“Reason, even when supported by senses, has short wings.” Dante

“Our unknowing goes deeper into God than our knowing goes.” Martin Laird

Lately there’s been a great deal of attention paid to the topic of President Biden’s cognitive impairment.  Even if you’re not a news junky, it’s impossible to miss.  Here’s something that might surprise you; many people, maybe even most, probably have spiritual cognitive impairment.  What do I mean by this?  That the emphasis placed on our minds, logic, and reason as the repository for theology, spirituality, and religiosity is actually impairing our spiritual journey and hindering our walk with God.  As a result, we go limping along through life, trying hard mentally to figure out how to walk hand-in-hand with God.

Since the Enlightenment, if not before, there has been an overemphasis in Western Culture on the brain, reason, and logic.  While this has served to advance humanity in many ways, it has hampered the ability to really know God as something more or other than an “equation” to be solved.  The goal is to acquire more information and get more educated about God.  Consider for a moment the emphasis on that thing called “Bible Study”.  Though a relatively recent arrival on the Christian religion landscape, making it’s appearance only with the advent of literacy, it receives a great deal of attention and is the goal of many followers of the Christian religion.  Consider for a moment: have you ever heard of a course or class being offered in a church entitled “Heart Contemplation”? 

This emphasis on building up one’s knowledge base about God based on the Bible is unfortunate for many reasons.  One is because there is a vast difference between knowing about God and really knowing God in an intimate way.  Another is because the mind is not the place from which God moves and dwells and has Being.  When it comes to God, we allow our minds to take the lead, trying to gather more information and education so that we can know more about God, without really knowing God very well at all.  From the moment we wake up our minds are engaged, whirling around like hyperactive machines, continuing to run, and run us.  We think about everything imaginable; often-times being led down a path that is a dead end.  The mind is like a petulant child, a two-year-old that is frantically running around, making unreasonable requests, and demanding that you pay attention to it. 

Jesus was confronted on a regular basis by those who knew, or thought they knew, a lot about God.  It was for them that Jesus spoke some of the most critical words.  And in fact, he directed them from their head knowledge to their hearts by saying things like, “You search the Scriptures to learn more about God.  In truth they bear witness to Me.”  An invitation to stop seeking God with the mind, and love God with our whole heart.

I would like to invite you right now to stop reading this, find a quiet place to sit, and focus solely on silence and NOT thinking about anything:  God, what you have to do today, or even praying.  Just BE.

Ok, how did that go for you?  It’s really hard, isn’t it?  It’s like our minds are trees filled with chattering monkeys.  In fact, some have called it exactly that:  “Monkey Mind.” 

Now take another moment to stop reading this and sit quietly, feeling your heartbeat.  Imagine a time when your heart felt really full.  Experience that feeling.  Fully.  What is that like?  See the difference?

The path to mystical everyday living leads us from the head to the heart.  It’s the longest, most arduous and challenging journey we will most likely ever take in our life.  But it is absolutely essential to experience full communion and companionship with The Divine.

 “You must descend from your head to your heart.  At present your thoughts of God are in your head.  And God Himself is, as it were, outside you, and so your prayer and other spiritual exercises remain exterior. Whilst you are still in your head, thoughts will not easily be subdued but will always be whirling about, like snow in winter or clouds of mosquitoes in the summer.”  Theophan The Recluse

Next time:  “How to quiet the mind.”