Slowing down

Henriette Wilhelmine Hanke wrote "Die Langsamkeit bietet die Chance, das, was wir tun, auch zu erleben." 

Which means: "Slowness offers the opportunity to experience what we do."

A reminder which most people in our frantic society could do with, myself not least.

Time for reflection and rest is so important. It is only too easy to rush from task to task, ticking off items on the to-do list, and then straight on to the next thing. Yet there are times when being busy, busy, busy, just gets too much The thought crosses our minds: "Stop the world! I want to get off!" But it won't stop, so we have to consciously make the effort to schedule some time to step off that treadmill. It may take a little creative selfishness to realise that you are quite entitled to do this, and quite a bit of planning to reschedule your activities, and find a free time-slot, but it can be done. The most important thing is that we commit to it, on a regular basis, and do it consistently.

Because we're not supposed to live like this. Every person needs to have some time to centre down, to be at peace, to recharge their emotional and spiritual batteries. I believe that one of the most important of God's creations is the Sabbath - a time to rest, to re-group, and come back to our everyday lives refreshed. One reason why my faith is so important to me is that it has taught me that there is another way of living, even if I don't always follow it.

The idea of resting every seventh day goes back to Biblical times. Right at the beginning of the Bible, we are told that God created the world in six days, and then rested on the seventh day. This concept was taken up by ancient Israel, and was one of the ten commandments laid down by Moses in the Book of Exodus: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." For Jews, the Sabbath starts at sundown on Friday evening with the lighting of a candle, and a shared meal, and continues until sundown on Saturday.

When Christianity started two thousand years ago, they took on this principle (broadly speaking) and met firstly on Saturdays, but then on Sundays, to participate in the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist. Later on this got hedged round with a lot of do's and don'ts, but today an increasing number of Christians try to observe a Sabbath day once a week, in which they "rest in Christ". An article by Lauren Winner on the Christianity Today website explains: 

"But Jesus never said to forget the Sabbath completely. Keeping the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, after all! And through the ages Christians have seen the wisdom of devoting one full day to rest and praise. There's an old Puritan saying, 'Good Sabbaths make good Christians.'

Still, honouring the Sabbath was easier in Puritan New England, where almost everyone took the Sabbath seriously. Shops weren't open on Sundays, businesses closed their doors, and everyone headed to church. Sabbaths are much more difficult in contemporary America. In fact, in a society that values busyness and productivity, observing the Sabbath is downright countercultural.

That's not to say contemporary society doesn't encourage us to relax. To the contrary, most secular women's magazines and television talk shows ... instruct us to indulge ourselves. While there's nothing wrong with the occasional bubble bath, [this isn't] quite the same thing as Sabbath. The key to the Sabbath isn't merely rest. Rather, it's that in our rest we turn our attention to God, whose rest our Sabbath mirrors."

So let us slow down, simply be, and be present to the world and the divine around us.

Digging Deep

When I turned the page of my calendar, and looked at this week's picture, I felt simple pleasure. I have always loved waterfalls - especially walking alongside them, and glorying in their beauty. This dates from early childhood holidays in mid-Wales, which always included a visit to Dolgoch Falls. My father used to spend many happy hours re-arranging the course of the stream, by building dams out of stones and slate, enthusiastically helped (or hindered) by my sister and me.

When I translated the text, I had to laugh, because it was exactly what I needed to hear, this week. The words are by Mark Aurel: "Blick in dich! Innern ist eine Quelle, die nie versiegt, wenn du nur zu graben verstehst."

Which being translated, means: "Look inside you! Inside there is a spring that never dries up, if only you know how to dig."

And I have had to dig, in recent weeks. Perhaps I am secretary of too many Unitarian bodies: the Warwickshire & Neighbouring Counties Monthly Meeting of Protestant Dissenting Ministers (our local ministers' meeting), the Midland Unitarian Association, the Unitarian Ministerial Fellowship, Northampton Unitarians, the Unitarian Peace Fellowship, and the Worship Studies Course Group. And they've ALL had meetings in the last three weeks. And there's another one to come, next Wednesday. It has meant a lot of travelling, and a lot of minute typing.

But I am not complaining. It has been my choice to put my hand up for these roles, because I know I am good at doing the secretary thing, and it is my way of contributing to the wider Unitarian community. And so I choose to dig deep, churn out the minutes, and follow up with the actions.

How do you dig deep for Unitarianism?

Understanding the Past

Stefan Zweig wrote: "Wer die Vergangenheit nicht versteht, versteht nichts wirklich." Which being translated, means: "Whoever does not understand the past, does not understand anything, really."

We are human beings, living in time, and hence have a natural bent for looking forward, rather than back. Our minds are generally on what we are about to do, planning for the future, anticipating it with either pleasure or dread.

But I have come to understand that if we do not deal with things which happened to us in the past, they can sneak up and catch us unawares in the present. For this reason, we do need to understand the past, our own past. Which means befriending our shadows, those dark, unacknowledged sides of ourselves we do not want to think about.

I blogged about this on my other blog, Gems for the Journey, in a post Befriending Our Shadow. I mentioned a book called The Dark Side of the Light Chasers by Debbie Ford, which I would recommend to anyone who feels they are ready to do this hard, but very rewarding work.

This befriending process is often difficult and unpleasant, and is, for me, very much a work in progress. But thanks to my efforts, I now feel more whole, and have got better at standing back in hard situations, rather than jumping in and reacting straight away.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

This week's quotation, by Winston Churchill, is ambiguous. "Je weiter man zurückblicken kann, desto weiter wird man vorausschauen" Which being translated, means: "The further you can look back, the further you will look ahead."

But it reminded me of filling in my Year Compass, on New Year's Eve. This is a lovely spiritual practice, which my friend Linda introduced me to, some years ago. You download a little 20-page booklet, from Year Compass, It is a wonderful free service, started by a group of Hungarians, which has now spread round the world.

The first half of the booklet invites you to review the past year, remembering significant events, places and people. Prompts are offered e.g. "The wisest decision I took" "The biggest surprise of the year" and "Your three biggest accomplishments" "Your three biggest challenges". Done mindfully, it takes a good couple of hours to complete.

The second half of the booklet (pages 13 onward) is for planning the year ahead. You are invited to "Dream Big" and to identify "magical triplets" e.g. "Three things I want to achieve the most", "These three things I will have the power to say no to". Again, done mindfully, it takes a while to complete. Finally, you are invited to choose a word for the year ahead. Mine was "wholehearted". And to share your secret wish.

It can be done in a group too, at church or chapel. I keep this year's booklet in a pamphlet file on my desk, and look at it every so often, to remind myself of where I've been and where I hope to get to. So perhaps I've been taking Churchill's advice all along ...