Eating Issues

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Buddhism, Christianity, contemplation, divine presence, food, meditation, religion, table hospitality

One of the joys of getting back to church last Sunday was in joining in with fellow parishioners in a discussion of Richard Rohr’s book, The Naked Now. It explores the concept of “present moment” work as a method of meditation or contemplation. Like many other works of this nature, its basic premise is that we experience the divine from within, and the great Christian mystics attain the same basic state as do the great Buddhist monks and yogis.

In this study, I am blessed to share my thoughts with a group of people who are highly educated and thoughtful people. They are readers, thinkers, and doers in the world. They are highly placed business people, college professors, theologians and biblical experts, and others of intellectual acuity and attainment. I learn a great deal, always.

This has not been my usual experience in other Christian faith traditions generally speaking. For reasons that are not necessary to this discussion, the Episcopal Church tends to attract the better educated and more career advanced of our populations. This is especially true in my church.

A statement was made by one participant that stuck with me, and provided some deeper thoughts within me. I thought I would share with you what that is, and ask for your thoughts. I’m not at all sure my analysis is accurate, and it is preliminary, but my first thoughts may lead to your second thoughts, and thus perhaps further sharpening by others. All in the name of learning and thinking, and being what we all are–inquisitive humans.

The statement referred to the fact that both Buddhist and Christian share this methodology of reaching the divine–call it contemplation or meditation. It is the attempt to remain focused on the present, without judging or naming. It is to proceed deeper into a  Oneness with the universe, and with the Divine Knowing, or God, or Higher Power, or whatever you wish to call it. We call it different things, but when described, it is clear we both are experiencing the same thing.

How ironic then that we differ to very much on another issue, that of table hospitality. It will be noted that the Jewish practice, indeed the Middle East tradition of table hospitality has a long and rich history, well independent of Christianity or Judaism for that matter. It was a survival technique developed in the desert environment that placed life about politics if you will. Any stranger or even enemy was graciously invited to eat and rest and was safe while within the environs of the camp.

Jesus took this practice to new levels, suggesting that even in a urban setting, such as Jerusalem or the small towns and villages that surrounded it, such practices should continue, and enlarge to include all the “others” we might identify. The ritually unclean, the sinner of whatever kind and so forth. Jews have continued the practice, and all Christians are urged to as well. We all conclude that the best meal is the one shared with others in friendly and warm conversation and laughter.

How different the practice of many Buddhists. Mindfulness trumps conviviality. Instead of sparkling conversation, there is often perfect silence, and by design. The monk would tell you that silence allows total focus on the food–its texture, its taste, its temperature, its aroma. Monks wish to experience food as clearly as possible, not diminished by mindless chatter.

It is well to remember that some Christian monasteries also practice silence during meals, but this is generally the result of an imposed order of silence that is normal for most all day, or perhaps even most all week. This is an attempt to keep focused not so much on the task before the monk or nun, but rather to retain focus in all doings on God. Constant prayer is the goal.

I can see the efficacy of both practices. Dieters are admonished to turn off  extraneous distracting influences such as TV and MP3 players. Distractions cause absent-minded eating. Yet, in the main, we pursue the family gathering as healthy to us emotionally and psychologically.

I began to wonder if there was any explanation for these so different practices and reasonings. I came up with one, but I am not sure how valuable are the insights, nor how strong the argument. You be the judge.

Christians are not by nature pantheists–people who believe that God permeates all things, and that all things are God. This concept leads to a dumbing down in a sense of God and his working in the world, and is rejected theologically as simply wrong. Yet Buddhists do tend to see the divine in all things. There is a reverence for life, for the beauty of stone and sand. There is a palpable response to every day things as sacred. All this without a defined concept of God as a defined creator.

Yet, in Buddhism, many Christians do see a sense of the sacred, of the divine, and that the Oneness with all things amounts in a sense to a wisdom presence that can be entered into and benefited from. Thus the intense time spent in meditation by believing Buddhists.

I think Christians, on the other hand, are taught to look primarily to each other to see the divine. Jesus taught that we would see him in the faces of those whom society rejected, the poor, the sinner, the tax collector, the diseased. Our hospitality looks to people to reveal the face of God, thus we find the food less interesting that the company we are in. The food enhances, rather than directs the meal.

Does this explain the difference? Hardly, but it offers an insight I believe. Or perhaps I am all wet. Anyway, it’s what I got to thinking about. As always that is a dangerous thing. Who knows what craziness I’ll come up with if I’m allowed to continue thinking. I guess that’s why fundamentalists turn away in droves when I open my mouth. Thinking is dangerous!

Learning to be Human

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contemplation, divinity, ego, gospels, humanness, Jesus, meditation, psychology, Syro-Phoenician woman, the Now

As I think I mentioned, I’ve been reading Richard Rohr’s, The Naked Now. It was really a foregone conclusion that I would adore his writing, I’d heard enough said about him from a number of bloggers who read him and were praiseworthy. That was plenty of recommendation.

