Ordinary Action

2/9/2013

The extreme difficulty which I often experience in carrying out the slightest action is a favor granted to me. For thus, by ordinary actions and without attracting attention, I can cut some of the roots of the tree.

--Simone Weil

"By ordinary actions and without attracting attention," that sounds like a recipe for spiritual formation, an effective, practical formula. Work which is done in this way has the virtue of humility. I'm far less likely to be deceived by the ordinary and lonely processes of life than those that are noticed or those that seem to be infused by the supernatural.

I find in this quote the courage to embrace difficulty and re-imagine it as "a favor granted to me," by the One who longs to set me free; the One who creatively uses the ordinary circumstances of my life to invite me into the great Freedom.

10 Comments

Armin

3/18/2013 02:50:20 pm

Freedom is a theme of yours. How about an article?

David Norling

3/19/2013 01:24:12 am

Until such time as I am so inspired, I'll leave you with one of Merton's many thoughts on freedom.

"Every moment and every event of every person’s life on earth plants something in the soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of invisible and visible seeds, so the stream of time brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men and women. Sadly, most of these innumbered seeds perish and are lost, because we are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these can not spring up anywhere except in the good soil of liberty and desire.

The mind that is the prisoner of its own pleasure and the will that is the captive of its own desire cannot accept the seeds of a higher pleasure and a supernatural desire. For how can I receive the seeds of freedom if I am in love with slavery and how can I cherish the desire of God if I am filled with another and opposite desire? God cannot plant His liberty in me because I am a prisoner and I do not desire to be free."

-- Thomas Merton

David Norling

4/4/2013 01:14:00 am

I have a number of false starts on the subject of freedom. The one image I keep returning to, that colors the way I think about freedom is this: God loves our freedom so much that he lets us play in barbed wire.

Mostly I ponder how this is proven by all the harm that mankind has wrought, but I keep praying for the eyes to see why this freedom is worth all the pain and ugliness.

I keep taking the wager that God wants to open my eyes and that everything changes when we see the way that God sees, even if it's only a glimpse. Each glimpse building on another until I am an awestruckdumbpilgrim.

My intuition is that wonder and awe are the only true, trustworthy responses. The only time anyone in the Biblical accounts really seems to understand reality and what they should do is when they encounter the holy and fall on their face. Those are ultimate examples, but they are given to us to reveal the an important truth.

But this begs the question, How free are we when we are overwhelmed by Holiness? There is a freedom that can only come from this clarity, but could we choose anything but to worship when face to face with divine light?

All I know about freedom is that God values it beyond my ability to comprehend, so I contemplate it. I try to trust in the mess that it creates. Because God...

Armin

4/7/2013 02:38:23 pm

Two unrelated respondes:

1) Triggered by your most recent post...I have preceived from you here and in the past a perplexity of the ways of God. You have grown to change the paradigm from frustration to a mystery that draws you near. A fair observation?

2) From your original post..."the One who longs to set me free; the One who creatively uses the ordinary circumstances of my life to invite me into the great Freedom."

I was hoping for further commentary on these uses of free and freedom. What does one look like who has been set free? What is your meaning for the phrase "the great Freedom?" Is this explained in the Thomas Merton quote, or is there more?

David

4/8/2013 09:11:54 am

1) Triggered by your most recent post...I have perceived from you here and in the past a perplexity of the ways of God. You have grown to change the paradigm from frustration to a mystery that draws you near. A fair observation?

Yes, a fair observation, but I hold the right of equivocation, because I don't want mystery to be equated with merely that which is not understood. Mystery is a larger container than this. Container is poor metaphor...

2) From your original post..."the One who longs to set me free; the One who creatively uses the ordinary circumstances of my life to invite me into the great Freedom."

I was hoping for further commentary on these uses of free and freedom. What does one look like who has been set free? What is your meaning for the phrase "the great Freedom?" Is this explained in the Thomas Merton quote, or is there more?

