Buechner: Meditation
‘If you compare the mind to a balloon, meditation as a religious technique is the process of inflating it with a single thought to the point where the balloon finally bursts and there is no longer even the thinnest skin between what is inside it and what is outside it.”—Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Quote of the day, November 6, 2017. Originally published in Wishful Thinking.
Buechner’s thoughts on spirituality take us out of the box. Indeed, we hope in meditation to enter that thin place where the spiritual and actual world are only a thin layer away. Buechner tells us that meditation can not only dissolve that membrane, but also break it wide open, so no barrier exists. That especially happens when we see the Christ in our neighbor, and our neighbor sees the Christ in us.
This explosion occurs when we see the sacredness in the secular world, when we honor every human being, when we care for “this earth, our island home.” That barrier is often broken in the sacraments, especially Eucharist and Baptism. We recently saw it at our church at the baptism of three adults, but this mystery also happens with infant baptism. Earthly holiness breaks through, all wet, sometimes with screaming.
I like the bursting of the balloon, because we never know when it will happen. Balloons, like meditation practices, come in all sizes and colors. Some balloons seem not burstable. Some break with little effort. Again, it is a mystery.
Breaking a balloon can also produce chaos. Yet, that is where God most often meets us— and creation takes place.
Joanna joannaseibert.com