Rohr talks about how to experience the Divine in the way the mystics do, and that essentially is in the practice of “now.” It is a well grounded practice in Eastern faith traditions, and frankly, has a long history in Western faiths as well, just by another name. In the East, the method of practice is meditation, in the West, it is called contemplation.

Both involve letting go of ego and past and future, and centering on the now. This is where we meet God. This is where we listen, open ourselves and wait. This is where we, if we surrender ourselves, find guidance. For all those who have experienced this wonder, whether for a moment or for long periods, it is in some sense indescribable, but pure joy. There is a oneness, a feeling of connectedness to all that is.

As anyone who has practiced either meditation or contemplation can tell you, the effort is hard. There is nothing harder to control than one’s own mind. The ego has a vested interest (it’s own perceived survival) in maintaining control, and keeping things within “known” parameters. To surrender to the Spirit, is to step off the cliff without a parachute. The ego fights mightily, and as anyone who has tried will tell you, the mind fills with one inane and disconnected thought after another, as one, in increasing desperation, tries to “quiet” the mind. But it is never about forcing, it is about letting go.

Living in the now means to be centered in the feelings, and senses fully of what is happening around you. Not thinking of what needs go on the grocery list, not recalling last night’s movie, not rehashing an argument of a week ago. It is smelling the flowers, feeling the sun upon your cheek, hearing the rustle of leaves in the trees, seeing the sparkle of sunlight upon the dew lipped blade of grass. It is being drunk in this moment of time.

While it is a perfect place to be, it cannot be the only place, lest we never get up, never move, and die of hunger and thirst. We must plan at least to shop and clean and it is also valuable to reflect, hoping to stave off repeating mistakes again and again. Still, we strive to be “now” people as much as possible, where we are called to be authentic and to respond authentically and with full attention to the world. As Rohr and others point out, we are Spirit, our job is to become fully human.

One point is made clear, that much of “now” work is non-dualistic. And we in the West, particularly, have a tough time with non duality. We are a right/wrong, up/down, happy/sad type of folk. Nothing brings this closer to home for us than contemplation of the humanity/divinity of Christ.

We by creedal refrain proclaim this belief. We assure anyone that it is true, (at least for most Christians). Yet, in our hearts of hearts, we are nearly incapable of realizing such a situation. How indeed can Jesus be fully human and fully divine at the same time?  We struggle with this, and imagine some switch whereby Jesus turned first one, and then the other on and off. One idling in the background while the other surges to the fore. We imagine, as best we can, but we don’t truly get it.

Yet the bible has a couple of stories that help us see it at least. One is the story of the Syro Phoenician woman. The story was apparently well known, used by both Matthew(15:21-28) and Luke (7:24-30). A Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and asks for help in healing her daughter. Jesus at first refuses, until the woman reminds him that even the “dogs receive the scraps from the table.” Jesus then does as she asks.

The story has always been difficult for me. Who is this Jesus who is so rude and dismissive? He has been traveling afoot for perhaps hours, and he clearly wants some peace, without the crowds demanding of him. When the woman approaches, alerting perhaps others that he is in fact the famous Jesus, he responds with  “it is not fair to share the food for the children with the dogs.”

This is mighty mean stuff. He refers to the woman and her child as being unworthy, dogs in comparison to the Israelites. He is dismissive. He appears tired and angry at the interruption. In a sense, one can think that Jesus was distracted with other thoughts, and reacted to the woman without thinking.

A similar story is told in all of the gospels about the cleansing of the temple, one of which in John, is replete with Jesus fashioning a whip out of cord to accomplish the task. Many people recoil again, at the anger expressed by Christ.

I think that we find in these stories, that perhaps unknowingly, the writer relates a glimpse of the real humanity of Jesus peaking through. Jesus was perhaps the human being who had transcended more than any other into the realm of perfect unity with the Divine, illustrated by living mostly in the Now. Yet, in his very humanness, he too, from time to time, failed and was overcome by ego. He too let gain purchase the too human emotions of frustration, anger, and perhaps physical exhaustion.

These stories, serve to point out to us, that we are in process. Even Jesus was it seems. His humanness in this is something we can relate to and thus we can truly seek to emulate his way of living. He failed here and there. We fail more than we succeed, yet, we are given courage and strength by his slips.

It is said, that without Jesus’ humanity, there is no point for us. If he is not us, then our efforts can come to nothing. These stories feed our need to feel that the effort is worthwhile. It is well we remember this. Tomorrow is another day to get up, dust ourselves off, and try again. Jesus, and the Creator beckon. Will you enter into the Now with them?

Room for God?

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contemplation, God, multi-tasking, sensory overload, silence

If you listen to the Religious Right, they will tell you that what is wrong with America is that pretty much all due to the leftist, liberal, commie moral relativists.

If we would just let them impose a ban on abortion, make it crystal clear to the gay world that they are abominations and ain’t gettin’ no rights, keep on throwing that electric chair switch, teach creationism in schools, and so forth, all would go aright again.

They consider that we are a secularist, God-ignoring nation for the most part. Now secularism just means you believe the two should be separate, but it has come to mean in the mind of the Religious Right that one is an atheist.

