Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Bro. Lawrence Part 2
The author in the first paragraph of the Second Conversation says, "That he was pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the love of God, seeking Him only, and nothing else, not even his gifts." I wonder what it would be like to try and exercise this practice of doing things purely for God, and not thinking of anything else. To be honest, I think that we rarely seek God in the small and mundane tasks of life (like picking up a straw), and trying to dedicate these practices to God would be a very big change in our lifestyle. On the other hand, I wonder if Brother Lawrence was taking this too far by only trying to think of God, and never anything else. It seems that he was more in the mentality that he always had to consciously pray to God, which is almost impossible for humans. Regardless, it would be an interesting idea with which we could experiment in our lives.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Bro Lawrence (Part 1)
- In the forward, Tessa Bielecki is going to introduce Lawrence's life and context. As you read, intentionally note at least three specific aspects of Lawrence's life/character/habits that most intrigue or attract you and that you hope you will learn more about as you read the primary text itself. Why do they attract you?
One aspect of Brother Lawrence's life that I found to be particularly intriguing was his story of having a change of mind and heart because of a tree. This was intriguing to me because I can somewhat relate as I often have a heart for nature, so this was something that hit close to home. Another aspect of his life I liked was how he is portrayed as being awkward and clumsy. This made him feel more human to me in a sense because a lot of times spiritual people and leaders can seem kind of mystical, but this makes Lawrence seem more like someone like me. And finally, an aspect I found attractive about Lawrence's life was his trait of knowing his sin, but not being discouraged by them. This takes a lot of spiritual maturity which shows how credible he is as a source.
One aspect of Lawrence's life I found unattractive was his saying not to use human remedies, but rely on God alone. This seems a little overboard to me, because I think that our medicines have been given to us as a resource, and not using them when you are going through pain is like going through pain unnecessarily. Another aspect I found unattractive was that he "marveled at nothing, nothing astonished him, or gave him cause for fear." I'm personally hesitant to go along with this because I think that it is good for us to be astonished, and to marvel, and even to fear as it is natural for us to do all of those things. And finally, one aspect I found distasteful was when he said, "a great delusion is to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times." While I do agree with his philosophy that as Christians we live prayer, I think that we should still have unique time to spend with God that is intentional and not the same as the rest of our everyday lives.
The Teresian Spirit is talking mainly about the similarities between Brother Lawrence and Mother Teresa. The author outlines many of these similarities saying, "Both these saints describe prayer as conversation or intercourse with God, and call him friend." They go on to outline even more similarities saying, "'May God deliver us from foolish devotions' wrote mother Teresa. Lawrence spoke similarly of 'trivial devotions.'" She also shows how they both relate to the infinite treasure of the soul, and how they both use their own imagery to describe it.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Evelyn Underhill On Prayer
1.
a. I think the lines for section 1 that are most important are "Prayer... is nothing else but an ascending or getting up of the desire of the heart into God by withdrawing it from earthly thoughts." This is a consolidation of her definition of prayer I think, so it is a helpful thing to keep in mind when reading.
b. I think the lines for section 2 that are most important are "The wholeness, sanity and balance of our existence depend entirely upon the perfection of our adjustment to this double situation." This is her claim about the analogy of the pendulum and shows how it relates personally to our lives.
c. "There are three capacities or faculties which we have under consideration- the thinking faculty, the feeling faculty, and the willing or acting faculty." These three faculties cover all the ways that we react to our environment, so they are key for us to understand.
d. "Prayer should take up and turn towards the spiritual order all the powers of our mental, emotional, and volitional life." This is a very important challenge that Evelyn has shared with us that we all should work towards, so it is another important overarching idea.
e. "first we think, then we feel, then we will." This is an important realization that can hold a light to how we make the decisions in our life.
f. "There are some who believe that when we return to God we ought to leave our brains behind us." While this is a statement that should not be taken too far, it is one that can give us insight into how our mentality should look when approaching God, as our own thinking is soiled in comparison to the mentality of God.