Thank you for the specific challenge, it helps me focus my thoughts, or realize that my thoughts are not focused.

A person who is set free is one who has received the great freedom. It is great because it is touched by eternity and divinity.

What that looks like is curiously individualized. Someone like St. Francis of Asisi, for example. My freedom won't look like his.

If I were to generalize characteristics of this freedom I would say that one is no longer ruled by the forces of social expectation and so one is free to break those rules for a higher good. While to be human is to feel fear, a free person would be able to see beyond fear based projections and feel things that fear would suppress and do things that fear couldn't imagine. I believe the imagination of a free person would be far more creative and hope filled.

There is a fairly common freedom that most people enjoy: the freedom to do the good even while they are experiencing a desire to do the easy or safe thing. This the obvious freedom of choice. But this freedom is not complete until it becomes freely, joyfully exercised. So there's something of self forgetfulness in freedom. To dance, to laugh, to throw yourself on a grenade to save the life of another, this is what a person who has abandoned him or herself to love does without a thought. Maybe freedom is love expressed.

To be human is to be a vessel of freedom. It is an essential part of creation. The "fall," whatever that means, may have been the loss of that freedom. So the process we are all going though, whatever we want to call it, is to regain the gift of freedom, the gift of humanness. Freedom to love and worship and delight and respect and appreciate with our whole hearts. To be free is to be whole hearted.

A personal example? Whenever I am lost in the present moment, doing what I'm doing with my whole heart and attention, where one moments flows naturally out of a perfect understanding of the previous moment. Another example? When I experience a hunger for something unhealthy and I am able to choose a life giving activity or relationship instead.

Lightheartedness also feels like freedom, I feel enough trust in life to simple float along and enjoy the ride. I guess I feel free when my doing comes from being. When I'm connected to my deepest self in Christ in the unique moment and I am able to play along in a natural, effortless way. This doesn't negate blood, sweat, and tears. I've shed plenty of blood and sweat while playing. And tears, likewise, naturally flow out of being and presence. God wants us to be free to be the beings we were created to be. Unfettered by fear or shame or ignorance about who we are in Christ Jesus.

I think that's all I can say for now. I welcome questions; attempting to answer them helps me discover stuff.

Armin

4/12/2013 02:28:27 pm

"...it (freedom) is touched by eternity and divinity."
"freedom is not complete until it becomes freely, joyfully exercised."
"freedom is love expressed."
"I feel free when my doing comes from being."

These quotes of yours are a good summary on the subject. The common theme, as I see it, is divine infusion into the soul. Or, becoming partakers of the divine nature.

A fair summary? What do you sense I might be over looking?

David

4/15/2013 03:19:02 am

Yes, a fair summary, insofar as I understand the meaning of these theological phrases. What do you mean by becoming partakers of the divine nature?

I'm not trying to be evasive. I'm just realizing that theological language, while trying to be exacting and clarifying, sometimes mystifies.

I'm glad to become more conscious of this because I want to make sure that I don't presume a shared understanding of language like this, even among Christians.

I'm sorry to make communication so laborious.

Armin

4/15/2013 04:08:16 am

"Partakers of the divine nature" is from 2 Peter 1:4. It is understood in eastern Christianity as mystical union with God where humans can become by grace what God is by nature. The process is called theosis or diefication. It is underdtood not as positional or imputed, but as actual, requiring much effort and desire along the path.

David

4/15/2013 04:36:07 am

Yes, than. God is free and to share in God's nature is to share in God's freedom.

I really like all that is implied in this sentene, "It is underdtood not as positional or imputed, but as actual, requiring much effort and desire along the path." I've never been satisfed with the positional or imputed understanding of these things. And what is life without "desire and effort?"

Strippers San Marcos link

10/12/2013 09:39:15 am

Your blog was so simple, I went ahead and created one too, thank you.

Ordinary Action

Leave a Reply.

David Norling

Archives

Categories