‘But mindfulness is Buddhist!’
I hear those words from time to time from a
Christian, usually an evangelical.
Now, as Richard Nixon used to say, let me make this perfectly clear. Mindfulness is not
Buddhist. Well, certainly not exclusively or inherently so, and even as respects
Buddhism mindfulness is only one aspect of one particular tradition in
Buddhism. Mindfulness is universal. It
is grounded in the human experience of living fully from one moment to the
next.
You can find mindfulness in all religious and spiritual traditions, including Christianity. What’s more, you can find mindfulness outside of religious and spiritual traditions.
For the most part, the
mindfulness that I teach is outside mainstream religious and spiritual
traditions, although I do draw from a number of those traditions where I think they
are making a valid point, that is, a point of universal importance and one that
is generally in the nature of a self-evident truth. Of course, a self-evident
truth is not always readily apparent or discernible to people. However, once a
self-evident truth is properly understood, you are justified
in affirming it as true.
In a previous post I looked at mindfulness in
the Christian tradition. In this post, I want to focus on some good advice from
the Bible. It’s from the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). It is from both the
Jewish and Christian traditions, but the advice is good for all of us, even for
those who claim not to believe in a God.
The Hebrew Scriptures advise us to know God by
becoming still: ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).
Who or what is God? Some dubious theological
construct, one that some people have made up in their minds in an attempt to
explain the mystery of life, but which doesn’t actually exist in objective
reality? Well, the Bible elsewhere refers to God as the One ‘in whom we live
and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28). For me, ‘God’, when I use the word, which
is not that often, refers to the one universal Presence and Power active in the
universe, the medium (that is, order or level of reality) in which all things
have their very be-ing-ness. God, if
you choose to use the word at all – and you need not – is the Supreme Being,
and we have our be-ing-ness, our very existence, in that Being.
Back to Psalm 46:10. There is so much in that
short verse. The first thing to note is the importance of being still, if we
are to come to know and experience the larger reality that the Bible refers to
as ‘God’. In explaining this verse to people I sometimes break it up like this:
‘Be still and know that I am God’
‘Be still and know that I am …’
‘Be still and know …’
‘Be still …’
‘Be …’
If you experience the verse – note that word ‘experience’
– that way I truly believe that you will come to know and experience what some
choose to call God. You can call it whatever you like. It doesn’t really
matter. As J. Krishnamurti used to say, over and over again, ‘The word [in this
case, God] is not the thing.’ It’s the reality – the experience – behind and
beyond the word that really matters. Indeed, it is all that matters.
One of my spiritual mentors was
the late Dr Norman Vincent Peale.
He helped millions of troubled people in his long lifetime. He gave some
wonderful advice on how to still the mind and the body. He often said that you
cannot still the mind until the body has become still. First, still--- that is,
relax---the body, and then the mind will follow. Dr Peale wrote, ‘Sit still, be
silent, let composure creep over you.' Then you will be still. That's why Psalm 46:10 says, 'Be still ...' It's not a matter of do-ing but be-ing.
Jesus preached the 'kingdom of God' (referred
to in Matthew’s
gospel as the ‘kingdom of Heaven’). For me, the Kingdom of God is that state of
being and consciousness that is often referred to as the eternal now. There is an eternal, that is, atemporal, quality
about the now. It is forever new. The
present moment has its unfolding in the Now. The past is no more than the
expression of a present reality,
being a present ‘window link’ to the eternity of the Now. Any memories of the
past are a present reality. It’s the
same as respects the future, for any ideas about or hopes for the future are present ideas and hopes. You see, the
present is simply that which presents itself before us in and as the Now. So,
the present embraces past, present and future. What's more, the kingdom of God is not only a 'place' of inner strength and power, it's also a repository of stillness and quietude.
Back,
once again, to Psalm 46:10. ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ First, the ‘knowledge’
spoken of is not book knowledge. Not at all. It is an inner knowing. Secondly,
note those words ‘… I am God.’ Now, I am not saying that you and I are God,
although I do say that you and I, as well as all other persons and things, have
their be-ing-ness in God. Now, those words ‘I am God’. God is the Great I Am,
that is, the presence and power of pure Being. What’s more, that pure Being is the
very be-ing-ness of the person that you are.
In time, and with regular practice, the action of being fully and choicelessly present
in the moment from one moment to the next – the essence of mindfulness and
living mindfully – will quicken and intensify.
The essence of Christianity is the
experience of coming to know God – the larger reality – in the form, and through
the person, of Jesus. What’s so special about Jesus? Well, among other things, Jesus
lived and was fully grounded in the eternal now. His strength, power and peace were the result of his being at-one with the source of all life and being, and his living fully in the eternal now. That is why he said, ‘My kingdom is
not of this world’ (John 18:36). Now, as I see it, Jesus was not saying that his
kingdom was on some supposed ‘higher’ order or level of reality. No, the kingdom
of which Jesus spoke is one that that we enter when we live in the eternal now.
It is the very reason why Jesus said that he had come. ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the
full’ (John 10:10). Abundant living. Living mindfully in the eternal now.
Living selflessly. Living lovingly.
‘Be still and know …’
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