g. "Prayer, then, begins by an intellectual adjustment." This is a small but challenging statement because this calls us to shift our natural way of thinking that we've grown accustomed to, because we need to exclude other distractions from God.
h. "Desire and intention are the most dynamic of our faculties; they do work." This is a very insightful statement into the nature of humanity, as this is a huge motivator in what makes humans have the tenacity they have.
i. "Sometimes we are mentally dull, sometimes we are emotionally flat." This is something that is important to bear in mind because we all have many days when we cannot force ourselves to be emotional or spiritual, and it is important to not beat ourselves up about it.
2. I think that what she means by this is that when we pray, we are experiencing the presence of God- and that experience is not affected by the secular world around us, though it may look like it. Rather, we experience the realm that actually affects the changing world that we see everyday, but it is the realm of "Eternal truth, true Love, and loved Eternity."
3. This excerpt from Evelyn reminds me of our reading of the four levels of love. One of the main themes I see in Evelyn's writing is that of the levels of our consciousness that affect us in our lives. She talks of how first we think, then we feel, then we do, and also of the three capacities in which we can react to our surroundings, and these remind me of the four levels of prayer that we talked about before.
4. The main question I have for Evelyn is in the statement of leaving our brains behind us when we go to prayer. How far should we take that, and strive towards being so far on the road towards God that we leave our brains, because she seems hesitant to agree with this.
a. I think the lines for section 1 that are most important are "Prayer... is nothing else but an ascending or getting up of the desire of the heart into God by withdrawing it from earthly thoughts." This is a consolidation of her definition of prayer I think, so it is a helpful thing to keep in mind when reading.
b. I think the lines for section 2 that are most important are "The wholeness, sanity and balance of our existence depend entirely upon the perfection of our adjustment to this double situation." This is her claim about the analogy of the pendulum and shows how it relates personally to our lives.
c. "There are three capacities or faculties which we have under consideration- the thinking faculty, the feeling faculty, and the willing or acting faculty." These three faculties cover all the ways that we react to our environment, so they are key for us to understand.
d. "Prayer should take up and turn towards the spiritual order all the powers of our mental, emotional, and volitional life." This is a very important challenge that Evelyn has shared with us that we all should work towards, so it is another important overarching idea.
e. "first we think, then we feel, then we will." This is an important realization that can hold a light to how we make the decisions in our life.
f. "There are some who believe that when we return to God we ought to leave our brains behind us." While this is a statement that should not be taken too far, it is one that can give us insight into how our mentality should look when approaching God, as our own thinking is soiled in comparison to the mentality of God.
g. "Prayer, then, begins by an intellectual adjustment." This is a small but challenging statement because this calls us to shift our natural way of thinking that we've grown accustomed to, because we need to exclude other distractions from God.
h. "Desire and intention are the most dynamic of our faculties; they do work." This is a very insightful statement into the nature of humanity, as this is a huge motivator in what makes humans have the tenacity they have.
i. "Sometimes we are mentally dull, sometimes we are emotionally flat." This is something that is important to bear in mind because we all have many days when we cannot force ourselves to be emotional or spiritual, and it is important to not beat ourselves up about it.
2. I think that what she means by this is that when we pray, we are experiencing the presence of God- and that experience is not affected by the secular world around us, though it may look like it. Rather, we experience the realm that actually affects the changing world that we see everyday, but it is the realm of "Eternal truth, true Love, and loved Eternity."
3. This excerpt from Evelyn reminds me of our reading of the four levels of love. One of the main themes I see in Evelyn's writing is that of the levels of our consciousness that affect us in our lives. She talks of how first we think, then we feel, then we do, and also of the three capacities in which we can react to our surroundings, and these remind me of the four levels of prayer that we talked about before.
