vision 

As April came to a close, we wrapped up our practice of Lectio Divina. This Benedictine scripture based discipline was so powerful for all of us, that the suggestion was made that I post each of the passages we used to guide each of our Tuesday night practices. It is helpful to remember that we at Living Vision are an inclusive and integrative community, so we honor the practices and scriptures of all the great spiritual traditions and pathways. In posting these passages, our hope is that you might use them periodically to enhance your own spiritual practice. Grace and Peace to all!

April 9 -"The mind is restless, no doubt, and hard to subdue. But it can be brought under
               control by constant practice and by the exercise of dispassion."
                                         - from the Bhagavad Gita - Hinduism

April 16 - "Seeking help through patience and prayer is difficult, unless on is humble and
                   submissive."
                                        - from the Koran - Islam


April 23 - "I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you
                  may be children of your Father in Heaven. For God causes the sun to rise on
                  the evil and the good. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
                                        -  from the New Testament Gospel of Matthew - Christianity

April 30 - "Just as a farmer can't predict when the fruit will ripen, so we can't predict
                  when Awakening will occur. So just keep your practice strong; the rest will
                  take care of itself."
                                         - from the Tipitaka - Buddhism

  * Our practice throughout the Tuesdays in May is Centering Prayer. All are welcome to join
     us at Yoga Roots in Petoskey from 7:30-8:30. For more information contact
     tobyjones48@gmail.com.

Lectio Divina - our Spring practice

In the month of April, our Living Vision community is dedicating ourselves to the ancient Benedictine practice of Lectio Divina, and what a gift we are finding this discipline to be. "Divine Word," as one translates the Latin, involves listening to a very small kernel of scripture read aloud three times in succession and then followed by an extended period (7-10 minutes?) of silence. After the silence, the same passage is read again three times out loud and the silence is repeated. The cycle is then done again a third time. During the silence, the disciple is to allow the scripture to bathe over him/her. Certain words or images may emerge, as may ideas or memories. Lectio Divina is a living conversation between these holy words and the practitioner. At the end of this 30-40 minute practice, the practitioners who choose to do so may talk about what they experienced.

It has been incredible to see how alive the scriptures really are. Not only is the experience entirely different from person to person, but the same person can have a radically different experience from the first to the third reading! The entire group has been edified by the practice itself and the debriefing of it.

As an integrative spiritual community, we have sought to open ourselves to a variety of scriptural voices - the Gita and the Hebrew Bible so far, and the Koran and Christian New Testament in the weeks to come. In doing so, we make no attempt to diminish one's particular faith or holy writ, but rather to recognize commonalities and the deep spiritual truths that we all share.

Most recently, we focused on the powerful tale of the disgruntled and besieged Hebrew prophet Elijah in I Kings 19:11-13. Here we find Elijah hiding in a cave from his pursuers. A visitor asks him to step out of the cave, for the Lord Yahweh is about to pass by. First there is mighty wind, then an earthquake, and finally a fire. But Yahweh is not present in any of those. It is the fourth form that contains the Creator - a still, small voice, or as one translation renders - "a gentle whisper."

How often do we look for God in the huge, in the dramatic, in the powerful display? What if, for us as well as Elijah, God chooses to reveal God's self a gentle whisper? Will we even notice? Will we attend to it? Or might we miss it entirely?

Join us each and ever Tuesday evening from 7:30-8:30 at Yoga Roots in downtown Petoskey, 444 E. Mitchell St. Enter by the back alley. All are welcome to practice with us, regardless of religious background, beliefs, or persuasion. We value silence over noise, reflection over argument, and practice over belief. For more information, contact tobyjones48@gmail.com.

Peace

Last Tuesday at Living Vision, we reflected on Celtic theologian, philosopher, and poet John O'Donohue's contention that "the way we look at things is the single most important thing of all." Our expectations combined with our perceptions do, in many ways, create our reality and the quality of our experience in the world. Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, seemed to affirm this same teaching when he said, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If you eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness."

We used our shared silence together, by the light of a single candle, to examine our expectations, our perspectives, our ways of looking at the people and events in our lives. We considered the ways in which our "eyes" or vision might be "unhealthy" or filled with darkness. For, as O'Donohue said, "if our thoughts are impaired and negative, we will never be able to see the beauty within ourselves or all around us." We see everything through the lens of our own thoughts and interpretations.

At the close of our meditation time, we shared ideas of how we might learn to look at ourselves and the world with gentleness, creativity, and a sense of adventure.

This coming Tuesday, February 20, we'll hear another segment from O'Donohue's Anam Cara lectures. This one focuses on the power and beauty of silence and silent contemplative practice. O'Donohue believes that our inner lives are actually being assaulted or evicted by contemporary technological culture. If, as he claims, silence is "the sister of the Divine," or as Meister Eckhart wrote, "there is nothing in the world that resembles God as much as silence, then it is certainly worth considering how we might befriend it.

Join us this Tuesday and every Tuesday at Yoga Roots from 7:30-8:30 pm, 444 E. Mitchell St. in Petoskey. (Enter by the back alley entrance and be sure to be on time, as the door is relocked at 7:30 in keeping with Yoga Roots' policy.) For more information, email tobyjones48@gmail.com.