HITTING THE PAUSE BUTTON

I'm going to be hitting the pause button next week.  Have you ever felt the need for that?  I'm headed back to the spiritual centre at Loretto Maryholme near Keswick for a three day silent retreat.  I can hardly wait.

I'm hoping to have a slightly different experience than my previous retreat last March.  This time around, I'm going to try hard to silence my brain at the same time I silence my tongue.  That will be a tall order.

Most of the things that anyone would typically do in a silent retreat were very successful in making the "no talking" rule easy to handle.  I took a lot of reading material and spent hours sitting quietly in the sunroom, reading leisurely and snoozing occasionally.  I read a book on leading from within, a couple of novels and I read the Bible.  Even the Good News Bible turned out to be fuel for my over-active brain. 

For instance, I spent hours poring over the wordlist at the back of the scriptures, discovering new words and new meanings: did you know that the term "apostle" may have the sense of "messenger"?  Doesn't that make you think differently about the relationship between Jesus and the disciples?  And what about the months of the Hebrew calendar?  We're in Tishrei right now, autumn, a Babylonian name.  Why did the Jews retain that name from a time when they were in the wilderness? I read a short section reflecting on the spiritual difference between saying, "I believe in God", and "I believe God".  Oh, my busy brain.

This time around, I'm going to try to find the quiet centre and stay there as long as I can.  I'm going to try to move from attempts to distract myself from the silence, to sitting with it and experiencing it as deeply as I can.

I know that sounds weird - it does to me too.  I don't know what to expect, other than it will be a struggle to be quiet in mind, body and soul.  French theologian Blaise Pascal wrote that all men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

He might be right.  Wish me luck.

Pat

Take This Thought Away With You

" Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority,

it is time to pause and reflect. "

~ Mark Twain ~