Rule of Benedict Beginning Again

Always We Begin Again

“The first rule is simply this;

live this life

and do whatever is done,

in a spirit of Thanksgiving.

Abandon attempts to achieve security,

they are futile,

give up the search for wealth,

it is demeaning,

quit the search for salvation,

it is selfish,

and come to comfortable rest

in the certainty that those who

participate in this life

with an attitude of Thanksgiving

will receive its full promise.”

Always We Begin Again, John McQuiston

I buy this book in bulk to give to those coming for spiritual direction. My own copy is falling apart. It is pocket sized, so I can carry it around with me throughout the day and leave by my bed at night. McQuiston is a Memphis lawyer who has shaped and paraphrased the Rule of Benedict into modern language. Its simplicity is its beauty. McQuiston’s story of how he was introduced into the Rule of Benedict is a reminder of how we are constantly cared for by God. At his father’s funeral, a priest friend of the family gave him Ester de Waal’s book, Living with Contradictions: Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict.  This led him to Canterbury Cathedral and a Benedictine experience and a major change in how he lived.

McQuiston distills a rule of life written for monks living in community in the sixth century to an essential substance to help us in today’s world who do not live in a monastery find a balanced routine in an already too busy schedule. I need to carry the book with me because I constantly forget and get pulled off center and disconnected. I try to read the chapter on humility every day, for “I have such great ideas”. My rule of life changes more often than I would like, but McQuiston keeps reminding me how necessary it is to honor one, to stay connected to God and my community, to stay thankful. A revelation for me in reading McQuiston book has been how close the Rule is incorporated in the 12 steps. When two disciplines speak a truth, I try to take notice and realize this indeed may be a truth. The book also includes some meditative material and a sample rule of life. Sample it.

Joanna     joannaseibert.com

Friends Deep Secrets Way

Friends Deep Secrets Way

“In an experimental design, social psychologists at the University of Virginia found that perception of task difficulty was deeply shaped by the proximity of a friend. (Schnall et al) The researchers asked college students to stand at the base of a hill while carrying a weighted backpack and estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to close friends whom they had known a long time, some stood next to friends they had not known for long, some stood next to strangers, and the others stood alone during the exercise. The participants who stood with close friends gave significantly lower estimates of the steepness of the hill than those who stood alone, next to strangers, or to or to newly formed friends. The longer the close friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared to the participants involved in the study. In other words, the world was perceived as less difficult when standing next to a close friend than when standing next to someone who was less close or no one at all.” Niobe Way, Deep Secrets, Boys' Friendships and the Crisis of Connection

S Schnall, K Harber, J Stefanucci, D Proffit, “Social Support and the Perception of Geographical Slant”, J Experimental Social Psychology 44 (2008): 1246-1255.

Spiritual friends

 I thank a spiritual friend, Tom Momberg, for telling me about this story and Niobe Way’s book, Deep Secrets, Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection. Friends make all the difference in how we live life on life’s terms. Spiritual friends make all the difference in how we care for our soul and care for each other’s soul. Both types of friends are good listeners, and can be supporters and encourages. Spiritual friends specifically help us see where God is working in our life. They help us see where God was and is with us all along. We are never alone. Sometimes they hold on to the God of our understanding when we cannot connect to God. Sometimes we have to believe in the God of their understanding when we can no longer hear or see the God we once knew. Spiritual friends can be icons for God’s love. We see God’s love more clearly in them. We see the face, the love of Christ in them, and they in turn help us see the Christ within ourselves. Spiritual friends are like Elizabeth when she is visited by the early pregnant Mary, and the Holy Spirit in Elizabeth sees the Christ within Mary. When Mary hears that her relative sees God within her, she in turn responds with the Magnificat, “My soul proclaims the greatest of the Lord.” (Luke 1:39-56). A chain reaction starts. We begin to see Christ, the God of our understanding, in others, and they reflect that love back to us, and it can go on and on.

What is it like to know and feel God within us? There is a peace. We live in the present moment. Our life becomes a gratitude list.  For people in 12 step recovery, the Promises come true (Big Book pp. 83-84). We are empowered to be the person God created us to be.

I welcome what others have experienced when spiritual friends help you see God working in your life.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Thich Nhat Hanh Walking

Thich Nhat Hanh Walking

“People say that walking on water is a miracle, but to me, walking peacefully on the earth is the real miracle. The Earth is a miracle, each step is a miracle. Taking steps on our beautiful planet can bring real happiness.

As you walk, be fully aware of your foot, the ground, and the connection between them, which is your conscious breathing.”

 Thich Nhat Hanh, The Long Road Turns To Joy, a Guide to Walking Meditation

For many years, I would walk around the block in my neighbor for twenty minutes before going to work at the hospital. This seems to quiet the committee meeting in my head. Putting my feet on the earth, even the pavement of the road, seems to reconnect my head to my body as I become “grounded”.  Always when I am outside, I realize there is a world greater than the one I live in. There is a power greater than myself. I have trouble meditating by simply sitting, but some movement such as walking can lead me into that meditative journey.  The Vietnamese Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh, is one of the most well-known meditative walkers. This pocket-sized book is full of simple mindfulness exercises to think about as we walk. He introduces us to several methods of following and listening to our breath as we walk. My pattern became breathing in on the right foot, breathing out on the left. This was similar to walking the labyrinth and paying close attention to the path. In mindful walking, as I stay with my breath, there are no more rooms available for that committee to meet in my head.  Thich Nhat Hanh compares walking to eating, nourishing our bodies with each step. With each step, we massage the Earth. When the baby Buddha was born, he took seven steps, and a Lotus flower blossomed under each step. Thich Nhat Hanh suggests we image with each of our steps, a flower blossoming. We can also practice mindful walking anywhere, between meetings, in hospitals, at airports, walking to our car. The Buddhist monk also offers several poems to recite while walking: “I have arrived, I am home, in the here, in the now. I am solid. I am free. In the ultimate I dwell.”

Joanna joannaseibert.com