It’s a good day when I run across an idea or a quotation that really speaks to me. Since I have never had much luck finding four –leaf clovers, I can’t be sure it is like that. But the analogy works well. Sometimes, I imagine reading through a book as similar to walking in a field. Words are everywhere, just like the grass. And as you are reading on, boom, there it is. There is the idea or the quotation sticks out just like one of those four-leaf clovers.
Irresistibly just as I would bend down to pick the clover, so do I pause and metaphorically “pick up” the idea. That happened when I was reading some material from Parker Palmer’s book, The Active Life. I like reading Palmer. He has written quite a bit over the years and usually it is helpful. And it is nice that I personally am a friend. Somehow that always makes it more special.
Parker Palmer writes, “For me, the heart of the spiritual quest is to know ‘the rapture of being alive,’ and…to allow that knowledge to transform us into celebrants, advocates, defenders of life wherever we find it.” I pause initially to wonder what I would have said if someone were to approach me and ask, “what is the heart of the spiritual quest?”
I don’t know what my response would have been, but now it does not matter. I have Palmer’s wonderful word! What I am sure about, however, is that I would never have used the word, “rapture.” That is a fairly loaded word in theology. To talk about the rapture typically is to describe that time at the end of history when all the Christian believers (of a certain persuasion anyway) will be taken from this earth immediately to heaven. But maybe the word does not mean this for that many people.
I actually like the word, “rapture,” on its own---apart from theological associations. The word literally means ecstasy or passion. It makes sense to talk about someone going to a powerful orchestral performance and in a state of rapture being captivated by the music. No doubt, many of us have had this feeling in nature---by a sunset, by a seaside visit, by a mountain’s majesty. I have been raptured!
And it is in this sense I am certain Parker Palmer is talking. The heart of the spiritual quest is to experience the rapture of being alive. Surely, being alive is much more than existing. Existing is what we do in the valleys of our lives. If we can find (or create) the majesty, the beauty, and grace of life, then surely we open ourselves to the rapture of being alive.
Experiencing the rapture of being alive transforms us into celebrants of life. I like that phrase. All of us know what it is like to go to special occasions---weddings, funerals, etc.---where we hear about life being celebrated.
What I suspect Parker Palmer wants to assure us is that normal life---life in the valley---can also be the occasion and the place where we become celebrants. We will become celebrants as we opt for the spiritual quest. There are so many reasons not to do this. But the spiritual quest insists that we can experience the rapture of being alive.
The spiritual quest is not automatic; it takes intentionality, some discipline, and usually some other folks to be on the quest with us. (I call this “community.”) Wanting to be on this quest and to experience the rapture of being alive is a good beginning. But it is not sufficient. We actually will have to do some things.
As the days go on, we will explore some of the steps of the spiritual quest to experience this rapture of being alive. But today, I am clear I want to!
Irresistibly just as I would bend down to pick the clover, so do I pause and metaphorically “pick up” the idea. That happened when I was reading some material from Parker Palmer’s book, The Active Life. I like reading Palmer. He has written quite a bit over the years and usually it is helpful. And it is nice that I personally am a friend. Somehow that always makes it more special.
Parker Palmer writes, “For me, the heart of the spiritual quest is to know ‘the rapture of being alive,’ and…to allow that knowledge to transform us into celebrants, advocates, defenders of life wherever we find it.” I pause initially to wonder what I would have said if someone were to approach me and ask, “what is the heart of the spiritual quest?”
I don’t know what my response would have been, but now it does not matter. I have Palmer’s wonderful word! What I am sure about, however, is that I would never have used the word, “rapture.” That is a fairly loaded word in theology. To talk about the rapture typically is to describe that time at the end of history when all the Christian believers (of a certain persuasion anyway) will be taken from this earth immediately to heaven. But maybe the word does not mean this for that many people.
I actually like the word, “rapture,” on its own---apart from theological associations. The word literally means ecstasy or passion. It makes sense to talk about someone going to a powerful orchestral performance and in a state of rapture being captivated by the music. No doubt, many of us have had this feeling in nature---by a sunset, by a seaside visit, by a mountain’s majesty. I have been raptured!
And it is in this sense I am certain Parker Palmer is talking. The heart of the spiritual quest is to experience the rapture of being alive. Surely, being alive is much more than existing. Existing is what we do in the valleys of our lives. If we can find (or create) the majesty, the beauty, and grace of life, then surely we open ourselves to the rapture of being alive.
Experiencing the rapture of being alive transforms us into celebrants of life. I like that phrase. All of us know what it is like to go to special occasions---weddings, funerals, etc.---where we hear about life being celebrated.
What I suspect Parker Palmer wants to assure us is that normal life---life in the valley---can also be the occasion and the place where we become celebrants. We will become celebrants as we opt for the spiritual quest. There are so many reasons not to do this. But the spiritual quest insists that we can experience the rapture of being alive.
The spiritual quest is not automatic; it takes intentionality, some discipline, and usually some other folks to be on the quest with us. (I call this “community.”) Wanting to be on this quest and to experience the rapture of being alive is a good beginning. But it is not sufficient. We actually will have to do some things.
As the days go on, we will explore some of the steps of the spiritual quest to experience this rapture of being alive. But today, I am clear I want to!
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