I practice a form of meditation, called Breath Prayer, based on the teaching of Rev. Ron DelBene (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24644964). I don’t typically spend more than 5-10 minutes with this prayer. What has done, over time, is given me a resource in times of stress. I draw on the prayer in long lines; I draw on it in times of stress (like yesterday). The goal of Rev. DelBene’s practice is for the prayer to become so ingrained that it is essentially part of your unconscious life. I think this is what has happened for me.
The point of prayer that isn’t curative is, perhaps, to help remind a person that cure ain’t the whole story. Some of us get to learn, in our various ways, that being a whole person and having a whole spirituality isn’t dependent on having a whole/ideally healthy bodymind. I had a learner in a bioethics course I taught who was clergy with an MD, who said once “Oh, you know, God made bell curves too, I figure.” That stuck.
Opening your heart and mind to the world can/does open you to the Creator within each of us and in the world around us. Knowing that the Creator is present in ALL things leads us to accept that he is within our very being.
Re Meditation: This article suggests (with reference to academic articles) that “too much” meditation (hours at a time) can be risky) https://harpers.org/archive/2021/04/lost-in-thought-psychological-risks-of-meditation
I practice a form of meditation, called Breath Prayer, based on the teaching of Rev. Ron DelBene (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24644964). I don’t typically spend more than 5-10 minutes with this prayer. What has done, over time, is given me a resource in times of stress. I draw on the prayer in long lines; I draw on it in times of stress (like yesterday). The goal of Rev. DelBene’s practice is for the prayer to become so ingrained that it is essentially part of your unconscious life. I think this is what has happened for me.
The point of prayer that isn’t curative is, perhaps, to help remind a person that cure ain’t the whole story. Some of us get to learn, in our various ways, that being a whole person and having a whole spirituality isn’t dependent on having a whole/ideally healthy bodymind. I had a learner in a bioethics course I taught who was clergy with an MD, who said once “Oh, you know, God made bell curves too, I figure.” That stuck.
Beautiful, Tripp. Thank you.
Opening your heart and mind to the world can/does open you to the Creator within each of us and in the world around us. Knowing that the Creator is present in ALL things leads us to accept that he is within our very being.