I listened to my sermon...

My grand daughter open to life and exploring the world. 

"Unless you become as little children..."

In my final sermon on the last Sunday of 2013 I bounced off the "Road to Emmaus" story and talked about "Walking with the sacred in 2014." Since then the sermon has evoked more thinking in my head.  I have moved on from the content of my sermon to deeper implications and cogitations. I began to ask "What is the essential spiritual attitude that enables faith to be real? What is the heart of how to live in a God centred 'more whole' way?" In thinking about it I decided on an attitude of "openness".  I think it goes beyond religion to "How to experience life at depth and live meaningfully."

What do I mean by "openness"? Many years ago I attended a night school art class. I painted a few pictures, but discovered that the process of painting made me take more notice of the world about me. I noticed how many shades of green there were. I noticed the colours in the physical world around me.  Facial expressions fascinated me. I began to see detail that I used to be blind to.  I noticed the impact of shadows. I saw normal everyday things and experienced their beauty. I was "open to see" really see, the world about me.  I have a friend who takes an interest in photography, and when we walk she see's things, notices angles, light and perspectives. Sometimes she'll stop and point in some direction and say, "Look at that! Isn't it beautiful?" or "Look at those colours! See the way the light is hitting the leaves!" Because of her photography she is "open" to see. Often I have blindly walked past that which she is pointing out. The openness that I think is important is like that. 
Another illustration is that I tend to eat very fast. If I am hungry I will bolt down my meal like a starved dog. My wife will look at me in disgust and ask "Did you taste that? - I spent a long time preparing a nice meal and you just gulped it down!" Openness is really tasting life at depth. 

I see three areas where openness counts.
Openness to life
I was at the Nugget Point Light House walk the other day. Down the cliff we could see a seal nursary, mother seals with their young. I immediately aimed my camera and zeroed in on them. Then I began to walk away. "Something" (possibly old age) told me to stop and experience the seals. Watch the pups and their mothers relating. See how they move. etc. etc.  Don't just see them as a photo opportunity, experience their world - you may never get another chance!  I see this openness as a life essential. It will mean that however long I live, I will get value out of my years. As I thought on this theme I found myself asking questions of myself...

• Am I open to life's variety of experiences or do I limit my experiences of life to my comfort zone? 
• Do I notice my good health, my abilities to do things, the wonders of the human body or do I take these for granted?
• Am I open in relationships to be loved, to love, to let myself be known, to risk involvement, to feel?
• Am I open to sensuality, the taste, the sight, the sounds the feel of things about me, and the feel of doing whatever? 
• Am I open to people, in all their variety or do I just like the people like me, and put everybody else in boxes?
• Am I open to people in conversation? Sometimes we think we have been friendly to another when we have just talked at them. Do I listen to others? or am I busy preparing what I want to say?

Openness to "the sacred" in life.

Good religious people would say "Are you open to God?" I am thinking beyond that. I think there are experiences of the sacred whether or not you believe in God, or whether or not your belief is theistic.  Somebody has said, "God is that which is ultimately important to us." (I think Tillich wrote something like that)  A recent creed says "God is Love, the cosmic creativity present everywhere and in everything, gently urging all toward the good." We experience the sacred in those moments when all the superficiality of life dims, and that which is important "emerges".  I conducted a funeral a few days ago.  In preparation I went to the family of the deceased and sat with them for a while. I asked questions about their loved one and they began to talk. They told stories. They laughed. They cried. They sometimes linked hands with the person next to them, or massaged their back. But as we talked, and they were not a religious family, there was a sense of the sacred there. Their love for their lost loved one, their love for each other and their remembering of the journeys they had been on together meant that love emerged. As I left it was like I had been somewhere special. They thanked me profusely for the time and I thanked them. As I thought about openness to the sacred I ask myself these questions...

• Am I open to the sacred in conversation with others? Do I avoid talking values, love or expressing anything too deep? 
• Am I willing to spend time alone free from distractions so that deep values can emerge in my mind and heart? Or do I insist on always being entertained so I can go through life superficially.
• Do I take time to reflect on life and sense the lessons, taste the depth in my experiences and feelings? Like a cow chewing its cud, do I take time to revisit experiences and see them in a deeper way?
• Do I sense the sacredness in myself and in others? The other person is a person, a "thou" not just a thing to be used.
• Do I sense the sacredness in relationships? That somehow the dynamic, the "forcefield" between people or within a group is special.

The other aspect of being open to the "sacred" is listening to the "call on our life" of that which is important. Am I open to the inherent "authority"in that which is ultimately important? Am I willing to be moulded and shaped by it? To the religious this is "the call of God" but I believe it is a common experience in life. The intrinsic authority in deeper values "speaks" to us and "calls" us.

Openness to others... who ever or whatever they are.

 We begin life and basically see our parents as extensions of ourselves. Those funny shapes serve us. They feed us, change us and keep us warm. Gradually we get to see them as separate people. Some of the "terrible twos" behaviour is this having to fit in with these other "shapes" who sometimes do different things than that which we want them to do. We begin to realise there are "others". Truly whole people become more deeply aware of others. We evolve empathy for others and seek to see the world through their eyes. To the more evolved of us the others begin to include the world about us, animals, the seas, and the world of nature. We live more empathetically within the universe. So questions I ask myself can be...

• Am I open to see that others have needs that I can help meet?
• Am I open to taste the other, not just as something useful for me, but as an interesting other alongside of me?
• Am I open to sense the essential solidarity I have with others in the journey of life?
• Do I ask myself "How would I feel if that were me?" about other people? about animals? about nature?

I burble - just thinking out loud - but this is how my mind has been going. "Openness" is a healthy disposition to have as we live - open to "life" - open to "the sacred' - open to "the other".