Prayer is properly is not petition, but simply an attention to God which is a form of love.Iris Murdock On 'God' and 'Good' Many years ago I trained as a masseur. The opening salvo of the instructor was, "No massage is bad massage." It is a beautifully ambiguous assertion: all massage, however unskilled, has worth; … Continue reading No prayer is bad prayer
Tag: pending-review
Prayer in the intersticies
Prayer is a subversive activity. It involves a more or less open act of defiance against any claim by the current regime. Eugene Peterson: The Contemplative Pastor, p.10 The 'claim of the current regime' is multiple and multiply overwhelming: improve: today's achievement is never good enough tomorrow (something I learnt from working in the NHS); … Continue reading Prayer in the intersticies
What is your question?
I am entranced by Tuesday night's documentary, Make Pots or Die, about the potter and author Edmund de Waal, in the BBC1 arts series, imagine, presented by Alan Yentob. In a voiceover in the final minutes, Edmund de Waal gives a testament of his life. How objects get handled, used and handed on is not … Continue reading What is your question?
11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety:
11. The next step
Anxiety, holding Magnifying Glass. Studio Shot This is the final instalment of 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety, an ongoing experiment in meeting life with gusto. Take the next step There is one fundamental way of dealing with anxiety. Instead of sitting there worrying, get up and do something. I admit I find this difficult. … Continue reading 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety:
11. The next step
11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety:
10. Suffer the child
Anxiety, holding Magnifying Glass. Studio Shot This is the tenth instalment of 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety, an ongoing experiment in meeting yourself with tenderness. If something hurts me, the hurts I suffered back then come back to me, and when I feel guilty, the feelings of guilt return; if I yearn for something … Continue reading 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety:
10. Suffer the child
Sensation: the key to the art of living
A dear friend made very helpful comments in response to Where to start?. He deserves a reply, and I need to express myself more clearly. Here is the second of a set of pieces in which I reflect on what he says. One way in which I feel you may be going a wee bit … Continue reading Sensation: the key to the art of living
Soft heart, trusting heart
Lift your heart up to the Lord, with a gentle stirring of love desiring God for his own sake and not for his gifts. Cloud of Unknowing, Ch.3 (tr. William Johnston) I wake up anxious, feeling layers of loss, the mess I call my life, a failure, ashamed to be me. I am sure some … Continue reading Soft heart, trusting heart
Starting at the bottom (part 2)
I can't emphasis enough the value and importance of staying in this body. What I am writing about are not only ideas. They are primarily practices: practices in being alive, being animal, being human, being present, being (in) God. Lying in bed in the night, I notice how tense my legs are. I guess it … Continue reading Starting at the bottom (part 2)
Starting at the bottom
Sitting here today I am distracted. My head is all over the place. I didn't pray first thing and I have been walking, writing, talking, reading, cooking and eating breakfast. I'm feeling a bit sleepy. It is difficult to settle into stillness and silence. I am elsewhere. I have forgotten how to pray and instead … Continue reading Starting at the bottom
11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety:
9. Identifying fallacious reasoning
Anxiety, holding Magnifying Glass. Studio Shot This is the ninth instalment of 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety, an ongoing experiment in meeting yourself with kindness. Identifying fallacious reasoning … it is the way of the evil spirit to bite, sadden and put obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, that one may not go on … … Continue reading 11 Ways of Dealing with Anxiety:
9. Identifying fallacious reasoning