Edgework

In his book, Everything Belongs, Richard Rohr contends that in order to develop a deep and comprehensive spirituality it is essential that we learn to “live in the now” (60). Spirituality is not something we can “acquire” by drawing God into our lives through the practice of spiritual disciplines. Rohr states that, “All spiritual disciplines have one purpose: to get rid of illusions so we can be present” (31). That is to say that true spirituality requires us to be awake and alert to the reality that is present right now within us and in front of us.

I think Rohr is on to something important. So much of the spiritual teaching that I grew up with envisioned God somewhat at a distance – perhaps seated on a throne in the heavens. Our prayers were for God to come down to where we lived and make that presence felt. We longed for the “showers of blessings” to be poured upon us from on high. Conversely, we aspired to be raised up to “stand on higher ground,” supposedly closer to God. In any case, we wanted to “…live above the world where Satan’s darts at me are hurled.” Of course, undergirding this way of thinking was the notion that one day we would be whisked away from this world to live in the direct and immediate presence of God. Now that would be the ultimate spiritual experience; free from all the stumbling blocks that had kept us from being truly spiritual on earth.

To be fair, the revivalist tradition I was exposed to as a youth often spoke of the possibility of walking with Jesus throughout life’s journey, “…over the mountains, through the deep vales.” It assured us that Jesus was our friend and that we could count on the Holy Spirit to be present as a comforter and guide as we journeyed toward the land where all spiritual aspirations would be fully met. Of course all of these promises of intimacy with Jesus were only valid for those who had repented of their sins and prayed the sinner’s prayer to invite Jesus into their lives. (So Jesus resided somewhere at a distance after all, at least until you had invited him in.) Indeed, I was nourished by such thoughts early in my Christian life. However, throughout most of my teen years, when I had not yet jumped through the right hoops, such talk of a relationship with Jesus reminded me of what I did not have – protection from eternal damnation.

One could well ask what is different about Rohr’s perspective than that of the revivalists. Both speak of a real and intimate relationship with God. For one, the revivalists insisted on inviting Jesus into one’s life as a prerequisite for any kind of spirituality whatsoever, while Rohr’s view would be that God is already present within us from birth. He would say that Jesus’ incarnation affirmed that God indwells matter, especially so the heart of people, and that this presence carries with it an “original blessing.” The problem is that most of us live with the illusion that God is absent from our depraved lives. For Rohr, the gospel is the Good News that through Jesus we can get rid of the illusion of our separation from God.

Some might suggest that such differentiation is of little consequence since in both cases you end up with a relationship with Christ; all is well that ends well! However, I beg to differ. In one case, God is absent and only willing to appear on the scene through a conversion process of some kind. In the other case, God is already “present” and waiting to be “discovered” and “acknowledged” by those who live with the illusion that God is absent. In one case the Good News is that God’s mind has been changed about relating to sinful humans; in the other case, the Good News is that Jesus helps us overcome the illusion that God is not present in our lives already.

Ultimately, the Good News carries no caveat declaring in what circumstances it would not apply. The Good News is good news from start to finish. God is present in our lives and Jesus helps us overcome the illusion that God is not present. You don’t have to come up with a date and time when God entered your life. You may take note of moments when the illusion of God’s absence began to lift like an early morning fog. And, you might even identify those moments when it seemed that the fog had lifted entirely. But as we journey on life’s way, times will come when it seems the fog is returning when we are not “present” to the God within.

True spirituality then, no matter where we are in life, is to discover and rediscover – again and again – that God indwells his creation – even within my heart! It does not consist of rehearsing the moment God entered my life because God has always been there. Nor does it consist of simply savoring future bliss in heaven. But it does consist of fully experiencing God and the full and conscious reality of the present moment!

As Rohr says, “If the now has never been full or sufficient, we will always be grasping or possessive” (61). And further that, “If we are not tasting the fullness of the now, we will play the games of power to fill the emptiness” (64). So it is exceptionally Good News that the idea that God is absent from my life is an illusion. To state it more positively, the more I become aware of God’s presence in the moment, in the NOW, the less need I will have to relive moments of the past or wait around for what might happen in the future.

The extent to which I experience true Reality in the moment is the extent to which I am learning the nature of true spirituality.