My understanding of Christian spirituality begins with an encounter with God’s love and a commitment to walk with the Risen Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit. This may not sound possible, given our fickle human nature and God’s perfection. Yet, I agree with Karl Rahner, a well-known twentieth century Jesuit theologian, said, “If there is any path at all on which I can approach You, it must lead through the very middle of my ordinary daily life.”
I believe that as we become conscious of ourselves as persons in an actual relationship with God, we will pay more attention to our subjective experiences using both our left and right brain. We may even expand the ways we pray.
In Reading the Sacred Text: An Introduction to Biblical Studies, V. George Shillington quotes Bernard Lonergan, a Catholic theologian said this about subjectivity. “Objectivity is not achieved by flight from subjectivity . . . but by an intense and persevering effort to exercise subjectivity attentively, intelligently, reasonably, and responsibly” (page 18). As we give our attention to what we see of the world, question what is perceived, make judgments and continue asking questions, we become equipped to choose our action. In short we choose our actions out of careful naming of what is.
To accurately name what is, we might as well use both our left and our right brain, for both bring specific data our way. Our culture relies on left-brain functions -- rational, linear steps. We spend our days being efficient, and productive. We go the gas station, swipe our debit card, and fill up the tank with gasoline. We got what we intended to get.
God has also given us a right brain, which behaves more like a small child. Can we learn to pay attention to the data the right brain is eager to bring to us? Some refer to the differences of the left-brain and right brain as the realms of our intellect and imagination. We know the value of a good intellect, but do we know the value and role of a healthy imagination? In "Poets, Imagination, the Mother Tongue, and Religious Language--Paschal Imagination" in Against an Infinite Horizon by Ronald Rolheiser on page 150,
Ronald Rohlheiser says that “we have healthy imaginations when we can stand before any reality and have a sense of what God is asking of us. A healthy imagination is the opposite of resignation, abdication, naive optimism or despair.”
When our imaginations are open, we can read the text of our lives clearly. A familiar teaching in spiritual formation is that we are to notice, name and change. When we accurately name what is going on, we are empowered to make healthy changes, sometimes deeply dramatic changes that are as good for us and our relationships as opening a window in a house full of mold and tearing out the rotten wall boards.
Prayer can be dominated by intellectual, left-brain activity, times in which we do all of the talking. If we give ourselves to a wordless, silent practice of prayer we at first we may feel like we are having a cross-cultural immersion experience, but with repetition, we are likely to feel more comfortable in our own skin as we learn to depend more equally on our intellect and our imagination. We will never stop using our left-brain, but we will use it more effectively.
Finally, I believe that in the center of our beings, there is God. God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. God is with each one of us. Jan Van Ruusbroec, a Flemish mystic, wrote about God coming to us from within and from without. We can trust in that still, small voice within us just as we may have learned to trust in the testimony of so many around us.
I believe that as we become conscious of ourselves as persons in an actual relationship with God, we will pay more attention to our subjective experiences using both our left and right brain. We may even expand the ways we pray.
In Reading the Sacred Text: An Introduction to Biblical Studies, V. George Shillington quotes Bernard Lonergan, a Catholic theologian said this about subjectivity. “Objectivity is not achieved by flight from subjectivity . . . but by an intense and persevering effort to exercise subjectivity attentively, intelligently, reasonably, and responsibly” (page 18). As we give our attention to what we see of the world, question what is perceived, make judgments and continue asking questions, we become equipped to choose our action. In short we choose our actions out of careful naming of what is.
To accurately name what is, we might as well use both our left and our right brain, for both bring specific data our way. Our culture relies on left-brain functions -- rational, linear steps. We spend our days being efficient, and productive. We go the gas station, swipe our debit card, and fill up the tank with gasoline. We got what we intended to get.
God has also given us a right brain, which behaves more like a small child. Can we learn to pay attention to the data the right brain is eager to bring to us? Some refer to the differences of the left-brain and right brain as the realms of our intellect and imagination. We know the value of a good intellect, but do we know the value and role of a healthy imagination? In "Poets, Imagination, the Mother Tongue, and Religious Language--Paschal Imagination" in Against an Infinite Horizon by Ronald Rolheiser on page 150,
Ronald Rohlheiser says that “we have healthy imaginations when we can stand before any reality and have a sense of what God is asking of us. A healthy imagination is the opposite of resignation, abdication, naive optimism or despair.”
When our imaginations are open, we can read the text of our lives clearly. A familiar teaching in spiritual formation is that we are to notice, name and change. When we accurately name what is going on, we are empowered to make healthy changes, sometimes deeply dramatic changes that are as good for us and our relationships as opening a window in a house full of mold and tearing out the rotten wall boards.
Prayer can be dominated by intellectual, left-brain activity, times in which we do all of the talking. If we give ourselves to a wordless, silent practice of prayer we at first we may feel like we are having a cross-cultural immersion experience, but with repetition, we are likely to feel more comfortable in our own skin as we learn to depend more equally on our intellect and our imagination. We will never stop using our left-brain, but we will use it more effectively.
Finally, I believe that in the center of our beings, there is God. God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. God is with each one of us. Jan Van Ruusbroec, a Flemish mystic, wrote about God coming to us from within and from without. We can trust in that still, small voice within us just as we may have learned to trust in the testimony of so many around us.
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