Well, it’s time for more on the nature of prayer and our interactions with the numinous in general. This definitely seems to be a conversation people are interested in having.
JourneyHome observed, about the universal nature of this problem:
“I love this quote ‘…Christians throughout history …put what amount to barriers between ourselves and God: rules, clergy, ritualized prayer…’ Not just Christians I would add. When the spectacle of religion becomes more than the awakening of being and the creativity that is – the great I am gets lost in the details which the misunderstanding ones squabble about. “
Tuffy questions:
“if you strip everything away that you refer to as crutches, what is left? that lack of “crutches” could in itself become a crutch, couldn’t it?”
So, could it?I suppose the most honest answer is that I’m not sure how it could. I’ve come to think that perhaps the best thing we could do for our spiritual lives is to abandon our preconceptions, our crutches and cultural training about how to interact with God, everything that stands between us and God… even the things we consider helpful… and thereby force ourselves to have conversation, real conversation, with God. For all that God speaks to us in relational ways, we often interact with him in ways that would be downright offensive if we interacted in the same ways with our other relationships. Why is that? Fear? A desire to distance ourselves from that which is Other? Habit? The question for the day: What influences how you interact with God? Why?
ok, i’ll explain…
it could become a crutch. i say so because i’ve seen it plenty of times. sometimes our ability to connect with God by seemingly cutting out the crutches that other people seem to lean on we can often become extremely prideful.
as for continuing your though process… i like that you lean very much on the relational side of who God is to us. thats a very important place to lean. think of it this way… think of a romantic relationship. there’s something very special about a man and a woman sitting on the couch, in front of a fireplace, on a snowy day, sharing a cup of hot chocolate. the fact that all those tools are present, and therefore they may feel more romantic toward each other doesn’t mean that they are cheapening their love or something. they are simply using the tools that help them to channel it.
i just believe that God has given us many things that help in that area. and i still hold my ground that though it may not work for me, i can’t say that a digital lava lamp can’t do so for others.
as for answering your question… hmmm… i’ll hav eto follow some of the comments here, and think about that one. that’s a tougher one to answer. do you mean what tools help us or distract us? or do you mean something entirely different?
much love,
tuf
But then, is that the removal of the crutches that’s being crutch-ish, or pride? And do the two necessarily go hand in hand? (Granted that they can and often do, but does one inher the other?)
I guess my question– is the couple in your scenario using tools to set the mood, or do the actual communication?
My question, in general, is one of influences… good, bad, or indifferent.
i think pride certainly is a crutch. and a very dangerous one. i wonder how possible it can be to truly commune with God when our attitude while doing so is, “look, at least i’m not like those people who need a candle to pray.” but no, i don’t think that one infers the other. its possible to have all the “crutches” stripped and still have authentic communion with God. in the same way its possible to have things that may be a crutch to you present for other people while they authentically commune with God. i would list very highly on my list of things i’ve learned over the years, that there is no set of rules for how we interact with God… as much as we like to think there are, or have been taught there are. God is a whole lot bigger than all of that.
and your question… setting the mood vs. actual communication. can those things be the communication? no. its not possible. if that communication doesn’t already exist then it doesn’t matter what the mood is. if there is no romantic connection between the two already existing, then that situation would communicate something completely different, and very strange.
in the same way, if that communication between God and others exists, then the lava lamp becomes a tool to help focus it for some. and i simply can’t see anything other than pride being the cause for someone to say that person’s experience isn’t real because they used it. (but pride certainly isn’t the only cause for not having it be a tool that clicks with a given individual).
does that make sense?
i’m still not sure how to answer your influences question. i think we’re seeing the issue in two different ways. i see a major difference between an influence and tool used to focus. using a dimly lit room and candles in prayer for me isn’t an influence. it doesn’t change what or how i would pray. it is, however, a tool that would help me to focus in the midst of that prayer, and carries with it a symbolism that serves as a wonderful reminder of who God is.
whereas influences i would say are more likely to be people or thoughts that point us in a certain direction. some of those are good. some are bad. my experiences has mostly been that we are taught ways that are good, but the bad comes in that we are taught of those ways as being exclusively good, when the fact is, there are a lot of other good things out there too.
much love,
tuf
Tuf, I don’t see how the LavaPrayer Lamp can be a tool helping a person focus. Once the prayer is typed in, those words are gone. And once the bubble makes it to the top, there’s no way to tell which bubble is which. So, how does it help?
laura… don’t get me wrong. i’m not saying that i “get” it. though i do see how imaging the bubbles as prayer, moving up to where you can no longer see them, followed by another bubble returning to where it all started… its not a bad analogy for prayer. even to the extent that sometimes its very difficult to even recognize the response, and yet we should carry the faith that there is a response.
personally, the way they’ve done it there just looks like cheesiness to me, and that cheesy factor would prevent it from being a real focusing tool for me. but i simply can’t say that its bad just because it doesn’t work for me. it obviously works for the person who took the time to put it together. and i’d hate to say that their prayer is invalid because i don’t understand how the tool really helps them achieve communion with God.
much love,
tuf