主題： 撥雲見日－在混亂世界中找出正道
講者： Ms Margaret Silf 資深依納爵靈修指導者，也是全職投身於靈修寫作。(著作包括： Inner Compass, Close to the Heart, Wayfaring, Sacred Spaces 等。)
日期： 2011年12月3日 (星期六)
時間： 下午2:30-5:30
地點： 香港堅道十六號教區中心九樓演講廳
費用： 全免 (歡迎自由捐獻)
主辦： 教友總會及思維靜院合辦
連結： 有關詳情
內容：
Finding Solid Ground by Miss Margaret Silf
In a quantum worldview, it’s very hard to establish exactly what is solid and what is “real”. We live in the restless flux of a universe that appears to operate on uncertainty and probability, and our personal circumstances often reflect more chaos than order. Yet finding solid ground is essential for our spiritual journey. How do we do it? What tools does Ignatius offer?
At the beginning of Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises we are invited to reflect on what he calls “The First Principle and Foundation”. What does this mean for us?
First principles
Basically, the principle upon which a life with God, in which we are growing closer to all that it means to be fully human beings, needs to be based on the principle of God-centredness, as opposed to “me-centredness”. This means coming to a recognition that our own living revolves around some centre much deeper and greater than ourselves and our immediate wants and wishes. As Christians, we would name this centre “God”. Our lives revolve around God, just as surely as the planets revolve around the sun, and not the other way round. Insofaras we are living from that deep centre, that “centre of gravity” that is rooted in the Mystery of God, we will be deep down at peace with the true orientation of our being. Whenever we are living, or making choices, from the me-centred place, we will sense that something is as kew in the way we are living.
This is fine as long as it remains just a “principle” that we can deal with in our heads. But it onlycomes into its transformative power when it moves to our hearts and our gut. It can be very hard indeed to put this principle into practice in our everyday living, and to keep on going back to our true orientation, in every reaction and interaction that we make. The Review prayer is an excellent way of trying to live true to this “God-centredness”.
Firm foundations
The second part of Ignatius’ opening guidelines is about the ground beneath our feet. If you have ever wandered into quicksands, you will know what happens there – how you can be sucked down into potentially destructive terrain. The difference between walking on solid ground and walking in quicksands can be literally the difference between life and death. The spiritual journey is a bit the same. There are quicksands all around us, and there is solid rock, and the art of telling the difference is called “discernment”. The “quicksands” are those inner movements that tend to drag us down into spiritual “desolation”, make us self-focused, and leave us feeling that we have lost our way. The “solid rock” represents those inner movements that are strengthening and nourishing our “God-centredness”, helping us to live from the deepest centre of gravity and leading to spiritual “consolation”.
You can’t cross Morecambe Bay in north-west England without the services of a professional guide, who knows exactly where the quicksands are. We have our “guide” in Jesus of Nazareth. He is the “who”, the “True Life”, but the art of discernment reveals the “how”.
Following the Guide is both simple, and also very difficult! Simple, because it isn’t a matter of understanding or accepting doctrines and creeds, but of putting our fee, day by day, in Jesus’ footprints. We are invited to make an ‘apprentice journey’ with him, following and observing closely the way he lives and trying to emulate what we see in our own lives. Gospel meditation takes us deeper and deeper into the mind and heart of the One we follow, the values and attitudes that he reveals in the way he lives. We ask for the grace for our own hearts and minds to be more and more conformed to his, as we follow. Simple! Yet impossibly difficult, because our own hearts, minds and will are very firmly our own! This is the process of a lifetime – or more. But we remember that ‘ideals are like stars – we can never reach them, but we can use them to helpus navigate our course.’ (Andre Gide)
As we make our way across the terrain of our everyday living, we will meet both quicksands and solid rock, but we will almost certainly also encounter “mirages” – these are in themselves in substantial but they have the power to draw us completely off course. Ignatius calls these counter-attractions “attachments”. They can seriously deflect us from the true course that we deeply desire, lead us into cul-de-sacs, and waste a lot of our much needed energy as we go after them and get stuck in them. The art of “detachment” helps us to recognise them for what they are, and if necessary take action to counteract their magnetism.
Spend a little time doing some “stock-taking”. Right now, are there any parts of your life that feel like “quicksands”? What is pulling you “out of orbit”, and further away from your true self? You might notice this pull, for example, in incidents or reactions that leave you feeling a bit at odds with yourself, sensing that you are acting out of something less than the best in yourself.
What parts of your life feel as though they are drawing you towards the best in yourself? Such incidents or reactions may have left you feeling a deep sense of the rightness of things (even though they may well have involved pain or difficulty).
Take a moment to reflect on any specific issue that is active for you right now. In this particular issue, ask yourself: “Am I seeking to serve and be in right relationship with God and God’screation, or am I trying to make God and God’s creation serve me? Where is the centre of gravity around which this issue is revolving for me? Where is my focus?
The Copernican Revolutionby Miss Margaret Silf
Copernicus was the man who first discovered that the earth revolved around the sun and not thesun around the earth. Each of us, in our own way, has to discover that the same thing applies in ourrelationship with God and with all his creation: neither God nor God’s creation revolves around us,but we, and all creation, revolve around, and are centred in, God.
