Skip to main content

Spiritual Practices


I enjoy teaching the material I teach.  I find it relevant to life and trust the students will discover the same thing for their life.  I am not confident that what I teach will help them get the kind of job they want.  But I am very confident they will not have a very meaningful life if they don’t start reflecting on the things I teach.  As most of us know, life is more than a job---more than even a career.  And even if we feel called to do what we do, simply doing that is not sufficient to the good life.
   
This is why one of the spiritual practices essential to the good life is to live virtuously.  The classical virtues---like love, courage, justice and the others---have been around a very long time.  They are aids to good relationships.  Without them, we will be heading for quicksand.  And so one of the practices I want students to work on is living a life of virtue.  If effect, this kind of life produces people of character.  And if we can do that, there will be fewer bad characters running around in our world!
   
One of the classes I teach that gets at the heart of spiritual practices is Contemplative Spirituality.  It may well be my favorite class now.  I always smile when students first come into the class.  Most of them have no clue what is ahead for them.  The kinds of books I use are not the kind most of them are reading---even if they read at all.
   
My goal for them is that they can begin to figure out what being contemplative means for them.  And then they are asked how they will go about living contemplatively with whoever they are and whatever they are doing as a college student.  It is not something you can put off till you are old or mature or whatever.  Why wait?
   
A key to living contemplatively is working with some spiritual practices.  In some ways a practice is much like a discipline.  A practice usually entails a kind of goal.  And it requires some steps---typically “doing” steps that help you work toward the goal.  And it takes time.  Obviously one does not become a distance runner over the weekend, nor do you become an accomplished piano player with a couple lessons.  Normally, a spiritual practice takes repetition in order to see development and improvement. 
   
One of the books I ask them to read is Gerald May’s Will and Spirit.  It is not an easy book, since its subtitle tells us it is about a psychology of being contemplative.  The book forces the students to think about emotions and fear and so much more.  To be contemplative certainly requires that we are reflective.  We need to spend time reflecting on our experiences in life.  We need to learn about ourselves and not simply assume we know who we are.  Again, this is not a one-time event.  Reflection is a process---an ongoing process.
   
People like Gerald May can help us with this.  He can help us see what spiritual practices make sense for our lives and how to begin to implement them into our daily regimen.  It is fitting that he be seen as a doctor of spiritual growth.  It is not as easy as taking a pill---a spiritual vitamin.  There is a purpose and a path for a spiritual practice.
   
For example, May helps us see the point of the practice.  He says, “The ultimate aim of spiritual practices is awakening; that is, to know our true Self and our relationship to the sacred.” (4)  It is interesting he capitalizes the “S” in the word, Self.  Not only do I have a big “S;” you do, too.  Even this kind of sentence provokes reflection and discussion.  Why does “S” get capitalized?  What does it mean to begin to see yourself as a big “S” self?  This begins to get us to see and know ourselves in a different way.  Big “S” people begin to have a sense of more potential and, ultimately, more worth.
   
Big “S” people need to live a life of virtue.  They cannot be folks who lie, cheat and steal.  Big “S” people will learn to see that everyone else is capable of being a big “S” self, too.  We will need the spiritual practices to grow into our big “S” self.  Too many of us have been conditioned and have chosen to be petty selves.  We learn our ego often takes us down the road of pettiness instead of up the road to preciousness.
   
Most of us need to be awakened---awakened to our own truth and the truth of our culture.  In the words of Jesus, many of us will need to experience a rebirth---to be born again and again.  We are capable, but first we have to move away from all the ways we have been culpable.  In May’s words, this entails coming to know, value and deepen our relationship with the sacred.  For many of us, this means God.  But there is for all folks a sacred.  We need to find it and learn to favor it in our lives. 
   
There are benefits to this way of life.  Gerald May assures us there are “gifts,” as he calls them.  He says, “Gradually the heart begins to open, fear and anger melt, greed and jealousy dwindle, happiness and joy grow, love flowers, peace replaces agitation, concern for others blossoms, wisdom matures, and both psychological and physical health improve.”
   
That’s a good deal!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I-Thou Relationships

Those of us who have read theology or, perhaps, those who are people of faith and are old enough might well recognize this title as a reminder of the late Jewish philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber.   I remember reading Buber’s book, I and Thou , when I was in college in the 1960s.   It was already a famous book by then.   I am not sure I fully understood it, but that would not be the last time I read it.   It has been a while since I looked at the book.             Buber came up in a conversation with a friend who asked if I had seen the recent article by David Brooks?   I had not seen it, but when I was told about it, I knew I would quickly locate and read that piece.   I very much like what Brooks decides to write about and what he contributes to societal conversation.   I wish more people read him and took him seriously.           ...
13 comments
Read more

Spiritual Commitment

I was reading along in a very nice little book and hit these lines about commitment.   The author, Mitch Albom, uses the voice of one of the main characters of his nonfiction book about faith to reflect on commitment.   The voice belongs to Albom’s old rabbi of the Jewish synagogue where he went until his college days.   The old rabbi, Albert Lewis, says “the word ‘commitment’ has lost its meaning.”    The rabbi continues in a way that surely would have many people saying, “Amen!”   About commitment he says, “I’m old enough when it used to be a positive.   A committed person was someone to be admired.   He was loyal and steady.   Now a commitment is something you avoid.   You don’t want to tie yourself down.”   I also think I am old enough to know that commitment was usually a positive word.   I can think of a range of situations in which commitment would have been seen to be positive.   For example, growing up was f...
20 comments
Read more

Inward Journey and Outward Pilgrimage

There are so many different ways to think about the spiritual life.   And of course, in our country there are so many different variations of religious experiences.   There are liberals and conservatives.   There are fundamentalists and Pentecostals.   Besides the dizzying variety of Christian traditions, there are many different non-Christian traditions.   There are the major traditions, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on.   There are the slightly more obscure traditions, such as Sikhism, Jainism, etc.   And then there are more fringe groups and, even, pseudo-religions.   There are defining doctrines and religious practices.   Some of these are specific to a particular tradition or a few traditions, such as the koan , which is used in Zen Buddhism for example.   Other defining doctrines or practices are common across the religious board.   Something like meditation would be a good example.   Christians meditate;...
10 comments
Read more