Actually, I think they are a bit closer to the mark here, but for the wrong reasons I would suggest. We are ignoring God a lot, but not because we are so deeply ensconced in our hedonistic ways. In fact most of us are not so at all. Most of us are fairly moral in that we raise our kids to understand right and wrong and live by it, we work, pay our bills and our taxes. We give to charity, help our neighbor, try to be responsible when it comes to the environment and so on.

We ignore God because we are too awfully busy. We have a TV that is in our office that is not digital, and we didn’t get the box, so we are limited in what we watch.  Two of our local stations around here decided to ignore the June date, and went ahead and made the change. That all means that I’m stuck with Oprah in the afternoon.

Not that I listen much, but I hear a tidbit or two. A professional of some sort the other day, suggested we are raising a generation of children who are addicted to constant sensory input. They don’t get it from parents, who aren’t around much, being much too busy themselves, so the kids are increasingly plugged in to computers, Iphones, Ipods, and games. It isn’t just that they use this, they NEED it. The cannot bear silence or being left with their own minds.

The expert didn’t know what that might mean in the future. Neither do I, but I suggest that adults are no better. We are tied to our Iphones, blackberries, computers, Ipods, to the same degree. We need a constant diversion to keep up going. If we run, we don’t listen to the birds, we listen to a variety of downloaded songs to keep our minds busy. The same is true at the gym increasingly. Worse, multi-tasking is the key to success in the new modern world. Doing more than one thing at a time, means we get more done. Too bad that we do everything fairly poorly now. No matter, it’s done, and we can check it off the list.

Most of us, including moi, can barely enter the house without switching on something, usually the TV. The fact that I said I’m forced to “watch” Oprah, pretty much says it all. I’ve been raised to expect a certain background noise in my life.

As many of you know, I’ve been reading a book on contemplation. Nothing all that new. The usual, sit upright on a plain chair, feet on the floor, quiet the body, pick a mantra, repeat, breathe, and again. As I said, nothing new in this. It is the way of the desert monks, the way of all mystics pretty much, and certainly the way of the Buddhist.

God is found in the silence. Of course, God is found everywhere, but if we are attempting to bring our selves into deeper communion, we must seek the silence. It is only there, in the heart that we can “hear” the small voice of God’s Spirit.

As anyone who has tried, it is no easy thing. And most would say that you spend a lifetime trying, and success is never a goal. It is perhaps at best a byproduct of the process. But it is the silence, and it always will be. It is in the quiet of the mind, that place that is running full tilt all our waking time. It never stops, it never stops, and the more we consciously try to still it, the more rebellious it is. Yet, it can be slowed, and it can be stopped at least for brief times. And those seconds or minutes, if one is so lucky are spiritual gold.

Interestingly, when the mind is not about working out some real issue, actually processing an idea and trying to figure out what to do next, it falls back to its basic mode, thinking about things that have gone before, or about which we wonder about in the future. Yes, that is true. Most people don’t realize that, but I ask you to take a small test.

Set a timer for say five minutes. Close your eyes and just don’t do anything. Don’t deliberately try to think or not. Just sit. Observe the thoughts that travel through. I guarantee, after the five minutes that you will discover that your mind either replays past events, or it plays out possible future scenarios. It is never thinking much about now. Almost never.

If it did think about now, we’d all be better off. For being in the now is the best place to be. It is where we savor the smells, sights, sounds, textures,  and so on. We are fat because we are mindless while eating. We drive places and suddenly come to and can’t remember the past three miles, and look around desperately to figure out where we are. We have accidents because we are inattentive while cutting vegetables, or taking a shower. It’s all because we live most of the time in the past or future.

God is in the present. He is the one who is forced to watch our drama about past and future. He is on standby. He wants to experience as us through us, and we force him to do so through the veil of the video of past and future. We are rather bad proprietors of the hotel I would suggest.

That is what is wrong with America. We are all so busy avoiding the world, that it is becoming a mess. We are disconnected from ourselves and each other. We are so proud that we can shop and do our various daily tasks, all the while never missing a beat from the Ipod.

We are in danger of losing our ability to communicate with our God. Unlike our ancestors, unburdened with all the junk of television, radio, computer and such. They had time to contemplate themselves and how they fit in the world. They had some sense of something so much greater outside themselves, yet to which they were indelibly connected.  We, I think are losing that. We are becoming onesies, in the crowd but not part of it, never seeing the significance of our place within the larger community of mankind.

Perhaps it is why we find failure in our relationships so commonplace as well. Tell a person you have an email account (who doesn’t these days) and you can see the relief. We can keep each other at a distance, we don’t have to talk right now, we don’t have to deal with silence at the other end, inflections in tone, all the messy accouterments of interactions.

Phones are for leaving messages on, not actually talking. How often do you leave the recorder on when you are home to avoid those people you want to avoid. Let them think you’re out, but of course they suspect you aren’t don’t they? Don’t you?

We’re avoiding God in the same way, we, who are increasingly avoiding the silence at every turn. But the blessing is this, God is patient. He waits. As my friend Jan says, I’m going to stop neglecting God for Lent. I think that’s a good idea.