Some people experience this moment of change (or “metanoia”) suddenly and dramatically. Forothers – perhaps for most of us – it is an ongoing process which continues throughout our lives.
One way of seeing this difference is to imagine that you are standing facing the sun, or some otherpowerful source of light. If we stand like this, then our own shadow will fall behind us. But if westand facing away from the light, see what happens to the shadow then. And this is also a picture ofwhat happens when we direct our lives, fundamentally, towards God and God’s Kingdom, and whathappens if we choose to direct our lives away from God and towards our own little kingdoms. Thisexperience can be expressed in the terms spiritual consolation and spiritual desolation.
- The word “consolation” literally means “with the sun”, or, in the terms of our example, “directedtowards God and God’s Kingdom”.
- The word “desolation” literally means “away from the sun”, or, for us, “directed away from Godand towards our own little kingdoms.
We can summarise the difference like this:
- When I am directed away from God, I am turned away from the Light of my truest centre. I am indesolation. I see my own shadow, of fear and darkness, always in front of me. It is hard to findmy way forward and make decisions that are true to who I really am.
- When I am directed towards God, I am facing the Light of my own truest centre. I am inconsolation. The darkness is behind me. It is easier to make decisions that reflect my truestdesires.
This sense of direction (towards or away from God) can help us a lot when we come to look at ourown changing moods and feelings. The first thing that needs to be said is that anyone who isconsciously engaged on a spiritual journey is, quite definitely, fundamentally directed towards God.However, there can be times when we temporarily change direction and become fixed on our ownlittle worlds and see only our own shadow. Most of us experience such time regularly!
For anyone whose life is fundamentally directed towards God, the action of God in their lives willcreate feelings of being on solid ground and a sense of “living true”. Often this shows itself as afeeling of deep inner peace, even though the outer circumstances of life may be far from peaceful,or even very painful. There is a sense of being deep‐down close to God. This is a sign of the action ofpositive, life‐giving movements within us, given by God.
When we feel the opposite kind of feeling – inner turmoil, self‐doubt, distress, the sense of being onshifting sand – this is a sign to us that we are, at least at that moment and in that situation, not livingtrue to what is deepest in us. We are at the mercy of negative, life‐denying movements within us,that are not coming from God.
We can use these guidelines to help us recognise when we are living in harmony with God and withour truest selves, and when not. And there is one very important rule: When you have made adecision in a state of consolation (that is, when you were living true to yourself) don’t be tempted toreverse your decisions just because you go into a state of desolation.
The Inner Compass
If you have ever done any hill‐walking you will know how it feels when the fog comes down and youcan’t see a step in front of you. The guidebooks are useless, because you can’t see any landmarks.You may go round in frantic circles. You may even have a serious fall. The same sort of thing canhappen on our inner journey. The clouds of desolation can descend. We forget the significantlandmarks of our faith journey. We lose our distant vision.
A wise walker, lost on the mountains, will turn to the compass when this happens, and for the innerjourney there is a compass too. It is the tool we might call discernment. Discernment grows out ofthe habit of reflecting on our daily experience and noticing the points of consolation anddesolation – seeing each day where God is active in our lives and making choices in line with thedeepest centre of ourselves, where we are at one with him. We might summarise the skill of usingthis inner compass like this:
- We need to be able to find it! This means that we needs to be at home with our moods andskilled in recognising consolation and desolation, and responding accordingly. This skill needs tobe primed and ready in our hearts – not twenty miles away in our heads!
- We need to use the inner compass along with the map of our personal life experience. This“map” reflects our distant vision – the landmarks we know from the times when we could see,because the weather was clear.
- And thirdly, to use this tool of discernment, we need to be able to come to inner stillness. Onlyin the still centre of our hearts will our inner compass read true north.
- Finally, we must trust the compass and follow where it points.
Walking by the stars
Just as we can refer to our “inner compass” as a guide to discerning where and when we aretravelling “true North” on the inner journey and when we are going off course, so too we each havea personal set of “constellations” in our inner sky, that can also help us find our way to what is mosttrue within us. These are the constellations of our own experience. These may be clusters of fear oranxieties to which we are particularly prone, or they may be areas of especial giftedness in our lives,ways of praying that seem consistently to bring us closer to God, or aspects of our way of relating toothers that tend to have either creative or destructive effects. Whether positive or negative, these personal patterns of being can be invaluable aids in steering our course in the dark.
What has happened during the past few weeks (or in earlier times of your life) that has left youfeeling that you were “on shifting sand”? Remember the turmoil you felt then. Ask God to heal you ofits effects. What has happened that made you feel you were “on solid ground”? Notice what gaverise to that good feeling, and how you acted on it. Don’t judge yourself. Just notice your feelings andreactions.
Remember, in prayer, the time(s) when you have “turned round” to face God, perhaps after a time inthe darkness of your own shadow. Thank God for these turning points. Notice the difference that“turning” has made to your life and relationships since then.
Try identifying one cluster of gifts within your experience, and one cluster of fears. With this insightyou can use your discernment to nurture the gifts and seek freedom from the tyranny of the fears.