4. The main question I have for Evelyn is in the statement of leaving our brains behind us when we go to prayer. How far should we take that, and strive towards being so far on the road towards God that we leave our brains, because she seems hesitant to agree with this.
Monday, April 4, 2016
Mr. Buttrick's Private Prayer
1. At the core of Buttrick's definition of prayer, I think we find that he's saying that prayer is a "friendship" with God that is not to be taken loosely. In coming into prayer, we come into a relationship with God that has set guidelines that are to be followed, and different disciplines that we must learn. I think that this definition is very insightful because I think we have become almost lax in our everyday prayer. I see this especially in young kids (myself to this day included) the tendency to say the same prayer that goes something like "Dear Jesus thank your for my family, thank your for my food, thank you for the sun, and help me get good grades. Amen." And while this is not an inherently bad prayer, especially for a young kid, there are certain paths we need to find in our prayer that God wants us to explore to deepen our relationship with him.
2. I think the tension between having "no rules" and having elements that one "may do" exists because prayer is a specific experience that is unique to each person, so we all pray differently and for different things. So we can make our prayers theoretically however we want, just as we might say we can talk to another person however we want. There are however, certain paths that must be traveled in prayer as Buttrick has described, but those give a general outline, and the specific points can be made different for each and every person.
3. The first element of prayer is silent self preparation. This is a time of quiet in which we slow down our brains (something I need to do more often) and prepare our minds to enter into relationship with God. The next step is the act of faith. This is how we accept that whatever we ask for, God will give us through our faith- as long as it is in his will. The next stage is the stage of thanksgiving. This is the time in which we praise God and thank him for all the blessings in our lives. The next step is confession. This is the time in which we admit to God all the ways we have wronged him, which he accepts because he is perfectly understanding. The next step is intercession. This is where we do not focus solely on our own desires and sins, but we ask God for the desires of others around us. The last step is the step of petition. Petitioning is our bringing requests to God, and asking him to accept them, and to repeat the process while still meditating on the will of God.
4. I think that Buttrick's words on confession and contrition are very true, and can be applied easily to our lives. He says, "we have neither inward peace nor inward power until we have offered prayers of penitence." This is something that relates to us all because we have all experienced how sin can totally crumble our spirit and we can't find peace nor the power to overcome it. A great example of this is Edgar Allen Poe's "Telltale Heart" which is an amazing description of how a person can become so completely taken over by sin that it consumes them, and I think that Buttrick is hitting on that in these passages.
2. I think the tension between having "no rules" and having elements that one "may do" exists because prayer is a specific experience that is unique to each person, so we all pray differently and for different things. So we can make our prayers theoretically however we want, just as we might say we can talk to another person however we want. There are however, certain paths that must be traveled in prayer as Buttrick has described, but those give a general outline, and the specific points can be made different for each and every person.
3. The first element of prayer is silent self preparation. This is a time of quiet in which we slow down our brains (something I need to do more often) and prepare our minds to enter into relationship with God. The next step is the act of faith. This is how we accept that whatever we ask for, God will give us through our faith- as long as it is in his will. The next stage is the stage of thanksgiving. This is the time in which we praise God and thank him for all the blessings in our lives. The next step is confession. This is the time in which we admit to God all the ways we have wronged him, which he accepts because he is perfectly understanding. The next step is intercession. This is where we do not focus solely on our own desires and sins, but we ask God for the desires of others around us. The last step is the step of petition. Petitioning is our bringing requests to God, and asking him to accept them, and to repeat the process while still meditating on the will of God.
4. I think that Buttrick's words on confession and contrition are very true, and can be applied easily to our lives. He says, "we have neither inward peace nor inward power until we have offered prayers of penitence." This is something that relates to us all because we have all experienced how sin can totally crumble our spirit and we can't find peace nor the power to overcome it. A great example of this is Edgar Allen Poe's "Telltale Heart" which is an amazing description of how a person can become so completely taken over by sin that it consumes them, and I think that Buttrick is hitting on that in these passages.
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