I have a
stiff neck. Some days metaphorically, most days literally. Stiff and achy. I
started seeing a chiropractor a couple of weeks ago.
Earlier this
morning as I was lying flat on my face she was asking me, while her palms were
touching the bottoms of my feet, to look toward different things—the corner of
the room, straight ahead, my right shoulder, my left shoulder. Then she’d do
certain ‘adjustments’ based on what she noticed with her hands.
As she did
this we were also talking about prayer—about how it feels right sometimes to
talk to God out loud. How she often talked to God out load before sleeping or
just after waking up--how I do the same thing while walking.
Talking to
God out loud can be a lot like journaling. Engaging parts of ourselves other
than just the thinking part can be insightful. When we’re journaling or praying
out loud we’re not just creating thoughts we’re also hearing or reading what
we’ve created. By using more of our natural capacity for ‘speaking’ we’re also
developing more of our natural capacity for ‘hearing.’ Any of you who journal
(or pray out loud!) probably already know this.
The current
‘blog’ thread is about this kind of thing. Richard Rohr has been reminding us
that Eckhart Tolle is a friend of many different traditions because he’s not
telling anybody what to see or believe but is instead inviting
and skillfully training anybody who's interested to learn how to
see better.
I know very
little about Eckhart Tolle, but I’m grateful for anybody who is able to help us
humans better see what's most important to us. Seeing is one of the Forms of
Spiritual Formation. Sadly, very few Christians value spiritual
formation.
We do value
spiritual transformation, yet we don’t understand how it works. We tend to
think that being moderately faithful day by day will somehow, in God’s time and
by God’s grace, transform us. It won’t. It doesn’t.
My
chiropractor has spent years learning how to ‘see’ with her hands. I asked her
about the process. She told me about her years of training--and how she
was still learning. She said some older, seasoned chiropractors no longer had
to ask patients to turn their heads different ways. They could just lay their
hands on certain places and ‘know.’ She said she still needed to follow a more
basic protocol. Me too.
As I
mentioned, journaling and talking to God out loud can be really helpful. But,
as we say in the South, there’s a whole ‘nother way of prayer that doesn’t
involve talking at all. Listening to God is as important, probably more
important, than talking to God. Yet how many of us have been skillfully trained in
listening?
Wouldn’t it
be nice if we could daily, hourly, moment by moment open our minds and hearts
and hands to God to better hear what the Spirit is saying to us?
Well…we can.
We have centuries of wisdom to explore, wise teachers to help—and best of
all—no shortcuts.
As we learn
to understand the active and living process of transformation, our longing
to be transformed is a great and sacred force. Learning how to hear what the
Spirit is saying to God's people is a huge part of spiritual formation and transformation. The process begins and continues as we come to trust that cultivating receptive silence takes work.
How much work?
How long
does it take a chiropractor to 'know' with her hands? When is the training
over?
Thank God
there are schools of chiropractice. Thank God there are schools of
contemplative practice.
