Awake and Centered

Dear Cousin,

I love our dialogs about healing! Recently, you mentioned that in one of his books, Catholic scholar John Dominic Crossen suggests that when Jesus was accused of casting out a demon by Beelzebub either he or his subject was in a trance. I was intrigued by your related question, “From your observation do you think that in Christian Science healing a very centered, quiet (connected) mind is part of healing for either the practitioner or the patient or both?”

At first I thought the question was going to be hard to answer, but surprisingly it wasn’t. I must preface my answer by saying that I am answering only from my personal perspective and limited experience as a healer--for someone else it may look and feel completely different. I find that the state of mind in which the most healing takes place, both for me as a patient and as a practitioner, is almost the exact opposite of a trance. Rather, I feel very much awake, alert and in tune with my surroundings, even if a short time before I was completely exhausted. When I truly enter the heart of prayer, I become acutely aware of God's presence in every thing, situation, and thought around me. I think I've shared with you my experience of God feeling "so there" at a pop concert and this being a turning point in a healing (see my May 5th blog “Bows of Promise”). Yes, my thought did become really centered, as in focused on witnessing and expressing only God's love, but not in any meditative sense. I'm not sure it was even something I was aware of doing at the time.

However, the conscious process of becoming mentally and physically centered and quiet can be a useful exercise, quieting fears and getting thought headed in the right direction--using the letter to help lead one to the spirit. I believe Jesus sometimes used various human methods in his healing work in response to where his audience was in their spirituality--what they were ready to accept: putting clay on the blind man's eyes, causing demons to enter swine and drown themselves. Perhaps this was so the people wouldn't be afraid that the demons were running around looking for other bodies to enter. Maybe Crossen’s perceived trance was a similar concession--just wild guesses. I think thought is always quieted and becomes more awake to our unbreakable connection to Mind in the healing "process." For the patient especially, this may be more an effect of healing rather than a cause of healing.

I'm generally a "pray as you go and on the go" person; however, there was a time last week when I could tell I needed to just take some time to put on the brakes, get quiet and pray. The previous two weeks had been extremely full. I helped coordinate many of our high school’s graduation events immediately followed by teacher in-services. Heidi graduated from Middle School and headed off to a youth meeting in Boston, and Michael made two trips out of town including a Cub Scout camping trip with Lincoln. Professionally, I thrive when things are busy. I especially enjoyed graduation week because God’s timely hand in the details was so evident; however, by last Tuesday I was a zombie. It wasn’t so much the activities that had finally caught up with me, but everything else. Mentally there were health challenges to face, intuitions to pray over, confidences shared to cherish, and dilemmas to be worked through. These issues clamored for attention, completely preoccupying my thought. I decided to take Wednesday morning off from work for extra rest and prayer time. As the hour I should be at work rapidly approached, I still felt tired and stressed. My mental exercises in the name of prayer weren’t getting me very far. Only when I was willing to take my thought in a totally different direction did I began to get the truly invigorating answers I needed. Instead of trying to pray about each problem, I prayerfully explored a friend’s kind reminder that God continually gives me all the inspiration, direction, energy and concentration I need to do whatever task is at hand. As I cherished my God-insured ability to do the work before me (became awake to God’s doings) the fatigue disappeared. Even though all the personal issues hadn't been resolved, they no longer weighed upon my thought. I actually got to work sooner than expected and had a very productive finish to the week.

So I guess in this case, I did set aside time and made a conscious effort to quiet my thinking. However, only as I was willing to stop efforts to steer my thought or meditate on certain “truths,” did I get the inspiration needed to transform my experience.

I look forward to hearing more about your perspective on this topic!

With love,
Maria

Postscript: My morning at home made me think of the 23rd Psalm, "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness..." In "The Message" this phrase is translated, "you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction."